Golf is one of the world's biggest participation sports, and wouldn't you know it from the recent spate of games for hookers and slicers!
PGA Tour Golf, fresh from its conquests on the PC tour, has now surfaced on the Amiga, and looks like a champion in the making.
What sets this game apart from others in the field, apart from being an Electronic Arts product, is the quality of the golf action itself.
Too many games have concentrated on gimmicks at the expense of gameplay, but EA have managed to come closer than any other to simulating actual golf.

In play, this translates as a much more refined representation of the swing and the flight of the ball. I would have liked a few more shot options such as those in last year's Greg Norman game, but simplicity of approach pays off in the end.

The traditional swing bar is used to hit the ball, but in this case, the penalty for inaccurate timing is realistic. Even slight mistakes can result in a vicious hook or slice, which gives the game an element of club-throwing frustration just like the real thing.

What made me very angry, more so even than my second and third shots went in the water at the seventeenth, was the total lack of even a token female option. The game is based around the USPGA Tour, and allows the player to compete against 60 of the world's top male professionals, but women golfers such as I can only be appalled that there is no women's tour option.
There are thousands of female golfers and computer users in this country, and they must be getting pretty cheesed-off by the constant stream of games which force you to tee off from the mens' tees and play a round from the point of view of a blond-haired hulk. Software producers please take note!

OK, ranting aside, the rest of the game is excellent. Once the ball is actually struck, it soars off into the distance and it is at this point the game boosts the atmosphere with a very useful gimmick. The 'camera angle' switches to a point ahead of the ball back down the fairway, and your ball screams into view to land with a thunk, a thud, or a splash.

This simple trick gives the player a far better look at the shot than if it just disappeared into the distance, and does more than any other gimmick I've seen to convey the atmosphere of God's own sport.

The pseudo-3D putting surface, which you can rotate to examine the borrow, is useful if not pretty, but I've yet to discover how you sut it off, and it can be annoying when it pops up for a pitch from just off the green. That said, putting is as difficult as it deserves to be, and on those tricky American greens too!

All in all, it's still a golf game, but EA's PGA Tour Golf would be a first choice on my list of sports sims.

If the idea of a nice, easy stroll across some fields, occasionally knocking a ball towards a hole is completely alien to you, then you're probably not a fan of that marvellous executive meeting arena, the golf course. If, on the other hand, you would love to be able to tee off with the likes of Fuzzy Zoeller but wouldn't know which end to hold the golf bat, have no fear! Yhou are not alone! Thanks to Electronic Arts, useless club-wielders the nation over can now live out their dreams of playing the greens with PGA Tour Golf.

This isn't the first golf simulation to be released on the Amiga. The first effort came from US Gold in the form of Leaderboard and there have been a number of releases attempting to better this. Elite's Tournament Golf and Gremlin's Ultimate Golf with varying degrees of success.

Into The Wild Green Yonder
PGA Tour harks back to the purity of Leaderboard, concentrating on the playing techniques and fluid feel of the game rather than adding flashy extras.

The game begins in the Proshop, where new entrants must join the PGA roster before playing a game. If you don't feel confident enough to plump for a whole game, you can get a bit of practice in on the driving range or play a test round on your own. Once you've signed in, chosen your course and selected your clubs it's off to the first tee.

Before you tee off, you must make a note of the wind's strength and direction, aiming your shot accordingly. Once you're happy with the direction, you can start your swing. The shot is controlled by a bar at the bottom of the screen. The bar climbs left as the power increases until the button is pressed to begin the down-swing. Now the swing has to be stopped as close to the snap line as possible to hit the shot straight, since any deviation will cause the shot to be hooked or sliced.

Once the shot has been taken, the camera swings round to show your shot landing and you are given information on the ball lie and shot distance ready for your next attempt. Once you've sunk the ball, details are fed into the score computer and you are told of your placings. Score in the top rankings and you go onto the next round.

Simulating a skillful game like golf is always a rather dodgy prospect. It becomes all too easy to load the game with too many fiddly sort of shot options and presentation details so that the game gets lost in a swamp of flash graphics and sound.

