The Golf Club News Post

The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Month

03:09 PM - August 12, 2014 by Steve_OS

The Golf Club is set to tee off for Xbox One and PC on August 19th for $34.99. The PlayStation 4 version arrives later this month, pending certification approval.

Read the full press release below.

“THE GOLF CLUB” TEES OFF NEXT GEN GOLFING THIS AUGUST

HB Studios Announces Full Retail Release Date For Golf Simulator

Canadian video game developer, HB Studios, today announced that its golf simulation, The Golf Club will launch on Xbox One through Xbox Live on August 19, 2014. The Golf Club will also leave early access for a full retail release on Windows PC through digital download distribution service Steam the same day. The PlayStation 4 version of The Golf Club will launch later this month pending certification approval. Credited with making some of the most critically acclaimed sport franchises on the EA SPORTS label, HB Studios has developed the first golf title to bring procedurally generated courses to next gen console. The Golf Club is a highly realistic game that allows players to fully customize their golfing experience by creating and playing the course of their dreams with the built-in Greg Norman Course Designer.

“We are incredibly excited to give golf fans the game they’ve always wanted,” said Anthony Kyne, Producer at HB Studios. “No other golf game provides players with this level of customization and sophistication in course design on PC and next generation consoles. We’ve worked extremely hard to get The Golf Club ready for launch, so it’s really rewarding to officially announce the launch date and share that with our fans.”

The Golf Club is a fully featured golfing experience where users can play against friends’ and rivals’ best rounds in turn-based/asynchronous competition modes enhanced by cloud-based technology. The game supports Tours & Tournaments, stroke play, match play, and 4-ball.

The Golf Club’s Greg Norman Course Designer allows players to build an unlimited number of golf courses, which can then be shared and played with friends online. New courses can be generated in a matter of seconds by selecting a theme, terrain features, and number of holes. Players can then enjoy a full suite of editing tools from changing the time of day to placing hazards and objects to create the ultimate golf challenge. Players can also discover new courses built by friends and the community by filtering through rank and difficulty, as well as interact with new members of The Golf Club through the Message Center.

The game is due for worldwide release on Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One and PC Windows platforms priced $34.99.

The Golf Club comes complete with three modes: stroke play, match play and 4-ball, no loading times between holes, and the course designer feature.

Game: The Golf ClubReader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PC / PS4 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 7 - View All

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Member Comments

# 81 bluengold34_OS @ 08/15/14 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kehlis


	Are you going to do a review Bob? Really interested to hear more about gameplay and difficulty of longer shots. Always hated how easy it was to hit straight shots in TW.

I am Sir - Will have it up early on the 19th. I will jut say this for now - hitting the ball straight down the middle is more of a challenge than it was on the PC version, but still not that difficult. I did find myself hitting it into the 2nd or 3rd cut 2-3 times a round. Here is a hint - the difficulty of the course will play more of a factor into hitting the ball into the fairway, than the actual swing mechanics itself, and that is the way HBS has always intended it to be.

# 82 bcruise @ 08/15/14 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kehlis


	Are you going to do a review Bob? Really interested to hear more about gameplay and difficulty of longer shots. Always hated how easy it was to hit straight shots in TW.

It's pretty easy to hit straight shots in this if you're trying to. Most of the challenge in this game is going to come from course design and forcing players to hit something other than straight shots IMO.

Was referring to the PC version btw - I can't play it on a console.

Edit: Ha, good to see me and Blue are on the same page about this.

# 83 bluengold34_OS @ 08/15/14 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrider99


	Thanks guys, I'll definitely enable the Vertical Sync and see what happens. Played a couple more rounds this morning and did much better with my putting stroke. It's still not completely dialed in, but at least now I think I understand what I'm doing wrong as far as distance is concerned. Reading the greens is still a challenge, though, which is a good thing. And the step up from an easy course to a hard one is substantial, as least it was for me. I really hope they get their servers online soon because all I can do right now is play single rounds because the game needs to be online to access the tour and tournament modes. Hey bluengold34_OS, have you been able to get online or is it just me?

Not yet - in the email from HBS, Derick stated that the MP portion being enabled is now up to MS. Could be today, might be Monday??

# 84 Flightwhite24 @ 08/15/14 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluengold34_OS


	I am Sir - Will have it up early on the 19th. I will jut say this for now - hitting the ball straight down the middle is more of a challenge than it was on the PC version, but still not that difficult. I did find myself hitting it into the 2nd or 3rd cut 2-3 times a round. Here is a hint - the difficulty of the course will play more of a factor into hitting the ball into the fairway, than the actual swing mechanics itself, and that is the way HBS has always intended it to be.

