{"id":3113,"date":"2013-06-27T19:08:54","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T01:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/?p=3113"},"modified":"2014-09-07T21:50:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T03:50:28","slug":"golfyssey-22-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/?p=3113","title":{"rendered":"Golfyssey 23 \u2014 PC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Personal_computer\" target=\"_blank\">PC<\/a>.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a good chance that you&#8217;re reading this blog on a personal computer right now.\u00a0 The PC is ubiquitous for home use and work today, but it started as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/IBM_PC\" target=\"_blank\">just another variant<\/a> of the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Home_computer\" target=\"_blank\">home computer<\/a> back in the early 1980s.\u00a0 The IBM PC saw immediate success in the business world, and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/IBM_PC_compatible\" target=\"_blank\">IBM&#8217;s decision to allow clones of the hardware<\/a> made it possible for other manufacturers to freely copy its designs.\u00a0 This made the PC a de facto standard over the next few years as it gained dominance while most other computer makers closed up shop.<\/p>\n<p>While not intended solely for games, there have been tons and tons and tons of games made for the PC.\u00a0 And there are probably thousands of golf games.\u00a0 I&#8217;m only going to review the ones I have.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll be running them on Windows 98 running inside VirtualBox on a laptop running Lubuntu 12.04 Linux.\u00a0 It may seem like an odd choice, but I set up that virtual Windows 98 machine for games and that happens to be where these golf games are installed, so I&#8217;ll run with it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;SimGolf&#8221;, 1996<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-box.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3114\" alt=\"SimGolf box\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-box-300x294.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-box-300x294.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-box.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-06.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3115\" alt=\"SimGolf 06\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-06-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-06-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-06.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;SimGolf&#8221; is an interesting golfing simulator brought to you by Maxis.\u00a0 This was long before Maxis was bought by EA, that destroyer of creativity and art.\u00a0 If you have ever played an early Maxis game from the 90s, then you can probably guess that the quality of this one is likewise very high.<\/p>\n<p>This game is different from most of the games that I&#8217;ve reviewed here because it lets you design your own course.\u00a0 There is a separate application that allows you to design the course:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-01.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3116\" alt=\"SimGolf 01\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-01-300x209.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-01-300x209.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-01.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Making a new course will bring up this wizard:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-02.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3117\" alt=\"SimGolf 02\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-02-300x229.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-02-300x229.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-02.png 441w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-03.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3118\" alt=\"SimGolf 03\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-03-300x229.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-03-300x229.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-03.png 441w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-04.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3119\" alt=\"SimGolf 04\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-04-300x229.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-04-300x229.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-04.png 441w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s just to set up the basic blank map.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s what you get:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-05.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3120\" alt=\"SimGolf 05\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-05-300x217.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-05-300x217.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-05.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The options and choices are myriad.\u00a0 One could spend days setting up and tweaking a golf course &#8211; placing trees, water, sand traps, holes and every other little detail and feature that is available.\u00a0 There are so many features to choose from that it likely seemed overwhelming for many players.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a good thing there are some pre-made courses to play on.<\/p>\n<p>Going back to the main screen allows you to choose to play a game, practice or play over a network.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-07.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3121\" alt=\"SimGolf 07\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-07-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-07-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-07.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From there, even more options are available.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-08.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3122\" alt=\"SimGolf 08\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-08-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-08-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-08.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can customize your golfer:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-09.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3123\" alt=\"SimGolf 09\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-09-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-09-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-09.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can select a course to play, including the ones you make yourself.\u00a0 I might just see if there is a collection of SimGolf courses on the internet somewhere.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-10.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3124\" alt=\"SimGolf 10\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-10-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-10-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-10.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That thumbnail in the top right shows an animated course flyby after a while.\u00a0 I&#8217;m sure many minds were blown by the amazing graphics back in 1996.<\/p>\n<p>You can also set up the gameplay options:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-11.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3125\" alt=\"SimGolf 11\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-11-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-11-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-11.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mulligans can thankfully be turned off, as can &#8220;gimmies&#8221;.\u00a0 We&#8217;re here to play golf, not prance around the fresh-cut grass like sissies!<\/p>\n<p>The course view is basic at first, but you can get it nicely expanded if you have the screen real-estate.\u00a0 My Windows 98 installation has an eye-popping 1024 x 768 screen resolution, so I can handle the &#8220;all views&#8221; option.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-12.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3126\" alt=\"SimGolf 12\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-12-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-12-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-12.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The game menu controls are on the left side of the screen.\u00a0 To operate them, click and hold down on the mouse button.\u00a0 In some cases, another row of icons will pop out from the main icon.\u00a0 While you are holding down the button, move the mouse cursor and release the button when you are pointing to the icon you want.