While EA is slowly making it's return to golf with PGA Tour 15, another Canadian studio is trying to make an impression with The Golf Club, coming this summer to Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It's already out through early access on Steam, but I got a chance to try out the Xbox One version of the game at E3 2014 back in June.

The gameplay pitch for this Unity-powered golf simulation is that it's an actual simulation, with a proper learning curve and a reduced number of assists from what you'd usually find in the Tiger Woods games. This means that there are no landing indicators on shots and that the player has to line up an approach with some level of foreknowledge. The Golf Club uses analog swinging, and there is even more room for error than in the Tiger Woods games. This doesn't mean that it's unfair, but each shot will have to be executed carefully to avoid shanking. Your swing is represented by a graphic on the side, and this helps provide useful feedback should things go awry. There is also a grid-like interface for adding spin, draw or fade on the ball.

When playing the game, I actually had to judge shots based on all of the factors, including wind, elevation, distance and club selection. As I played, I got more familiar with each club's approximate range and feel. While most golf games do require this type of mental investment, too often a player can be bailed out by assists, after-touch, power-ups or a difficulty level that isn't too punishing. I found that fine-tuning the roll on an approach shot became a fun challenge, as estimating distance and spin actually required a fair bit of planning and thought.
 

Even though the iron play can provide great challenge, the putting was by far the most difficult aspect of the game, but in a good way. It uses the familiar grid system of most other golf games, but there are no putt previews or approximations to help you out. In fact, even the putt strength is something that took some time in order to gauge, as I had to be mindful of incline and distance on each putt. Like any golf simulation, I ended developing a strong sense of what I needed to do to putt successfully, but each putt remained a process that needed proper consideration, which is certainly the effect the devs at HB Studios must be going for.

All of the action is presented in a clean way, with a simple UI that tells you all that you need to know. The concise nature of the game is furthered by nearly instantaneous loading times between holes, which allows the action to keep moving. It's almost the opposite of conventional golf games in a way, where holes would require a loading time but then you could just blast through using assists and such. Here, the game is ready to go right away, but the shots are what take up the bulk of the time.

Even the commentary takes on more of a caddie quality, with simple quips and observations about how you're doing. The developers said there is even some thought of updating the commentary after the game is out. The Golf Club also supports leaderboards and ghosts, so you can asynchronously play against friends and rivals or try and knock off some community records. On top of this, live multiplayer is also supported.
 

Of course, the biggest selling point for The Golf Club is the extensive course creator that's on offer. A big reason that this is a focus is because the game doesn't have any licensed golfers or courses to use, so creating approximations of real people and places is going to be a big deal. I've seen my share of creation features and customization before, but what the folks at HB Studios have done for this game seems really intriguing.

Initially, a course can just be set up in the most basic sense — terrain, number of holes, time of day, etc. From there, you can immediately jump right in and play. But if you want to go further, you can craft the individual slopes and hills of each course. Placing the clubhouse, connecting the holes, adding course features, populating wildlife and setting all sorts of finite details are at your fingertips. Even cooler, you can jump right to an exact spot on a hole and test it right away (no loading), which absolutely sells the feature for me. When I'm not forced to wait when I want to try out a new wrinkle on a work-in-progress course, it encourages me to dig further and try more things. It sounds as the community has already made replicas of stuff like Augusta National (The Masters), so clearly HB Studios isn't worried about copyright issues. All of this creation stuff worked surprisingly well on the controller, and the devs said that the game was imagined with a controller in mind from the very beginning.
 

Outlook

With an extensive creation suite, simulation gameplay and deep multiplayer hooks, The Golf Club looks to provide just about everything someone could want in a customizable golf experience. The price point for this hasn't been nailed down yet, but it could be around $30. If all of these features come together in one cohesive package, that value proposition would seem more than fair.