By the mid-90s, Electronic Arts, under EA Sports, seemed to have established themselves as the number one developers of sports simulations. American football, football, rugby, ice hockey, golf, cricket and basketball, their games were lauded for their realism, gameplay, graphics, and ability to get licenses of sports personalities and teams to incorporate into their games. With the critical and commercial success of PGA Tour Golf II (1992), it made sense for EA to continue the franchise. Would PGA Tour Golf III garner the same praise from critics and achieve commercial success as well?
PGA Tour Golf III is a sports simulation video game. It was developed by Hitmen Productions and published by EA Sports for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994.
Gameplay
There are three modes to choose from:
Practice Round – Play 18 holes on any course just for fun. You can also just practice your long game on the driving range and/or short game on the putting green.
Tournament – Compete in any tournament which consists of 4 rounds of 18-hole rounds. However, to qualify for the next round, you must make the cut by ensuring you score low enough on your round. If you successfully compete the final round, you earn money and may even win the tournament if you consistently score the lowest numbers of strokes per round.
Skins Challenge – Two to four players can compete in an 18-hole match where each hole is assigned a monetary value. To win the hole, simply complete the hole in the least strokes. The winner takes the pot for that hole. The value of the holes increase as the match progresses. If a hole is tied, the money rolls over to the next hole. To make it more interesting, you can also opt to have pros join the game controlled by the computer.
You can play eight courses including:
TPC at Avenel
TPC at Las Colinas (New)
TPC at River Highlands (New)
TPC at Scottsdale
TPC at Southwind
TPC at Summerlin (New)
TPC at The Woodlands (New)
Unlike previous PGA Tour Golf games, you can play as one of eleven professional golfers who had won the following accolades at the time of the game’s release:
Brad Faxon – Three professional tournament wins
Jim Gallagher Jr. – Three professional tournament wins including The Tour Championship (1993)
Lee Janzen – Three professional tournament wins including the US Open (1993)
Tom Kite – Nineteen professional tournament wins including The Players Championship (1989), Nabisco Championship (1989), and the US Open (1992)
Bruce Lietzke – Twelve professional tournament wins including the Canadian Open (1978 & 1982)
Davis Love III – Eight professional tournament wins including The Players Championship (1992)
Mark O’Meara – Eight professional tournament wins
Jeff Sluman – One professional tournament win which was the PGA Championship (1988)
Craig Stadler – Ten professional tournament wins including the Masters Tournament (1982) and The Tour Championship (1991)
Fuzzy Zoeller – Ten professional tournament wins including the Masters Tournament (1979) and the US Open (1984)
Other than that, the gameplay hasn’t changed much. At the beginning of each hole, there is a slow flyover approach to the green with advice from one of the professional golfers on how to approach the hole. Before each stroke, a bird’s eye view of the hole with a cross hair over the pin will appear. You can move the cursor and it tells you the distance from your golfer to the cursor. You can go back to the overview at any time by pressing ‘A’ button.
There has been a slight change to the gameplay. For example, when addressing the ball, a box with the lie of the ball appears where you can move a cursor allowing you effect the flight of the ball by adding a draw or fade to the flight or affect the arc of the ball. You can also change your type of shot from Normal, to Chip to Punch shot.
The information shown on the HUD has not changed. The wind speed and direction box is still on the bottom left, the power gauge remains in the middle, and the hole number, hole par, stroke number, current score, distance to pin and club are still bottom right. On the horizon is the cross hair which shows you were you are aiming your shot. You can move this cursor left or right. Your caddy will automatically select the club they think you should use but you can change clubs yourself by pushing up or down on the D-pad. As you do this, you will notice the number to the left of the power gauge will increase or decrease. This is the maximum number of yards the club will hit the ball if the ball was unaffected by wind or how the ball lies.
When you are ready to hit the ball, press ‘B’ and the power gauge begins to fill from right to left. When you have reached your desired power, press ‘B’ again and the power bar begins to descend having left a mark when you stopped the power gauge rising. You then need to press ‘B’ a third time as the power bar reaches the Stroke Bar. If you are accurate, you will hit the ball without a slice or draw. The earlier or later your stop the power gauge either side of the stroke bar will determine the degree of which you slice or draw the ball. After striking the ball, and when the ball begins to descend, the camera angle changes, and you will see where the ball lands.
