By Brad Cook
It’s a beautiful day at the 18th hole of the famous Pebble Beach golf course. Your drive off the tee skipped into the Pacific Ocean, but you recovered nicely and two shots later you find yourself on the green, eyeing a 15-foot putt for the birdie that will win the tournament. The gentle ocean breeze wafting at your back should help matters.
You size up the putt, noting the slight downward angle to your left. You adjust your aim a tad to the right. The crowd that cheered your 150-yard drive to the green falls silent, anxiously waiting for your shot. A few birds chirp a soothing song nearby.
You draw your putter back and then forward, propelling the ball toward the hole. Time seems to slow as you watch its path. Panic strikes as you realize you may have over-adjusted your aim. And then the ball catches the right side of the hole and spins to the left, dropping in with a satisfying “plunk.” You’re $48,000 richer, and it feels good.
Your next challenge: Break free of the amateur ranks and join the PGA Tour.
Two Roads; One Goal
Welcome to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, where you can not only play as Tiger, Vijay Singh and other professionals, but also create your own golfer and put her through the paces. You can start your player as a pro or an amateur — the latter means entering amateur tournaments that decide whether or not you earn a coveted spot on the PGA Tour. In addition, you can take lessons that expand your range of available shots and participate in a Legends Tour that eventually sees you competing against such phenoms as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and even Tiger himself.
If you start your golfer as a pro, you can go straight to PGA tournaments, where the winnings are greater but the competition is more intense. Characters in both skill brackets can participate in scenarios, such as the Chip In Challenge, to add to their winnings, or simply practice or set up a round of golf configured with various custom settings. Real-life sportscasters David Feherty and Gary McCord announce all the action with aplomb, gushing over dramatic shots and wryly noting when a hole could have gone better.
Whether you go for amateur or pro, the Game Face section allows you to tweak your golfer’s appearance right down to the minute details, from the amount of aging on his face to nostril height and width. A wide variety of accouterments, such as hats and jewelry, and such add-ons as tattoos finish off your character. You can even hit the “Randomize” button and see what the computer serves up.
Build Your Fantasy Course
But the customization doesn’t stop there: Tiger Proofing enables you to tweak the game’s courses to your heart’s content, creating massive greens or shrinking them to the size of postage stamps. You can modify each hole individually, greatly increasing the number of trees on one while narrowing or widening its fairways. You can even adjust the exact colors of the trees and decide the quickness of the greens, or modify how well the groundskeepers manage the property, which can easily translate into a more difficult course if they don’t bother to mow the grass very often.
Eventually, you can assemble your own Dream 18, a course filled with your favorite holes in the game. Like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and other legendary professionals who have designed courses, you can stamp the game with the indelible imprint of your own golfing DNA. In fact, you can even pique the interest of the game’s digital versions of those professionals, who will want to play your Dream 18 once you’ve attained a certain level of prestige by winning tournaments and gaining sponsorships.
Someday you may know what it’s like to tee off on your own private course with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. And then all will be right with the world.
