The Golf Club 2™

Ok i normally dont make game reviews but this game requires one i have put in almost 15 Hours into this game and as many players of the preorder hate the difficulty settings i must make a review. Since i Play golf in real life too this will be more geared towards the developers Idea of true to life golf game. This game as well as the developers focused on more real life golf physics and game play. I have been with them since the release of TGC1. this game does have a a lot of improvements from TGC1 but the focus is the same real life golf takes practice and dedication so if your not wanting to do that in a game then TGC1 and TGC2 is not for you. Golf is a game of accuracy or power cant have one with out sacraficing the other. There is a few bugs in the game still but over all it is well done for the way they planned the game to be "as close to real Life golf as Possible". the difficulty lvls are very different: Standard: SO EASY i barely sliced or hooked and always hit a good chip and putting was easy - Best for a beginner Player: It is like a middle ground but more power focused so accuracy is still lower but it is a challange - For a Intermediate Player or those that want a nice challange Tour: the most power out of all and accuracy is really bad here you can not play this difficulty without using a mouse and keybaord a gamepad joystick it way to sensitive to left and right for this mode. : for advanced palyers or plain just advoid all together as i could not hit streight with a X1 controller, steam controller, or PS4 controller Now that is a breif opinion of the difficulties. Now on to the game play review and a few tips while i am at it. the game play is nice. courses react the way they do in real life. firm fairways mean more bounce and speed and firm greens ave more bounce and are a bit faster in the putt so ease up a bit, soft reacts nice too grabs the ball and slows it a bit so sometimes the distance is cut shorter. the Putting takes time as green speed and angles plus practice are required to putt most are having issues putting and that is true a golfer in the PGA practices putting more then any other aspect of the game due to it being the game maker or breaker. so in my opinion this game is as close as you can get to real life golf in a game unless you count VR as that is totally a different aspect on the game of golf then using keyboards anf controllers. I hope this helps. I recommend this game to those that want a real life golf experiance over fantasy golf games

This game is incredible. I've been looking for a good golf game on PC for ages, and finally I've found one that delivers in spades. Presentation 10/10 The game is very polished throughout with an easy accessible menu system and all made to look very slick. There are fully voiced tutorials to take you through all the shot types. They even have a very comprehensive in-game help. Graphics 7/10 The game is pretty, using the latest unity engine version. Dynamic volumetric clouds move in the sky, water flows and has that nice reflection you'd expect. Lighting and shadows looks really good. There are some issues with texture pop-in at certain distances, but there are settings you can tweak to increase those distances at the cost of performance (depending on how strong your GPU is). Sound 8/10 The ambiant noise is great, with bird sounds and atmosphere of the different courses captured beautifully. The crowd noise isn't amazing, but it's not horrible either and doesn't bother me. The commentating is quite good, although I've seen people complain about it, I quite enjoy it. I don't often hear repeated phrases, and I found his commentating to be quite accurate regarding what's happening in the game. Gameplay 9/10 First off, the new swing system is incredible. It takes time and effort to master, but is not too difficult on easier clubs. They have really hit the sweetspot when it comes to difficulty in this game. There are 3 different club sets, ranked from Easy (Standard), Medium (Player), Hard (Tour). The harder the clubset that you choose, the more distance you'll get, but the more unforgiving the game will be on bad swings, and vice versa, the easier clubs doesn't give big distance, but is very forgiving when you make mistakes. I play on tour clubs and I find that every shot I have to concentrate in order to hit a good shot. I've had it where I'm trying to hit a green near a water hazard, and I mess up because I feel the pressure, but then I've had the elation when I've handled the pressure and hit a good shot anyway. This game is so much like real golf where you have to focus and think about every shot, and I love the challenge. I started out with a 7 handicap, but have now got it down to around a 1 handicap, and it's been awesome seeing how I've improved. Features 8/10 Offline Single Player: There is a career mode where you play against AI scores where you can win money and upgrade your clubhouse and/or your player clothing etc. There are lots of difficulty settings and it's fun. You can create your own events and seasons playing on any courses you want. There is no AI players playing with you, but it's not really something I care too much about. Online: There is this society feature where you basically join other people's clubs and play in their events for prize pools, and to get your name on top of leaderboards. This is good fun, and really nice to compare yourself to real people. Something I like doing is adding ghost players to my rounds with other people's previous rounds and then turning Turn Order on, which lets you watch each player taking their shots. It's like playing with real players, but without the wait, which I love. There is realtime online play with friends if that's what you prefer. Overall 8/10 The game is fun and challenging, which is what a golf game should be. I'm addicted and play at least one round a day. It has got me swearing and cursing a lot, but I think that's the effect all good sports games have on me. Ignore the panzies who call this game too difficult and give it a try. I believe it's worth every penny!

