After a break of nearly a decade, EA Sports are back in the golf arena and have harnessed the power of modern PCs and consoles in EA Sports PGA Tour. Released in time for the Masters, you can play a virtual round at Augusta National along with 29 other top Tour venues. But does it look and play the part?

Summary

NCG SUMMARY

Glorious from the cinematic introduction, EA Sports PGA Tour recaptures the magic of the old Tiger Woods franchise and, with its new in-game mechanics, sends a high drive soaring into the middle of the fairway. It could be a major winner.

PROS

• Beautifully rendered golf courses look as realistic as we’ve ever seen in a golf game
• Ball spins, reacts, and rolls on landing in a much more genuine way
• Huge array of shots to choose from mirrors the options you might see out on the course yourselves

CONS

• Pitching and chipping action is a bit clunky

EA Sports PGA Tour review

Now: £59.99 PS5, £64.99 XBox X/S, £59.99-£74.99 Steam

First impressions

Prepare for goosebumps. The familiar EA Sports logo, the iconic “It’s in the game”, and then a cinematic introduction that’s pure theatre. You roll around Augusta, St Andrews, the famous Claret Jug appears, and you’re just itching to get started. Please, can I press ‘A’?

It’s all a far cry from EA Sports’ previous incarnation – Rory McIlroy PGA Tour ’15. That sure looked the part, but had little underneath the bonnet. My disc was gathering dust within a couple of weeks and EA left the sport to The Golf Club and 2K.

Now, they are back and it’s worth the wait. Much of EA Sports PGA Tour is just glorious. There are 30 courses to choose from – and we’re talking iconic tracks like The Country Club, Pebble Beach, and TPC Sawgrass as well as the Old Lady, Riviera and, of course, Augusta National. Plenty more will surely be added after the launch date.

I’m not going to talk about textures, frame rates, or any of the in-game engineering here. I’m going to review this as a golfer, and see if the experience of playing reflects in anyway the sights and sounds we feel when we’re out on the course. I played EA Sports PGA Tour on the XBox Series X.

Review

My God, it looks lovely. As the game begins an extensive install, you take the mantle of World No 1 and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler for a…