Sensible Golf
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20 Giant Games
(1997)
Description
Sensible Golf is a 2D golf simulation.
Having been quite successful with their cute action soccer game Sensible Soccer, Sensible Software decided that the concept of "No fuss, just fun" could be applied to other sports, too. They chose golf.
Sensible Golf is not an accurate simulation of golf, but an action adaptation of the sport streamlined for quick and easy gameplay. Consequently, complications such as wind and terrain heights are not featured, although the green has little arrows indicating the slopes. Apart from that, the player's only concerns are the water and sand hazards, and the distance to the hole. As a result, Sensible Golf is instead a practice in target shooting, rather than a golf game.
Striking involves only two action: Aiming the pointer in the desired direction, and pressing the action button three times. The game uses the well-known three-click-control, with which you set power and swerve of the strike. The computer automatically suggests a proper club, but the player may change it manually. A pop-up map helps one find their bearing.
The courses are fictional, composed from a pool of holes which often appear in multiple courses, sometimes with minor variations. Play modes include single 18-hole rounds, a complete season and a tournament. Up to 72 human players may participate in the latter.
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Screenshots
Credits (Amiga version)
13 People
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 62% (based on 18 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 11 ratings with 2 reviews)
Okay for what it was, but could've been more
The Good
Getting rid of the complicated aspects of golf gave it potential to appeal to a wide audience. The control system was easy to grasp and allowed for varied shots, as well as being possible to make mistakes and have to correct them.
Having such a variety of bizarre and unrealistic hole designs was interesting. The courses were well-chosen and had a suitably variety in play style.
The Bad
There wasn't really enough to do. Missing standard features isn't automatically a big deal - the problem is that nothing replaced them. There was all sorts of potential for sequential challenges on particular holes, or a course designer, or a ranking system, but none of it was implemented.
The sound was poor, lacking either realism or character.
Too many holes had silly design faults. In particular, it was often down to luck as to whether you landed on a 10-yard section of fairway, or the bunker next to it, or the surrounding lake. If you ended up in the bunker (through little or no fault of your own) you would almost certainly lose further shots trying to get onto the fairway and thus get a chance to clear the lake.
On occasion the game would effectively get stuck, as you got trapped behind a tree and couldn't play over it, around it or back behind it. As you couldn't quit the game or take a 12, the only option was to reset. Grrrrr.
The Bottom Line
An arcade game based around golf, with many similarities to Sensible Soccer, but not quite in the same class. Had all the hallmarks of a rush job, and of an Amiga 500 game converted in an era when 486s were starting to take over - making it look and feel old-fashioned, without the gameplay being especially rounded.
DOS · by Martin Smith (81722) · 2004
Okay for what it was, but could've been more
The Good
Getting rid of the complicated aspects of golf gave it potential to appeal to a wide audience. The control system was easy to grasp and allowed for varied shots, as well as being possible to make mistakes and have to correct them.
Having such a variety of bizarre and unrealistic hole designs was interesting. The courses were well-chosen and had a suitably variety in play style.
The Bad
There wasn't really enough to do. Missing standard features isn't necessarily a big deal - the problem is that nothing replaced them. There was all sorts of potential for sequential challenges on particular holes, or a course designer, or a ranking system, but none of it was implemented.
The sound was poor, lacking either realism or character.
Too many holes had silly design faults. In particular, it was often down to luck as to whether you landed on a 10-yard section of fairway, or the bunker next to it, or the surrounding lake. If you ended up in the bunker (through little or no fault of your own) you would almost certainly lose further shots trying to get onto the fairway and thus get a chance to clear the lake.
On occasion the game would effectively get stuck, as you got trapped behind a tree and couldn't play over it, around it or back behind it. As you couldn't quit the game or take a 12, the only option was to reset. Grrrrr.
The Bottom Line
An arcade game based around golf, with many similarities to Sensible Soccer, but not quite in the same class. Had all the hallmarks of a rush job, and of an Amiga 500 game converted in an era when 486s were starting to take over - making it look and feel old-fashioned, without the gameplay being especially rounded.
Amiga · by Martin Smith (81722) · 2004
Trivia
Sensible Software did itself no favor with Sensible Golf. The game was badly received by the public as well as the press, receiving a score of bad ratings in the magazines.
Most members of the design team are not credited with their full name, but with nicknames. They certainly know why.
As there is really not much to explain about the game, the blanks in the manual are filled with "useless golf facts". I'll include them here for entertainment:
*- An American (well, it would be, wouldn't it) managed to balance seven golf balls vertically on his head without the use of adhesive.
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The youngest player to ever get a hole-in-one is Coby Orr, who managed the feat at the age of five.
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The fastest round of professional golf ever was recorded at the 1977 Heritage Classic at Hilton Head. Two players completed their fourth round in 1 h 27 minutes.
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The highest golf course in the world is The Tuctu Golf Club in Morococha in Peru - it's 14,335ft above sea level.
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Robert Mitera holds the record for the longest ever recorded hole-in-one. Thanks to a 50 mph gust which carried his shot over a 290 yard drop-off, he managed to hole out in one shot over 447 yards.
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No matter how crap you are at golf, you'll be hard pushed to match the record set by a lady player in the 1912 Shawnee Invitational. Her tee shot wound up in the Binniekill River and the ball floated. Being a practical sort of chap, her husband suggested they put to sea and carry on. They caught up with the ball one and a half miles downstream. She eventually putted down in a very reasonable 166 - not bad on a 130 yard hole.
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Whilst Sensible Golf is going for the record for the largest sand trap in the world, they'd be hard pushed to match the one in Pine Valley golf course in New Jersey. They have the largest bunker in the world, called Hell's Half Acre.
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The longest single hole on a golf course is the sixth at the Koolan Island course in Australia, which is a 948 yard par 7.*
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by -Chris.
Amiga added by Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker.
Game added October 21, 2000. Last modified May 29, 2024.