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[-NeoTB1-]

• Release Date
  
  

  North America - June 27, 2017
  Europe - 30 June, 2017

• Developer/Publisher
  
  

  HB Studios
  Maximum Games

  
  [*]Pre-Order Details
  
  
  
  
  
  [*]So what is The Golf Club 2?
  
  

  Rise to fame and fortune in the largest, most dynamic golf game ever created. Assemble and join online Societies with friends, compete in tournaments, and earn [in-game] money to climb the ranks in golf's largest gaming community.
  
  The Golf Club 2 offers a dynamic, single-player Career mode, infinite hours of interactive golfing with online opponents, a new and improved course creator, cutting-edge swing mechanics, and a host of brand new, lush environments – all blending together seamlessly to create your dream golfing experience.
  
  For more information on the basics of this golf sim, check out nicoga3000's The Golf Club OT.

  
  [*]New Features
  
  

  The introduction of Golf Societies!
  
  -Societies will have club captains that will design out seasons with entry restrictions, prize money and major tournaments.
  -Tournament and society entry can be restricted by entrance fees and handicap ratings.
  -Societies will have their own bank balance so they can choose their own clubhouse. The richer the clubs the grander the clubhouse. The luxury of a plush club and the status that comes with that needs to be earned to get there.
  -Major Tournaments – Using club size and popularity, crowds will turn up for the clubs majors. The bigger the club, the bigger the crowds. The HUD will become more TV like and the commentary will also add to the occasion.

  
  

  A fully realized Career Mode!
  
  -Players will be able to play a way more singular game against AI. Using offline societies and AI will allow players to earn money and work your way through the challenges of increasing difficulty. All money earned here can be transferred to your online career, so it's well worth taking part.
  -You can choose between a custom or pre-designed season. In other words, you have the ability to use user-created courses in career mode.

  
  

  An even more robust Course Creator!
  
  -Build any golf course you can imagine with the largest collection of props, tools, water features, bridges, vehicles, crowds, and more!
  -Over 150,000 courses were created in The Golf Club. In The Golf Club 2, course creators have the option of importing these courses over to the new game. The devs have promised when importing a legacy course from TGC1 into the new course designer, there will be minimal touchups required.
  -Course design UI was overhauled and made much easier this time around. Less sifting through menus, so even the novice/amateur designer can get up and going in less time.

  
  

  Enhanced Swing Mechanics!
  
  -Perfect your stroke with the new Tempo swing, allowing for more control and a greater payoff with each shot. Finesse is the name of the game.
  -Three sets of Clubs - Normal, Pro, and Tour. Users will have the freedom to choose the club set (swing difficulty) that they would like to use. When choosing your swing difficulty, it's a risk vs. reward option. As you progress through the club sets, shots will require more precision and solid tempo, but the reward can be more distance. This isn't a Golf RPG - new clubs will not make you better. Get out there and practice!
  -You'll now be able to take practice swings.
  -HUD Numbering and Shot Shaper – These will be rounded giving you less ability to dial a distance while working on the shot shaper to make it much harder when trying to dial in distances.
  -Ability to minimize and/or "ghost" the HUD which gives you a less cluttered and more challenging experience.

  
  
• Screens
  
  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

• Videos
  
  First Look
  Features
  
  
• GAF Societies
  

  PS4 - Glory and Fortune CC (President - MarineMountie)
  XB1 - Glory and Fortune CC (President - krpiper)
  
  Discord for GAF Societies

• GAF Users
  

  Let us know in the thread if you'd like your PSN/XBL/Steam name added to the list. Hopefully we can get a GAF society up and going! GAF username will be in brackets.
  
