Despite its name,
Sim Golf is
not a golfing simulation.
Sim Golf does have a very passive style of playing golf, but it's as basic as it gets, so don't expect another great sporting experience from the people at Electronic Arts. If you're looking for a true golfing experience, you'll want to look elsewhere. However, for those of you who love the
Sim family of games or who have always wanted to build/run your own golf course, take a step into my office and let's talk about the
other four-letter word... GOLF.
Sim Golf has got three basic elements to it. The first and foremost is obvious. In order to run a golf course, remember this: 'If you build it, they will come.' Starting with a set amount of money, you must develop your course hole-by-hole into a great country club using tools that will create everything you could think of on a real course. The important thing to remember here is that you will need to create your course with both the amateur golfer and the professional in mind. Do this, and customers will praise your efforts. Fail, and your memberships will drop faster than a birdie on a par 5.
Once you build your championship course, as well as during the development phase, you will need to buck up and become the manager. Here it's up to you to hire employees to help run your course, and to keep patrons happy. Of course, in your off time, you can also take the liberty of playing a practice round or taking on another pro. And if your course is worthy of the SGA (Sim Golf Association), you will also be offered to host tournaments.
The third and final main element to Sim Golf is exporting your finished course and club pro. When you feel as though it's time to tackle a new landscape for another course, you have the option of saving your current course for championship play. But once you enter a new terrain, you can never get back to your original design again, so saving is a must if you think you'll want to play the course later on. In the same respect, when you go to play courses outside of the design part of the game, you will want to save (export) your club pro because otherwise you won't have the increase in attributes available that you earned during your design process.
