A novice’s first look at the vast world of golf gaming

By Rahul Banerji

What does a golfer do when she or he cannot play any golf?

With zero time on the course over the last two months, it was an inevitable question, delayed perhaps, but one that popped up nevertheless. For those who can, there’s backyard knock-a-ball. Or soft-ball golf in a nearby park.

Other than that, there’s very little scope to recreate the magic of a golf course.

So, what does one do? The answer was waiting a finger’s touch away.

Electronic golf. On your smartphone screen, laptop, desktop, whatever is your cup of tea.

These games range from the basic – that can be played on a smartphone screen – to the very advanced that need a gaming console and associated paraphernalia.

External prompt

The prompt for this bit of “soul-searching” – as it usually does – came from an external source, a trawl through Twitter that threw up the nugget that a new golf game was on the way.

Now, this is a new universe for me. What I know of golf games, gaming, online golf etc, etc can be written on one thumbnail, with space to spare. So I needed a guide to walk the first few steps with.

Self-declared golf nerd Abimanyu was kind enough to share a pointer or two, so here we go.

First, the news, which is the area I operate in.

According to Golf Digest, there is a huge demand for high-quality golf games.

“Ever since the discontinuation of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game series—and the one-off Rory McIlroy PGA Tour game from 2015—golf fans have been clamouring for a high-quality console video game option,” Golf Digest proclaimed.

Teeming universe

A very cursory exploration on Google was daunting. There are literally hundreds and thousands of games out there in the e-verse. Obviously, they are there because of a huge demand.

And clearly, the Covid-enforced lockout of courses has had a massive multiplier effect on the demand for gaming.

So back to Golf Digest. “A verified Twitter account called PGA Tour 2K released a 17-second preview for PGA Tour 2K21, and the account says full details on the game will be coming on May 14. The official PGA Tour Twitter account re-tweeted the announcement shortly thereafter.

“The game will be developed by HB Studios, the group behind The Golf Club 2019, a game that has grown in popularity due to its course-design feature, allowing players to tee it up on re-created versions of courses like Augusta National and Pine Valley.

“And while that game does have a PGA Tour career mode that allows you to progress from Q-School on, it does not feature any PGA Tour players, meaning gamers must play as a fictional golfer.”

This answered a few questions. You can play these games by yourself, form groups and leagues. Even the basic games have functions where you can set up matches, display scores and hold “matches”.

For further information and education, Abhimany suggested a visit to the Androidauthority website. From there, I came away with information on gaming, but very little education.

I’ll stick to physical golf, but for those of you looking for some very basic and honestly suoerficial input, here goes a list, titled “10 best games for Android” from https://www.androidauthority.com/best-golf-games-for-android-874547/.

1. Desert Golf
2. Golf Battle
3. Flick Golf Extreme
4. Golf Clash
5. Golf Master 3D
6. Mini Golf 3D City Stars Arcade
7. OK Golf
8. PGA Tour Golf Shootout
9. Super Stickman Golf 3
10. WGT Golf

Good luck and happy golf gaming. I have to rest. My head’s spinning from all this techsploration!

Also read: String theory: Golf lessons in unwinding a tangled mess