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Golf games?



Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
I'm pretty sure that this is a niche subject - but does anyone play golf games these days - either on PC or console?

I did have Atari Golf on the 2600 going back a silly number of years - which was followed by a title on the C64 which I've forgotten the name of. Besides, I didn't really understand the 'concept' back then and the terminology used within golf - so it was all pretty much meaningless to me.

That said, I got to grips with PGA Tour Golf on the Amiga which was followed up by PGA Tour Golf 486 back in the early days of my PC ownership. This era was perhaps when I played golf games the most - learning the club differences and having fun with weather effects and messing about with draw or fade shots. Good memories from back then - yet no doubt I'd simply quit due to the loading/rendering times on the hardware, if equivalent today.

I tried the Links series and never really gelled with it. I jumped sideways so-to-speak and went playing games like Tiger Woods PGA (2***) on the PSP and again, enjoyed those. However, the precursor of EA's obsession in customising everything was clearly visible with clothing, appearance and equipment all being switchable at the player's whim.

After a good number of years out of the genre, I thought about having another dabble to see what's out there. The golf game section as a whole has dwindled significantly - in fact I think there's only the Golf Club 2 that is most recent and even that appears to have scored mixed reviews. I looked a bit further back to what else was popular and noticed that Links 2003 was highly regarded - especially as it was the last Microsoft 'backed' golf game of the time.

Having not really got on with Links as mentioned earlier, I thought I'd look out for a copy of it on eBay - especially given it's fifteen year vintage now. Turns out that a final version was released called the Championship Edition which included twenty-plus additional courses to the original ones provided in the core game. Better still, I found one on eBay for £3 with no other bids for it. I ended up being the only bidder for it - so £4.40 down including the P&P (it actually cost the seller £2.98 in postage - ouch) - I received it on Wednesday, this week.

Strangely, I didn't have much hope in this working well. It was released back when Windows XP was barely two years old and being a 32-bit game, I was dubious of it being happy on my Windows 10 64-bit PC. Installing the three DVDs (remember those? ;)) - I'd already downloaded the latest patch for it (33MB - lol) along with a modified .dll file that was supposed fixed a known career issue within the game.

Tried running it and it required Direct Draw to be implemented. Erm, this isn't going to work is it? - but I left it to download and be applied. Re-ran the game and sure enough, the title screen was there but the resolution was poor. Apparently even with the v1.7 patch, the best I could hope for was 1280x1024 and I'd just have to get used to the large black sections around the edges of the screen with my monitor running natively at 2560x1440. Having had a quick look on the internet, there was a regedit tweak where changing the display value from 3 to 15 pushed the game out to standard HD resolutions - even into the widescreen version of 1920x1200. Once restarted, this filled the screen much better and I started a quick practice round.

The rendering times (as expected on 2018 hardware) are non-existent - allowing for a follow-up shot to be taken immediately after the prior one. There's the occasional thing showing the overall age of Links 2003 - the scenery images are of comparatively low resolution and there's eerily little sound in the background such as the rustling of trees, chirping of birds or fans cheering in an active round.

However, the established mechanics of the game are still present and really enjoyable they are too. The appeal and dare I say, slight addiction to the golf genre in terms of games is definitely there - but one factor surprised me was the multiplayer aspect of it. The game is still heavily supported and played by many fans online. Tournaments, challenges and easy-going rounds are all out there for people to remotely connect to and play. I can't say that I'd ever be in a situation where bleary-eyed at 2am, I'm still on the 16th at Banff Springs, trying to work out whether a 4I or 5I would be best for the shot ahead.

But in the current deluge of intense FPSs, racing games, full-on RTSs and mammoth RPGs - it's nice to switch to something far more docile, serene and laid-back. I can see this being a welcome alternative on one of those slightly boring Saturday afternoons, with nothing else to do!
 
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Jon46

ClioSport Club Member
  BG FF 182
I play WGT Golf on my iPad. Free download and it’s utterly addictive!

You can upgrade all the clubs, balls, apparel etc ?
 

c4pob

ClioSport Club Member
  A terrible one
I had tiger woods on the GameCube. Totally addictive playing a 4 ball with my housemates but burnt through every controller by maximising the power up for the long tee off. Never did beat tiger on his birthday though.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Switched the control method to the classic '3-click' - much easier to control than pulling the mouse back and trying to push it forward in a straight line!
 
  RS Clio 182
Does anyone know why EA have stopped making the PGA games...its very strange. They continue with Madden and NHL every year..

