The Golf Club

Despite appearances, the Golf Club isn’t an attempt to stick it to the monolithic Ea Sports golf games by a young upstart studio. developer HB Studios is both david and Goliath in that analogy, having been down to produce tiger woods PGa tour 15 before it was canned. now the Canadian developer’s breaking out on its own with an unlicensed, socially-focused title of its own. Sadly, the result’s worthy of a respectful golf clap and not much more.

at least part of the problem is the shedding of all those licenses you took for granted with tiger. in the absence of any real players, clothing brands or gear manufacturers, the Golf Club can’t help but feel less connected to the real sport than the games of yore, and doesn’t even attempt to offer a sense of progression via gear-gating or a proper career mode.

1 Even character customisation is bare-bones, and given the online focus here that’s an issue.But while there’s little going on off the course, the actual simulation of golf is exemplary. using little more than the shoulder buttons to select clubs and shot type and the right stick to perform the swing itself,2 you’re empowered with an enormous repertoire of strokes. you’ll need a large percentage of them on the ever-growing, always frighteningly difficult user-created courses, too. net code and
infrastructure are robust enough to support a long-form online experience via leagues, but it’s hard to get past the fact that  the Golf Club simply simulates golf. no frills or embellishments.

Just you, the club, and your gently simmering frustration. one for the genre’s hardcore  if such folks exist.