  PS4
  NeoFoxTrot (-NeoTB1-)
  Runus (Runus)
  Agumen (Griss)
  Tekumseh (tekumseh)
  BigSoftieFF (BigSoftieFF)
  
  XB1
  krpiper (krpiper)
  U2NUMB (U2NUMB)
  ElNino77 (ElNino)
  TURBO1112 (TURBO1112)
  
  Steam/PC
  nicoga3000 (nicoga3000)
  D3adcell (lorv3th)
  khamakazee (Louis Cyphre)
  Aliceinjam (Aliceinjam)

• GAF Custom Courses
  

  If you have a custom course and wish to share it with the community, it will be placed here.

• Reviews
  
  Push Square (7/10)
  

  "A decent sequel that improves upon its predecessor in virtually every department, The Golf Club 2 strikes a good drive. But while the improvements to the simulation and course editor are appreciated, there's still work that needs to be done to the unifying Societies system, which represents a clever idea that's far too convoluted for its own good right now. A third stroke should see this series realise its very real potential – but in fairness, this entry is in regulation and well worth buying if you're a fan of the sport."

  
  Forbes (7.6/10)
  

  "The gameplay and options are on an elite level in TGC 2, but the graphics and presentation are still a step behind. None of the issues should prevent you from buying the game if you're looking for a solid golf simulation, but it does prevent me from giving the game a higher grade."

  
  Hardcore Gamer (4/5)
  

  "The Golf Club 2 combines a good golf simulation game with the social interaction of an actual clubhouse through the online societies with an engrossing career mode. The joy of trying to dominate the links comes from play mechanics that are easy to pick up but will take much practice in order to master."

  
  COG Connected (77)
  

  The Good:
  Career mode
  Societies
  Courses feel alive
  
  The Bad:
  Occasional stuttering
  Minor graphical issues
  Difficult to gauge shot strength

  
  The Sixth Axis (8/10)
  

  "The Golf Club 2 improves on the original in every way, and most importantly it plays a fantastic game of golf. It's a shame then that there are still some technical hiccups, as they do take some of the sheen away from it, but I don't doubt that HB Studios will continue to improve on what has clearly been a labour of love, and one which shows that sports game development isn't solely in the realms of the biggest publishers."

  
  Sporting News (4/5)
  

  "The Golf Club 2 will resonate better with experienced and patient gamers due to its difficulty, but those who stick with the game will almost certainly feel rewarded for doing so."

• FAQ
  
  

  Is this better than the EA golf games (Tiger, Rory, etc.)?
  Yes and no. It's really subjective. I'd say it's definitely better than the last game they put out (sorry Rory), but what really makes this game special is the course creator. It ensures longevity, which is something that can't really be said for the EA offerings.
  
  This or Everybody's Golf?
  Both. Grab this for the course creator and "realism" aspect, and grab Everybody's Golf for its fun Arcade-y feel and charm.
  
  Why does your OT not include ___?
  It was made at the last minute (literally the day before release). Apologies. I'll edit it as necessary. Hopefully the game is better than my amateur (and unpaid) attempt at promoting it!

 

[Greatest Ever]

I wouldn't play this, but a tiger would.

 

[asker]

How was the multiplayer in the original? The Golden Tee-like controls interest me. I've not seen any other game use something similar before.

 

[mrklaw]

Three click swing or still forced to use the analog stick? Put me off on the first game

 

[theRizzle]

I didn't bother trying the original because of the bad review scores. How does this series play? Mostly asking for my dad... the last golf game I really got into was a Tiger Woods on the Gamecube.

My dad kept his 360 hooked up beside the PS4 for years so he could play Rory McIlroy golf. I am pretty sure he "hate-plays" whatever the current gen EA golf game is, because he complains incessantly about the putting being "wrong" and "a liar". I considered buying the first Golf Club game for him when it was pretty cheap but it didn't seem like there were a lot of modes, which seems to have been rectified a bit in this one.

Any golf pros think this series will be/has been/already is better than the EA golf games? Dad's birthday is coming up.

 

[Allforce]

Wait this is out TOMORROW? I just heard the announcement at E3 and was happily surprised they were making another one but figured it was out in 2018. Really had a good time with the first one.

