To begin the game you must select a location to build your first golf course. Different places have various terrain types and price tags associated with them and there are sixteen in all. You’ll start with a small area of land but as you progress more land will become available to purchase and you can gradually expand the course.
The building interface is intuitive and easy to use and you can select objects, buildings or terrain from the bottom left of the HUD. The choice is limited at first, but as you develop then more buildings and options will present themselves. For constructing holes all of the terrain types are accessible at the start and you can lay out the tee, fairway and green along with a few hazards and review the hole before you open it to the public.
The challenge in the game is to run your golf empire at a profit and the trick is to design a course which looks difficult but is actually quite easy to play. As individual Sims pair up for a round you can watch them and various thoughts will appear in speech and thought bubbles above their head. If they become frustrated they’ll walk off without even finishing the game so it is important not to make things too tough.
Every course needs a clubhouse building and within the clubhouse you can select people to partner up for a round. If you choose correctly matching personalities then they will tell a story as they play a round and may even become friends. You will also be faced with various challenges in the form of VIP’s who turn up to inspect your golf course. You have to make sure they enjoy their round or your expansion plans may have to be put on hold. For example the county commissioner determines whether more land should be made available to you and he’ll only do that if he has a good time on your existing course.
In order to boost your cash you can hold tournaments and compete as your local pro to try and win prize money. The controls for playing a round are very simple, a line will show you where the ball should land depending on your club selection and the choice of shot is very basic. This is not an in depth golf simulation.
