pga tour 12 wii

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Review

Tiger Woods 12 for the Wii remains the golf sim of choice for motion-controller fans because of its accurate swing mechanics and the addition of the legendary Masters.

By Brett Todd on April 4, 2011 at 6:33PM PDT

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters remains the top golf sim for virtual swingers. Even though the series embraces the Move motion controller in its PlayStation 3 edition this year, superior controls in the Wii version of the game still make it the best way to play video game golf. This year's sequel builds on the outstanding Wii remote controls from the last two years, which show the MotionPlus attachment at its best, making for lifelike drives for show and putts for dough. The new game also refashions everything around trying to earn an illustrious green jacket at the famous Masters tournament, which lends the proceedings a gravitas that golf fans can't help but appreciate.

What you notice when firing up Tiger Woods 12 for the first time is how much the game has been reskinned to take advantage of its Masters theme. This isn't so much a Tiger and PGA game as it is a Masters game, since golf's biggest star and its biggest professional organization take a backseat to the annual tournament hosted by Augusta National Golf Club. The opening cinematic is all about the Masters. The menu screens are loaded with photos of Augusta National. The game opens with a playable intro that walks you through the final shots of Tiger Woods winning a green jacket. And, most importantly, the career mode has been renamed Road to the Masters, with the focus switched from simply progressing from the amateur ranks to the PGA Tour, to doing all of the above plus earning an invitation to this prestigious tournament. As a result, career play is more focused, with a concrete goal behind all of your efforts. Just as the Madden games wrap with a Super Bowl every season and NHL hockey games close with the Stanley Cup final, now you have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

There are other Masters-related frills, too. Along with being able to play Augusta National in one-off rounds, you visit its hallowed links in two other modes. Neither is wildly innovative, but each serves to further place the tournament at the heart of the game and offer tough diversions from single matches and developing a pro career. Masters Moments is a series of nine challenges where you step into the shoes of pros from tourneys past and try to come close to their achievements. These range from back in 1935 all the way to 2010 and include a wide selection of memorable moments such as Jack Nicklaus' eagle and two birdies in 1986, an Arnold Palmer eagle in 1958, and Tiger Woods' incredible seven birdies in a row in 2005. Each challenge can be beaten by getting close to the pro's achievement or mastered by matching or bettering it. This can be extremely hard in spots, because you're called upon to make a couple of unbelievable approach shots to within a few feet from the pin and do things like finish a run of seven grueling holes at four under par. Tiger at the Masters is the other main Masters-related game. It sees you playing as the great one during each of his four Masters victories, with the goal of keeping pace with every round. Fall behind by a single stroke on even one round, and it's back to the drawing board.

Even with the glitz of the Masters, controls are the standout feature of the Wii version of Tiger Woods 12. As in both last year's game and its predecessor, the Wii MotionPlus-enhanced swing mechanics are stellar. Control sensitivity is spot on. Angle the remote even slightly, and the club face moves with it, letting you manually hit fades and draws with relative ease (or slice, with relative annoyance at your incompetence). Drives have real weight to them so that you often find yourself standing back and admiring the ball in flight. Approach shots allow you to feel them out for distance, letting you put a little touch on the ball just as you would in real life. Putting is also dead-on, with just the right amount of effort required whether you're tapping one in or launching lengthy lag putts across the carpet.

With all that said, Wii swinging in Tiger Woods 12 is pretty much the same as it was in Tiger Woods 11. It does feel more lifelike than the similar PS3 Move controls, however. Here, your shots feel realistic no matter where you are on a hole. With the PS3 Move, approach shots are tough to address when you need to play with distance, and putts typically require a great deal of effort, more akin to rowing a canoe against a current than swinging a putter against a little white ball. The Move controls feel a lot like the Wii remote controls did three years ago, before the release of the MotionPlus add-on. So the PS3 has a way to go before catching up to the Wii, at least when it comes to the accuracy of the motion-tracking controls.