I didn't bother trying the original because of the bad review scores. How does this series play? Mostly asking for my dad... the last golf game I really got into was a Tiger Woods on the Gamecube.

My dad kept his 360 hooked up beside the PS4 for years so he could play Rory McIlroy golf. I am pretty sure he "hate-plays" whatever the current gen EA golf game is, because he complains incessantly about the putting being "wrong" and "a liar". I considered buying the first Golf Club game for him when it was pretty cheap but it didn't seem like there were a lot of modes, which seems to have been rectified a bit in this one.

Any golf pros think this series will be/has been/already is better than the EA golf games? Dad's birthday is coming up.

I've played nearly every golf game that has ever been released for home consoles all the way back to "GOLF" for the NES and "HAL's Hole in One Golf" on the SNES. The Golf Club I thought was one of the best pure golfing games ever made, with some nitpicky complaints.

I mean, it's NOT Tiger Woods/Rory where you can curve the ball in the air and hit a super slo-mo SUPER SHOT off the tee ever time, and win every major by 25 strokes. The game is tough, putting is satisfyingly frustrating but when you make the right read it's glorious, and you won't be placing the ball on a dime on the fairway. It's a game of fuzzy math and finesse with the analog stick, trying to gauge exactly what is "70% backswing" and properly swing forward with the right amount of consistency.

The courses created by the community are great, there's so many that pretty much every course in the world has been recreated to some extent. Even local courses by me were in the game. The problem was they locked away certain types of courses behind their "Deluxe Edition" or some sort of DLC add-on so filtering out courses was a chore if you didn't have that stuff.

 

[MrBlonde]

I never played the first but I am in the mood for a golf game and wasn't crazy about Rory even though I usually love arcade style. I might wait for reviews.

 

[Bydobob]

This has come at just the wrong time after splurging on the Steam sale. Will definitely pick this up when my gaming becomes more manageable. Hopefully there's still an active GAF society around by then.

 

[nicoga3000]

Oh shit! I LOVED the first game. I bought it on PS4, but I think I'll be going PC this time so that I won't want to break my controller trying to get used to the course creator.

 

[Hedrush]

Really looking forward to this. The first game had its faults but it was still pretty good, much better than Rory's PGA Tour.

 

[r3n4ud]

Have this sucker in my Steam cart, deciding if I should pull the trigger.

Never played the first, but god damn, I really wanna play some golf and this looks delicious 😋

 

[-NeoTB1-]

Oh shit! I LOVED the first game. I bought it on PS4, but I think I'll be going PC this time so that I won't want to break my controller trying to get used to the course creator.

Thanks for doing the OT for the first game. The devs say the course creator is more intuitive this time around. I guess we'll see just how true that claim is! My plan is to start building a test course (on PS4) pretty soon after release.

 

[nicoga3000]

Thanks for doing the OT for the first game. The devs say the course creator is more intuitive this time around. I guess we'll see just how true that claim is! My plan is to start building a test course (on PS4) pretty soon after release.

It's too bad it didn't really catch on.

That said, I just pre-purchased the Steam version. Cannot wait! My wife is going out with friends tomorrow after work, so I will be playing some sweet sweet golf!

 

[Apples_89]

Can't wait to get my hands on this game tomorrow! Sunk countless hours into the first game; absolutely nails the feeling of actually being on the links.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Loved the first game with friends!! Is this full price?

 

[nicoga3000]

Loved the first game with friends!! Is this full price?

Yeah, currently listed as $40. But for how good it is, I'm fine with that price.

 

[Denzel]

Still not sure if it's worth the buy, I might pick this up and play it while I'm waiting for Everybody's golf to release this august

 

[5taquitos]

I'm going to need an exhaustive report on PS4 performance before pulling the trigger on this.