\u00a0 These are the icons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SimGolf icon &#8211; will exit the game, prompting to save first<\/li>\n<li>Save Game icon &#8211; will save the game<\/li>\n<li>Show icon &#8211; will show the Grid \/ Dynamic Scenery \/ Movement Control \/ Weather Indicator icons<\/li>\n<li>Options icon &#8211; will show the Sound Off \/ Weather Options \/ Terrain Options \/ Detail Level \/ Open All Views<\/li>\n<li>Show Views icon &#8211; will show the Top View \/ Ball View \/ Landing View \/ Pin View \/ Profile View<\/li>\n<li>Show Scorecard icon<\/li>\n<li>Show Chat Window icon<\/li>\n<li>Replay icon<\/li>\n<li>SimGolf Help icon<\/li>\n<li>About SimGolf icon<\/li>\n<li>RTJ Jr Tips icon<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When you are ready to make your shot, you must first aim your ball.\u00a0 I learned the hard way that your aim is already set pretty good by default.\u00a0 Avoid clicking anywhere around your golfer avatar on the screen.\u00a0 Clicking with the pointer at any point will aim your shot at that point.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-13.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3127\" alt=\"SimGolf 13\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-13-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-13-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-13.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s actually best to aim by clicking on the top-view map on the top right of the screen.<\/p>\n<p>To make your shot, you need to bring the pointer into that little grid with the golf ball and the end of the golf club drawn into it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-14.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3128\" alt=\"SimGolf 14\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-14-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-14-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-14.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Click on the end of the club and hold the button.\u00a0 Bring the mouse back toward you and then push it back to it&#8217;s original position.\u00a0 Try to keep the pointer and thus the club as straight as you can while doing this.\u00a0 You will see a line appear on the grid showing you how straight you were (or weren&#8217;t).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-15.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3129\" alt=\"SimGolf 15\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-15-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-15-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-15.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hitting the ball too slow will reduce the power of your shot, and hitting the ball off-center (like I did above) will affect your aim.<\/p>\n<p>This swinging grid has more options available.\u00a0 If you want to change your club, click and hold the grid square on the bottom left.\u00a0 This will allow you to choose a different club.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-16.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3131\" alt=\"SimGolf 16\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-16-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-16-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-16.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are also draw and fade options available at the bottom of the grid:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-17.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3132\" alt=\"SimGolf 17\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-17-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-17-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-17.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And ball strike position options on the right:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-18.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3133\" alt=\"SimGolf 18\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-18-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-18-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-18.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Clicking on the &#8220;<strong>O<\/strong>&#8221; on the bottom right corner of the grid will bring up some more options for this grid:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-19.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3134\" alt=\"SimGolf 19\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-19-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-19-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-19.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Clicking the top right corner while it displays a &#8220;<strong>P<\/strong>&#8221; will change your shot to a punch shot.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-20.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3135\" alt=\"SimGolf 20\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-20-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-20-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-20.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Clicking the same corner one more time will put you in &#8220;walk around&#8221; mode.\u00a0 Note the walking shoes in the top right corner of your course view.\u00a0 You can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-21.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3136\" alt=\"SimGolf 21\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-21-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-21-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-21.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here I am on the putting green.\u00a0 Remember there&#8217;s a terrain grid that can be brought up at any time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-22.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3137\" alt=\"SimGolf 22\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-22-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-22-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-22.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Something I found out after a while is that you can right-click on the top-view map to get a menu of options.\u00a0 Left clicking on this map is still the best way of aiming your shot I think.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-23.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3138\" alt=\"SimGolf 23\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-23-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-23-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/SimGolf-23.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pretty damn good, I say.\u00a0 No annoying music, and the ambient sound effects are tastefully done.\u00a0 They cycle through randomly in type and volume so they don&#8217;t get repetitive.\u00a0 There is a lot of complexity that meets the player head-on, and it took me quite a long time to figure out how to make a shot.\u00a0 There are also some inconsistencies in the interface that could have been handled differently.\u00a0 I can see how many people would get turned off by this game.<\/p>\n<p>But overall, I think it&#8217;s a very good game.\u00a0 There was a sequel made in 2002 called <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sid_Meier%27s_SimGolf\" target=\"_blank\">Sid Meier&#8217;s SimGolf<\/a>.\u00a0 I think that version sold way more copies than this original one did.\u00a0 That was after the phenomenal success of the Sims franchise.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve never played that sequel version, but I can recommend this one as a satisfying golf video game.\u00a0 It offers a different and unique shot mechanism, and of course it has the most fully featured golf course builder I&#8217;ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Microsoft Golf 3.0&#8221;, 1996<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3145\" alt=\"MS Golf 3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3-300x297.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3-300x297.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-01.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3146\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 01\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-01-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-01-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-01.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft was trying to prove a point back in the late 90s.\u00a0 They were also trying to monopolize every aspect of the computer business, but that&#8217;s obvious.\u00a0 The point they were trying to prove was that Windows &#8211; and particularly Windows 95 &#8211; was a viable platform for computer games.