Curious Bob as to what type of scores you are shooting? Is it more challenging than TW14? Thanks

# 85 jrider99 @ 08/15/14 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluengold34_OS


	Not yet - in the email from HBS, Derick stated that the MP portion being enabled is now up to MS. Could be today, might be Monday??

Thanks man. That's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something on my end.

# 86 mebby @ 08/15/14 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrider99


	Thanks guys, I'll definitely enable the Vertical Sync and see what happens. Played a couple more rounds this morning and did much better with my putting stroke. It's still not completely dialed in, but at least now I think I understand what I'm doing wrong as far as distance is concerned. Reading the greens is still a challenge, though, which is a good thing. And the step up from an easy course to a hard one is substantial, as least it was for me. I really hope they get their servers online soon because all I can do right now is play single rounds because the game needs to be online to access the tour and tournament modes. Hey bluengold34_OS, have you been able to get online or is it just me?

Thanks for the early impressions - sounds like good stuff so far.

As for putting... based on my experience with the early release on the PC, I also struggled quite a bit at first with putting. I'm just now starting to get the hang of it but the first thing I realized is that you're gonna need to move the aiming marker to the right distance to get the sort of stroke you want.

For instance, if you want to use a shorter backswing but still have the ball travel further then you'll want to move the aiming marker further away from the golfer. This, to me, is most noticeable on tap-in putts. I can't tell you have many 2 inchers I left short in my first few rounds.

One disclaimer though... the PC I'm playing this on isn't the beefiest gaming machine so I'm not getting great frame rates. I don't know how much this is coming into play as far as swing timing goes. I do find it very difficult to achieve anything less than 100% power on my non-putter strokes and I'm pretty certain that is due to low frame rates...

# 87 bluengold34_OS @ 08/15/14 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLIGHTWHITE


	Curious Bob as to what type of scores you are shooting? Is it more challenging than TW14? Thanks

On a hard course James, I have avg. anywhere from even to +10. On a course classified as easy I shot a -7 at 5AM this morning.

It is more challenging than the TW's series, in the fact that there will be literally hundreds of courses to play, each requiring their own style of approach. Imagine playing a user created tour here on OS, where 36 events have 36 different courses and no familiarity and no golfer upgrades. It puts the onus back on the golfer, and their true ability to navigate an unfamiliar course.

# 88 mebby @ 08/15/14 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluengold34_OS


	On a hard course James, I have avg. anywhere from even to +10. On a course classified as easy I shot a -7 at 5AM this morning. It is more challenging than the TW's series, in the fact that there will be literally hundreds of courses to play, each requiring their own style of approach. Imagine playing a user created tour here on OS, where 36 events have 36 different courses and no familiarity and no golfer upgrades. It puts the onus back on the golfer, and their true ability to navigate an unfamiliar course.

This game honestly has so much promise. I think it has the potential to be the online tour environment that we've been looking for ever since TW went that direction a few years ago. But the insanely low scores coupled with the low numbers of people playing on the more simulation-like difficulties just ruined it for me.

# 89 rspencer86 @ 08/15/14 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluengold34_OS


	Imagine playing a user created tour here on OS, where 36 events have 36 different courses and no familiarity and no golfer upgrades. It puts the onus back on the golfer, and their true ability to navigate an unfamiliar course.

OK, that sounds pretty damn awesome.

# 90 OnlookerDelay @ 08/15/14 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrider99


	Thanks guys, I'll definitely enable the Vertical Sync and see what happens.

I'm sure many of us will be interested in reading your reaction to how this affected the tearing issue you were seeing with it off. Maybe Bob can weigh in on this here, but won't this then lock the video to 30 fps? (EDIT: I should clarify that in the PC version, the option is there to set vsync at 30, 60, or off, if I recall correctly. Since the upper limit on the XB1 version is 45 fps, wouldn't the only option now be 30 fps or OFF?) Not that doing so would have much, if any effect at all on gameplay, since the control input thread IS locked at 60 fps.

Quote:


	Played a couple more rounds this morning and did much better with my putting stroke. It's still not completely dialed in, but at least now I think I understand what I'm doing wrong as far as distance is concerned.

It took me a while to get a knack for putting in the PC version, but I've got a pretty good handle on it now. I move the yellow targeting marker to where I actually want to aim the putt for both direction and distance. I imagine that the yellow marker is the hole on a flat green and I'm trying to hole it there. It helps me mostly with my distance control as I think the game somewhat scales the putt power to the range you've selected with that marker. In general, add or subtract a foot to or from the distance per inch that the ball is above or below the hole. This will vary proportionally to the green speed.

