pga tour road to the masters ps5 review

EA Sports PGA Tour Review (PS5) – Swing When You’re Winning

Sebastian Hawden / April 26, 2023

EA Sports PGA Tour PS5 Review. Grab your driver, don some funky trousers and let’s hit the course in PGA Tour: Road To The Masters, the latest in EA’s long-running golf sim franchise. I’ve had a long history with these games, and needless to say they have had their ups and downs along the way, so let’s see how this latest one shapes up.

I have fond memories of me and a few friends crowded around my kitchen table playing PGA Tour 97. We all loved every second of it. The beauty of the course, the serene mood and the tactical nature of tackling each hole’s puzzle was something we all adored. Plus destroying friends on the course is always entertaining, especially when they land a shot into the drink!

PGA Tour (PS5) – A Good Walk Spoiled

Par for the course.

So, PGA Tour, focuses mainly on the sport’s four major events. Along with these big events the game comes with about 30 courses, of which there is a nice variety as well as tournaments you can enter – which is one of features that matter here. It’s like tracks in racing games; you need fresh scenery and course layouts to keep things exciting.

This entry to the PGA series is also chock full of modes, challenges and gameplay types to keep any golfer occupied for a while. There are online tournaments, online matchups, friendly games and challenges. However, the career mode and how its structured is what really won me over – I could not stop playing the damn thing.

Role Playing Golf

What made it so addictive is the slight RPG nature of proceedings. You create your character using one of the worst character creators I have ever seen (more on that later) and you go off on your journey to become the number-one golfer in the world. The issue with this is you need to improve both your stats and skills in the game to get there and it was glorious.

I started out with rubbish stats and the skillset to match but over the course of many fairways, hundreds of drives and putts of all varieties I brought it back around. I got better at the game and at the same time, as my golfer participated in events, I could improve his stats, unlock new shot types and pick up new equipment. I found this very rewarding, extremely interesting and much better than the last career mode I played in a PGA Tour game.

I did have a slight foray into the multiplayer side of things and everything worked as you expect. I like the simultaneous play, no waiting for folks to take their shots and rounds flew by. The connectivity and gameplay were smooth and very entertaining. I imagine this would be great with friends using microphones with a few beers and shouting obscenities at each other.

In terms of mechanics, I particularly enjoyed the amount of customization and options there were for tailoring this golf experience to your liking. You can change your swing difficulty and type, and the developers have even added the old-school three-click swing from the older games. This version of PGA Tour can be played by most people, no matter their skill level. Inclusivity is awesome!

A Golf Game For All

I also really enjoyed the putting mechanism in this game. The combined effects of a green grid and putting preview line made most putts easy to read. This means that most putts I missed were my fault. I hit it too hard or did not read the undulations correctly. Nowhere is this more prevalent than judging your power, I rarely overhit or underhit putts and when I did it was my swing that was to fault, rather than the game presentation of the green’s ups and downs.

From a presentation standpoint the game looks fantastic at times. Apart from my character model, which I still hate, I really enjoyed strolling through PGA Tour’s meticulously crafted golf courses. Lush greens, lovely lakes and fabulous shrubbery surround every round you play, making for a graphically-pleasing experience.

On the sound front, it’s pretty much the same thing. The commentary, even though it repeats sometimes is overall pretty solid, witty and entertaining. We have a few golf experts onboard, and their commentary really fits what is happening on screen and really makes each round feel like an authentic PGA event. The music was a bit lacking but let’s be honest, no one plays a golf game for its soundtrack.

A Character Creator From A Distant Past

I did have a few issues with this game, it’s not all sunshine, fairways and rainbows. The character creator for example is tosh. I could only pick from a few faces and the amount of customization I could do could fit on the back of a post-it note. It was so poor and it really set me off on the wrong foot when I first started up the game.

I also had a few weird camera shenanigans, which fortunately seem to have been fixed with the latest patch. In any case, there were a few shots where buildings or other obstructions at the side of the course would completely obscure my character. I could not judge my swing, prepare my shot or anything. These were rare issues and I haven’t encountered them since the last patch.

Well Under Par

PGA Tour is a brilliant golf sim. It can be tailored to any playstyle and skill level. The career mode is both rewarding and addictive, watching your skills and character get better over time is brilliant. The multiplayer options are well implemented and the amount of content, modes and things to do is vast. Yes, there’s a niggly issue or two but overall, this game is the best PGA Tour outing for years. FORE!

PGA Tour is now available on PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

Review code kindly provided by publisher.

The Final Word

As golf games go, this is the most fun I have had in a while. It's a massive improvement over recent years' titles. The career mode is both addictive and rewarding, it's full of contact and the presentation is both cinematic and beautiful. A few issues will not get in the way of what I think is the best golf sim around at the moment. Let's hit the greens, people!

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EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Review | A Master in the Making?

EA Sports PGA Tour Road to the Masters – the golf game presumed to make a strong comeback after being MIA for the last eight years. Speculations were that this title was meant to come in, use the latest tech, come up with new initiatives, and knock its competitors out of the park. So, did it exceed expectations?

Features such as the Puke Strike, Ball Behavior, the long list of Pros, exclusive golf courses, game modes, and more were all meant to set this one apart following its worldwide release on April 7. Adding pressure to the release of Road to the Masters was the brave decision to make the game exclusive to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, while excluding the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. From this, you have to ask… Did they accomplish what they set out to do by excluding other platforms?

With this review, Prima Games will discuss the gameplay, graphics, pros and cons, and more. The discussion will also cover if EA Sports PGA Tour is a game changer in the golfing simulation world; if it perfectly stroked past its counterparts; if it’s worthwhile investing all your time in; or if it’s none of the sorts.

Sit back, grab a coffee, and enjoy the read. Hopefully, it’s not like the suffocating silence you experience before making a long 40ft putt, and it’s more like the release of cheers around the golf course after a long successful drive for a Greens In Regulation.

EA Sports PGA Tour Gameplay and Features

EA Sports PGA Tour Gameplay has a few clean swings and missed hits. EA’s hit-and-miss involves the in-game experience, what to make of the user interface and many other factors. 

Let’s start with playing golf. 

Playing Golf

Yes, many out there feel the new swing mechanics of Road to the Masters left EA in the rough. However, I liked it more than I hated it and quickly became accustomed. With the developers ready to introduce the 3-Click Swing mechanics soon with their next major update, there’s an option for all, making the game more enticing.

To find out more about EA’s latest update, you can read: EA Scores a Hole-in-One With Latest PGA Tour Fixes and Additions .

The gameplay is fantastic if you enjoy being a professional athlete. However, the UI is lacking in-game, and there’s a need for more assistance and tutorials. Once your first tutorial’s done, you’re on your own. It’s like swinging closed eyes and hoping for the best. 

The same can be said for the grid and guide for putting. There should have been an added feature: darkened areas where there are huge slopes and lightened areas with less slope. It would help you fare better in the short game, and having this as a map addition in the game would have been nifty. It would help eliminate using the putting guide and assist all players in identifying slopes better — a quicker way to get accustomed to all of the courses, allowing you to work on your strengths and weaknesses.

The lack of assistance does, however, influence practicing more by doing all the game’s challenges. One has to admit, rehearsing shot after shot gets your game going which, in turn, is a tremendous positive for the game. If you’re fresh to golfing and any golfing simulator, the Coaching Academy in the Challenges game mode will be your best friend and where you need to head first.

To sum it all up, playing golf in EA Sports PGA Tour is not user-friendly, but you can master your craft quite quickly to swing like a pro.

Related: All EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Shot Types Listed

Something to Celebrate and Something to Improve on

The main hub is clear, straightforward, and easy to navigate around. Despite some glitches that occurred because of bugs in the early days of its release, it was pretty easy to maneuver around — a great UI experience, hands down.

Upgrading Your Player in Road to the Masters

Probably the most straightforward upgrading system I’ve ever used. Plain and simple describes it best. The upgrading points could use some improvements, though. With only two points for levelling up, I’ll be 65 by the time I win the Master with a fully upgraded self-created Pro.

“ Where there is an unquestionable shortage in one area, another area weighs in heavily and comes to save the day. “

The biggest letdown is the editing and player creation. A high flop by the dev team here. Limited options, no face scan, and nothing new. For a team like EA, this is a department where they excel and usually deliver.

Apparel Equals Fire In EA Sports PGA Tour

Where there is an unquestionable shortage in one area, another area weighs in heavily and comes to save the day. The apparel in the game lifted my mood on the editing front, and honestly, all the options you have for equipment and clothing to choose from are fire.

A big ups to EA for including such an incredible catalogue of exclusive drip. Supposing you can’t play like a pro, at least you can dress up and look the part! 

Exclusive Courses In-Game

From Augusta National to Teeth of The Dog, the 30 courses in EA Sports PGA Tour are winners. The attention to detail of the grass, water, bunkers, and trees makes for a fantastic view. Playing in 4K certainly has its touch of realism in the PGA Tour.

