PGA Tour 2K21 review: pro golfers offer gamers a chance to test themselves

Golfers around the world, with the exception of the odd Commander in Chief, have not seen the fairway for months but PGA Tour 2K21 is here to change all that.

The new release on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch allows virtual golfers to pick up their bag and head out on any one of 15 official gorgeously rendered TPC courses including Sawgrass, Southwind and Scottsdale.

Developed by 2K and HB Studios, the game is an update to The Golf Club 2019, released in 2018, and takes the official tie-in with the PGA Tour to a new level from there.

Now, instead of just the official courses, there are golfers too, with Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau among 12 top pros making an appearance.

That is not quite as comprehensive a collaboration as some might like – you cannot play as any of the big names, for example, instead you develop rivalries with the game’s stars over the course of your career on tour.

New golfers, who have myriad options to get their own character to match their appearance to a tee, can choose to start that career in Q School, on the tour itself, or somewhere in between.

The PGA Tour mode is the hero of the game, although it suffers from only being accessible when online which can prove problematic for those with a poorer internet connection.

Other modes are limited. There is a local multiplayer mode, which definitely suffers from guests having to make their own new golfer or choosing a generic offering, but it all certainly presents the verisimilitude of a day on the course.

That’s what PGA Tour 2K21 does in spades. This is a golf simulation that is the best in its class. It improves on its last outing with more courses and a bigger course creator, for those so inclined, and the added PGA Tour mode.

What it lacks – and it seems a crying shame given the tie-in – is an option to play as the pros rather than against them and any of the challenge options that made the EA Sports series, fronted by Tiger Woods and then Rory McIlroy, so appealing to the casual player. It is notable that after criticism for not making enough of the PGA licence in their last outing they have made so little of it again this time but for the name.

This is a simulation above all else but a rewarding one at that. Put in the hours and you will see the benefit. That is the only way to play the swing mechanics that demand such work and the green once you get there. You will get better the more putts you attempt and make no mistake, you will attempt very many putts in your early rounds.

Never has a game better captured the triumphs and frustrations of the amateur golfer and for that reason alone it is great addition to anyone’s virtual bag.

If you get around in even par in your first 10 rounds then you feel like a pro and in this regard the game deserves more credit than any of its predecessors. Par is nothing to be scared of, whatever we might tell our scorecards.

Few of us would be offered the chance of a round at TPC Sawgrass, even before the world was locked down, and you have that opportunity now.

You’ll have to earn the right to get round in anything under-par. That’s fine for the golfing community but it might struggle to convert the casual gamer who remember previous EA games where it was more arcade than arcane.

This is a demandingly realistic situation and an improvement on the last outing; the visuals are a solid improvement, too. The commentary lacks something, suffering from repeated lines and, in the case of multiplayer, a lag that means your round partner might well be humiliated as words of encouragement become pointed barbs.

That realism captures the joys and frustrations of the real game in a facsimile of fairway drives and foul shots that no other game has perhaps yet offered. If you’ve missed cursing yourself and considering throwing a putter into the closest water hazard, then this is the game for you.

If you’re a casual gamer who misses the pick up and play pitch and putt of the EA Sports series then you might want to take a mulligan on PGA2K21. Perhaps, the best both worlds can hope for is a return of these non-cartoon golf games to spur each other on.

That worked for Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA, just as it did for other 2K-developed titles such as NBA2K going against EA’s own NBA series. With no EA game since Rory McIlroy PGA Tour in 2015 this was a gimme but it perhaps remains a missed opportunity.

In the meantime, this will handily take up as much time as you are willing to give it – and you should. What is a more accurate golf simulation than that?

2K provided early access to the game. We played the PlayStation 4 version.