Atm if you want realism get The Golf Club or more arcade then Everybodys Golf.
 

SharkyUK

ClioSport Club Member
Does anyone know why EA have stopped making the PGA games...its very strange. They continue with Madden and NHL every year..

Atm if you want realism get The Golf Club or more arcade then Everybodys Golf.

The PGA games weren't making the money they anticipated hence EA and the PGA amicably dissolved the deal (or so I am led to believe). They haven't ruled out reviving the series in the future but it's unlikely for the foreseeable future.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
The PGA games weren't making the money they anticipated hence EA and the PGA amicably dissolved the deal (or so I am led to believe). They haven't ruled out reviving the series in the future but it's unlikely for the foreseeable future.
Yep - you also had that strange era where it was 'fashionable' for mid execs to be seen with this kind of game on their over-priced and usually over-spec'd laptop or PC.

They had evolved from the casual putting in the meeting rooms to embracing new tech and merging it with their interest in golf. I'm not quite sure we'll see the likes of those again.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Bit of a thread bump here.

So I continued having a try at golf games on the PC. The next obvious title as others have mentioned - was The Golf Club 2019. I bought that, tried it and had a some fun with it.

However, there were many aspects of the control method that were downright luck, rather than skill. You could use the mouse on the swing or the more traditional pad - but both required a backward and forward movement of extreme straightness. This proved tricky to pull off consistently - made worse by your shot going off to the left or to the right, dependant upon the speed at which you moved the pad stick or slid the mouse.

The immediate fallout from that was trying to control the amount of power a shot had without sending it veering off into the rough, bunker or lake. At higher levels of difficulty, this proved to be virtually impossible - and that's not including the additional factors of the lie of the ball and the wind.

Rather than rage too much - I canned that one off and warily bought the follow up game PGA 2K21 some time later. I say warily as it made by the same HB Studios as the previous Golf Club game - but hoped that they had addressed the alchemy required to make a decent shot. Thankfully, they had. PGA Tour 2K21 looks very similar as no doubt it's simply a revised engine under the hood - but the control method now makes sense. On lower difficulties, you even get a one-time option to trace a line as to where your putt will send the ball.

This game has now made golf the pleasant and laid-back experience that it should be. It's still easy to make your shots go wayward and get punished on your scorecard because of it. But above all else, it's now fun and a great game to unwind to.

I'm hoping that the upcoming PGA Tour 2K23 will build upon these improvements even further. :)
 
  Clio
I'm right into Powerstar Golf at the moment. Just about the right difficulty.

Love smashing out the park with Frank but his putting is crap.
 
  Clio
Anyone got the new Tiger Woods golf?

Is it any improvement on the s**t show that was Rorys?

Like Single player has some achievement/goal purpose in it etc?
 

Willo40

ClioSport Club Member
  M135i
Anyone got the new Tiger Woods golf?

Is it any improvement on the s**t show that was Rorys?

Like Single player has some achievement/goal purpose in it etc?
i would be interested in this, i don't mind a golf game, most that are out are shite though
 

Thrust-Rated

President of the KMAG fan club.
ClioSport Club Member
  F31 35d, Berlingo Na
Just to throw a curve ball.

Golf is now available on Switch Sports.
It's fun! 🤣
 
  Clio
I've just realised the new golf game isn't the old new Tiger Woods, its Tigers name to the other golf game.

So EA Golf is out next year. That will have the majors so expect I'll wait for that and I might have to spend money if it doesn;t come to game pass.
 
  Clio


Proper getting excited for this. I've put off getting a new Xbox until now and I've not bought a brand new game since GTA5 but a proper Career Mode progression is just what I need.
 
  Clio
Managed to get myself a Series S in the end. Downloaded PGA Tour 2023 last night and loving it.

Swing mechanics and ball physics are spot on. Only gripe is that there seems to be a bug in the golf creator so I couldn't change anything on the screen where you choose if left or right handed etc.

Apart from that got two rounds in on St Andrews in the Amateur tour with AI difficulty around 65. In second place one shot off the lead.

Can't wait to open up a few more shot types and that.

But definitely leagues above anything I've ever played before.
 

CrippsCorner

ClioSport Club Member
  Astra VXR
Still haven't got this as it's £70 I think on PS5? Bit crazy. Got too many birthdays to spend out on this month. Maybe there'll be a sale at some point.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Still haven't got this as it's £70 I think on PS5? Bit crazy. Got too many birthdays to spend out on this month. Maybe there'll be a sale at some point.
Yeah - the pricing is crazy. The PC version on cdkeys is £50 for the standard game and £69 for the deluxe. On Steam, £60 and £75 respectively.