Caddies have been added this year as a sort of controller assist. Now, instead of simply being presented with automated shot recommendations or doing it all yourself, an overalls-clad caddie standing off to one side provides verbal tips and pep talks accessed by pressing the minus button. He typically presents a couple of recommendations that often involve a safe shot like laying it up onto the fairway or just trying to hit the green, or an aggressive drive to the flag. The advice provided is not nearly as detailed in the Wii game as it is in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game. Interaction has been stripped back so much that the caddie function has been reduced to bland instructions, so it never seems like you have an ally helping you out. You get basic "do this" comments about things like the break on a putt going left to right, or an overhead diagram of how the caddie thinks the ball will move. This pales in comparison to the much more involved verbal advice in the other versions of the game, which reveal specifics, such as the break being two feet off the cup. Your caddie can still be useful here, since the tips are generally sound, but the illusion that you're dealing with a real person has been lost.

Aside from these new elements, Tiger Woods 12 is structured much like Tiger Woods 11. Progress through career play is the same as it has been in recent years. Everything has a role-playing vibe: you create a pro with a unique look and dress style and then earn experience points on the links for every event. The result is a custom-crafted pro with a skill set in which you can adjust basic abilities such as power and accuracy. Options have been noticeably reduced from the other editions of the game, though, so you're building a much more limited golfer here. You also gradually earn sponsor levels and unlock equipment courtesy of corporations like Nike, Callaway, and Ping. Gear is more limited in the Wii game, however; only clubs boost your skills, unlike in the 360 and PS3 versions of the game, where pretty much every accoutrement buffs one ability or another. If creating a pro doesn't intrigue you, you can also play single rounds of all the traditional golf games with up to four friends locally or online; take part in minigolf, disc golf, golf party, and a host of target-shooting and cart-racing minigames unique to the Wii version of the game; get into online tournaments; and play in the Presidents Cup.

A total of 25 courses come with the game, including a lot of familiar ones, such as St. Andrews and Pebble Beach, along with the big additions of Augusta National and its Augusta National Par 3 sidekick. There are no additional downloadable courses on offer for the Wii, although the out-of-the-box 25 include nine more courses than in the 360 and PS3 games, so you get a bonus up front in compensation. Extra attention has clearly been paid to Augusta. The famous course is loaded with the colorful foliage that gives the holes their specific names. Amen Corner looks very good, particularly the 12th hole known as Golden Bell. It's hard to believe that a scenic little nook tucked away behind a stone bridge and a creek could be such a strain on so many pro golfers' nerves, but such is the beauty and challenge of Augusta National. The usual PGA pros are on board as well, led by the likes of Tiger, Vijay Singh, and Jim Furyk. Newbies this year include Bubba Watson and Rhys Davies.

Commentary has been beefed up with the addition of Jim Nantz, the CBS broadcaster long considered the voice of pro golf. Oddly enough, though, he doesn't have many lines in the game itself. His contributions are mostly limited to cliches during rounds and raves about the Masters in cinematics. After all of the buildup, comments about Augusta National are actually quite subdued. Nantz introduces each hole by name as you play through, but in a very brief fashion. You're told the name and the reason for the name, perhaps given some brief shot advice, and that's about it. So while it's pretty dramatic to have Nantz's voice doing the reading, the insubstantial intros leave a lot to be desired.

Although Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters on the Wii can't be considered any sort of golfing evolution due to its reliance on many of the same features and mechanics found in its immediate two predecessors, the still superb motion controls and the addition of one of pro golf's premier events score it a solid birdie. Being able to go for a green jacket is an impressive goal that gives career mode a kick in the plaid pants, and the other new features, like famous Masters shots and those Tiger wins, further build the illusion of hitting the PGA Tour as a real pro. Add in the intriguing caddie option, and you have a strong sequel that adds just enough impressive new amenities to keep virtual duffers ponying up their virtual greens fees for another round.

• Leave Blank
• Addition of the Masters gives more focus to career play
• Useful caddie feature
• Good range of courses
• MotionPlus controls are accurate and lifelike
• Not many changes to the core feature set

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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters – Strategy Guide

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Strategy Guide (WII) by VinnyVideo

Version: 1.12 | Updated: 04/22/2019

View in: Text Mode

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters

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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 features a new "Caddie Experience," and for the first time ever, The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.