\u00a0 Back in 1994, a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Lion_King_%28video_game%29\" target=\"_blank\">game based on the movie The Lion King<\/a> came out, and it crashed on many computers running Windows 3.1.\u00a0 The DOS version had no problems, and people started to blame the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/WinG\" target=\"_blank\">WinG API<\/a> that Windows 3.1 used for games.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft said &#8220;fuck this&#8221; and released <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Directx\" target=\"_blank\">DirectX<\/a> in late 1995.\u00a0 After that point, MS had gone out of their way to make it known that Windows 95 was what you wanted to develop video games for.\u00a0 They went on to make some games of their own, the same way they make everything else &#8211; by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Borg_%28Star_Trek%29\" target=\"_blank\">acquiring a company<\/a> who makes a great product.\u00a0 Microsoft released &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Age_of_Empires_%28video_game%29\" target=\"_blank\">Age of Empires<\/a>&#8220;, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator\" target=\"_blank\">Flight Simulator<\/a>&#8221; and many other great games this way.\u00a0 Some of the games released under Microsoft&#8217;s name were groundbreaking and award winning.<\/p>\n<p>One of the series of games that MS released was titled simply &#8220;Golf&#8221;.\u00a0 I remember the early days of my first PC use in 1998, downloading demo versions of some of those golf games.\u00a0 The demo versions were released for free and are still floating around on the internet if you have the google-fu and the patience.<\/p>\n<p>I do however have a full copy of &#8220;Microsoft Golf 3.0&#8221; from 1996.\u00a0 It has that Microsoft feel in so many ways, right down to the way it crashes constantly when you play it.\u00a0 Seriously, that is a major bummer, but I&#8217;ve learned to just save after every hole.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-02.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3147\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 02\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-02-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-02-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-02.png 641w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I do however enjoy the hell out of this game.\u00a0 The interface is mouse-driven, as you would expect.\u00a0 The game setup screens feature some soft folky-jazzy music playing.\u00a0 It isn&#8217;t to my taste, but since this is a PC, and since the music is a wav file, I suppose I could replace it with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VuazGS2G7I0\" target=\"_blank\">something more appropriate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You get to customize many, many settings and options.\u00a0 The appearance of your golfer has some presets you can choose from:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-03.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3148\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 03\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-03-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-03-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-03.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can choose your clubs:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-04.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3149\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 04\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-04-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-04-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-04.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are additional preferences, including the option to make the power meter (swing control) 2 click or 3 click:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-05.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3150\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 05\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-05-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-05-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-05.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also set the weather conditions and gameplay type.\u00a0 The game includes mulligans and gimmies, but these can be turned off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-06.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3151\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 06\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-06-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-06-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-06.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The course view is clean and kind of sparse, but there are different &#8220;views&#8221; that can be turned on from the menu.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-07.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3152\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 07\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-07-300x217.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-07-300x217.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-07.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Your course view is set to a small size by default.\u00a0 I had to enlarge it to take advantage of my full 1025 x 768 screen resolution.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-08.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3153\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 08\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-08-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-08-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-08.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also tweak the display settings if your computer can&#8217;t handle all the processing that the game demands.\u00a0 But unless you&#8217;re playing this on an old Packard Bell from 1994 or something, you can probably crank this shit all the way up.\u00a0 My virtual machine has processor power, RAM, and video memory to burn.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-09.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3154\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 09\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-09-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-09-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-09.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sound options can also be tweaked.\u00a0 I really like that this game has different styles of commentary, and if you don&#8217;t want any of them, you can turn commentary off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-10.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3155\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 10\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-10-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-10-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-10.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also view stats for any player and any course.\u00a0 There are two courses available by the way.\u00a0 This game was designed to be able to load courses from other CDs sold separately,. but good luck finding those.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-11.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3156\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 11\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-11-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-11-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-11.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here is a look at the &#8220;views&#8221; I was talking about in the menu:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-12.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3157\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 12\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-12-300x217.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-12-300x217.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-12.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Green View:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-13.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3158\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 13\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-13-300x157.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-13-300x157.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-13.png 648w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Top View:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-14.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3159\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 14\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-14-300x192.