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Gameplay
Graphics
Sound/music:
Controls
Replay value

With Tiger Woods off EA’s roster for 2014, there is space in the market for a new golf game, enter the HB Studios developed Golf Club.

A stripped back, true-to-life title, Golf Club is about just one thing – and no surprises for guessing what – golf. There are no gimmicks, no power-ups or arcadey attributes to earn. There are no mini-games, no shot trajectory preview, nor the ability to change the spin of the ball mid-flight. There isn’t even a catalogue of professional golfers to choose from.

I think it´s a good time to scream “fore!” now.

Sound dull? Well, it’s not. Or at least not totally. Golf Club might lack a number of features we have come to expect from EA’s leading golf series, but it makes up for it with something else impressive, a massively expansive course creator.

With a lack of officially licensed courses, Golf Club is what you – and the wider Golf Club community – make of it. Building our own course was simple and allowed us as much or as little freedom as we wanted.

There are a number of themes to the course creator, from an alpine and desert settings to rural and links layouts, and once selected, this base could quickly be manipulated to be as hilly and foliage filled or bereft as desired.

Avoid shooting the ball into the forest. Or else you will end up with a really bad handicap.

These quick selections create the randomised base for your course and its 18 holes. Not like the layout, no worries, we were quickly able to alter the course as desired. Within a matter of minutes we were able to add bunkers, camber, water hazards and narrow the fairway down in points to add a bit more of a challenge to the course.

With the ability to jump in and out of the course creator to test the custom course at will, it is easy to sample what you’re making and adjust the layout and hazards accordingly.

In terms of gameplay, Golf Club’s focus is solely on perfecting the mechanic of the game. There’s no way of levelling up your player’s abilities and there are no purchaseable clubs with which to improve your range or accuracy either.

Therefore, Golf Club is not the most forgiving of games. Early use saw us pull and shank the ball in all directions. Half an hour with controller in hand and there is a satisfying learning curve to the game. We by no means perfected the swing but were having far more success than we were at the start.

This difficulty and ever growing range of playable courses should keep what is relatively basic and repetitive gameplay enjoyable for a longer period. Although offering a sense of achievement in striking a good ball, this semi-serious nature will likely deter some of the more casual gamers drawn into the better known Tiger Woods series.

Ultimately this is a game for true golfing enthusiasts.

tgg grade 3.5 out of 5

Title: The Golf Club
Developer: HB Studios
Format: PS4,PC,XOne
Genre: Sport
Release Date: 2014-19-08
Difficulty: Normal
Spent Time: 4+ Hours
Average grade internationally: 80% via Gamerankings.com
Pegi Age rating: 12+
Price: £28 via Steam