Anyway, enjoying reading your early thoughts on the game Jeff... thanks!

# 91 bluengold34_OS @ 08/15/14 11:38 AM

Hoping MS hits the proverbial MP switch today. HBS was kind enough to give me two codes(I gave it to another OSer to help me test things out), so I can experience the MP portion in every way possible. If that happens today, I will shoot some early impressions of that also.

# 92 jrider99 @ 08/15/14 11:57 AM

Guys, thanks for the tips on putting. I've been moving the aiming marker to account for break only, not distance, and have been adjusting my backswing and follow through accordingly to get the right speed on putts. I'll try adjusting for distance, too, and see if that makes a difference.

Turning on the V-Sync did make a world of difference as it relates to the screen tearing I was noticing. I played three rounds with it on and didn't notice any screen tearing at all and I couldn't tell any difference as far as framerate. It was still smooth and, really, that's all that matters to me.

I'm still really liking how shot placement plays such a big factor in your success, especially on the harder courses. You really have to almost play backwards from the pin and make sure your in the best position for an approach shot off the tee.

And the wind...maybe it's just me, but 12 mph here definitely doesn't feel like 12 mph in TW. I'm having to hit one, even two clubs up when hitting into the breeze or else my shot goes nowhere, whereas in Tiger I could seemingly cut right through the wind. With the wind at my back, though, I've been able to blast some drives 320-plus with the right amount of draw and a solid stroke. So it seems to be fair.

That's another thing I really like -- the risk/reward in trying to hit a big draw or fade. On a typical tee shot, there's a pretty big sweet spot to help ensure a straight drive. But start trying to cut a shot or elevate one into that wind and the margin for error disappears.

It really puts the onus back on the player, as someone stated earlier. Every time I hit a good shot -- and those times have been few and far between -- I really feel like I've accomplished something. Not going to lie -- there have been a few fist pumps from the recliner after pulling off some challenging shots. And there have been a few choice words grumbled when I didn't hit the shot I was trying to hit. Which pretty much sums up my real golf game.

I really hope the online portion gets activated soon. I never really got into TW online, but I could definitely see myself getting hooked on this.

# 93 jrider99 @ 08/15/14 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluengold34_OS


	Hoping MS hits the proverbial MP switch today. HBS was kind enough to give me two codes(I gave it to another OSer to help me test things out), so I can experience the MP portion in every way possible. If that happens today, I will shoot some early impressions of that also.

If you guys are looking for a third, I'd certainly like to check out MP, too.

# 94 bluengold34_OS @ 08/15/14 12:04 PM

I have to also mention how nicely I feel the wind affects your shot. It does so where one has to be coherent of it, but it's not overly obtrusive and feels organic. It's extremely nice playing a current golf title that uses a global wind system, as opposed to a random one.

# 95 bluengold34_OS @ 08/15/14 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrider99


	If you guys are looking for a third, I'd certainly like to check out MP, too.

For sure Jeff - whats the Gamertag Bro?

# 96 OnlookerDelay @ 08/15/14 12:10 PM

Good to hear the news on the v-sync enabling Jeff! Does the menu show that your are enabling v-sync to 30, or does it just show "ON" or "ENABLED"?

# 97 jrider99 @ 08/15/14 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluengold34_OS


	For sure Jeff - whats the Gamertag Bro?

Awesome. It's JRider95. I've got to head to the office around 2 but hopefully it gets turned on before then.

# 98 greenegt @ 08/15/14 01:15 PM

Man, these impressions are great, but it's making the wait so hard. So bummed that I won't be able to until the end of next week.

# 99 mebby @ 08/15/14 01:15 PM

One thing I also love is how the entire environment is open to your use at all times. When you use the scout camera you can basically zoom all the way out and see all the holes around you. This gets rid of the "trapped" feeling that I sometimes had in TW when I needed a more creative path to get out of a difficult position after a bad shot.

They also seemed to have nailed the impact that rough and hazards will have on your shot. It depends on how the ball enters the terrain (a high lofted shot that lands in a bunker will be buried and therefor penalize you more whereas a ball that just gently trickles in will sit nicely on top of the sand and as long as you swing well you'll get roughly 97% distance), the angle of the lie, the club you are using, etc.

The more I play this game the more I really like it. I think they've established a very, very nice base on which to build on.

# 100 bluengold34_OS @ 08/15/14 04:37 PM

Online is now live for Golf Club

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The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Month