For decades, we’ve seen EA triumph over their rivals in many, if not all, sports titles in one crucial area. That is, having all the licences and agreements for players, stadiums, courses, etc. Having the rights to the exclusive courses in Road to the Masters sets the bar high for all of their counterparts. It’s, again, a winning factor for them.

The courses will also make or break you, asking different questions and making each hit, stroke, drive, and putt a unique situation. Brilliant!

Related: EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters: All Golf Courses Listed

EA Sports PGA Tour Graphics

Other than a few moments where the ball is missing just before you swing, the audio playing at the wrong time, and other minor glitches with the fans and delay, the EA Sports PGA Tour graphics are phenomenal.

Playing Road to the Masters on PS5 has been a great experience and something I enjoyed, but only once I started getting used to the game’s mechanics. The massive downfall is the Pro players who look “similar” rather than like-for-like to their real-life figures. It’s not the end product just yet, and work needs to be done.

The cutscenes overview of the courses is the best way to admire the precise detail of all the golf courses and structures. The TrackMan data, Fluid Swing Mechanics, Ball Behavior, many Shot Types, and Course Dynamics all aid the graphics and make for a better and smoother golfing game experience.

Related: EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Pure Strike Explained

Concluding Thoughts on EA Sports PGA Tour

With this one, if I were to sum up EA Sports PGA Road to the Masters into one analogy, I would say: If this were an 18-hole round of golf, EA got an excellent few birders, one or two eagles, but there were undoubtedly bogeys. 

Was the comeback strong? Yes, It indeed was. The Pure Striker, Flued Swing Mechanics, and Ball Behavior make for a real-life golf experience. The courses are fantastic to play on, and their abundance in the game makes for a timeless title. The online modes make the game even more timeless, something many are happy about, not just me. Without it, golf can be a lonely place.

“ You restart, restart, restart, you get a bogey, you’re disappointed with yourself, and you restart again. You make a top, top shot; you‘re running around the house celebrating and thanking the crowd for their support. “

Though, much work must be done on making the title more story-driven and following something like FIFA when you play as Alex Hunter, the fictional character, on a journey to become a professional footballer. Or when you sit in on negotiations during transfers. These ideas could be implemented into the game for a more simulated experience, maybe by separating this from Career Mode and giving it its own title: Story Mode.

To find out more about the various game modes in Road to the Masters, you can read:  All EA Sports PGA Tour – Road to the Masters Game Modes

It’s Just Straight-Up Golfing

This is where EA Sports PGA Tour does excel over its counterparts. The swinging, response to the joystick, bounce of the ball, how you can manipulate the shot, the many shot types, immersion, everything seems to be in tuned and seamless. That alone sanctifies a strong comeback for EA into the golfing gaming world. 

Believe it or not, the game has an alluring feel about it. You want to get all the stars in each challenge. You restart, restart, restart, you get a bogey, you’re disappointed with yourself, and you restart again. You make a top, top shot; you‘re running around the house celebrating and thanking the crowd for their support. You consider your strategy every step of the way. It is all definitely “ In the Game!” in this one.

If you’re into sports games that allow you to live the thrills, chills, disappointment and excitement of a professional sportsman, I highly recommend this game. If you’re an action-packed junky that enjoys end-to-end action, this game is way too quiet and passive for you. The true meaning of the gentleman’s game comes to mind when playing EA Sports PGA Tour Road to the Masters.

• Looks incredible realistic
• User-friendly HUD
• Limited editing options when creating a pro
• Little golfing aid and assistance
• Slow upgrade system

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

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EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is a golf game unlike any other

EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is out now.

Didn’t score Masters tickets this year? Still trying to cope with the fact you might never peg it at Augusta National? Those things might not change, but you can still visit Augusta … virtually.

For the first time since 2013, Augusta National is back in video game form with the latest release of EA Sports PGA Tour.

EA Sports, known for its popular Madden NFL and FIFA titles, is relaunching its popular golf series in 2023 for the first time since 2015 — and it’s bringing back the home of the Masters as part of it all.

Augusta National hasn’t been in the game since 2014, the last time the series was released under the “Tiger Woods” name. Augusta is one of 30 different courses now available on the new game, with more courses — like major hosts Oak Hill and Los Angeles Country Club — coming online as those majors get underway.

EA’s return to the golf world means that golf gamers have the option between two PGA Tour-licensed golf games for the first time. 2K Sports released its third PGA Tour-licensed game, PGA Tour 2K23 with Tiger Woods, last fall.

The EA game was officially launched on Masters Friday, and we at GOLF have been putting it through the wringer to see if it’s a worthy golf simulation game. Here’s what we learned.

What we liked

Graphics and Aesthetics: In the run-up to the release of the game, the EA Development Team credited significant advancements in video game visual technology with bringing the series back from its nearly decade-long hiatus.

They weren’t kidding. Not only do the courses look stunning — EA producer Ben Ramsour told GOLF a screenshot of Augusta’s 13th green was mistaken for a photograph — but also the swing animations have finally started to appear lifelike.

You can really see EA’s attention to detail with the equipment highlighted in the game. From Callaway and TaylorMade drivers to Scotty Cameron putters, most of the game’s most modern offerings are available to users. And it all looks like the real thing. EA even brought insane detail into recreations of the trophies from golf’s majors, which brings us to the next item…

The four majors : Unlike the 2K games, EA Sports PGA Tour features exclusive rights to all four of the men’s major championships, meaning that the majors are now playable in career mode. That also goes for the U.S. Amateur, as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. You can also play in the LPGA’s Evian Championship .

Each major has a unique broadcast package, with specific lines of dialogue from the broadcast team — a solid grouping that reunites Rich Lerner with Frank Nobilo, Notah Begay III and Iona Stephen. Nick Faldo even handles a spine-tingling intro for the Masters.

Career mode : You have three options of where to start your career: as an amateur in either the U.S. Am or the ANWA, a pro playing on the Korn Ferry Tour or by skipping those steps and heading straight to the PGA Tour.

I chose to start as an amateur, winning the U.S. Amateur to qualify for both the Masters and U.S. Open. My player made the cut on the number at Augusta (I have yet to break 71 there, more on that in a bit) and then earned a solid top 10 at the U.S. Open. Eventually, I’ll have to tackle Korn Ferry Tour Q-School before advancing up the ranks into the world of the PGA Tour.

As you play rounds or challenges, which can range from easy to very difficult, you earn XP to level up your golfer and earn skill points to improve your ratings and add shot selections to your repertoire.

Gameplay and shot types: Finally, a golf game has done justice to the stinger and the knockdown, two of my favorite shots. You have to level up your golfer enough to unlock these speciality shots — at which point you need to learn how to use them — but it’s fun to see a game actually delve into shot-making.

I’ve been playing on a custom difficulty in between the two most-difficult settings, “Tour” and “Simulation.” This means my shots are penalized or rewarded for timing, my clubs are recommended to me by carry distance, not total yardage, and I don’t get putt previews or shot trails. In the past, I’ve found golf video games were too easy in the mid-difficulty levels and far too difficult at the harder settings. With the latest EA offering, I’ve found a balance that allows me to shoot some “normal” scores that a pro would shoot on a real course.

The actual swing mechanic works nicely into the user interface. Some people have noticed some lagging in the timing, but it rarely impacts me significantly.

That said, Augusta National is hard. I mean, seriously hard, especially around the greens. I have yet to break 71 there and it’s mostly due to the crazy slope in the greens. That makes not only putting difficult but also chipping and approach shots.

Thanks to new ball flight and ball behavior settings, shots seem to react like they would at ANGC. Miss the tiny plateau in the upper right corner of 6 green? You’re going all the way back to the front left corner. Come up short on 9? You’ll be rewarded with a fun 50-yard pitch. Go long of the Sunday pin on 18? Good luck with that putt.

As expected, you also won’t get the same kind of spin at say, Bandon Dunes or St. Andrews, where the ball bounces and bounds like a true links course. These tendencies are independent of what the course setting is too. “Tournament” conditions at St. Andrews will naturally be firmer than at Augusta, but green speeds in Georgia will be quicker.

What could be better

I’m no video game expert (I only ever buy golf and basketball games at this point) but here’s what I, as a golfer, would like to see.

Short game: Short shots have always been the toughest to replicate in video games for some reason. Thanks to the new ball behavior, putting from off the green is finally reasonably accurate. The game also added a spinner shot, basically a lower pitch that checks, which I found myself using most of the time once I unlocked it. However, I still find myself using the flop shot at times I wouldn’t in relief simply because it spins way more than it should, even out of the rough. Also, where the spinner checks a little, the regular pitch and chip shots don’t. It would be very hard to recreate Tiger’s chip-in from the 2005 Masters.