When you reach the green, a 3D square grid will appear showing you the lie of the green. This allows you to judge the slopes of the green when attempting to putt. Again, by pressing up and down on the D-pad when you are on the green increases and decreases the maximum power of the putt. The 3D view when observing the putting green is unaltered from PGA Tour II (1992). I guess if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
How Does It Handle?
Again, little has changed from the first two PGA Tour instalments. The game is easy to pick up and play but mastering it will take patience and practice. It might just be me, but I found this game harder than its predecessors. I can’t seem to place very high in any of tournaments. Clearly, I need more practice.
You have to be incredibly precise (maybe too precise) when you try to stop the descending gauge at the Stoke Bar else you can very easily draw or slice the shot. If you’re not accurate with your timings, you will inadvertently put your next shot in a place that puts you at a big disadvantage. It is very unforgiving.
They have kept the power gauge and method of changing clubs which is simpler than other golf games.
When putting, I like the fact that you can change the maximum strength of the putter as this allows you to more accurately gauge the strength of your putt. That is not to say that putting is easy, of course. I found the putting to be very unforgiving with little margin for error. I still think the putting is the best and most accurate method to date. With regard to the 3D view of the green, it becomes a tad annoying when you need to keep rotate the view in order to check the line of your shot. One would think this would be done automatically.
Graphics
The first thing to notice is that they have moved away from illustrated pictures of courses and headshots of pros and have moved to digitized photos…and I have to say it looks great! The sprites have been rotoscoped too, allowing the addition of extra frames to ensure a more realistic golf swings. The courses themselves are also more detailed. The trees look a lot more realistic and the horizon contains detailed clouds in the skies and even some mountainous terrain.
However, I didn’t like that the fairways have been pixelated in two shades of green. I found it an attack on the eyes. I also didn’t like the new wind indicator, but overall, the HUD looks a bit slicker.
When comparing the game to its contemporaries, I think it looks much better than PGA European Tour (1994) (which is basically the same as PGA Tour Golf II (1992). I also prefer this instalment’s sprites over those of Pebble Beach Golf Links (1994). When it comes to the colouring of the courses, I also prefer the more muted, realistic palette of colours of PGA Tour Golf III than that of Pebble Beach Golf Links (1994). The edges of the sand bunkers and fairways are better too as on Pebble Beach Golf Links (1994), they look too angular rather than smooth curves.
Music & SFX
The only music that I recall is a slow piano like melody that is played over the leaderboard. I’m surprised there wasn’t any music played over the title screen.
Again, the minimalist sound creates a laid back and relaxing environment. The occasional thwack of the ball, the gentle ripple of applause from the crowd, and the infrequent bird tweets, does well to capture the atmosphere of the game.
Replay Value
The desire to do better draws you back in to play again and again. Having more courses also encourages further forays into the world of golf. Definitely a game enjoyed more in two-player mode.
Did I Complete The Game?
I didn’t spend as much time on this game as I did on PGA Tour Golf II (1992) because I felt I grasped quickly what the game had to offer. I did not come anywhere near winning a tournament yet.
What The Critics Said:
Next Generation: “Other Genesis golf games have looked better (like the first Genesis golf game, Arnold Palmer Golf), but none maintain the depth of play or the true PGA experience like PGA III has been improved with an arc meter that helps control backspin. Golf fans put down that Golf Digest, keep your eye on the ball, keep your left arm straight, and pick up this game. Overall 4/5“.[1]
Liverpool Post: “Evolution not revolution, but PGA addicts will want it anyway. Overall 16/20.”[2]
My Verdict:
“Arguably, the most realistic golf game to date with regard to graphics and gameplay. Addictive and tough to beat, though, casual gamers may be deterred by its difficulty.”
Rating:
What are your memories of PGA Tour Golf III? I would love to hear your thoughts, and don’t for get to follow and subscribe so that you don’t miss my latest reviews! You can also find me on Instagram: @nicklovestogame.
[1] ‘Sega Genesis – Hole In One’. Next Generation. (March 1995). Issue 3:102.
[2] (Jan 7, 1995) ‘Fairway to go for revolution’. Liverpool Daily Post. p29.