The Golf Club 2 Review

Golf is really targeted towards such a specific demographic of people. To make them more appealing to a wider audience, video games that capture the sport more often take a more cartoon-ish route, with simplified, accessible gameplay. The only exception to that rule has previously been the EA franchise (formerly Tiger Woods and most recently Rory McGilroy), but with no EA Sports golf game in the coming months, the fairway is clear and sunny days are ahead for The Golf Club 2 to take charge. The question: is it a birdie or a bogey?

This is definitely not one for the impatient; much like the sport itself, for those who play it. Much like “real life”, learning which type of club and shot that works for each scenario – whether it be a ball that’s on the fairway, in the rough or even in a bunker – is pivotal to your success. It’s very likely that a lot of your early hours learning what makes the game tick will be spent doing quite terribly until it all connects. Once you adapt to this steep learning curve though, things open up to a feature-packed experience.

The “play alone” nature of golf means that multiplayer works differently to most sports games in that you compete against a list of players who have either already completed the course in the past, or, are currently playing on it at the same time. It’s easy enough to find people who are currently playing on each course, but the ability to have others in the same game world as you in some way does work well enough without relying on each of you “joining a game”. It also means you can play at your own pace, saving you waiting around for your opponents to “take their turn”.

There is a career mode where you can craft your own tournaments, have your clubhouse and societies that you can join that consistently run events. Despite a lot of options, features and modes, there isn’t really a clear progression path or sense of evolving your character, given most of the bonuses you get – including the clubs –  are cosmetic at best.

On reflection, complaining about The Golf Club 2 being difficult is sort of like complaining that the sport of golf itself is difficult… because it is. It takes time to practice, enhance your skills and make good choices. It’s also incredibly frustrating to hit your ball into an almost impenetrable rough, directly into an awful bunker or lose it awkwardly in a large body of water that would have been easily avoidable if you’d just not swung like an idiot in that crucial moment which was the difference between making par or being asked to politely move on to the next hole because you’ve taken way too long.

Hmm… this sounds a lot like my life when I actually play golf. Points must be given for so perfectly capturing that frustration, although controllers actually break when you throw them, while golf clubs don’t.