Real-world weather : I believe the previous EA games had access to real-world weather that would allow you to play courses in real-time conditions. I would love to see that again as the tournaments I’ve played had random wind directions and speeds each day. Plus, the PGA is in May now — no way there’s perfect weather all the time!

Parting thoughts

The graphics and actual shot types make this game a must-have for any golf-loving video gamer or a video game-loving golfer. But then again, a golf game with Augusta National might be enough to earn “must-have” status alone.

After Tiger Woods’ 2K23 game came out around the same time this one was teased, I thought more people would gravitate toward 2K thanks to Tiger’s name (which was part of the success of EA’s previous games ).

But EA deserves a big chunk of the market share with this game. They knocked it out of the park with a vastly superior experience both from a visuals and gameplay standpoint. Would I love to play with Tiger in this game? Yes — but I’d argue having access to some of the best venues in golf is more important. I’d also love to figure out how to use EA’s graphics on a golf simulator, because the game has some of the best golf visuals I’ve ever seen.

EA Sports PGA Tour is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox S|X and PC; the standard edition costs $69.99 and the deluxe edition costs $84.99.

EA Sports PGA Tour

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Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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Review : PGA Tour Road to the Masters : Shooting for the Green Jacket

It was what seems like a lifetime ago in 1990 when EA Sports was a blossoming brand on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, and they released the first PGA Tour. While other golf games continued to evolve the formula with some excellent examples (I’m looking at you Neo Turf Masters), it was Electronic Arts who embraced the PGA licensing to become the recognized leader in digital golf. Over the years, PGA Tour continued to evolve and would eventually dominate the market due a licensing deal with Tiger Woods.

In 2013, EA ended its licensing agreement with Tiger Woods and, since that time, had only released a single entry: the poorly received Rory McIlroy PGA Tour in 2015. With PGA Tour: Road to the Masters , EA has decided to drop the player endorsement and instead focus on being the sole golf game on the market that features all four major tournaments, including The Masters (and thus, Augusta National Golf Course).

I’ve always been enamored with golf games, and, to be honest, I’m not even sure why. I have fond memories of renting PGA Tour games for the Genesis and spending hundreds of hours through the years climbing the leaderboards. As you can imagine, then, I had been greatly anticipating the return of PGA Tour since its announcement in 2021.

Living the Dream

Naturally, my first point of order in PGA Tour Road to the Masters was to create my likeness and get prepared to earn a spot on the Tour. After creating my Ted Lasso doppelgänger using the rather standard-fare character creator, I was introduced to the PGA Tour’s career mode structure.

You have a number of options at the start of your journey toward being sized for a green jacket. You can begin as an amateur and work your way through events to eventually earn your place on the Korn Ferry and PGA Tours. Or, if you are looking to move right into the heart of professional competition, you can begin directly at the PGA Tour if you prefer. The career mode also features real-life scenarios, such as winning an Amateur tournament and getting an honorary entry to the U.S. Open and The Masters, early promotion based on event wins, and the full seasonal points system at each level.

One of the best features of PGA Tour is the inclusion of some of the biggest licenses in the sport. This means it’s the only golf game on the market that features all four golf majors, including the U.S. Open, The PGA Championship, The Open Championship, and The Masters. It also features an impressive 30 courses at launch and several of the biggest sponsor brands in the sport. Whether you’re a golf aficionado, someone who merely appreciates the sport, or anywhere in-between, you’re sure to appreciate the range of realistic content provided.

As you play you’ll earn experience based on your performance, and you’ll be given skill points. While generally straight-forward, what’s unique in PGA Tour is that there are unique shot types you can unlock on your upgrade path. And, as you improve your overall skill level, you improve your competency with each shot type. It’s an interesting approach and one that I’ve come to appreciate the more I’ve played. In the theme of being a simulation, it makes sense that your overall skill level would improve over time. But, providing players with options for specific shot types is certainly a nice addition.

While playing through the career mode is generally what you would expect, there is one glaring omission which just so-happens to also be my largest gripe with the game currently. When playing events, you have two options: you can play the full, 4-day, 18 hole schedule like in real-life, or you can play a modified “Quick” version. Using the Quick setting, the tournament is still 4 rounds, but on each day you only play a few holes while the rest is simulated for you. Neither of these suffice for the average player.

Playing the realistic option of 72 holes over 4 sessions is excellent, of course, but it takes a very long time. My average 18-hole round was about 45 minutes, which means you’d have to spend 3+ hours of game time for every single tournament. Meanwhile, I’m genuinely not sure why the Quick option was implemented at all. By only playing a few holes, you leave your tournament up to the CPU simulation. For instance, I once shot -3 over the 6 holes I played, but I ended the day at a +1 because the CPU simulated the rest of my round at +4. So even though I shot well, I was left over par.

While I understand wanting to follow the 4-day presentation for tournaments, it’s simply not a good option. I sincerely hope that EA implements the system from the 2K series which lets you choose how many days each tournament runs for. That way you play all the holes yourself, but can finish tournaments in your choice of 1-4 sessions.

All that said, PGA Tour does give players a wide range of settings to choose from to fine-tune their experience across the modes. Whether a new player, or a seasoned digital golfer, you’ll be able to find a way to enjoy your time on the courses.

A New Standard

Developers aiming to re-create iconic courses in golf games have always faced a daunting task. With so many courses, and so many variations down to the smallest detail, it’s always a major challenge to replicate them. Of course, as technology has advanced, so have the re-creations. And now, sitting at the pinnacle is PGA Tour Road to the Masters.

EA hasn’t been shy about the efforts they have put into re-creating these iconic courses, but, as with any press presentation, I’m always a little jaded until I experience it for myself. Having spent a few dozen hours now playing the classics, however, I can honestly say they weren’t selling a false bill of goods. PGA Tour’s 30 courses have been reconstructed down to the finest detail, and the presentation of them is nothing short of spectacular.

This was never more evident than during The Masters this past weekend when I would finish watching some of the tournament and then login to play a round at Augusta myself. Not only could I recognize each hole, green, and obstacle based on what I was watching moments prior, but it also affected how I chose my shots. From the cuts of grass to the surrounding foliage, the undulations, and changing winds, PGA Tour re-creates the experience of playing a real course better than any golf game before it.

The ability for a golf game to immerse you in the experience is one of my favorite aspects about them. Sitting on your couch and being transported to a serene day at Pebble Beach is a joy, and PGA Tour excels in this area, too. The courses are stunning and feature beautiful skyboxes, realistic ambient sounds presented in 3D Audio, wildlife, and realistic crowds. If you’re like me and enjoy digital golfing as a form of escapism, you’ll be in heaven here.

Further enhancing the simulation aspects are new ball physics and the addition of the different shot types, 20 in total, that players can utilize. In real golf, different courses have widely varying ways in which a golf ball responds to its surface. And, just like the layouts themselves, game developers have attempted to capture that as realistically as possible. And, as stated before, PGA Tour captures the courses better than ever, and they’ve done the same with ball physics and the ways in which you approach each shot.

Taking into account every single aspect affecting your shot is imperative. If you think you’re going to simply land your ball near the pin at Augusta and find it staying there, you’d be sorely mistaken. Each course offers a different challenge in this regard, and part of the fun is figuring that out while learning from your mistakes. At your disposal to do so is a wide-range of shot types that offer different arcs, spins, and variations in how you strike the ball to counter the conditions. As I noted earlier, with the shot-type competence, it comes into play on nearly every strike of the ball.

It’s these nuances and fine details that make golf the sport it is, and EA Tiburon deserves a gentle, non-intrusive clap for the way in which they’ve captured and presented them.

This sense of realism is further complimented by the presentation. Every hole, on every course, features a full flyover with commentary, a top-down satellite view with key distances marked (including front to back of the green), and even the specific names of each hole, should they have them. Taking it one step further, the commentary team will make remarks about specific holes, how they relate to the course, challenges they present, and even hole history. If you’re someone who truly appreciates the details, they don’t come better than this.

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The commentary team in PGA Tour is impressive beyond merely overviews as well. Similar to a live-broadcast, they will point out details relevant to the player, such as good drive angles, obstacles to be aware of, pin placements, and more. There’s also some rather impressive dynamic commentary at play here.

For instance, I had a ball kick off the fringe on a drive and end up in the fairway. The commentator pointed this out specifically and joked about how he could never get a lucky kick like that. It’s these details that serve to immerse you in the experience and enhance the enjoyment of playing. There are a few phrases you’ll hear too often, but they don’t detract from the overall implementation.

Have It Your Way…Sometimes

Despite being the first golf entry from EA Sports in several years, the team at EA Tiburon has done an admirable job of giving players many ways to play. But they come with some caveats, and that, in and of itself, seems to be a running theme throughout PGA Tour.