 

[neilyadig]

Still not sure if it's worth the buy, I might pick this up and play it while I'm waiting for Everybody's golf to release this august

Agree - This looks nice, but I've never played The Golf Club. I'm hoping that Everybody's Golf gives me exactly what I want in terms of fun experience.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Yeah, currently listed as $40. But for how good it is, I'm fine with that price.

$40 seems totally fair! I got the first one discounted and I felt like I ripped somebody off.

Is there a digital day 1 edition?

 

[nicoga3000]

$40 seems totally fair! I got the first one discounted and I felt like I ripped somebody off.

Is there a digital day 1 edition?

Yup! According to the Steam page:

• Moneybags – Save time and get rich quick with an instant payout that will boost your career and give you serious purchasing power.
• Elite Club – Make your competitors jealous and stand out amongst the crowd with an exclusive 24k solid gold driver.
• Premier Clubhouse – Gain access to an exclusive high society clubhouse for you and your friends.
• Heirloom Apparel – Play in style with a throwback outfit from the golden age of golf.
• Elite Emblem – Add class to your Society logo with a signature badge.

So nothing too "worth it", but if you're like me and can't get enough golf games, you might as well buy it now and get the little goodies.

I'm super excited to see what the whole clubhouse thing is. I'm hoping you can decorate and walk around in it. Shit like that, as pointless as it is, is fun to me.

Agree - This looks nice, but I've never played The Golf Club. I'm hoping that Everybody's Golf gives me exactly what I want in terms of fun experience.

They are two VERY different games. The Golf Club is a simulation golf game. The only close comparison I can think of would be something like a high end sim racer (like iRacing or something) would be The Golf Club and Mario Kart would be HSG/Everybody's Golf. Night and day experiences that work to give you an experience within a genre.

 

[MrPressStart]

I hope the wife and I can both play created players in versus. Anybody know if that is possible? Also are golf carts in the game?

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Yup! According to the Steam page:



So nothing too "worth it", but if you're like me and can't get enough golf games, you might as well buy it now and get the little goodies.

I'm super excited to see what the whole clubhouse thing is. I'm hoping you can decorate and walk around in it. Shit like that, as pointless as it is, is fun to me

Me too man! I love extra stuff in my golf games! I will be playing it on PS4! I'm going to check the store.

 

[MADGAME]

I'm going to need an exhaustive report on PS4 performance before pulling the trigger on this.

Seconded.

 

[JaseC]

I'm going to need an exhaustive report on PS4 performance before pulling the trigger on this.

As before, it's a Unity game, so it's probably going to have inconsistent performance.

 

[Nerix]

Looking forward to it. I played the first game quite a lot with a few friends - the flight mode was great, where you could play live with each other and see the others strikes.

 

[Goldenroad]

The first game was a big podcast game for me a couple years ago...I don't know though. I fell off pretty hard. What are some of the new features that should sell me on this one?

Edit: nvm...missed that part of the OP. Will consider.

 

[depward]

Is the announcer dude back? Hope not.

First game was fun. Great core gameplay but didn't really stick with me.

Hope performance has improved...

 

[bigjig]

They are two VERY different games. The Golf Club is a simulation golf game. The only close comparison I can think of would be something like a high end sim racer (like iRacing or something) would be The Golf Club and Mario Kart would be HSG/Everybody's Golf. Night and day experiences that work to give you an experience within a genre.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but can you describe how HSG feels arcadey compared to the realism of The Golf Club?

I feel like playing a golf game but having played neither I don't have much of a reference. The last golf game I played was Links LS 2003. Which one would be closest to that?

 

[5taquitos]

As before, it's a Unity game, so it's probably going to have inconsistent performance.

It would still be nice to know if they've made improvements, especially to those horrific menus and that tearing. Also, word on how the Pro performs would be good to know too.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but can you describe how HSG feels arcadey compared to the realism of The Golf Club?

I feel like playing a golf game but having played neither I don't have much of a reference. The last golf game I played was Links LS 2003. Which one would be closest to that?

