PGA Tour 2K21: Digital Deluxe Edition

PGA Tour 2K21 delivers the most flexible and enjoyable game of golf since the Tiger Woods series was at its peak.

PGA Tour 2K21 builds off of the solid foundation of The Golf Club series, delivering a wonderful golf sim that's getting closer to the real thing.

PGA Tour 2K21 offers the best stroke play in years, with deep and rich shot and swing craft. Only a lean career mode proves its handicap.

While excelling with the clubs, the character-specific unlocks aren't great, and you're mostly just playing for score

Whatever angle you’re coming from, it’s fair to say that PGA Tour 2K21 will likely satisfy your golf game needs.

PGA Tour 2K21 is the best simulation golf game on the PS4, and it represents a real evolution for The Golf Club franchise as a whole. While it retains many of the features from previous instalments, it's much better presented than ever before, and it finally includes a career mode that's worth your time and attention. There are still improvements to be made here – the licensed courses lack character and the visuals are static – but if this were a long par five tee shot it'd comfortably find the fairway.

PGA Tour 2K21 plays a solid golf game with enough flexibility in its control settings to appeal to both die-hard simulation buffs and casual golf fans just looking for a quick round. Its real-life pro players are so underused they may as well not be in here and the game may not yet have the typical 2K Sports trademarks – the polished story mode, the slick TV-style presentation – but it also isn't plagued with microtransactions, and the result is a game that, refreshingly, just gets on with it.

Despite its downfalls and legacy design issues, I simply cannot put down PGA Tour 2K21. Much like the previous Golf Club title, this is a golf game with smidgen of the PGA Tour tacked on it.

PGA Tour 2K21 is a fluid take on golf with incredibly tight mechanics that would be perfect for newcomers were it not for 2K's aggressive microtransactions. All sense of progression is held back by an in-game shop that demands hours of grinding on the player's part or real-life money. What is worse is that this practice makes it difficult to enjoy everything the title has to offer. Player customisation moves too slow and career mode simply offers too few rewards to feel rewarding. There is a good game in PGA Tour 2K21 somewhere, but it will never be found so long as microtransactions hold back actual game design.

Overall, PGA2K21 is a great game to pass the time with but not without its issues. I recommend playing through this if you are a true golf fan. But for fans of the previous series such as the EA golf games (Tiger woods, Rory Mcllroy) I'd probably stay away as this is such a far cry from the games you remember. However, if you can manage to get past the controls you can have a decent time. Even with some of the issue that regarding controls this game still with provide hours and hours of content that will keep you replaying key moments through the various modes. So, as it stands PGA2K21 is just par for the course no more no less.