Outside of the Career mode, players can play any course in stroke play, enter social or ranked online tournaments, play private matches of multiplayer with friends, and take on numerous challenges that both aid your game and re-create iconic moments in golf history. You can also challenge, or play as, a small range of PGA pros, including the LPGA, should you choose. But while it seems fairly fully featured on the surface, there are limitations in a number of options which are rather baffling.

For example, you can setup a private lobby to play with friends. And, unlike some games that limit players to a party of 4, you can have up to 16 players in a private match here. Additionally, all players play their own balls in real-time together, you can see each others’ players and balls on the course, and even watch others on the green if you complete the hole early. Excellent.

However, the options are limited to basic, course-wide settings, such as the pin placement and green firmness. There are no options for handicaps, varying tee-boxes by player, nor game types beyond simple stroke play. Worse yet, certain options don’t work at all even as of this writing nearly a week since early release. For instance, there is no crowd or cheering during a private match even when turned “on” in the settings.

This strange dichotomy between hitting new highs but missing the basics carries throughout PGA Tour in nearly every area, with customization with cosmetics being some others. PGA Tour features licensing from several major brands and allows you to customize your character with different arrangements. You can set a different outfit for each day of a tournament and even customize your bag including head covers, towels, and shoulder-straps. However, you begin with next to nothing, and there is a paltry variety of things to unlock or even ways to unlock them.

The store features cosmetics and club upgrades that you can purchase either with in-game credits or real money. But you don’t earn credits by merely playing the game and leveling your player. No, you only earn credits by completing challenges, quests, or entering online tournaments. It’s not that these are bad necessarily, but not everyone is going to want to spend hours playing challenges or online tournaments, especially when they have zero connection to the career mode. I certainly don’t.

As other live-service games have learned the hard way, forcing players to play specific modes or in specific ways to earn unlockables is simply not a smart design. Whether or not you agree with 2K’s approach to a “Battle Pass” style system in PGA2K, outside of that, the game at least provides players with currency every time you level and offers a wide-arrangement of items to pick from in the store. PGA does neither, and it severely limits character customization which should have been an absolute no-brainer for a game like this.

All that said, I do want to acknowledge the online tournament offerings. They are a fun and unique way to earn rewards through online multiplayer while not forcing you to directly engage with others. Tournaments vary in challenge and settings, and it seems the plan is to offer unique tournaments globally during specific events such as The Masters. Tournaments can be free to enter or require points or “tickets” that can be earned through play or purchased with real money.

Once entered, you play to earn your score and get placed on the global leaderboard. Then, when the event timer is up, you earn a reward pack based on how you placed. It’s a nice addition to the overall package, and having another way to earn rewards at least helps a little with the lack of career-based cosmetics.

It’s also a little disappointing to see multiple currencies in PGA Tour. It’s not egregious, and I understand micro-transactions to a degree, especially as they relate to cosmetics. But this is a full-priced, new-generation title, and it should be easier to earn currency within the core game.

Building a Foundation

It’s clear to me that PGA Tour is EA building the foundational future for their classic IP. And in that vein, they’ve done a tremendous job. The core of PGA Tour, from the courses, to the presentation, to the gameplay itself, is superb. And I see myself spending many, many hours relaxing on the links while listening to some music or a podcast.

That said, it’s also very clear that they are still building, and, as with so many games in today’s industry, they will need to continue to update and refine it over time. In fact, EA Tiburon says this directly on the main site for the game . Features, such as 60fps support on the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, are in development, as is the option for a more traditional “3-click-swing,” which old-heads like me enjoy (right now you must swing with the analog stick). And I certainly hope they continue to flesh out the options for each mode, particularly in multiplayer.

Beyond usability updates, EA Tiburon has called out a couple specifics, such as new tournaments and courses, as part of the FedExCup and Ryder Cup. This is great to read, and I’m looking forward to seeing how EA continues to evolve the game.

The 2023 major courses including Oak Hill, Los Angeles Country Club, Royal Liverpool as well as Olympia Fields as a part of the FedExCup series and Marco Simone for the Ryder Cup will be released prior to each major championship. We will also be releasing updates alongside golf’s biggest moments like The Majors, FedExCup and Ryder Cup with compelling new content tied to current and historic golf moments for players to enjoy.

As it stands today, I still highly recommend PGA Tour Road to the Masters for anyone who enjoys golf video games, especially if you are a fan of the finer details of the PGA or simulation-style play. While a little rough around the edges and lacking some fairly obvious options (that will hopefully come in the near future), it is still a highly enjoyable round of links. And all signs point to the game continuing to improve in the near future.

For now, I’m off to qualify for The Open. I’ll see you on the Tour.

You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here

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Founder and Editor-In-Chief: Seasoned Gaming. Avid gamer and collector. Plays a lot of Halo and Diablo. Find me on Twitter @Porshapwr.

This game absolutely sucks, putting is ridiculous, totally not enjoying. I am sorry I wasted my money on it, going back to 2k23 pga.

This game is excellent! I’ve played about 15 hours so far and the gameplay is far better than I expected. My only complaint with the game is the lack of training and tutorials. Getting the swings down is difficult and the training that is available in career mode is basic at best. There is no on screen training or guiding. No tips or tricks on how to get better. It just gives A basic description of what that training event requires and then tells you to do it. We should get detailed tutorials with tips on every aspect of the gameplay and how to get better. For example detailed examples of what happens when you over swing, underswing, how to swing perfectly. Maybe example videos of each shot and then on screen showing how to perfect them. A couple of times when I tee’d off it slowed down and had this cool effect like I did something special and I have no idea how I did it or what caused it. I highly recommend this game if you like golf but hopefully EA will focus a lot more on training because this game is so realistic that is is difficult.

Thank you Dennis – glad you’re enjoying it! And it will continue to get better too!

How can I turn off the “Quick” setting for tournaments like The Players? I’d rather play each day than have it simulate half of the holes for me.

Hey there. So you can change it to “Full” but only in-between tournaments. So finish the tournament you’re currently doing and then you’ll be able to change it for future ones.

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Ea sports pga tour initial review: hands-off with ea's golfing return.

We've been given a tour around some of the Tour. Here's what we've learned so far.

It's been a fair old while since Electronic Arts dabbled with golf. Even though it was the gaming home of the PGA Tour since the start of the 90s, we've not had a new game from EA Sports since 2015's Rory McIlroy.

In the meantime, HB Studios and 2K Games have capably filled the gap, first with The Golf Club and snagging their own PGA Tour licensing in latter days.

Now though, EA is about to return to the fairway with a new addition to the franchise. And, it's looking like it'll carry on exactly where it left off, albeit with a fair few modern bells and whistles thrown in for good measure.

We've been privy to a hands-off demo of the game and a walkthrough of its features by some of the developers. Here's how it's looking so far.

EA Sports PGA Tour

With 30 courses planned for launch and all the major tournaments, including the Masters at Augusta, EA Sports PGA Tour is shaping up to be a thorough title for enthusiasts and casual gamers alike. From what we've seen so far, it's also looking superb thanks to the adoption of the Frostbite Engine. We can't wait to get our own hands on it soon to see if it's up to par.

• Stunning course mapping
• Great attention to detail
• 30 PGA Tour courses to play on
• All the majors
• Too soon to tell

EA Sports PGA Tour is the publisher's biggest golf game yet. It is exclusive to current-generation consoles - PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S - and PC, which means there have been few compromises on graphical fidelity. From what we saw streamed in an online demonstration, anyway.

The development team has switched to Frostbite for the graphics, which not only renders player models (real-world and created) in great fidelity - much like the latest FIFA, Madden and NHL games - but it presents the 30 included courses in sometimes photo-realistic detail.

That's because every course was mapped using multiple methods - by helicopter using LiDAR technology, through high-resolution camera drones too, and by taking thousands of photos on the ground. Augusta even gave the developer access to its tree health system, which accurately maps every flowerbed, tree and other types of flora to ensure they are placed in exactly the same position in the game as in real life.

Impressively, this level of minute detail doesn't just help the look of the game but the feel. The bumps on the ground are in the exact same spot - as are the imperfections on the fairways and greens. And so, we were told, that when a ball interacts with the course, it will move across these minor spots in the same way it would for real.

That is further improved through the use from two other third-party data sources - the PGA Tour's ShotLink and TrackMan - which not only gave the team real-world mechanics for ball movement, thanks to storing many thousands of shots from the PGA Tour itself, but also player motion and behaviour that has provided the animation specifics for each licenced professional in the game.

EA calls its new stroke engine Pure Strike and it enables gamers to take shots in a more fluid, natural way.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

The gameplay that we viewed showed a new swing arc that is used for the accuracy and power of a shot. The power is determined by a small line on the arc that you meet during the backswing (using a thumbstick). The speed of the follow-through is important too and reminds us a little of the mechanics in PGA Tour 2K23. However, EA hasn't gone full simulation with its effort. There is still the option for boost and other gamified elements of its previous titles in the series.

