PGA Tour Golf
System: Genesis
Release Date: April 1991
Developer: Sculptured Software
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Sports
Hit the links with dozens of the best golfers of the 1980s in PGA Tour Golf! If you like an afternoon in the sun, driving from the tee, and putting the greens, this is the game for you. Sign your Players Card, pick your clubs, and choose from one of four courses to play. You want to score as low as possible to take away your cut of that big purse.
I began by hitting the driving range to reacquaint myself with the standard three click swing. Press B to begin your backswing, again to set the power of your shot, and once more to decide the accuracy. Going past 100% power may allow you to hit a bit farther, but it will accentuate any misses on your accuracy. On the course, you are shown how long you can expect the club to hit given perfect conditions, but they hardly ever are. I was plagued with really strong wind in the three rounds I played at Sawgrass. Accounting for the wind becomes a game within a game itself.
Holes begin with a fly over and some words from one of the main golf pros. If you want to hit the ball a ton, you should probably listen to Craig Stadler over here. You then get an overhead view to help you decide where you’re going to hit it. It would have been nice to be able to set where you want to aim on this overhead view, but you have to guess where to aim based on the set pieces of the course, of which you don’t see all of the trees or terrain differences. I found myself in the rough mainly because I couldn’t see where I was actually aiming, but I guess because of some supreme hooks and slices, too…
Putting is where you’ll keep your stroke total low or rack up the bogeys. You’re given a terrain map of the path between your ball and the hole and have to decide where to aim. Here, moving your cursor translates to when you go back to course view. You have to pay attention to the slopes of the green and also the relationship between your ball and the elevation of the hole. If your ball is low, you need to hit it a bit harder, but if it’s above, you need to hold back. Overall, putting is very sensitive, so you need to get really good at it if you want to perform well.
Great shots give an instant replay, like this long putt for birdie. My best shot of the day came on Hole #7. That’s a sick eagle! There are specialty shots like the chip if you want to try your luck. Sometimes, you think you have a perfect shot lined up and it is torn away from you. If you want to quit for the day, you can go to the tour menu. Here, you can take a look at your statistics, as well. Three rounds took me a little less than two hours. Then I tried another course for a minute before calling it quits.
Graphics: 2.0
Everything is very pixeled in nature, though the flyby at the beginning of the hole is a nice touch. Fonts are clean and it looks like it should be on a PC.
Sound: 2.0
I like the pre-hole ditties and the groans and applause are nice enough.
Gameplay: 3.0
This is your classic three click swing. There are extra shots, and an easy to navigate menu.
Difficulty: 3.0
Missing that sweet spot by a pixel will ruin your shot. You can play courses over and over until you have them mastered.
Fun Factor: 2.5
I would have liked it if where I aimed the cursor on the course map translated when on the tee, but it doesn’t.
Overall Rating: 2.5
PGA Tour Golf earns a B-. I like Arnold Palmer better, but this is definitely a solid golf game.