Ok - this is for people into ‘computer golf’ so if you aren’t just don’t bother!
Its a sad/happy story with a question at the end…..
So I have always enjoyed computer golf, started on Leaderboard in the late 80s and then a brilliant one - just called ‘Golf’ I think on Atari ST (graphics were crude, but physics were spot on, I haven’t played it recently, obviously, but I bet it would still stand up well even alongside modern games in terms of the physics).
Next, in the 90s, Actua Golf on the 1st Playstation and of course Everybody’s Golf - which is still around… cartoony graphics but a solid golf game underneath. I haven’t played any of the Mario Golf games, but I believe the same applies to them.
Onto Playstaion 3 next and the Tiger Woods games - TW 12 was good - it had Augusta and worked well with PS Move controls - I also had a go on the Wii Sports Golf around this time, but in my opinion PS Move was better than the Wii for motion controls. Tiger Woods 14 was probably the best in that generation. I think it was also around that time I was playing Pangya Golf on PC - online was the big draw of that game.
I was having a big dilemma though, games had around this time been moving towards analogue stick movement for shots and away from click-click-click. I mean the full swing style on the Wii is fun, for a bit, but its a bit too much exercise sometimes.
Most still offered the option - analogue or ‘traditional’, but when they stopped doing so, well it was back to Everybody’s Golf for me (which always stuck with the 3-click method) I suppose after years of ‘clicking’ it was difficult to change.
Anyway, about two years ago I decided I really had to adapt. I understood the successor to the Tiger Woods games was ‘The Golf Club’ and ‘The Golf Club II’ on PS4 and Xbox One. I eventually got the third in the series called The Golf Club 2019 and I have played it on and off since, finally becoming adept at the ‘modern’ flick to swing method. I have a zero handicap and can play most courses at around level par. Online is okish, the only problem I have found online: it is restricted to just a few of the easier courses and annoyingly if I am losing I will play the game through, but if I find myself a hole or a couple of holes ahead - the live opponent will often just leave the match. However, there is the option to play against ‘ghosts’ which is similar to live golf - but on any course and the ghosts never leave!!
The very best games though were on the Golf Club 2019 playing ‘alternate shots’ with 3 other humans - online. It is the only time I have ‘copied’ my teenage son, controller in hand, headset and mic, very modern! Fun golf - good chat between people all around the world and often close exciting matches too - with 4 players in 2 ‘teams’ people don’t just go when they are losing. But in the last nine months or so its been impossible to find 3 people online to play that format…. I assumed due to the release of PGA Tour 2k21 which is essentially The Golf Club 4 or Tiger Woods god knows what number…
I saw it in a shop cheapish a few days ago and thought, time to move on, yet again.
And what a disappointment.
First of all I haven’t taken it online yet, I dare not till I break 100!
It is just so difficult!
The presentation is great (annoying to have to learn new buttons for most tasks but I’ve now done that) the graphics in-game are marginally better, but not so as you would know, however it is the swing mechanics that have caused me much grief.
Take a driver & it goes sailing off 300+ yards. Next hole, exactly the same thumb movement and it goes 160 yards like a Roberto Carlos freekick & often into water… I repeat, it is the same thumb movement.
Even worse, when just off the green it is a nightmare. The standard shot with the setup unchanged always lands way short. If you then change to say a sandwedge the aimer is like 40 yards over the green, switch back to lob wedge its aiming 20 yards past the green - this can’t be correct, why was it not picked up in beta testing or corrected via an update? this game is now almost a year since release.
From a bunker you have to setup the shot in advance with the aimer and the power slider, you can’t just think oh this needs half-power and play the shot that way, it just stays in the sand if you do.
Basically, I was not having much fun. To progress through the PGA Tour you have to score around par, I’m shooting 20+ and its not getting better - I have been off work so I have put in the time, this is not an ‘instant’ moan - I have been playing it for almost a two weeks.
Then I remembered, unlike the 2019 game, at the start I was offered various difficulty settings. Due to playing the previous game I chose Pro, but I have changed that to Amature and guess what - it is fine. Well it plays exactly like the 2019 game… So basically on Pro its as tough as real golf and not much fun, but on amature its too easy.
Now - here is the question: if I get some Xbox Live Gold credit to take it online does the game match up amature level players with other amatures? (and pros with pros) does anyone know?
Are there any other computer golf people on here!