I've played almost every golf sim since the first PGA Tour in the mid 90s, and TGC2 for me is by far the best. Yes there's a learning curve, particularly with so many variables to factor in, but that's what makes it realistic, challenging and EXTREMELY REWARDING when you figure it out and reduce shot variance. I can only blame the Tiger Woods series (which I loved, because who wouldn't love scoring sub 50 every round) for many of the negative reviews on Steam, because there's an expectation that golf games should be childishly easy. It's certainly no coincidence that most of the negative reviews are people who have barely given the game a chance. It took a while for me to become good as well, and now I can't get enough of the game! Pros: - Fantastic gameplay mechanics, intuitive and it just works. I assure you those saying there are errors in the mechanics are flat out WRONG - if a shot goes wrong it's because you misjudged or didn't factor a variable into your shot. I know this because I figured it out myself through trial and error, and it's made a massive difference. - Best use of real-life variables in any golf game ever made, forces you to take the environment into account - Stunning & eye-wateringly huge range of courses available - Reasonably healthy range of competition in the official societies - 'open for all' usually has 50-100 players for each comp, of which there are several each week. - Typical final score range for a round in society comps is around -15 to +20 with about 2/3 of the field finishing under par, this is proof that the difficulty settings are absolutely spot on, and those who put the time and effort in are rewarded with the best - but still realistic, unlike the Tiger Woods series - scores. Cons: - Requires being online to play even in career or practice mode, no idea why that should be the case. - Commentator was initially charming and likeable but grates on you after a while - Can lag at times in high detail courses with waterfalls and larger crowds - Fast greens are brutally difficult final bosses and will have you cursing, fortunately very few courses have this setting - Handicap system is erratic and doesn't always make sense, I can drop from 6 to 3 in 2 rounds despite doing really well. Overall: Best golf game ever, and I mean that sincerely. If you're expecting no learning curve then don't bother. If you like learning and taking into account complex interacting and intervening realistic variables to maximise your chances of getting good scores, I assure you you will love it.

In an era where there arent a lot of good sports games, The Golf Club 2 puts up a solid performance. Here are just a few pros and cons i have found so far: Pro - Great graphics Wonderful senery Moderate amount customization Very good voice acting and voice acting variety Solid tutorial Massive amount of courses to go on Ability to create events for you and your friends(pay buy in fee and compete for the purse) Upgrade societies Join up to 5 societies at a time Handicap modifier to help compete Con - Mouse swinging is a little clunky #sadface #HCP17 #youfingmousewtf Although there is some decent customization the quality is some what mediocore Even on very easy i found my A.I. compitition wooping my butt limited Character upgrade ablity Some lengthy delay when going to between game windows at times Wind going to the left 7 mph, shot it....straight and clean, ball some how goes WIDE right....what? Decides to chip instead of putt> good chip.... ball rolling > ball still rolling > missies hole > ball still rolling ..... "damn it ball STOP!!!" > ...still rolling... "why wont you stop ball?" > "Damn it ball!.... IN THE NAME OF JESUS I COMMAND YOU TO STOP BALL!!!" > ball keeps rolling #facepalmtohead All and all i think the game is worth a buy. lots to do, with good graphics and an annoucer that dosent make you want to shoot yourself in the head cause you suck that bad. in fact the announcer sounds pretty realistic, one of the best points of the game. This game is good for both singler player play or with friends and will be well worth the money.