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-14-300x192.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-14.png 796w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Profile View:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-15.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3160\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 15\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-15-300x92.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"92\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-15-300x92.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-15.png 391w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Score Card:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-16.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3161\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 16\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-16-300x184.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-16-300x184.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-16.png 558w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also see your Shot Info and Advanced Shot Setup.\u00a0 I had to turn these off while I was making screenshots because the game kept crashing while I had them on.\u00a0 But these are great, and the Advanced Shot Setup is the best way of making those fine-tuned adjustments to your swing to get the perfect shot.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-17.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3162\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 17\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-17-300x217.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-17-300x217.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-17.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And as you can see, there are loads of options in the Advanced Shot Setup window.\u00a0 Those windows do a good job of staying on top, and if you have enough space on your screen, they stay out of the way too.<\/p>\n<p>The buttons at the bottom of the window also have important functions.\u00a0 The question mark will bring up a window with loads of information about the game.\u00a0 Lots of stuff in this game is linked to print functionality, so if you&#8217;ve installed this on a real computer or have a virtual printing solution, you can use that.<\/p>\n<p>The next button across the wide space to the right of the question mark will arrange the open windows of the game.\u00a0 The button to the right of that (with the filmstrip) will launch the hole&#8217;s flyby.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-18.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3163\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 18\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-18-300x200.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-18-300x200.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-18.png 448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is a little slice of real video with narration.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t hit stop or the game will crash.\u00a0 Just let it finish.\u00a0 This game crashes too much.<\/p>\n<p>The next button along is the &#8220;practice swing&#8221; button.\u00a0 When you click it, it will move your golfer away from the ball.\u00a0 You can practice swinging to your heart&#8217;s content while in this mode.\u00a0 When you&#8217;re done. click the button again and you will step back to position.<\/p>\n<p>The next button is the &#8220;Show flag&#8221; button.\u00a0 It will bring your flag forward in an animation and then move it back again so you know where to aim\u00a0 A very handy feature.<\/p>\n<p>The button after that is the show grid button.\u00a0 It shows the terrain grid wherever you are.<\/p>\n<p>Finally we have two drop-down menus.\u00a0 The first lets you select your club.\u00a0 If you leave &#8220;caddies&#8221; on, you will automatically be given the best club for your shot.\u00a0 It&#8217;s still a good idea to consider which club you should use though.<\/p>\n<p>The other drop-down menu is for choosing which style of shot to make.\u00a0 Choices include straight, chip and putt.<\/p>\n<p>When you have set up your shot, move your mouse cursor to the center of the power meter.\u00a0 The power meter itself can be moved to anywhere you like by clicking and dragging it by the little &#8220;move cross&#8221; at the bottom-right.<\/p>\n<p>You will notice that the mouse cursor changes colour to green and contains a number.\u00a0 This number is the number of clicks which you have set the power meter to operate at.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-19.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3164\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 19\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-19-300x217.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-19-300x217.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-19.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-20.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3165\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 20\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-20-300x225.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-20-300x225.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-20.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After each shot, you will see a window appear with a summary of your shot and some options that allow you to take a mulligan (if that&#8217;s enabled), see an instant replay, see the shot from the reverse angle, or save the shot.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-21.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3166\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 21\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-21-300x65.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"65\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-21-300x65.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-21.png 538w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Making it onto the putting green brings up the terrain grid automatically, unless you&#8217;ve disabled it.\u00a0 There are so many options that you can really have this game behave any way you want it to.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-22.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3167\" alt=\"MS Golf 3.0 22\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-22-300x205.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-22-300x205.png 300w, http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MS-Golf-3.0-22.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I rate this game quite highly.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not just great, it&#8217;s outstanding.\u00a0 I place this third in the best golf video games of all time.\u00a0 The only thing I can complain about is the crashing.\u00a0 It can really get in the way of a fun round of golf when the sky, the grass, the trees and your little golfer dude all vanish and you are left staring at a window telling you that the program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.<\/p>\n<p>But other than that, damn near perfect.\u00a0 Not corny, not goofy, no music wrecking the game.\u00a0 It even makes me consider looking for other Microsoft golf games in this series from that era, though I might be pressing my luck with those.<\/p>\n<p>Finding this game might be rather difficult.\u00a0 I got my copy off ebay, and that&#8217;s likely the best source for it.\u00a0 But I do highly recommend it.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t know if it will even install let alone work on Windows XP.\u00a0 And I don&#8217;t have Windows Vista, 7 or 8, so don&#8217;t even ask.\u00a0 But this is one of the best, so if you like video game golf, you must play it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, the PC.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a good chance that you&#8217;re reading this blog on a personal computer right now.\u00a0 The PC is ubiquitous for home use and work today, but it started as just another variant of the home computer back in the early 1980s.\u00a0 The IBM PC saw immediate success in the business world, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,510,38],"tags":[476,133,11,560,10],"class_list":["post-3113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computers","category-reviews","category-video-games","tag-golf","tag-microsoft","tag-pc","tag-windows","tag-windows-98"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3113"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7515,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113\/revisions\/7515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}