One major new feature is that, as well as club selection, you also get the choice between types of shot each time - from a pool of 20. And each club in your bag will have their own assigned shot types that you can customise. In previous years, the clubs from different manufacturers would have their own stats - this is gone, but the shot types can still make one driver feel different to another, say. You can adjust depending on your play style, therefore, which is inspired by the pro golfers and their experiences on the real Tour.

It's this mix of realism and fun that we're looking forward to testing more when we get our own hands on the game.

We were also told that the old three-click shot method of yesteryear will make a return as a playable option, but wasn't active for our demo.

Putting has changed a bit this time around - perhaps even more so than the main shot system. You get a suggested line to give you a decent read of a green (although that can be turned off in settings) but the putting meter is certainly different to before. You have a smaller swing overlay that suggests power and works more like the main shot arc. Again, it's something we have to try for ourselves before we can give you more on how it works.

Licenced to thrill

Perhaps the most impressive part of EA Sports PGA Tour for us so far is the amount of licenced content in the game. The 30 courses, the clothes, clubs and shoes, the different tournaments, including all the majors, and a healthy selection of PGA and LPGA professionals to play as and against. There is also a great cast of commentators that use dynamic phrasing to make the presentation feel just like a TV broadcast. They've even recorded unique voice clips for points of interest on course that you may never hear - such as if you bounce a ball off a specific fence, which cues a sentence about that actual event.

As well as the licenced players, you can also create your own, of course, with an in-depth editor and the choice to set him onto the path of greatness by either entering amateur tournaments first, the Korn Ferry Tour, or the PGA Tour itself. And, if you want to play as a woman, the Amundi Evian Championship is there for the taking too.

In short, EA is ensuring that while it has taken a seven-year leave of absence from golf, it is coming back with its most expansive offering yet. It's certainly not doing things by half.

First impressions

It's hard to give a genuine opinion on a game we've not physically played ourselves, but everything we've heard and seen so far shows much potential. We've really enjoyed 2K's rival title (and still do), but can't help admitting that we've missed the traditional EA Sports PGA Tour games over the last few years. Plus, we're really looking forward to playing in The Masters at Augusta and this will provide the only opportunity to do so. We await it with bated breath.

EA Sports PGA Tour will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC from 24 March 2023.

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Summary Compete in PGA TOUR events like all three legs of the FedExCup Playoffs and THE PLAYERS Championship. Additional experiences include the LPGA, U.S. Amatuer Championship, and the Korn Ferry Tour. EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is the only place to play the MASTERS Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Discover the best golfing destinations around ... Read More

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EA Sports PGA Tour Review - Hit The Links

• First Released Apr 4, 2023 released

EA returns to the world of golf with a challenging and rewarding title that's let down by a couple of inconsistencies and an underwhelming swing mechanic.

By Richard Wakeling on April 12, 2023 at 10:55AM PDT

EA Sports PGA Tour is unlike any other golf game I've played. It still features familiar elements from the series' past--back when Tiger Woods was front and center--such as slow-motion heartbeat moments and climactic power shots. But after an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, EA has returned to the fairway with a more demanding recreation of the sport that's as much about feel as it is mastering the game's robust mechanics. With 30 courses covering all four majors--including The Masters at Augusta National--EA Sports PGA Tour has a plethora of golfing action to sink your teeth into. It's just a shame there are a few notable issues in critical areas that hold it back from greatness.

The first of these is the game's swing mechanic. If you've played a golf game before, the actual act of swinging a driver or 5-iron will be familiar. You pull down on the analog stick to bring the club back, then push forward again to unleash your shot. This has been a staple in golf games for a number of years now, and there aren't any alternatives at the moment--not until a three-click system is implemented in a later update. The issue with EA Sports PGA Tour is that there's a slight delay between your input and the on-screen visual. Your swing isn't 1:1, so there's an uneasy disconnect where you never quite feel like you're in total control. The general malaise of each swing doesn't help matters either, with the slow, clunky pacing and frustrating lag making it difficult to nail the timing and power of each shot. I eventually grew accustomed to these idiosyncrasies over time, but it never feels quite right and fails to capture the satisfaction that hitting a 300-yard tee shot should achieve.

To compound the issue, EA Sports PGA Tour also lacks any sort of meaningful tutorial. There are tooltips that pop up and cover the basics the first time you play, but these brief snippets barely scratch the surface of everything going on under the hood. Instead, the game has a suite of challenges that happen to include a Coaching Academy. This is the best place to start, even if these challenges still neglect to offer any tips or feedback to help you along the way. What you get is a variety of contextual situations covering different aspects of the sport, from putting downhill to dealing with elevation changes and the multitude of shot types on offer. There's a lot of trial and error involved, but the repetition of replaying each situation does give you a greater understanding of how everything works. It's not a very user-friendly approach, but it sets expectations and is genuinely helpful in an unconventional way, even if it might prove frustrating for some. Plus, completing these challenges also earns you XP that can be used to improve your created character.

EA Sports PGA Tour's career mode sits front and center, starting off with your no-name golfer competing in the qualifying school before moving on to the amateur Korn Ferry Tour. The ultimate goal is to reach the PGA Tour, which can be done either by winning one of the many four-round courses or by placing highly enough in the Korn Ferry rankings come season's end. You can expedite this process by opting for a quick play mode where you only need to play a few holes rather than an entire round, but I think playing full rounds is the way to go. That's mostly because it gives you ample time to fine-tune your skills, learn the courses, and gain a better understanding of the game's mechanics. There's also a palpable sense of progression that comes from leveling up your golfer. Earning XP lets you build your skills in driving, approach play, short game, and putting, while progressing each attribute also unlocks more shot types, giving you additional options when preparing to send the ball careening toward the green.

Fortunately, the Coaching Academy includes challenges for each of the game's myriad shot types, giving you the opportunity to see how each one functions before playing competitively. There's value in understanding the differences between a runner, spinner, or knock-down shot, but knowing when to utilize each one essentially comes down to a matter of feel. In this respect, EA Sports PGA Tour resembles the sport of golf more accurately than any other game. There are a number of variables at play for every single shot, to the point where there's a real thought process behind each swing. You have to choose the right shot type and club for each situation, adjust for wind and elevation, judge how much power you need to put into the swing, and account for the distinct ways each course plays--tweaking your shot shape depending on the shape of the fairway and lie of the bunkers. The game helps to some degree by displaying relevant information such as wind speed and distance, but then you're left to your own devices. This can be frustrating, particularly early on when you're still learning the ropes and your golfer's attributes aren't up to snuff, but once everything clicks, EA Sports PGA Tour plays an engrossing game of golf that can be incredibly rewarding.

Much of this is down to the courses themselves. Every single one of the 30 officially licensed courses is staggeringly beautiful and offers an authentic attention to detail, whether it's Liberty National and its view of the Manhattan skyline, the waves crashing against the sand at Pebble Beach, or the alligators lurking in the water at TPC Sawgrass. Almost every course is iconic on some level, and they've all been faithfully rendered and recreated, right down to individual blades of grass. The absence of a course designer is a tad disappointing, but unlike PGA Tour 2K23, it's not something that feels like a necessity because there are already so many 18-hole delights. The courses are the game's main character, providing the kind of variety and depth to stave off any tedium. Mastering a golf game's mechanics is usually the key to success, but EA Sports PGA Tour's courses demand much more from you. Each one plays differently, whether it's the roll of the green or the width of the fairway impacting your decision-making. It genuinely feels like you're playing against the course rather than the shot meter.

The physics model, which is built around the official TrackMan data for ball tracking and swing analysis, is excellent for the most part. However, there are some inconsistencies when it comes to ball rollout. On The Old Course at St Andrews, for instance, the rollout is overly extreme to the point where the ball will roll uphill at pace, even through heavy rough. This forces you to account for situations that shouldn't really occur. Once you land on the green, putting is also equally aggravating for different reasons. Each green contains a grid that uses moving beads to show you the direction of the break. The problem is that sometimes this data is inaccurate and the break is opposite to what the beads are showing. The putt reader alleviates this somewhat by showing the ideal path to the hole, but this is also misleading at times. With no reliable way to gauge the breaks, putting is a lesson in irritation that will only be rectified if these issues are fixed in future updates.

Outside of career mode, EA Sports PGA Tour also features various tournament options for use in online matches against the community. If you want to play against friends, however, stroke play is the only option, and there's a disappointing lack of alternating play for those who want to see each other tee off. A range of daily, weekly, and seasonal tournaments give you another chance to earn XP and items like club specs and in-game cash for a limited time before they're refreshed, so there's an incentive to keep coming back. That in-game cash can be spent in a store of rotating items including various cosmetics, which holds some appeal because the character creator is extremely barebones. Outfitting your golfer in branded clothing can be fairly costly, though, which is explained by the inclusion of microtransactions for those who would rather buy the in-game currency with real money. This isn't a surprising move, but it doesn't exactly vibe with the serene mood.