Fetch the Tee Caddy
PGA Tour Golf does have very slick presentation and a host of options, but instead of distracting the player they add quite a lot to the proceedings. The options are very useful, allowing you to have a much greater control over play than some games, and the presentation extras such as the fly-by hole preview and fanfare intro can be turned off if they become annoying.

The feel of the gameplay is rather similar to Leaderboard, with the full-screen scenery and shot control method, but Electronic Arts have added much more to make the game fresh and enjoyable.

If you like a quick round now and then, but your golfing skills leave you horrendously over par at the end of the day, then try a round of PGA Tour. It could allow you to enjoy the game with a fraction of the frustration encountered on the greens - not to mention the saved expense of clubs being damaged when hurled into the bunker in a temper!

The handy thing about computer golf is that, compared to the real thing, it's relatively easy to play - sinking a hole of 584 yards in three shots is actually perfect feasible (if admittedly pretty hard). The best thing about this is that it opens up ample opportunity to invite over some of your less knowledgeable friends and (providing you've practised a bit) fool them into thinking you're not only brilliant at the computerised version, but a complete professional at the real thing too.

A corker of an idea, I'd have though, especially as these golfing games tend to be pretty good fun even when you're not dead set on impressing somebody. The only problem is, which one to buy?

Until now, the choice has been rather limited because (apart from the dated, if rather brilliant, Leaderboard series), most of them have been endorsed by some golfer or other. This means things tend to be a bit 'one sided' as far as gameplay tactics are concerned, and (worse still) they mean a picture of a grinning Jack Nicklaus or Greg Norman cropping up on screen every two seconds (which tends to put you off a bit). Add to that the fact that most golf games tend to be a little too complicated to play, and rather slow while they're about it, and you'll soon see that while they're all 'quite good', there's no clear cut winner. Until now, that is, because here's another one, and it's actually jolly good.

There are a lot of good things about PGA Tour Golf (we'll call it PGA for short), but the real beauty of it is that it's all so simple to play - so simple in fact that you could probably throw away the instruction manual and work out how to do it for yourself. Let's dive in for a closer look.

Some points about the game:

1. Everything you'll need is operated via pull down menus, or single key presses if you prefer, which makes for an incredibly user-friendly game. Starting to play is a real cinch, therefore - my advice would be to practice your driving (i.e. wacking balls into oblivion) on the diving range, then your putting on the green, before you actually get down to any serious competitions. (That way you'll be suitable ready to impress any chicks who happen to pass by while you're playing).

2. Once you've got the feel of the controls (which won't take a minute), you can put your driving and putting together and practice on the four courses, playing either the whole of each course, or swopping between courses and holes at will.

Chances are you won't be getting par for a while (in other words, you won't be completing the hole in the number of shots it would take you if you were any good), but don't worry, it'll come with effort.

3. For added excitement, a multiple player option is available, allowing you to play with up to three chums, which ups the fun of things considerably. If all your friends are, er, 'out' then you can play with some pretend ones (the computer plays them for you) - this can prove rather useful because you can watch how the computer plays the hole, then copy it and achieve a better result than you would have done beforehand.

4. As you play, various maps of the course, previews to each hole, overhead views of where you've got so far and details of where your ball has landed are given to you automatically if and when you need them - a nice touch which saves you piddling about with the menus every shot as in some golf games. You can turn any of the features off if you'd prefer, and then only have them displayed if selected.

5. Slightly crap players will be pleased to hear that PGA allows you to take an infinite number of 'Mulligans' - in other words cheat, and replay your last shot without the one you've just taken counting.

6. Once you've got to grips with the courses, then you can enter the Tournament. Once again, up to four players can enter (either real, or taken by the computer) and game play is the same as before, though you can't change courses or holes or rely on Mulligans to see you through. You are playing against sixty other players (although you don't see them play, thank goodness - it'd take forever) who appear merely as statistics displayed on the Leaderboard after each hole.