Summary short summary describing this game..

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On January 4th, 2011, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 was announced by EA Sports . The game is subtitled "The Masters" and is the first in franchise history that includes both Augusta National Golf Club and its Par 3 Course, as well as a playable version of The Masters tournament. According to EA, a new type of "laser scanning technology" was used to scan Augusta providing "the most authentic digital representation" of the course.

This is the earliest in the year that a game in the Tiger Woods franchise has been released. Traditionally the series released games in August, with the previous two installments being released in June. The March release date was chosen to coincide with The Masters, which took place April 7-10, 2011. This is also the first game in the franchise that does not prominently feature Tiger Woods on the cover artwork, although he is front and center on the box of the Collectors Edition.

• The standard versions for Xbox 360 & PS3 contain a total of 16 courses.
• A PS3-exclusive Collectors Edition adds an additional five courses, for a total of 21 in that package.
• The Wii version of the game features a slightly different set of courses, for a total of 25 in all.
• The PC version was released later in the year on September 6th, but was criticized for its limited graphics & online modes, and for essentially being a boxed version of the browser-based free-to-play Tiger Woods Online . EA even issued refunds to unhappy customers because of this.
• The iOS version of the game does not include The Masters courses (and subsequently doesn't have "The Masters" subtitle.)

New Features

• "The Caddie Experience," which provides the player with a fully voice-acted caddie who gives advice on your swing, helps you read greens, choose your shot and club selection, and more. This optional feature can be toggled on or off at any time.
• Although the franchise first used the PlayStation Move motion controller in Tiger Woods 11 , in an effort to improve upon the Move controls for this year's game, the developers have stated that "the swing mechanic for the Move has been completely rebuilt."
• Jim Nantz from CBS Sports provides commentary for the first time in the series and David Feherty returns to the franchise to join him.

Gameplay Modes

• Road to the Masters - A new career mode starts you off as a amateur golfer, with the ultimate goal of winning The Masters.
• Masters Moments - Replay historic and memorable moments from The Masters.
• Tiger at the Masters - Try to meet or beat Tiger's scores from his four wins at The Masters.
• The President's Cup - It's the United States vs. The World in this semiannual event.
• Fast Golf - Allows you to complete a full round of golf in half the time.
• Disc Golf / Mini Golf - Wii exclusives modes.

Playable Golfers

There are twenty-two licensed golfers in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters.

* = New to the franchise

• Paula Creamer
• Rhys Davies *
• Chris DiMarco
• Nick Dougherty
• Rickie Fowler *
• Natalie Gulbis
• Zach Johnson *
• Anthony Kim
• Rocco Mediate
• Edoardo Molinari *
• Francesco Molinari*
• Suzann Pettersen
• Ian Poulter
• Justin Rose
• Henrik Stenson*
• Camilo Villegas
• Bubba Watson *
• Boo Weekley
• Tiger Woods

** Only included on-disc with the PS3 Collector's Edition.

Pre-Order Bonuses

• Amazon offered the "Georgia Classic Putter" which gives you a 10 boost to every putting attribute.
• GameStop offered exclusive bonus courses, with the Bethpage Black course for Xbox 360, and the Turnberry course for the PS3 standard edition. (These two courses were later made available to everyone as separate DLC.)
• Wal-Mart offered the "Precision Boost Driver and Iron Set," which offers maximum boosts to your golfer's control.

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Is golf catching on in Russia? Jack Nicklaus’s designers have certainly been busy there

Golf is played in more than 200 countries and territories around the world, but until fairly recently, Russia wasn’t one of them.

Its introduction to the game came just 30 years ago with the opening of the country’s first course, Moscow City Golf Club, a nine-hole layout on the fringes of the capital.

At the time, Russia was still part of the Soviet Union. But while the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, gave his blessing to the project, the real driving force was the Swedish golf star, Sven “Tumba” Johansson, who announced his plans to build the course while floating on a boat down the Moscow River, whacking golf balls into the water under the bemused watch of party apparatchiks.

As if that weren’t entertainment enough, there was the club’s groundbreaking ceremony, in late 1987, where the motley assortment of celebrities in attendance (Mike Tyson, Sean Connery and Pele, among them) solidified golf’s status in the country as a little more than a curiosity.

