EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is out now.
EA Sports
Didn’t score Masters tickets this year or still trying to cope with the fact that you’ll probably never peg it at Augusta National?
Those things might not change, but you might be able to make it better.
For the first time since 2013, Augusta National is back in the video game world with the release of EA Sports: PGA Tour.
EA Sports, known for its popular Madden NFL and FIFA titles, is relaunching its popular golf series for the first time since 2015. Augusta National was last in the game the same year as the series’ last release under the Tiger Woods name as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14.
But Augusta isn’t the only course included in the game, 30 different courses are available now, with more courses, such as major hosts Oak Hill and Los Angeles Country Club will be coming online as those majors get underway.
The release means that for the first time, golf gamers have the option of two PGA Tour-licensed golf games. 2k Sports released their third PGA Tour-licensed game, PGA Tour 2k23 with Tiger Woods as the cover golfer last fall.
The EA game was officially launched on Masters Friday and we at GOLF have been putting it through its paces to see if it’s a worthy golf simulation game.
What we liked
Graphics and Asthetics: In the run-up to the release of the game, the EA Dev Team said they were bringing the series back from a nearly decade-long hiatus because they finally had the technology to make the most visually realistic golf game they could. Safe to say the mission was accomplished. Not only do the courses look stunning — so much so, EA producer Ben Ramsour told GOLF a picture from the game of Augusta’s 13th green was mistaken for a photograph — but also the swing animations finally look like a real golf swing.
You can really see the detail EA went into when you take a look at the equipment that’s in the game. From Callaway and TaylorMade drivers to Scotty Cameron putters, there really isn’t much (if anything) from the major equipment makers that isn’t available in the game. And it all looks like the real thing.
They even brought insane detail into recreations of the trophies from golf’s majors…which brings me to the next item.
The four majors: Unlike the 2k game and like previous EA releases, EA Sports PGA Tour features exclusive rights to all four of golf’s major championships, meaning they’re all playable in career mode. That also goes for the U.S. Amateur, as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. You can also play in the LPGA’s Evian Championship.
Each major has a unique broadcast package, with specific lines of dialogue from the broadcast team — a solid grouping that reunites Rich Lerner with Frank Nobilo as well as Notah Begay III and Iona Stephen — and cinematic intros to the first and final rounds. Nick Faldo does the intro for the Masters and it can be chilling.
Career mode: You have three options of where to start your career, either as an amateur in either the U.S. Am or the ANWA, the Korn Ferry Tour or by jumping straight to the PGA Tour. I’ve chosen to start from the beginning as an amateur where I won the U.S. Amateur to qualify for both the Masters and U.S. Open. My character made the cut on the number at Augusta (I have yet to break 71 there, more on that in a bit) and then earned a solid top 10 at the U.S. Open. Next, I’ll still have to tackle Korn Ferry Tour Q-School as I played the two majors while still an amateur.
As you play rounds or challenges, which can range from easy to very difficult, you earn XP which can level up your golfer and earn skill points to improve your ratings and add shot selections to your repertoire… which again leads me to…
Gameplay and shot types: Finally, a golf game has done justice to the stinger and the knockdown, two of my favorite shots. You have to level up your golfer enough to unlock them, or even when using one of the pros already in the game, you need to learn how to use them, but it’s fun to see a game actually delve into shot-making.
I’ve been playing with a custom difficulty in between “Tour” and “Simulation” (which is the hardest) meaning my shots are penalized or rewarded for timing, my club distances are given to me by carry, not total yardage and I don’t get putt previews or shot trails. In the past, I’ve found many golf games to be far too easy in the mid-difficulty levels to the point where you’re upset if you don’t break 60 or too difficult at the harder settings where you can’t break 90, with nothing in between. For me, I’ve finally found a balance that allows me to shoot some “normal” scores that a pro would shoot on a real course.
I miss some shots, good ones are rewarded, and to hit a draw or fade, I actually have to swing (read: move the analog stick) differently than for a straight ball. The actual swing mechanic itself works nicely into the user interface. Some people have noticed some lagging in the timing, I have, but it rarely impacts me significantly.
That said, Augusta National is really hard. I mean, seriously hard, and especially around the greens. I have yet to break 71 there and it’s mostly due to the crazy slope in the greens. That hasn’t just made putting difficult, but chipping and approach shots too.
Thanks to new ball flight and ball behavior settings, shots seem to react like they would at ANGC You come up short of that tiny plateau in the upper right corner of 6 green? You’re going all the way to the front left corner. Come up short on 9? You’ll be rewarded with a fun 50-yard pitch. Go long of the Sunday pin on 18? Good luck with that putt.
As expected, however, you won’t get the same kind of spin at say, Bandon Dunes or St. Andrews, where the ball bounces and bounds like a true links. These tendencies are independent of what the course setting is too. “Tournament” conditions at St. Andrews will naturally be firmer than at Augusta, but green speeds in Georgia will be quicker.
What could be better
I’m no video game expert by any means (I only ever buy golf and basketball games at this point) but here’s what I, as a golfer, would like to see.
Short game: Short shots have always been the toughest to replicate in video games for some reason. Thanks to the new ball behavior, putting from off the green is finally reasonably accurate. The game also added a spinner shot, basically a lower pitch that checks, which I found myself using most of the time once I unlocked it. However, I still find myself using the flop shot at times I wouldn’t in relief simply because it spins way more than it should, even out of the rough. Also, where the spinner checks a little, the regular pitch and chip shots don’t. It would be very hard to recreate Tiger’s chip-in from the 2005 Masters.
Real-world weather: I believe the previous EA games had access to real-world weather that would allow you to play courses in real-time conditions. I would love to see that again as the tournaments I’ve played seemingly had random wind directions and speeds each day. Plus the PGA is in May now, no way that gets perfect weather all the time now!
Conclusion
The graphics and actual shot types make this game a must-have for any golf-loving video gamer or a video game-loving golfer. After eight years, we can finally play Augusta National again in video games.
After Tiger Woods’ 2k game came out around the same time this one was teased, I thought more people would gravitate toward 2k thanks to Tiger’s name (which was part of the success of EA’s previous games).
However, EA has knocked it out of the park with a vastly superior experience both from a visuals and gameplay standpoint. Would I love to play with Tiger in this game? Yes, but we can’t have everything. What I would love to figure out is how to use this game’s graphics to play the courses on a golf simulator, as the images are way better than any I’ve seen.
EA Sports PGA Tour is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox S|X and PC with the standard edition clocking in $69.99 and the deluxe edition at $84.99.
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EA Sports PGA Tour
$69.99
The tee is yours at 30 courses at launch, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning quality with Frostbite™.