Most of the players have already started when you and your optional friends begin (some have practically finished the course), so you start about halfway down the table and have to score a number of points below 'par' for the course to rank among the top 48, and so move on to round two (and with any luck rounds three and four after that).

BEST GOLFING GAME TO DATE?
It all sounds pretty good, doesn't it? And it is. More than pretty good I'd say. It is - yes! - probably the best golfing game for the Amiga to date.

Without a doubt the best thing about it is that it's such a joy to use - everything you possibly need to know is given automatically just when needed, so you can concentrate on playing your shots and still know what's going on. Even the most unknowledgable golf person will be able to work out what to do, while the game offers enough realism to keep the experts happy. Providing you didn't really throw the instruction manual away (that was just my little joke back at the beginning, you see) you can check out loads of information on the courses, find out the way the pros would tackle certain problems in real life, and pick up hints on the best way to face any problems you might come across.

Being easy to use, and still fairly accurate, is all very well, I hear you saying, but is it actually any fun to play? Well, yes it is. PGA is utterly (utterly) addictive - whether you're practising 'en seul', playing a 'friendly' with some pals or completing in the tournament, it's one of those games which'll have you itching for 'just one more go before bedtime (or whatever)'. The 72 different holes (4 courses x 18) would provide long term entertainment too I'd imagine, with the tournament keeping you playing and playing until you're actually good enough to win some money. In short, I'd say that if you want a golf game for your Amiga, then this is the one to buy - it really is, for want of a slightly more original word, a 'corker'.

A game associated with dentists, sit com Doctors, and celebrities such as Tarby, Brucey, Cannon and Ball, and Tom O'Connor(y), EA now give you the chance to partake in this hearty sport - although the ribald jokes aren't obligatory thank goodness.

Actually, PGA Golf Tour has been around for a couple of years already - having enjoyed immense popularity on the PC where it benefited from the normal wealth of options expected for the genre. The good news is, of course, that Electronic Arts have at last brought the game to the Amiga and that the machine has kept all its options open.

The best thing about golf, (other than the undeniable fact that in common with darts, physical fitness plays a secondary role), is that it is a competitive sport. EA have made no disappointments here with up to four players able to play against each other.

The game begins from the PGA Tour tent where the player sets up the options for the game. This includes the number of players, and also whether they are controlled by the player or your trusty Amiga. The rank amateurs even get a chance to practice their game before entering a tournament proper and taking on the pros - either off the tee at the driving range to sharpen up their distance shots or practising their putting on the actual Tour holes themselves.

Practice makes perfect and once the would-be golf pro is satisfied with their shots then it's off to the Pro Shop where the selection of clubs that you have can be tailored to suit. There are four different challenging courses to choose from - each of which is loaded in once selected.

The first player up to the tee will have a driver selected for them. You can change the club selection if you wish but with each shot taken, the computer will 'caddy' for you and select the appropriate club. It's now all up to you. The yardage of the club is shown to the left of the swing bar and you must calculate what percentage of power to use for the shot you want. An overhead view of the hole gives you a rough idea of how to play the shot and in what direction - avoid any sand-traps, stay on the fairway, and don't embarrass your caddy with any new and colourful language.

The actual swinging process is simple to execute but very difficult to master. One press on the left hand mouse button sets the swing bar in motion. The second press stops the swing power from increasing and sends it scurrying back towards its origin. It's the third press of the button that determines the level of hook (to the left) or slice (to the right) that will accompany your shot. A shot stopped on the 'Accuracy Point' should, travel straight down the middle but woe, woe and thrice woe to anyone who doesn't allow for the wind.

Once you get within putting distance of the hole, a putting grid is displayed, detailing the distance to the hole, and showing you a grid map of the lie of the green. As with all shots, you must choose the direction of the shot (by moving the cross with the right hand mouse button) and the strength of the putting stroke. Even when you are putting, you can use a hook or a slice to bend the ball.

PGA Golf Tour is without question the best golf sim on the market and shows how the excellent attention to detail in graphics, playability and overall gameplay shows that Electronic Arts have got golf sims off a tee.