[h1]Major mouse-swing flaws.[/h1] Ridiculously counter-intuitive and flawed mouse swing ruins what might otherwise be a great game. Flaws are independent of mouse sensitivity and cannot be fixed by altering it. [b]From golf sims to arcade games, Tiger Woods PGA Tour to Golden Tee, they understand one very important thing: [i]faster mouse (or trackball) speeds mean faster clubhead speeds[/i]. Yet, HB Studios throws that logic right out the door.[/b] [b]Even the PCGamer review said putting is a "[i]bloody nightmare[/i]".[/b] Keep reading to find out why that's the case. https://youtu.be/VFj329T3us8 https://youtu.be/Pmr-jZ34YGs If you buy this game, [i]for your first two hours, don't waste any time with character creation, graphical settings, etc, because you need to use that time to decide if you can tolerate this game's mouse swing mechanics or not, in case you want a refund[/i]. Go [i]straight into the Training > Driving Range and Putting Practice[/i]. Adjust mouse sensitivity in game (and/or on mouse) to your liking. Notice that ball impact (delayed, not in sync with mouse) actually occurs in your downswing [i]only[/i] 1/4th to 1/3 the distance you pulled back during your [i]back[/i]swing. (But keep reading. It gets far worse than that.) So: if you get your mouse to swing [i]exactly[/i] through the where the mouse was at the start of the swing it doesn't matter, if you made a slight error as you started moving forward. Because of this, sometimes what feels like a good swing can make for bad results, and vice-versa. Frustrating. So I went and tested the swing mechanics out in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and its driving was significantly better, but not ideal. TW07 had ball impact farther into your downswing, at about 1/2 to 2/3rds back into your backswing during your downswing, thus far more intuitive and accurate mouse movement to club movement correlation than TGC2. Also, TW07 has your swing completely synchronous with your mouse movement. Not so in TGC2. So in TW07, [i]more of your downswing actually matters[/i], and thus it's likely that [i]your downswing aligning with your backswing matters more[/i]. And minor shifts left or right as your mouse changes from backward to forward would likely also be less exagerated in TW07 vs TGC2. Think that's bad? It gets far worse in TGC2 when it comes to putting! I can make a putt that's less than a foot away by holding down the LMB, and both pulling back and pushing forward the mouse [i]as fast as I possibly can[/i] (both mouse speed and without pause for tempo). Yes, full backswing mouse distance. Ridiculous. Why does it fail? Because the in-game putter won't keep up with a fast backswing, so while you move the full backswing distance, the in-game putter hasn't yet gone back very far, and to make matters worse, the game [i]doesn't even wait for it to go back the full distance once you move your mouse forward![/i] Not 1:1 movement. Not even [i]close.[/i] Horrible. [b]I also can[i]not[/i] consistently make any putts [i]under[/i] 50ft if I give it a full backswing, and move the mouse as [i]slowly[/i] forward as the game will allow[/b] by still registering an impact (often, it simply doesn't let you complete impact with the ball). Also ridiculous. [b]However, in TW07, with a [i]full[/i] backswing, and a [i]slow[/i] downswing, I actually [i]can[/i] still make a putt that only travels 3 feet.[/b] With the same full backswing, if I swing as hard as I can forward, I can putt over 100 feet. And the "fast as I possibly can backswing and downswing without pause"? Yup, again, over 100 feet. Not accurate aim, mind you: but accurate distance. As it should be. As common sense would dictate. See for yourself in the first video. And it's not fixable by adjusting mouse sensitivity: see the 2nd video. If you like mouse movement [i]correlating signficantly close enough to 1:1 such that better skill and finesse are consistently rewarded with better shots: avoid this game[/i]. Stick with TW07 or the similiar. So, in TGC2 mouse/putter speed [i]doesn't mean much at all[/i]. You'd best putt with your mouse next to that ruler you suddenly have use for, because backswing distance reigns supreme in this game. In other words, it sucks. The game says "putting is all about feel" but that's not how it is at all. [i][b]TW07 has far more "feel" to it[/b][/i]. TGC2 is a huge disappointment, and it's a shame that HB Studios can't manage to improve upon, or even [i]equal,[/i] "the feel" of a game made [i]ten years ago.[/i] They should have done their homework. If you feel the same about the game, review it. Hopefully the developer might listen to the community and make the game better. I'd love to see them improve the driving and putting to make it a more 1:1 movement relationship with the mouse. Putter backswing distance reigning supreme on distance has its place with the ancient 2- or 3-click swing interface, or perhaps analog sticks on gamepads. But with a mouse interface: mouse/putter [i]speed upon impact[/i] should matter most regarding distance. Also, they need to provide more feedback from the swing, like club speed upon impact and both downswing [i]and[/i] backswing feedback. Like the TW PGA Tour games managed to do over 10 years ago. [i]Not worth full price.[/i] Maybe 75% off. [i]If[/i] they fix the swing dynamics to either equal or even surpass that of TW07, it would easily be worth full price, or even more! Fix this game HB Studios. Until then: Not recommended.