With Steam, you save over a quid by buying the standard game and the deluxe upgrade separately. :p

1683149889928.png


I'd love to get it - but I'm not paying that. It would have been better to have a handful of courses and provide others as DLC packs, but I guess with the PGA licencing, they had to commit to a wealth of courses from the get-go.

I'll be keeping an eye out on its pricing as time goes on.
 
  Clio
Agree on the pricing being a bit wild but thinking back, apart from Unlocking all of Powerstar golf and buying GTAV on release date, possibly Forza Horizon 4 and maybe £6.99 on an Assassins Creed I don't think I've bought any other game for 5 years. Solely a Game Pass man. So this was my little treat. If I regularly bought games I don't see how anyone could justify £75 or whatever I paid.

Anyway, on with the game. Finished my first 4 rounds at St Andrews in the R&A amateur last night. Won by 7 strokes but I did hit a 5 under on the last round when they all went round on in par or more. So that is me qualified for the US Open and Masters as an amateur.

I also started using my Skill points to upgrade my golfer, loving the fact that it doesn't give you more control, power, accuracy etc but you also open up new shot types. For example at the moment I can't putt off the green and I'm limited to a basic, pitch, chip or flop near the green. Looking forward to opening up different types of shots as I did find it limiting on what I wanted to do between 30-50 yards from the pin.

I haven't even got into the club selection and tweaks you can add to loft and all that at the moment. I've just changed my irons from a common to balanced type that gave me some extra attributes. Quite annoying I had to change each iron individually but I guess that comes down to the complete customisation of your bag.

Apart from that I've not done much else.

Still in awe of the ball physics though, the roll seems so life like especially the roll on something like St Andrews when its firm.

Next stop Augusta.
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Does sound good. I really like golf games as an alternative distraction to the mainstream stuff on gaming platforms. More so when they put a lot of effort into the ball physics and the backdrops, making it appear much more realistic.

I still have a quick round on PGA 2K21 every now and then. Steam recently offered a free weekend of PGA 2K23 but for some reason, I couldn't gel with it.

Interesting that a number of negative comments about PGA Tour, surround the player customisation. It really is a sign of recent times that players are far more focused upon their appearance and attire, than how they perform or play within the game itself. Admittedly, I spend a bit of time on character appearance in games like RPGs - but that's about it. More often than not, I click on 'randomise' or similar and just start the damn thing.
 
  Clio
Does sound good. I really like golf games as an alternative distraction to the mainstream stuff on gaming platforms. More so when they put a lot of effort into the ball physics and the backdrops, making it appear much more realistic.

I still have a quick round on PGA 2K21 every now and then. Steam recently offered a free weekend of PGA 2K23 but for some reason, I couldn't gel with it.

Interesting that a number of negative comments about PGA Tour, surround the player customisation. It really is a sign of recent times that players are far more focused upon their appearance and attire, than how they perform or play within the game itself. Admittedly, I spend a bit of time on character appearance in games like RPGs - but that's about it. More often than not, I click on 'randomise' or similar and just start the damn thing.
You can tell I'm proper old skool as I thought the customisation of the character is spot on. Handful of heads, fat or thin and dodgy haircuts. I don't really care what ring I'm wearing on my pinky finger.

The best bit of the customisation are the swing tyle customisations. I think most are just visual but most of it was the part thats not working on mine which was gutting! Especially as I'm left handed. Think you could also adjust natural draw, fade etc.

Thing that was crap about Rorys one was that it was all based around the character and stupid celebrations. Pretty sure the career was pointless as well, no real progression from the golfing side it.
 

CrippsCorner

ClioSport Club Member
  Astra VXR
Does sound good. I really like golf games as an alternative distraction to the mainstream stuff on gaming platforms. More so when they put a lot of effort into the ball physics and the backdrops, making it appear much more realistic.

I still have a quick round on PGA 2K21 every now and then. Steam recently offered a free weekend of PGA 2K23 but for some reason, I couldn't gel with it.

Interesting that a number of negative comments about PGA Tour, surround the player customisation. It really is a sign of recent times that players are far more focused upon their appearance and attire, than how they perform or play within the game itself. Admittedly, I spend a bit of time on character appearance in games like RPGs - but that's about it. More often than not, I click on 'randomise' or similar and just start the damn thing.

