Fancy-dan collectible version of the super-sensible golf simulator available to buy now.
Away from the endorsement wrangling of EA’s flagship golf series PGA Tour Tiger Woods Rory McIlroy Golf, other golf games have been quietly getting on with their own thing. The Golf Club came into being when developer HB Studios (who had been due to work on the cancelled Tiger Woods 15) needed a project to pour their energies into, and you can see the resemblance. At first glance, is very similar to the EA golfing series – it certainly doesn’t carry with it any of the character and charm of Japanese titles like Everybody’s Golf to help it stand out from the PGA-licensed titles – but it has one singular aspect, one perfect element, that makes all other golf simulations jealous.
It has zero loading times between holes. That’s right. Zip. Nada. Nothing.
There’s more to it than that, of course. The Golf Club is a wonderfully realistic, which is always a strength for golf titles. There’s no flirtation with motion controls on offer here either, but the removal of that kind of distraction pushes the focus onto other aspects of the game, and that doesn’t hurt; timing is tight and the physics are crisp.
Another unique feature is the course generator. Much like specifying a map for Sid Meier’s Civilization by picking a few presets, in The Golf Club it’s entirely possible to play a new course every time. In addition a manual course editor is always welcome and some of the community-generated offerings have been nothing short of remarkable; following the news that EA’s flagship won’t be featuring the Augusta National course, the home of the Masters, the fan-created version in The Golf Club suddenly makes it even more attractive.
All in all it’s a solid golf sim with plenty to keep you coming back, and The Golf Club: Collectors Edition is available to purchase today. Release for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, you’ll get a season mode over and above the original title which adds a new way to play. There’s also an improved course editor (inexplicably named after Greg Norman; apparently all sports-games must have endorsements) and an exclusive collectible e-book on offer too.