After almost a decade away from the sport, EA's return to the golf course is a promising one. The range of shot types, courses, and tangible variables make for a methodical and tactical game of golf that's both challenging and rewarding. It stumbles by barely introducing players to its robust mechanics, while a laggy swing and inconsistent putting are notable flaws on what is otherwise a fantastic golf sim. EA Sports PGA Tour represents a solid re-entry for the series and lays down a sturdy foundation for an auspicious future.

• Leave Blank
• Each shot must be carefully considered, taking into account a number of variables
• All 30 courses are wonderfully recreated and each one feels distinct
• Offers a tough but satisfying simulation of golf that's close to the real thing
• The lack of tutorials makes for a rocky start
• Swing mechanics are delayed and create a disconnect
• Putting information is frequently misleading

About the Author

Richard Wakeling

• @richardwakeling

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EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 review – serious players have much to master in EA’s return to the virtual fairway

Electronic Arts; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S The controls can be tough to get the hang of, but the visuals are stunning, the commentary impressive and the play itself gives you all the challenge and realism you could want

A fter an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, Electronic Arts is back on the fairway, bringing its considerable licensing power and slick sports TV presentation skills with it. Featuring 30 courses, a large roster of current professionals, and a physics model built around the official TrackMan data for authentic ball flight measurement and swing analysis, this game is exactly what you’d expect from EA Sports – comprehensive, packed with options and deadly serious about the sport.

Those hoping for an accessible knockabout are going to be quickly disappointed. The new swing mechanic, which requires you to pull down on the analogue stick to bring the club back, then forward again to unleash your shot, takes considerable time and effort to master. There’s a slight lag between your input and the onscreen swing visual, which makes timing tricky, especially when you’re not going for a full-power shot. Consequently, you spend a lot of matches over-hitting wildly, and this isn’t helped by the fact that the transition on the stick from pull-back to forward has to be precise or your golfer just pulls a practice swing. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that there’s no real tutorial mode. Instead you get a Coaching Academy section in the Challenge mode, which has lots of little mini-games based around various elements of the sport – but these don’t provide tips or feedback, so it’s all trial and a lot of error.

In the main Career mode, which lets you create a player then guide them through a competitive year (hopefully ending with a shot at the Masters), you start with hopeless stats and need to earn XP points to build your skills in driving, approach play, short game and putting before you have any chance of winning cups. It’s an RPG element that feels kind of weird within this very serious simulation, and it forces you to spend hours entering lesser tournaments and trying the hundreds of skill challenges to build up your XP and raise your stats. There’s a quick game mode that lets you jump into a round on any course with any player, so you do get to experience high level play from the outset – but if you want to beat Career get ready for a real golfing grind.

When you do start to get the hang of the controls, PGA Tour 2023 becomes an enjoyable and engrossing sim. The visuals are beautiful, with lusciously detailed courses, from Liberty National with its view of the Manhattan skyline to Pebble Beach where the holes edge along rugged cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. These courses don’t simply provide aesthetic contrast – they play very differently and require planning. Each hole demands that you tweak your swing, club and shot shaping depending on the shape of the fairway, the lie of the bunkers and myriad other factors. The commentary is also extremely good, with genuinely interesting and helpful observations, and excellent reactions to your play – I managed to land an incredible shot from a bunker 30ft from the flag and there was notable surprise in Rich Lerner’s voice. Together with the slick UI and swooping overhead cameras, EA has done a superb job of simulating modern sports broadcasting.

Alongside the Career, Challenge and Quick Play modes there are also various tournament options, including online matches against friends or the wider community. A range of daily, weekly and seasonal tournaments also allow you to earn XP and items for a limited period before they’re refreshed, so you’ve got lots of reasons to keep coming back. Unfortunately, the game features a loot box mechanic, rewarding in-game achievement with random packages of cosmetic goods and XP boosts. You can also earn in-game money to spend in the game’s outfit store, but those who can’t wait can buy the currency with real cash. Considering the money the Fifa series has made from micro transactions this is hardly surprising, but it sits uneasily in the more austere atmosphere of a golf sim.

This is a promising return to golf for EA Sports. It’s slow of pace, it’s tough to get into, and it’s a little staid and fuddy-duddy at times (most of the background music makes you feel like you’re on hold to a financial service call centre), but the accuracy of the ball physics, the huge range of shots and the highly tactical nature of the play gives serious players the challenge and realism they want. I wish there was a smoother on-ramp for beginners, or a much more basic arcade mode for those who want to thrash through a few holes with pals, but this is a sim after all and when it comes to sport, EA does not mess around.

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EA Sports PGA Tour’s best mode pulled me back into my golfing game obsession

It’s the best practice mode before taking on 18-hole rounds with new surface physics and shots

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It’s been a decade since Augusta National Golf Course was in a video game, and eight years since we saw St. Andrews on a console. Just going back to these places will be enough for most fans interested in EA Sports PGA Tour — especially following Jon Rahm’s win at the Masters Tournament this past weekend. But the game, now on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, does play a little differently. So they should factor in some time to get familiar before gorging on its buffet of 30 bucket list destinations.

The best way to do so? Honestly, it’s the Challenges mode. Golf doesn’t really need to be reduced to bite-size challenges for video games — it is bite-size challenges, 18 of them making up a round. But the Challenges mode quickly became EA Sports PGA Tour ’s signature feature for me, at least in the first week, for how it familiarized me with the tasks these courses will expect later in my (very deep) career mode. I wasn’t prepared to appreciate or enjoy this live-service vehicle as much as I did, but absent a practice facility or tutorial in the video game, I absolutely depended on it to, as they say, get back in the swing of things.

Challenges takes players to one of the game’s 30 courses and gives them three tasks to complete, replicating some performance from real life — for example, Lexi Thompson at the 2019 LPGA Championship or Francesco Molinari making recovery after recovery at the Masters the same year. Each challenge awards three stars, those stars award XP and Reward Points, and those two collectively progress your created golfer or give them cool new skills and cosmetics. (Although the latter are unlocked through a prominent in-game store menu, it’s important to note that nothing affecting a created golfer’s play or improving their game can be bought for a real-money equivalent. That’s all for cosmetics.)

You don’t have to complete all three obligations of a challenge in the same playthrough, either; this is what I meant about Challenges supporting repeated attempts. If one challenge is, say, to make green-in-regulation on all four holes (that is, landing on the green in par minus two strokes) and make birdie on two of them, you can focus on sticking the greens in one playthrough and getting the birdies in another.

This isn’t to suggest that the challenges aren’t demanding. It took me a couple of hours to clean up the Thursday and Friday moments from this year’s Masters. Some of that was my unfamiliarity with this game’s controls after eight years since the last EA Sports golf game. But some of it, also, was because the surfaces and ball lies are truer to life and therefore more difficult to play — which should be the point of a simulation, after all.

The green of No. 15 at Augusta National — sorry to keep referring back to this course, but I have a feeling a lot of people are playing it right now — is a notorious real-life challenge for tour pros. It’s definitely in range for a chance at an eagle. In previous games, I never had to worry about overshooting this green or rolling my recovery long all the way into the water hazard. Now I do, which makes the decision to lay up at 15, and take a shorter approach to the green, a lot more meaningful. Now I know a little more of what was going through Chip Beck’s mind at the 1993 Masters.

EA Sports PGA Tour is as lavishly illustrated as ever; it’s the strongest trait so far of a golf simulation that will take a lot of playing and replaying to truly understand. The best way to see the 30 courses on the disc are, again, in the bite-size play offered by the Challenges mode. For some courses, like Pebble Beach, or Augusta, or TPC Sawgrass, I have a thing about waiting to play my first full round there until it’s an event on my created player’s career calendar. Of course, I want them to go into that prepared, and not embarrass themselves, so these warmups are a nice way to keep that personal tradition intact while still bringing a talented virtual golfer to the tee.

The features serving that golfer are a little uneven. While there are plenty of cosmetics and unlockables (and the promise of more) to kit them out, the character creator itself is very rigid. Different genders and many ethnicities are represented, but don’t expect them to look much like you, as the faces come from stock templates. This has been a long-running weakness of EA Sports titles, especially compared to their contemporaries. In Career, however, there is the chance to play in AI pairings, which, while a little time consuming, is there for those who favor full-fat, immersive sports experiences (like me). And for those who truly want to sink into an immersive career, you can start all the way back as an amateur — including in the newly created (2019) Augusta National Women’s Amateur. These are experiences I look forward to recreating over the next several dozen hours (if not 100) that I can devote to the game.