That was then, this is now.

In the world’s ninth most populous country there are more than a dozen 18-hole courses, a handful of nine-hole layouts and myriad projects in the works.

The most recent to be completed is Raevo Golf and Country Club, outside Moscow, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design that opened earlier this month.

Nicklaus Signature courses are relative rarities that come at a cost and carry prestige, but Raevo is not the first in the Moscow area. It’s the third, giving the city and its surrounds a greater concentration of Nicklaus Signature courses than any major capital in the world.

This depth charge of Russian golf course development has been propelled in large part by economic shifts that have generated great reservoirs of private wealth. But the boom has also happened in the face of an inconvenient fact: Russia is not an easy place to grow the game.

Aside from having next to nothing in the way of golf tradition, the country enjoys little in the way of a golf season. Winters are long. Summers are short. Turf can have a tough time taking root. If you’re itching to play on a Moscow getaway, you should aim between mid-May and mid-October.

Throw in rocky, clay-based soil — far from the friendliest for course construction — and you understand why Russian sporting culture features more slap-shots on ice than chip shots around the green.

Yet golf progresses.

Over the past decade-plus, Dirk Bouts, a design associate with Nicklaus Design, has made about 80 trips to Russia, spending long stretches on the ground consulting on course renovations and overseeing new construction. During Bouts’s early visits, the majority of golfers he crossed paths with were expats. In more recent years, that demographic breakdown has turned on its head.

“The first time I went, golf’s presence was pretty much non-existent,” Bouts says. “But you see it taking root. It’s becoming more democratic. You have people making a decent visit. Now, it seems like every time I go back, there are more Russians out on the course.”

Just as picking up the game involves a learning curve, so does building courses in a fledgling golf market. The first Nicklaus Signature course in Russia was Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club, which opened in 2008 outside Moscow after a drawn-out five years of construction — a process prolonged by inexperienced Russian contractors working challenging terrain with outmoded equipment.

By 2014, though, when it came time to cut the ribbon on Skolkovo, the second Nicklaus Signature design outside the capital, the work crews were more seasoned, the equipment upgraded and the entire process streamlined. The job took four years. It’s since gotten more efficient. The start-to-finish work on Raevo was a comparatively scant three years.

The resulting course is a sylvan beauty that spills through a woodsy landscape, west of the capital, with natural creeks and lakes as ornamentation, and gentle hills and valleys that lend plenty of movement. Stretched to the tips, the course plays 7,245 yards, plenty of heft to handle tournaments. The turf is creeping bentgrass, and the sand-capping and extensive drainage beneath it is designed to stretch the golf season to its fullest.

“Instead of mid-May to mid-October,” Bouts says, “we’re hoping for something more like mid-April to end of October.”

This month marked a soft opening for Raevo, as the clubhouse is not yet completed. When the grand opening takes place, celebrities will no doubt be in attendance, Nicklaus among them.

Don’t expect Mike Tyson.

Golf in Russia has gotten serious.

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You can wander the old, church-filled Varvarka Street to Red Square, surrounded by the Kremlin, Vasilij Cathedral and Lenin's mausoleum before marveling at the delightful colours of the beautiful cupolas of St. Basil's Cathedral & copper domes of Saviour Cathedral while learning about Moscow's enthralling history, from 12th Century to Ivan the Terrible, Tsars, Soviet era & recent history, and get to grips with present day Moscow, gaining insightful local hints & tips from friendly, authentic local Moscow guides on freetour.com recommended free walking tours.

The city is a treasure chest of fantastic ways to spend your time – incredible museums, galleries & theaters, such as the Gulag museum, Tretiakov Gallery and the famous Bolshoi Theater, await your arrival while a journey through the remarkably beautiful Metro stations is an experience in its own right. You can also indulge in tasty local cuisine, peruse the Izmaylovo Market for interesting Russian souvenirs, walk the Moskva river in Gorky Park, & sample local Vodka while embracing the vibrant nightlife. However you spend your time among the towering skyscrapers of Moscow, you're sure to have an unforgettable visit.

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