HSG has stuff like insane spin control, balls that will spiral down a pin, courses with shortcuts, and other stuff like that.

Very very fun, but very very different from the sim approach of TCG, which may be closer to the Links you're familiar with.

 

[JaseC]

It would still be nice to know if they've made improvements, especially to those horrific menus and that tearing. Also, word on how the Pro performs would be good to know too.

Of course. I'm merely suggesting that you not get your hopes up as Unity games and consoles generally don't get along all that well.

 

[theRizzle]

I've played nearly every golf game that has ever been released for home consoles all the way back to "GOLF" for the NES and "HAL's Hole in One Golf" on the SNES. The Golf Club I thought was one of the best pure golfing games ever made, with some nitpicky complaints.

I mean, it's NOT Tiger Woods/Rory where you can curve the ball in the air and hit a super slo-mo SUPER SHOT off the tee ever time, and win every major by 25 strokes. The game is tough, putting is satisfyingly frustrating but when you make the right read it's glorious, and you won't be placing the ball on a dime on the fairway. It's a game of fuzzy math and finesse with the analog stick, trying to gauge exactly what is "70% backswing" and properly swing forward with the right amount of consistency.

The courses created by the community are great, there's so many that pretty much every course in the world has been recreated to some extent. Even local courses by me were in the game. The problem was they locked away certain types of courses behind their "Deluxe Edition" or some sort of DLC add-on so filtering out courses was a chore if you didn't have that stuff.

Thanks for this great response. Barring serious performance issues, I'll likely get this for my dad. He probably played NES Open for thousands of hours, and each of the Genesis PGA Tour Golfs for hundreds each, so he can really get into a golf game if he thinks it's good.

 

[OrlanisWorks]

As much as I enjoyed the first one, it runs like shit in the ps4. They patched it and actually made it worse. I love the game, but that makes it difficult.

I'll be looking it for impressions on how it runs.

 

[MarineMountie]

88 minutes...so excited!

 

[bigjig]

It would still be nice to know if they've made improvements, especially to those horrific menus and that tearing. Also, word on how the Pro performs would be good to know too.


HSG has stuff like insane spin control, balls that will spiral down a pin, courses with shortcuts, and other stuff like that.

Very very fun, but very very different from the sim approach of TCG, which may be closer to the Links you're familiar with.

Ah okay, thanks for the response

 

[nicoga3000]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but can you describe how HSG feels arcadey compared to the realism of The Golf Club?

I feel like playing a golf game but having played neither I don't have much of a reference. The last golf game I played was Links LS 2003. Which one would be closest to that?

As 5taquitos (and others) stated above me, HSG and Mario Golf are very arcade focused. Special shots, shortcuts, powerups, weird crazy stuff that would never be possible in a real round of golf. I'm not familiar with the Links series, but a few YouTube videos tells me that the simulation aspect of that series is more in line with the Golf Club stuff.

The BIG difference between TGC and most every other golf game is that there is no 2-click or 3-click shooting. It's all based off of your backswing and tempo. Once you understand the swing mechanics, TGC is the most "realistic" feeling golf experience I've ever had.

In HSG, you calculated your shot. You timed your button presses and, once you were good enough, were able to basically know where your ball was going to land and place 90%+ of the time. In TGC, you're always weighing risk vs reward and playing your lie. It's hard to explain, but if you're a golfer, you can understand the difference. It's like, a dog leg left in HSG is a super powered left curve + top spin roll or a "power boost!" through the trees or some shit. In TGC, you legit try and decide if you can nail that draw shot or not and have to decide if the risk is worth the failure or if you should push the shot to the outside of the turn and have a straight shot at the hole.

It's weird trying to describe this shit on the fly, haha.

 

[G-Pink]

Real excited to get into this one. I've played a good amount of TGC1, it definitely gets me through the winters, where golf is tough to come by.

The advancements they've made in the course creator seem really substantial, like snap-to building, fairway splines, and some other cool changes.
Just hoping for some performance improvements on PS4. Taking the plunge, so we'll see tonight.