I've been wanting a decent realistic golf game for pc on Steam, and this one meets all of my requirements. If you've played a golf game in the past, then the chances are you have been mollycoddled with aim helpers and power bars. Not here. You're on your own, and I think that is the best way to learn how to play this game. After a few rounds of hell and wondering if you bought a bad game, you find your shots lining up, and your understanding deepens. You begin to think a little more before swinging. You start to question the game's choice of club, and change it yourself. Then you're hooked, and it's so very rewarding when you drop that 24ft putt, or hit your very first eagle on a par 5. Anyway, I think the career mode could be a little less "sandbox" and have actual preset tournaments you could take part in. The whole society side of the game seems a bit fatuous too, but doesn't detract either. Customization is decent, but that doesn't really bother me much. The graphics are great, and it runs really well too. The sound is good which is important to me for immersion's sake. The announcer is particularly good, having a reasonable sense of humour and he rarely repeats himself. Recommended, and has the "best golf sim on Steam" title for me, but then this is the only golf sim on Steam I have played.

Tough, unforgiving, pretty bloody hard to play consistantly well. Which is pretty close to real world golf. Pro -------------- Modern engine and physics Good graphics Smooth performance More courses than you can shake your stick at, both real and fantasy Control Pad friendly Hot Seat multi-player (4) Online tournaments and events. Career mode Customisable player character Personalised Clubhouse Con ------- Absolutely not noob friendly Requires a LOT of patience Putting is a nightmare at times Online play can be problematic No real explanation of the games advanced features Official courses are either super simple or extremely hard Green lay grid doesn't account for green speeds, so its not always accurate. If you want a full on sim golf game......its not like that. If you want a Tiger Woods style arcade game......its not like that. TGC2 tries to staddle the middle ground by having no gauges or power bars, but allowing auto caddying, shot pre-selection, green run guides etc. That means it requires a LOT of time spent playing to get a feel for it. However when it does "click" and you play well it feels extremely rewarding. If your looking for a modern "light sim" golf game, this is a solid choice.

Awesome improvement over TGC1. I think the days of the same guy playing every course at 30 under par are over with. At least I hope, but if they do you can be sure they cheated! Worth the price just to get rid of the exact same distance problem that plagued the last version. Play is much more varied, graphics are smooth (unless playing on a toaster, I guess). Well done, this one will stay on my machine for a long time! Edit: This is about to real golf as I have gotten on a computer. I throw my controller, huff and puff, and then come right back. Just like real golf!