Swing into Town at SXSW with Y&R's Golf App

The main character of South by Southwest has always been Austin itself, and attendees this year can see the city in a whole new way—by golfing through the streets with a new mobile app called Play Through, from Dell and agency Y&R New York.

The app was created to kick off Dell’s sponsorship of the Match Play golf tournament, held from 23–27 March in Austin. The game lets players explore the city through a nine-hole golf course, laid out to include some of its landmarks: the Paramount Theater, Franklin BBQ, and the Texas State Capitol. The first hole even winds up on the steps of the popular Driskill Hotel.

The game takes the player through the city with a virtual street view that includes not just the famous spots, but every building that lines the course. The route includes holes with names like 'Stay Classy, Austin', and 'Keep Hole 5 Weird'.

Dell Play Through lets players select angles and irons based on their lie and real-time wind speed, then shoot by swiping the screen or physically swinging the phone. They can even try to hit the ball over buildings to cut corners - but only if they want to risk a one-shot penalty for going out of bounds. The app connects to Facebook to allow users to share their scores and challenge friends to a match.

The app, powered by Dell and Intel, was created by Y&R New York, with technical assistance from sister agency VML and production by MediaMonks. The course itself was designed by Matt Ginella, travel and golf course expert for the Golf Channel. A Foursquare partnership provides details and ratings about some of the places along the way - monuments, restaurants and bars - and lets them save places as favourites.

The app is now available on iPhone and Android and can be downloaded from iTunes here.