Recently did that with SF6 - The customisation options are just insane! Just couldn't give a f**k really, I want to just punch and kick people please :) so I randomised that one.

Spent a little more time on Cyberpunk, but I'm an extremely casual player these days, so haven't really bothered getting any additional gear.

Sorry, going off topic really!
 

Willo40

ClioSport Club Member
  M135i
i love PGA, but i find it hard to sit and play it for a long time, don't mind a round or 2, or a couple of rounds playing with mates, but i couldn't sit on it on my own for a good while, so i will wait til this drops in price, looks brilliant though.
 
  Clio
Ok, so another update. I'm becoming a proper fan boy.

So qualified for the Masters as an Amateur after winning the R&A at St Andrews and it was like playing a whole different game. The whole play of the golf course completely changed with the way the ball moved in flight, the bounce, the roll everything. So much so that I was +3 on the first hole. Nothing more frustrating than when you land a shot on the green and then slowly watch the it come to a stop until it rolls and rolls and picsk up the pace and ends up 40yds back on the fairway. I honestly think I know how the pros feel and it costs them millions sometimes!

I ended getting into a rhythm and ended up missing the cut of +1 by 2 as I bogeyed the last 2 holes on the second round. Time to dust myself off as I've got the US Open as an Amateur next before my attempt to qualify for the Korn Ferry qualifier for my PGA card.

I've used my skill points to open up a few more shots on the approach and short game which help a lot although not easy to master.

@Willo40 I tend to dip in for 2 rounds at a time taking about 90 minutes. Works well around the kids. I've only done a few of the coaching skills so far but there seems to be a whole lot of skills challenges that I'm hoping to dip into between her nagging me as well.
 

Willo40

ClioSport Club Member
  M135i
Ok, so another update. I'm becoming a proper fan boy.

So qualified for the Masters as an Amateur after winning the R&A at St Andrews and it was like playing a whole different game. The whole play of the golf course completely changed with the way the ball moved in flight, the bounce, the roll everything. So much so that I was +3 on the first hole. Nothing more frustrating than when you land a shot on the green and then slowly watch the it come to a stop until it rolls and rolls and picsk up the pace and ends up 40yds back on the fairway. I honestly think I know how the pros feel and it costs them millions sometimes!

I ended getting into a rhythm and ended up missing the cut of +1 by 2 as I bogeyed the last 2 holes on the second round. Time to dust myself off as I've got the US Open as an Amateur next before my attempt to qualify for the Korn Ferry qualifier for my PGA card.

I've used my skill points to open up a few more shots on the approach and short game which help a lot although not easy to master.

@Willo40 I tend to dip in for 2 rounds at a time taking about 90 minutes. Works well around the kids. I've only done a few of the coaching skills so far but there seems to be a whole lot of skills challenges that I'm hoping to dip into between her nagging me as well.
Its defo on my list mate, just would play it enough to justify 70 quid at the mo...👍🏼
 
  Clio
Bit of an update. Some good, some bad.

I've done a few of the challenges, started off with the basic coaching ones, swing, putting etc for those who have not played the game before. Was very basic as expected and aced them all first time. Also seemed like the putting ones were out of order with what the challenge was.

Then the shot types challenges looked like they just gave up and couldn't be bothered. You read the intro click to do the challenge and it takes you to the edge of the green or whatever and you have to use the shot type in the challenge to get on the green. I remember in previous golf games they'd give you tip and what the shot does, when to use it etc and mi the shots up. This was just same place 5 shots and get it on the green. At this point I sacked the challenges off. Hopefully when I get back to them the later ones are better.

So I moved on to the US Open. First round was a couple under par and put me in the top 10, second round I finished -8 under and was in the lead of the US Open as an amateur. Also looking down the leaderboard first page I couldn't see any big names on it. Seemed a little odd. Anyway I've just finished my third round where the wind picked up from 1-2mph to 11-15mph which really mixed things up. I ended up finishing -10 and lead the US Open still. I do see a few of the top Pros have now hit the top 10.

So I'm not sure I've gotten any better, I have spent a few of my Skill points leveling up but am a bit surprised I'd be anywhere near the top of the leader board at a major. I was hoping it would take alot more to build up to that. I'll try increasing the AI to 75 from 65 difficulty if I do end up winning.
 
  Clio
You are looking at the new US Open champion

Scottie Scheffler but a late run in to get the lead down to 1 but an eagle on the 15th was night night. Game over.
 


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