PGA Tour 2K23 review – not a hole in one

metro.co.uk:

2K resumes its use of the PGA Tour licence but is its golfing action good enough to get it to the top of the leaderboard?

We’ve become accustomed to 2K Games’ sports games conforming to a certain type: big, bold, expensive-feeling, and generally in your face. However, PGA Tour 2K23 isn’t like that at all. In many ways it has a slightly homespun feel, despite bearing the official PGA Tour licence (once possessed by EA Sports).

There are two reasons for that: one being that golf is a much less brash sport than, say, basketball or wrestling. But the main explanation lies in the identity of the developer, HB Studios, which was only recently pulled into 2K Games’ orbit and which originally achieved prominence via its game The Golf Club.

The Gold Club was most notable for its startling simulation of the physics of golf and in that respect, PGA Tour 2K23 is impeccable. Every bump you hit on a fairway will send your ball deviating in the most realistic manner imaginable, and everything that happens when you set your player up to address a new hole comes across as utterly convincing. But elsewhere, you come across issues which are hard to ignore, although they are mixed, curate’s egg fashion, with some good ideas and features.

As as an example, despite the PGA Tour licence, the selection of golf courses manages to disappoint: there are 20 US courses but iconic ones like Augusta are missing. You can play as 14 male or female pros, and the roster includes cover star Tiger Woods and, oddly, Michael Jordan, but given how many pros play on the PGA Tour, you might expect more.

On the plus side, it includes Topgolf – the target-shooting game for those whose golfing skills are questionable, which is quite fun – and the Career mode is well