 

[krpiper]

Played a half a round on the Xbox One. I played the original on the ps4, but this seems to be very smooth frame rate wise, very satisfying when you read that green perfectly for the bird!

I can see myself putting a lot of time in with this game

 

[KaYotiX]

May try this, I was very disappointed with EAs last golf game.

 

[Griss]

The first one was an absolutely exceptional idea ruined by the following:

-Unacceptable, game-breaking performance with both serious frame-drops and massive screen-tearing to the extent that it would interrupt your swing;
-A diabolical menu system that would hang randomly and made courses hard to find; and
-Easily the worst commentary I've ever heard in a sports game, to the extent that I felt like the dev team was trolling me.

If those 3 things alone have been fixed, we could be looking at an incredible game.

The strengths of the first one were considerable:
-The best putting ever seen in a golf game. Felt so real it was incredible.
-Infinite courses with some great 'official' designs.
-Asymmetric online multiplayer and 'ghost' balls. This is simply THE way to do golf online. It's perfect, and everyone from Clap Hanz to Nintendo to EA should be copying it if they haven't already.

Will wait eagerly for reviews. My local course has shut down the front nine for returfing over the next 3 months so rather than playing 2/3 times a week I'm gonna be playing virtual golf instead I guess. Well timed with the release of this and Everybody's Golf in August.

May try this, I was very disappointed with EAs last golf game.

There was a lot to like about Rory PGA Tour but putting was inexplicably bad, which kinda killed it. The course selection was fantastic for a licensed game, however, and the courses had character, commentary regarding the courses was good and by and large the tee to green game was fun if you put it on expert. Problem was that there was the single player career was severely undercooked for what's supposed to be the PGA 'pro tour' game.

 

[Orca]

Playing on Xbox One and performance is way better than last year. Having a network error that stops the tutorial though...

 

[G-Pink]

Playing on stock PS4, certainly seeing some performance hiccups during a round. Disabled all graphical options, now it's much smoother.

 

[red731]

I was so dissapointed with performance of the first game and coulnd't enjoy it because of that.
This is still running on Unity?

 

[T-0800]

I'm going to need an exhaustive report on PS4 performance before pulling the trigger on this.

True. The first one looked good on courses with hardly any trees but even then performance was the best. As soon as you played on a course with lots of trees the pop in with trees and shadows was ugly. Fun game though and I'm glad I bought it I just hope they have fixed this issues.

I hope they keep the same commentator. I loved that guy.

 

[gingerbeardman]

Any screens of the menu and HUD?

Both were awful in the first game

 

[Griss]

Damn, watching some streams and it seems like the commentary is the exact same. Same guy, same lines. Maybe they recorded some new lines but everything I heard was old.

As I had a pathological loathing of that guy and everything about the commentary this is a big blow to my enthusiasm. Genuinely thought the first game had the worst commentary of any sports game I've ever played.

EDIT: Okay, watched some other streams and it seems like they've done different commentary (same guy) for tournaments. It's much better, actually, because the guy's attitude is much calmer and more serious.

EDIT 2: Menus look hugely improved, so that's one important checkbox ticked.

 

[MarineMountie]

Welp just shot a 61....on the front 9. I love a challenging golf game. I have to improve my putting and every other part of my game.

 

[Griss]

Still watching streams, liking the look of tour mode on the range.

Someone said the flop shot is still broken - surely that's not true? Anyone tried that yet? The flop shot was a farce in the first game.

 

[Orca]

Welp just shot a 61....on the front 9. I love a challenging golf game. I have to improve my putting and every other part of my game.

I'm switching off Tour clubs until I get better.

Edit - yeah, that was a good decision.

 

[RodzTF]

I wouldn't mind if HB kept the same graphical fidelity of GC1 but the performance locked down. Biggest downside of the first game. Unacceptable in a sports sim.