If you played The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour back in 2018, you’ll be glad to know that we finally have a new golf game in the franchise featuring the same development studio. Enter PGA Tour 2K21. With 2K Sports heading up publishing once again, developers HB Studios have created a worthy successor to the PGA Tour golf game throne that their previous title firmly sat on for 2 years.



Sporting the new more unified “2K21” moniker in its title that aligns the game with 2K Sports’ other games, PGA Tour 2K21 delivers a well rounded course of content. The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour was solid with a lot of official PGA golf courses being recreated for the game. That game however was lacking actual PGA Tour pro golfers. PGA Tour 2K21 rectifies this by including 12 famous pro golfers into the game as well as expanding further on the gameplay in a number of ways.

However, more advanced options are available too and players can also add spin to the ball as well as arc it with additional adjustments.

Gameplay in PGA Tour 2K21 is pretty straightforward at first. Players will pull back on the right analog stick on their controller to charge their swing meter. Pushing the right analog stick forward will trigger the swing. Getting your timing right and pushing forward at the right moment will trigger a swing with maximum power and efficiency. You can quite easily play an entire round of golf doing this and have no qualms about it. However, more advanced options are available too and players can also add spin to the ball as well as arc it with additional adjustments. These adjustments are made by pressing R1 and playing around with the additional options which help you to control the movement of the ball when hitting it.



The environment affects how the ball will react in-game. If there’s wind for example, you will need to take this into account and this is where the advanced options come into play. Choosing the right hitting technique before taking a swing at the ball will directly affect its flight pattern. You can also choose from a variety of golf clubs, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Why use a 5 Wood for example when a Driver could propel the ball further? Different situations call for different playstyles and different clubs. PGA Tour 2K21 excels at this with advanced golf terms and techniques being explained by the in-game tutorial quite well. Before you know it, you’ll be able to play a “Fade” shot or “Draw” the ball with ease.



Players will be able to create their own golfer from a range of male and female presets which they can then tweak and adjust to their liking. The character creator is not as powerful as the one seen in the NBA 2K games but there are still plenty of options available to make your golfer unique to you. This customization also extends further into the game with multiple cosmetic items being available for purchase with in-game currency. Players will earn currency from winning golf tournaments in-game and ranking up. They can then spend this currency on the cosmetics and further customize their golfer. It provides an incentive to keep playing and thankfully, there’s no microtransactions here since everything can either be unlocked by fulfilling certain conditions or by purchasing them with in-game earned currency.

Players will earn currency from winning golf tournaments in-game and ranking up.

New to PGA Tour 2K21 are the pro players and they aren’t just here for show. Players will be able to trigger a rivalry with a pro player and this adds a welcome new competitive aspect to the game. There are a range of multiplayer modes available too as well as a local multiplayer option where players can alternate between each other taking turns to hit the ball.

Notably one of the key features from The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour makes a return. The golf course designer is back and even allows for importing old maps from the previous game into PGA Tour 2K21. While the number of official golf courses available is already quite hefty, being able to design and create your own provides a way to have tonnes of fun in-game with your own creations.



PGA Tour 2K21’s career mode is satisfying to play through with play-by-play commentary being provided by Luke Elvy and Rich Beem, two prominent golfing personalities that have done an excellent job lending their voices to the game. Hearing about how you’ve hit an “Absolute ripper” never gets old and neither does the spot on analysis of just how tough a particular shot is to make from certain distances - like putting from 15 feet away from the hole for example or hitting the ball out of a sandtrap and onto the green. Speaking of putting, players will have to take into account hillslope and other factors when trying to hole the ball on the green. Landing a perfect putt always feels satisfying and even more so when it’s from a couple of meters away.

Hearing about how you’ve hit an “Absolute ripper” never gets old and neither does the spot on analysis of just how tough a particular shot is to make from certain distances...

The soundtrack in PGA Tour 2K21 is quite surprising with some incredibly dramatic hype inducing tracks that play on the menu screens. In-game, the sound of birds chirping keeps you focused on the gameplay with commentary and crowd sounds interspersed between your shots. Hearing the crowd “ooh”, “aah” and clap for you adds to the game’s overall feel and it’s great.

Graphically, PGA Tour 2K21 is not exactly ground-breaking. The game is not going to win any awards for graphics that’s for sure. Character models aren’t that detailed and the crowds on the golf courses are quite lacklustre. The golf courses themselves, however, look stunning with clear distinctions between the fairway, rough, green and other hazards and structures being quite prominent. Trees and water look convincing too and the game can’t be faulted much here.



Overall, PGA Tour 2K21 delivers a great golfing gameplay experience throughout. The nuanced aspects of the challenging career gameplay as well as multiple gameplay modes and the strong golf course designer means that players can easily spend hours and hours playing the game. Playing a round of golf is fun and being able to unlock cosmetic items to further customize your character provides some incentive to keep playing. If you’re a fan of golf, we highly recommend PGA Tour 2K21 as there’s quite a lot on offer here that will keep you entertained for quite a long time.



*PS4 Review code provided by 2K Games