If you’re like me and have been craving a new PGA Tour game, today is your lucky day. PGA Tour 2K21,  developed by HB Studios and published by 2K Games is out now.

For those of you that haven’t heard of HB Studios, they are the independent studio behind “The Golf Club” franchise. While “The Golf Club” was a pretty decent golfing sim, it unfortunately didn’t feature any licensed gear or players. Eventually, “The Golf Club” franchise was picked up by 2K Games and then rebranded to PGA Tour 2K21.

HB Studios and 2K have worked hard to bring that PGA feel back to the game along with multiple well known brands, PGA Tours, and even went as far as getting legend announcers, Luke Elvy and Rich Beem onboard for PGA Tour 2K21.

HB Studios have given us a lot to do and look forward to in this title. During your PGA Tour career, you’ll be able to take part in 30 different events such as the Genesis Open, 3M Open, and of course, the PGA Championship along with some custom events from HB Studios themselves, all while playing on 15 licensed PGA Tour courses.

So, the first thing you’ll need to do upon starting your PGA Tour 2K21 MyCareer is deciding on your skill level. Once selected, you’ll be dropped into a tutorial, which I recommend doing, and it’s here you’ll be shown the basics, as well as some advanced techniques. If you decide you want to fine tune your difficulty, you can do so by setting custom difficulty settings along with various other options to suit your play style and skill level.

Once you’ve completed the tutorial and set your skill difficulty, it’s time to start your career by creating your custom character. I must say, there are some pretty impressive amount of customization options in PGA Tour 2K21. Pretty much all the clothes and clubs you can choose from for your player are actually based upon real-life gear. Once you’re happy with your character, it’s time to start your career. After you’ve played through all the amateur rounds and you’ve finally hit the PGA Tour, this is where career mode starts to really kick in.

Before you start each round, you’re able to choose a sponsor. Each sponsor will present you with different unlockables, these include various clothes and golf clubs. Contract offers are separated into easy, medium, or hard goals, with additional XP awarded on the higher difficulties. The more XP rewarded to you, the more items are unlocked, and so. XP is also earned by completing random challengers that are presented to you at the start of some holes. These can include tasks like, reach the green in regulation, or drive the ball over 324 yards. XP earned from these can also be spent in the games store on new gear or clothes for your character.

Gameplay & controls in PGA Tour 2K21 is pretty straightforward for the best part. Using the right analog stick, you’ll pull back to charge your swing meter, then flicking the right analog stick forward will trigger the swing. Timing is everything and will result in a swing with maximum power and efficiency. While this sounds easy, you can get a little more advanced by using the game’s True Mode feature by pressing R1 allowing you to add spin to the ball as well as arc your shots. These advanced options come in handy when taking on environmental hazards such as strong winds, trees or ground slope.

As for graphics and presentation, PGA Tour 2K21 looks great. While the crowds are a little on the low quality and animations side, the licensed golfers and courses are very well presented and look spot on when compared to their real life counterparts.

Do you like to build things? Well, you’re in luck. Just like with “The Golf Club” games, PGA Tour 2K21 includes an in-depth Course Designer. What’s also pretty neat is that courses from “The Golf Club” 2019 can also be imported and played on. Courses made in Course Designer can also be uploaded and the community can download your course and take it for a test drive. On top of that, while not all modes were active at the time of review, PGA Tour 2K21 promises a very flushed out multiplayer experience where players are even able to organise and run entire tournaments and seasons.

Overall, PGA Tour 2K21 is a great golf game, and HB Studios have done an amazing job delivering a great golfing experience. With a robust Course Designer, great character customization options, and plenty of courses to whack a ball around, PGA Tour 2K21 should fulfil all your golfing needs.

Written by: MKAU Gaming