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Unlike most of the other sports, golf games on the PC are still abundant. In fact, you might say that we're in a Golden Age of golfing sims, with a fierce battle being waged among some truly impressive contenders.
Ignoring EA Sports' disappointing Tiger Woods series, virtual golfers are blessed with three outstanding choices: the now-homeless Jack Nicklaus Golden Bear Challenge (Activision won't be publishing a sequel due to poor sales), Links 2000 (still a fine game despite little change from the 1999 version, but hang on to your clubs for Links 2001), and last but by no means least, PGA Championship Golf 2000, the latest and greatest from Vance Cook and his team of golfing nuts at Headgate Studios.
If you've had the pleasure of playing last year's version (which received an Editors' Choice award from yours truly in the September 1999 issue), you'll feel right at home with PGA 2000. Everything that was good about last year's game - the real-time mouse swing interface, realistic physics, powerful course editor, and seamless online play - have all been improved.
Mastering the TrueSwing now requires you to develop a good tempo throughout the shot. The new method feels much more natural, and is actually easier to control once you've breached the learning curve. The already impressive physics model captures ball flight and bounce better than ever. A small but very noticeable added touch is the way the ball rolls - you can actually see it revolving as it rolls across the green. It may not have an impact on play, but you'll be amazed at how much it enhances the realism.
The course architect has been beefed up with more objects to use in your designs, and you can easily import any course made for the prior game. Despite Headgate's claim that it has made the editor simpler to work with, I'll continue to let the pros on the 'net continue to weave their magic; I don't think I'll ever figure this thing out.
The one glaring deficiency from last year - a slapped-together offline tournament mode - has undergone the biggest change, and is now a strong feature. Using any of the courses you have on your hard disk, you can set up tournaments of varying rounds, purses, rules for making the cut, and much more. It's simple to set up, and you can keep track of your statistics and earnings as you progress from season to season. It's not a true career mode (i.e. you don't age) but it works well enough. Let's hope that next year's version fleshes this out further.
One of the few complaints I have is an occasional problem with collision detection. Sometimes you'll hit a tree and the ball will ricochet off of it at an unnatural angle. I've also seen a couple of instances where my ball was right up against an obstacle and I was able to hit through it like it wasn't there. The announcers - poor in last year's game - have improved, but only marginally. They still repeat themselves too often, and give away the shot result before the ball comes to a halt.
Neither of the small gripes should dissuade you from picking up PGA Championship Golf 2000, though. It does everything a good golf game should, and the TrueSwing shot method is a refreshing way to play a round.