THERE’S AN OFT-REPEATED ADAGE in golf that, once a round, we’ll all hit that one shot that keeps us coming back. But are we giving that fleeting feeling of personal glory a little too much credit?

I don’t think I’m proposing anything revolutionary here, but perhaps it’s the people we’re with that keep us coming back. After all, we live in an increasingly digital world that offers unprecedented convenience with the unfortunate, mounting price tag of isolation. But while so many of our waking hours are spent looking at a screen, golf offers a timeless antidote to something our modern-day spirits are desperately craving: Real. Human. Interaction.

This virtue of golf is not new . What is new is that we’re now finding out that it isn’t exclusive to green grass golf courses. Golf can, and has, provided the same desired social connection to other people in off-course settings like simulator bays, Topgolf facilities, putt-putt courses and stadium takeovers. We’re also seeing dedicated communities take root in the form of clubs like Swang, whose members exclusively gather on the range at Rancho Park GC, or craft beer fans that have a virtual league inside the hitting bays of North San Diego’s Dogleg Brewing. Even in this issue, you’ll read about Fescue GC, who have a thriving membership at their simulator warehouse in Mar Vista.

Simulating golf doesn’t mean simulating fellowship or friendship. And there is nothing less fruitful or fulfilling about sharing laughs and stories inside on astroturf instead of outside on green grass. The truth is, we desire real human interaction and golf fosters exactly that regardless of where or how it’s being played. It is an instrument too important and too beautiful for any one concert hall.

The National Golf Foundation reported that last year, 19 million people in the United States tried golf exclusively in off-course settings. That’s 19 million people who have a chance of discovering something no phone or algorithm can give them. 19 million people who might find communities that have dropped anchor in seas previously uncharted. 19 million people who will unearth what we already know: It’s not the shot that keeps you coming back. It’s the human connection.

Maybe we should have known it all along, but it turns out golf’s social virtues can take root in grass and on mats.