The Golf Club is Heading Back to the Course
Virtual golf is one of those things. You love it or you hate it. I fall into the former category and have been playing computer base golf sims since the days of my 286 CGA computer. This has been a constant through the years and despite EA seemingly abandoning the sport, HB Studios’ excellent The Golf Club 2 has been keeping my addiction fed. So when I read that HB Studios were releasing a new title, well I got excited in a way only a golf tragic can.
The Golf Club 2019 is coming this year and it promises to bring back everything that made the previous title such a great recreation of the sport. The challenging but fair gameplay and the excellent course designer are coming back, but what is exciting is the very extensive list of improvements and new features that will be include. The most exciting addition is a proper Career mode, which will allow players to climb the ranks into the world of Professional Golf. Another massive change is the inclusion of real-world courses for the first time, something that will be appreciated by fans of the sport everywhere.
When asked about the upcoming title, Alan Bunker, CEO of HB Studios had this to say: “We’ve always said The Golf Club is a long-term project for HB and this sequel is another huge stride forward. We already have the best golf video game on console and PC, as proven by the critics and user reviews alike. The community is active, they’re passionate, and it’s growing all the time. The Golf Club 2019 is HB continuing to grow the game and we’re confident the community will respond well to this announcement and continue to grow with us,”
Alan also teased further announcements for the upcoming game, “We also have one or two more surprises up our sleeve which will take The Golf Club 2019 to another level! I encourage everyone to watch this space. Let’s ensure The Golf Club gaming community remains the best place to be for fans of the game and the sport.”
So I know that this news will be met by a giant shrug of the shoulders by many gamers out there, but for those of you who enjoy a round of virtual golf, this is exciting news indeed. The Golf Club 2019 is coming out in the second half of the year on PC and Consoles and you can catch the full list of additions and improvements below.
The extensive feature additions for The Golf Club 2019 include:
- An all-new deep and challenging single-player Career Mode. Work your way through the ranks to become the number one golf professional in the world.
- In addition to the library of 170,000 existing user-created courses which everyone can play, The Golf Club 2019 will include a selection of real-world courses intricately mapped using high detail terrain data.
- New play modes: Alt-Shot and Skins have been added in response to popular demand!
- Online Matchmaking brings a new streamlined experience to The Golf Club franchise for competitive play. Compete on any of the approved and official courses in a round of Head to Head Match Play, 2-4 player Stroke Play, Alt-shot or Fourball Team Play, or put your virtual currency on the line in wager matches featuring Skins.
- Private Matches give the full benefits of Matchmaking with control over who is invited to play, the course played, round format used and additional conditions for each match.
- Massively expanded upon Character Editor. A vast array of new character customization options including licensed apparel and brand integration for the first time in a TGC game, new club heads, and adjustable character height and weight options.
- Enhanced Online and Solo Societies. Grow your members, upgrade your Clubhouse, run tournaments and earn virtual currency. Society owners can now add others as Admins, entry requirement settings allow Society owners to set specific criteria, and event entries can now be determined by results and standings from previous events.
- Completely overhauled UI, offering a fresh new look across the game experience.
- The award-winning Course Designer just gets bigger and better! Design, build and share your courses online using cutting edge procedural generation or get intimate with the powerful terrain editing tools. New features include optimized autofill options when drawing splines and painting surfaces, tree rotation plus many new objects in the extensive library of 400+ props for designers to create with.
- Cross-platform sharing of user-designed courses remains a core feature. Design on your platform of choice and share your course with your friends on another platform.
- Integration of SpeedTree technology for the first time in a TGC game ensures even higher visual quality gameplay than before.
- Many rendering and special effects updates including optimized dynamic shadows, many more visual details between club, ball and surfaces, and much more.
- Further improvements to the ball physics for added realism and accuracy.
- Improvements to the crowd system including seated spectators for added authenticity.
- Improved swing mechanic and user feedback. The swing feedback sees a completely new look with well-defined and informative detail about what is happening on each shot, split into a number of feedback mechanics.
