Brand: HelloReal
Medium: Hardware
Without a doubt one of my favorite go-to VR experiences on both Meta Quest headsets and the PlayStation VR2 is Mighty Coconut’s Walkabout Mini Golf (see our coverage here). It’s a great pick up and play game with tons of content/well designed and creative putt-putt courses and is just an overall chill experience. So when VR accessory designer HelloReal took a crack at developing a real mini golf putter product specifically for Walkabout I most definitely had to check it out.
The Official Walkabout Grip-To-Putter II is technically the second iteration of the putter after the first batch sold out, and the company went back to the drawing board and retooled a few things mostly in terms of VR controller compatibility.
I always felt I was a better than average Walkabout Mini Golf player using the stock VR Sense or Quest 2 controller, but the Grip-To-Putter definitely proved me wrong. Imagine if you took a real mini golf putter, sawed off 1/3rd of it and then rigged up a trigger with a cable that can squeeze the appropriate VR controller trigger, which is attached at the end of the putter to activate Walkabout’s grip-to-putt function. Well that’s basically what HelloReal engineered with the Grip-To-Putter –although a bit more elegantly. It’s literally a real, weighted and balanced mini golf putter with a colorful Walkabout-themed textured padded grip and a modular adapter end that can be used for a variety of controllers (some of which can be obtained separately).
Speaking of adapter, when receiving the Grip-To-Putter II the first thing you need to do is check out the instructions on how to attach your VR controller. Even though there’s only a few parts to snap together it’s just a little confusing at first (the install video clears that up quickly) — and then of course it makes sense once assembled. Adjusting the position of the integrated hardware trigger and cable is where most of the magic happens, because without that there would be no way to initiate a swing.
Since the VR controller orientation is different than if you were just holding it in your hands (around 90° with the PS VR2 Sense controller), Mighty Coconut actually included a convenient HelloReal Grip-To-Putter preset option in Walkabout Mini Golf — although you could also use the custom calibration function if need be.
My Grip-To-Putter II play time was with the PlayStation VR2 version since that’s where I play Walkabout mostly these days and it really upped my game quite a bit in terms of consistency. Just using a Sense or Quest controller by itself is missing the satisfying grip, momentum, weight and balance that the putter provides, and that is the secret sauce for sure.
As much fun as the Grip-To-Putter is to use, there are some minor but pretty obvious drawbacks that many reviews or hands-on impressions seem to not touch on. Other than actually putting, to interact with Walkabout or the PS5 UI you need to frequently and blindly flip the putter over so you have access to the analog stick and other buttons on the controller itself. It becomes second nature after a while but just lining up for your next shot requires you to hit the other controller trigger (the one not activated by the putter’s trigger), which isn’t particularly easy to locate by touch. Walking about each course also requires the analog stick and/or access to the the primary trigger, so that makes the experience a bit more time consuming until muscle memory kicks in.
My other concern is with some of the the obviously 3D printed plastic parts of the PS VR2 adapter (which is documented on their product page). They fit snug and don’t flex much and I’m just hoping they hold up to repeated use/assembly/disassembly. But it’s well built and well thought out, so… so far so good! Oh and if you use a wireless charging cradle (the official Sony charger in our case) the controller’s charging dongle will still line up appropriately — provided you have enough height where it’s located.
Also, even though the Grip-To-Putter is only useful for Walkabout Mini Golf on the PS VR2 at the moment, there’s a chance it will be supported when/if Golf+ makes its way to the platform — similar to what we’ve seen with the Quest. So that would be a value add if that happens.
So to wrap things up if you’re a fan of the excellent Walkabout Mini Golf and find yourself wanting to significantly enhance the experience, most definitely check out the HelloReal Official Walkabout Grip-To-Putter II.
Note: HelloReal provided us with an Official Walkabout Grip-To-Putter II for review purposes.