For many, the selling point of EA Sports PGA Tour is simply the ability to play these courses in a video game; it sounds like a low standard, but rendering them faithfully takes a ton of effort, and EA Sports’ developers still exceeded my expectations. The broadcast presentation supporting these visits is crisp and attentive, feathering in little touches like the walk over the Sarazen Bridge at that No. 15 hole now giving me so much trouble. Returning players and new ones alike should expect to put in plenty of time working on their game, however, before they’re confident taking on the likes of Pebble Beach or Whistling Straits. But that’s an essential part of the challenge, and appeal, of golf.

EA Sports PGA Tour launched April 7 on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a pre-release download code provided by Electronic Arts. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here .

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EA Sports PGA Tour Review

EA Sports PGA Tour Review: It may have a lot of great strokes, but still has a lot of things it has to improve on.

Franz Christian Irorita

EA Sports did themselves a great favor when they decided to drop EA Sports PGA Tour just as we head to Masters in real life, as it positions their game as the ideal companion for the Four Majors in the coming months. However, does the game provide an enjoyable experience comparable to watching the Majors? We find out in this EA Sports PGA Tour Review.

EA Sports PGA Tour Review: What is EA Sports PGA Tour?

With the title EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters, Electronic Arts returns to the fairway after a seven-year absence. Aptly named Road to the Masters, the game gives players a career mode that truly gives them the full Masters experience on the golf course. Developed by EA Orlando and EA Madrid and published by EA Sports, the game came out on Early Access on April 4, 2023, and launched globally on PC , PS5 , and Xbox Series X on April 7, 2023, just in time for the first Major of the year, the Augusta Masters , which itself plays a huge role in the game. And that's exactly the identity that EA Sports is trying to hit: it's the home of the Majors – but is this synchronicity with the real-life events enough to make this a good golf game?

EA Sports PGA Tour boasts deep, unique, fluid, and strategic gameplay, using realism as a vessel for making the game feel like playing real golf as much as possible. To do this, EA Sports PGA Tour utilizes a stick swing system that lets you control the swing of your golf club with one of your sticks (or mouse, if you're playing with a mouse and keyboard setup). This is, at least on a surface level, similar to the control scheme that was utilized in PGA Tour 2K23, so many players who are moving from that game to this might find this as the more familiar control scheme. Unlike PGA Tour 2K23, though, EA Sports only has this control scheme available at launch, with a button press-timed control scheme coming out later as a post-launch update. Although I personally liked using the stick swing system, it still is disappointing not to have the option to switch between control schemes at launch.

Admittedly, EA Sports PGA Tour is very disadvantaged when it came out just months after the release of PGA Tour 2K23 . Comparisons are bound to be made, and although EA Sports PGA Tour does shine in many aspects, a lot of its weak points are highlighted because of this. For example, many players would end up frustrated by the stick swing system. Naturally, players who have experienced the 2K control scheme would be conditioned to time their swings the way they did in 2K. EA Sports PGA Tour has a lot of factors playing into their swings and the results of their swings, and many would easily dismiss the control scheme as simply being inaccurate and erratic. It also doesn't help that the learning curve for this is very high, and I can imagine many fans being turned off by the difficulty of the game at first. Even the touted “Gameplay Innovations Powered by Pure Strike” does not make itself felt so much. But give it some time and get used to EA Sports PGA Tour's controls, and you'd actually have a deeper, much more strategic gameplay compared to 2K.

That being said, EA Sports PGA Tour also boasts a deeper career mode, which is this game's main game mode. While there are a lot of other game modes available for offline play, the options available for online play are very limited and sparse. In our PGA Tour 2K23 review, we noted how shallow the game modes are, and EA Sports PGA Tour itself, except for its career mode, offers even fewer ways to play. That being said, if you like more player customization options, a skill tree-based progression system, and course creators, then you're better off sticking with PGA Tour 2K23, as EA Sports either don't have these or are sorely lacking in these aspects. But if you love the grind and climbing the rungs of the golf sport's ladder, then EA Sports PGA Tour is the meatier game.

All of this, however, is bogged down by the game's sluggish and confusing menus. The UI for this game is all over the place, and many menu options and settings feel like they're in places they shouldn't be in. For example, the player's customization options can be accessed only through the main menu. That means, if you're playing through your career and you level up and have some skill points you could spend for your character, you actually have to quit Career Mode and return to the main menu to make your upgrades. It's frustrating because it would have been easy to integrate the upgrades menu right into the Career Mode screen, but somehow the developers missed out on this. The entire game feels slow in general as well, which you'd also experience when you play against the AI. Not only can you not skip their turns, but they also take forever to do their turns. On top of it, it's also weird that the fast-forward buttons for the ball follow-up and the fast-forward button for the player reaction that follows right after are assigned to different buttons. This wouldn't be a big problem normally, but for some reason again, EA Sports PGA Tour doesn't have remappable controls.

It also doesn't help that the game has horrendous performance on PC. While our time playing the game with the PS5 was met with very few bugs and glitches (we did experience a crash exactly once, though), the PC port is bogged down even more with slowdowns, screen tears, and frame drops. You'd just be unlucky when that happens during your swings. So, until EA Sports releases a patch, you might want to stick with the console versions for the time being.

Apart from that, EA Sports PGA Tour will have more content coming to it post-launch, so there are definitely a lot of things players could look forward to as we go along the Majors this year. Players can look forward to more licensed pro golfers, more licensed courses, and of course, more Majors-related events for online game modes.

One part that both EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23 have in common is their lack of a compelling story. There's a lot of potential here. Almost all of the other sports games have their own story mode with, albeit cheesy and sometimes campy, narratives. I believe that in this part, it's still better to have something rather than nothing at all, and it could help hook in more players and get them more invested in the careers of their created characters.

One thing that EA Sports PGA Tour is undoubtedly better compared to PGA Tour 2K23 is in the graphics department. Developing solely for the next-gen consoles definitely helped EA Sports create a game that has a higher tolerance on graphical load. This probably is the cause for the performance issues we've been experiencing on PC, but on the PS5, the game looks fantastic. The foliage, the courses, and the presentation all come together for a fantastic package that really drives home the point that this is the Home of the Majors. This makes all of the course overviews at the start of each hole feel even more special, as everything looks really good and it almost always feels like a waste to skip.

However, one odd weakness that the game has is its character models. For some reason, the characters don't really resemble their pro-player models. This gives me the feeling that 2K has really been just good at making these models, and that EA Sports is playing a little bit of catch-up. In any case, it's not that the characters look horrendous. Not at all. They do look good, but some characters just have faces that don't 100% capture the look of their models. In some cases, the models look really old compared to their real-life counterparts.

In everything else, even if the UI design is bad in terms of where things are located, everything does look pristine and look clean, giving the overall presentation a good look.

Music and Sound Design

Michael Corvo · 20 hours ago

Michael Corvo · 3 days ago

Another aspect that makes the overall presentation of EA Sports PGA Tour shine is its music and sound design. While music in itself isn't that big of a deal for a game like this, the sound design is perfect, with every swing and every finish feeling much more satisfying. Add to that the amazing commentary that does keep track of what everyone's doing in your game and makes references to past events, and you've got a game that is worth listening to.

There really isn't a lot to add to this, EA Sports PGA Tour's sound design just works, and the best way to know that is by not having many comments about it.

Verdict: Is EA Sports PGA Tour Good? Is It Worth Your Time and Money?

EA Sports PGA Tour hands down is the better game when comparing it to PGA Tour 2K23. Standing on its own feet, it has a lot of holes filled and it is great on many strokes, but not by any account a perfect game. Its unforgiving difficulty could have been much more manageable if the game offers more support to new players apart from its tutorial message windows, which appear to be something you can't view again once you've seen them once. It takes a long time before EA Sports PGA Tour becomes good, and its slow pace all over makes it hard to recommend to just anyone. But those who are willing to spend time getting to know the ins and outs of the game's more complex systems will have a good time. If player customization, online matches, communities, and custom courses aren't that big of a deal to you, and if you're one of the people who exclusively plays career mode, then this is exactly for you. But a lot of mishaps, both in technical performance and game design, shows that while EA Sports PGA Tour is a good comeback for the series, there is still a lot of work to be done before we have in our hands the perfect golf game.

Score: 7/10

Editor’s Note: ClutchPoints received PC and PS5 review copies to allow us to cover this game. These copies did not, in any way, affect this EA Sports PGA Tour Review’s final score and verdict.

About the Author

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, the exclusive home of all four men's majors and road to the Masters launches worldwide on March 24, 2023

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Watch the official game trailer here

In addition, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will launch with Road to the Masters which brings tradition and unmatched stakes featuring Augusta National, challenges, tournaments and gear tied to the Masters. The Masters made its first-ever virtual appearance with EA SPORTS in 2011, and its return to video games has been highly requested by golf fans. EA SPORTS will also provide more details on additional live service content throughout the 2023 PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour seasons.

