Winter Golf, Computer Style

With the 2009 golf season still several months away, and my most recent round having been played almost two months ago now, I'm getting a little stir crazy.

Fortunately, I have the best golf computer game of all time to keep me buzy, and I'm not talking about Tiger Woods.

My Links 2001 still is much more enjoyable to me than any of the Tiger Woods offerings. I love the realism, with a couple minor exceptions, such as the too-long hang times on full shots.

I also enjoy it because, as a golf game should be, the better you get, the harder the game actually is. That is, the "beginner" settings make it intentionally easy to play. Once you learn, you can raise your own bar to the more difficult Pro and Champion levels.

The Tiger Woods series has it backwards, where your player gets better as your own skills improve, and the game then becomes easier to play, far too easy for a golf purist who is looking for an accurate simulation of the real game.

That said, I have heard the recent version(s) of Tiger Woods has/have the option to play a more difficult, "pure" version of the game. I'm not too fond of easy-to-get, straight, 350-yard drives in a video game. I prefer the 275 yard drives of Links golf (longer with the wind and downhill of course).

I'll have to get the Tiger Woods 2009 for the Wii. I'm encouraged by what I've heard, but I will always be bummed that Links is no longer made or being updated.