Virtual Golf: The Virtual Open Golf Tournament Games

The Virtual Open Golf Championship Tournament is played on the very accurately digitised simulation of The Old Course at St Andrews and is the absolute highlight of the digital Golfing worlds year.

Scheduled to run in parallel with the real physical version of the British Golf Open championship & developed with the approval of the organisers (the prestigious Royal & Ancient Golf Club) of the actual UK Golf Open. The free online version of this ancient competition (probably the earliest established Golf competition in the world) is sure to be as eagerly followed as the real thing by the online golfing community.

Its fitting that the free online Golf game version of the oldest Championships out of the four 'majors' (annual Golf championships) played every year has been chosen to be put through the advanced technological process of digitisation. Mixing the best of the old physical game with new computer game development technology to bring a truly incredible computer game & virtual golfing experience.

The Open is the only one of the Golf 'majors' to be played in the UK and is played on The Old Course at St Andrews, usually every 5 years or so, the rest of the time you will find it being played on any one of the nine other UK Golf courses that can host The Open. The Open is not played exclusively on The Old Course but it has been very regularly since 1873. Due to its popularity and history it is the course that has been chosen for the virtual version of the UK Open.

The free online version of The Open will ultimately have 156 competitors in the actual tournament but they will need to qualify first and competition is expected to be very healthy indeed. Qualifying is now open and there is no limit to how often you can attempt to qualify so the quicker you start the more chances you will have and hence the more likely you are to end up playing in the Championship. Its possible of course you may even win one of the fantastic range of prizes on offer (unfortunately not the 5 Million pounds prize money in the real life version), not to mention the sheer enjoyment of the game and the standing you will be held in by your digital Golfing contemporaries for actually making the grade.

The game play also seems to have been improved even further, especially for the virtual open version, compared to the previous rounds I have played on The Old Course at St Andrews I have noticed a considerable difference. Whilst I did not think it was possible the game play is even more sensitive and responsive and much more difficult. The putting greens and fairways seem to have every single bump and depression accurately represented making it all the more challenging.

I have completed previous games on The Old course on par (well almost) but in my current attempts at qualifying I find myself scoring double bogeys on almost every hole and winning the bronze and tin awards for worst player. These improvements in game play have clearly resulted in a much more challenging course which should make the Virtual Open a very interesting tournament indeed.

 

PC Golf Games

New PC Golf games are released every year. As they are a popular sector of the PC gaming community, plenty of user reviews can be found online, allowing the avid PC golf gamer to make, informed decisions when they're on the lookout to buy a new PC golf game.

Many of the games available to buy are endorsed by some of the world's biggest players who are payed millions of dollars to have their names and faces emblazoned on the game. These endorsements are not just a marketing strategy as often the world class player has provided amazing insight, commentary, tips and tricks - it's like having one on one coaching with a golfing champion! New users are often amazed by the depth of knowledge provided by the voice overs and tutorials in PC Golf Games. So as well as being immensely fun to play, one may find one learns plenty at the same time.

When you first embark on a new PC Golf Game, you might first be confused and frustrated by the controls. They do need a certain degree of co-ordination in order to influence the realistic physics on the club and ball. Once you have the hang of it though, you can relax into the game and begin to enjoy the thoughtful details created by the game designers; sound effects such as birdsong and the depressing plop as your ball lands in that annoying water hazard. Not to mention the details of your avatar - depending on the game you can choose to fashion one of your own, or choose to play with one of the world's biggest golfing legends.

What differentiates one PC Golfing game better than another? This is a tough question to answer and generally boils down to personal preference. One basic make or break element is easy to learn and execute controls. Though it may take time to master well designed controls, badly designed ones will leave a gamer feeling constantly unsatisfied. Therefore you should allow a few sessions with the game in order to determine whether the controls are right for you. If, after hours of trying you find yourself still frustrated, perhaps the game is letting you down, a perfect time to blame your tools: a case of bad clubs, not a bad golfer! Apart from controls, as a gamer one must decide what is is they want from a game: high performance graphics, realistic scenery and physics, a sense of humour. Undoubtedly, with a bit of shopping around (not to mention browsing reviews on the internet), one can find the perfect fit - a PC Golf Game that ticks all your own boxes.

It's also useful to look at screen shots, video demos, and sometimes to download the free demo version of a game before you choose to buy. Above all else, these things will help you make an informed decision before purchasing one golf game over another.