“We're bringing the premier PGA TOUR experience to players around the world with real-world golf data powering incredibly realistic gameplay with every shot, and some of the most iconic courses in the world rendered in painstaking detail,” said Cam Weber, EVP and GM, EA SPORTS. “From The Old Course at St Andrews Links to Pebble Beach Golf Links and more, we’re giving players the chance to tee off in bucket list golf experiences like never before in EA SPORTS PGA TOUR .”

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR released the official gameplay trailer today, featuring the all-new Pure Strike shot system. The full trailer can be seen on EA SPORTS PGA TOUR’s YouTube channel , and can be watched here .

Pure Strike gives golf fans all the tools they need to realistically attack every hole on every course the same way the pros do. Featuring ShotLink® powered by CDW and TrackMan, Pure Strike also helps ensure that each professional golfer’s unique swing and attributes will be accurately reflected in the game. Pure Strike incorporates the three parts of every golf shot - fluid swing mechanics that are highly accurate to a player’s backswing length and speed of follow through, innovative ball behavior allowing every bounce and roll to behave more accurately across a variety of terrain and course conditions, and lifelike course dynamics that play true to their real-life course counterparts.

In addition to being the exclusive home of all four men’s majors, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is filled with experiences and content players have been asking for in a golf game, including:

• World Famous Courses - The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most prominent venues such as Augusta National Golf Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Southern Hills Country Club, The Old Course at St Andrews Links, The Country Club, Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course, Torrey Pines, Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains, France, East Lake Golf Club, TPC Southwind, The Los Angeles Country Club, Wilmington Country Club and more. EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will also feature the past major host courses in 2021 and 2022 as well as the new 2023 majors courses releasing post-launch.
• Your Career, Your Way - EA SPORTS PGA TOUR provides players with an RPG-like progression system on the Road to the Masters. As their golf game improves, the closer they’ll be to becoming a major champion. Players will be able to create and customize a golfer, develop their skills and master each course to attack every hole like a pro. With 20 shot types available as players progress in the game, they can enhance their skill set for driving, approach, short game, or putting, depending on their style. Players will be able to compete to become a major champion, and take on the PGA TOUR's best events in the season-long race for the FedExCup, as well as conquer the top Amateur Championships including the Augusta National Women's Amateur, the U.S. Amateur, and other elite international amateur events.
• THE PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup Playoffs - The PLAYERS Championship and all three events of the FedExCup Playoffs will be in the game, and players can earn in-game FedExCup points in Career Mode for the opportunity to compete in the FedExCup Playoffs. As part of the Career mode, top golfers at the end of the year will be given the opportunity to win the FedExCup.
• Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Amundi Evian Championship - In partnership with the LPGA, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR allows fans to compete at The Amundi Evian Championship, one of the LPGA Tour’s five major championships, and have the opportunity to play as several female athletes as well as create a female golfer in the overhauled Create-A-Player system. Players will also be able to participate in a series of LPGA-themed challenges and other events. Iona Stephen will be joining the EA commentary team as the first female on-course commentator in-game, bringing her experienced insights from both playing professionally and working in golf broadcasting.
• True-to-Life Course Visuals - EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will also present the most realistic visuals in any golf game utilizing EA’s Frostbite™ engine. Using state-of-the-art equipment, including drone technology, helicopters and airplanes equipped with custom LiDAR scanners, and more to develop terrain maps, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR depicts courses exactly as they appear in real life. The photogrammetry and scanners were also applied to create precise renderings of clubhouses, iconic vegetation, bridges, tee markers, rock formations, and other on-course elements offering players life-like visual experiences of their favorite courses.
• ShotLink® - Utilizing ShotLink ® powered by CDW, the PGA TOUR’s proprietary real-time scoring system since 2001, golfers will authentically be replicated with accurate player ratings, skills and magnified true-to-life in-game events.
• TrackMan Data - Insights implemented from TrackMan, a world leader in 3D ball flight measurement and swing analysis, is a critical component to authentic gameplay utilizing a myriad of stats including club tuning, flight trajectory, landing position and much more.

Pre-orders for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR are now available, including the Deluxe Edition where players will receive three-day early access to the game and Augusta National, THE PLAYERS Championship Gear, The Grand Slam Gear Bundle, Scotty Cameron Putter in-game, 1,500 Premium PGA TOUR points, a PGA TOUR XP Bundle and The Masters gear*. EA Play** members will also receive early access to the game, starting with a 10-hour early access trial on March 21. EA Play Pro members will enjoy unlimited access to the Deluxe Edition of the game – as well as the exclusive EA Play Staff Bag – starting March 21. Lastly, all EA Play members will unlock additional bonuses for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, with monthly drops of Pro Shop perks such as exclusive headcovers, shirts, hats and more.

For more details on EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , and to register for email updates, visit r . Follow @EASPORTSPGATOUR on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram for the latest updates.

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is being developed in Orlando and Madrid by EA Tiburon.

Home of the Majors

EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ is available now.

"EA Sports PGA Tour is clearly a labor of love, passion, and painstaking effort combined with the newest technology."

GLHF on Sports Illustrated

"…put simply, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is the best looking golf game to date."

Gamers Heroes

"Stunning realism"

Bleacher Report

"It’s by far the best-looking golf game ever made."

Push Square

"The foliage, the courses, and the presentation all come together for a fantastic package that really drives home the point that this is the Home of the Majors."

Clutch Points

"Quite simply one of the best golf games we’ve ever played."

"EA SPORTS PGA TOUR does an amazing job of being one of the truest tests of virtual golf yet."

Pure Strike

Attack every hole like a pro with superior golf gameplay powered by ShotLink®.

The world’s most exclusive courses

The tee is yours at 30 courses at launch, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning quality with Frostbite™ so you can enjoy more of golf’s finer details than ever before.

Your career, your way

As your golf game improves, so does your path to becoming a Major champion. Create and customize a golfer, develop your skill set with new Shot Types, gain deeper course knowledge as you play, and learn to attack every hole like a pro.

EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ is now on the Play List

The tee is yours.

Tee off at Augusta National where you can compete for a Green Jacket.

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PGA Tour players learn how much loyalty is worth in new equity program

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Players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour amid lucrative recruitment by Saudi-funded LIV Golf are starting to find out how much that loyalty could be worth.

The PGA Tour on Wednesday began contacting the 193 players eligible for the $930 million from a “Player Equity Program” under the new PGA Tour Enterprises .

The bulk of that money — $750 million — went to 36 players based on their career performance, the last five years and how they fared in a recent program that measured their star power.

How much they received was not immediately known. Emails were going out Wednesday afternoon and Thursday informing players of what they would get. One person who saw a list of how the equity shares were doled out said the names had been redacted. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because many details of the program were not made public.

The Telegraph reported Tiger Woods was to receive $100 million in equity and Rory McIlroy could get $50 million, without saying how it came up with those numbers.

Commissioner Jay Monahan outlined the first-of-its-kind equity ownership program in a Feb. 7 memo to players, a week after Strategic Sports Group became a minority investor in the new commercial PGA Tour Enterprises.

The private equity group, a consortium of professional sports owners led by the Fenway Sports Group, made an initial investment of $1.5 billion that could be worth $3 billion. The tour is still negotiating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — the financial muscle behind the rival LIV Golf league — as an investor.

Any deal with PIF would most certainly increase the value of the equity shares.

Another person with knowledge of the Player Equity Program, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the dealings, said the equity money is not part of the SSG investment. That money was geared toward growth capital.

Golf.com received a series of informational videos on the Player Equity Program that was sent to players and reported only 50% of the equity would vest after four years, 25% more after six years and the rest of it after eight years.

It also reported how the 36 players from the top tier were judged on “career points,” such as how long they were full members, victories, how often they reached the Tour Championship and extra points for significant victories.

Jason Gore, the tour’s chief player officer, said in one of the videos, “It’s really about making sure that our players know the PGA Tour is the best place to compete and showing them how much the Tour appreciates them being loyal.”

Emails also were sent to 64 players who would share $75 million in aggregate equity based on the past three years, and $30 million to 57 players who are PGA Tour members. Also, $75 million in equity shares was set aside for 36 past players instrumental in building the tour.

The program has an additional $600 million in equity grants that are recurring for future PGA Tour players. Those would be awarded in amounts of $100 million annually started in 2025.

Players only get equity shares from one of the four tiers now, although everyone would be eligible for the recurring grants.

Even with equity ownership geared toward making the PGA Tour better, the concern was players questioning who got how much and whether they received their fair share.

LIV Golf lured away seven major champions dating to 2018 since it launched in 2022, all with guaranteed contracts and most of them believed to have topped $100 million.

McIlroy, playing this week in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, was asked how much would make players feel validated for their decision to stay with the PGA Tour.

“I think the one thing we’ve learned in golf over the last two years is there’s never enough,” McIlroy replied.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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