PGA 96
Reviewed by Diane Cote
Can anything be more intimidating to a regular hack than TPC courses? Designed
with the PGA player in mind as a test to any professional's resolve that, yes, he
does belong to a select group of highly skilled, very wealthy, craftsmen who
make their living wielding funny looking sticks of aluminum that do great hurt
to little dimpled balls. How do most others outside that select circle fare on
such courses? Well, with the proper equipment (a gameboy) and some knowledge
of similar titles (PGA European Tour) they are, ...ummm, fairly unintimidating.
There is nothing terribly difficult about PGA Tour 96. That is certainly not a huge
knock against this portable putter. I still found it to be a great occupier of my
time while waiting for my laundry to dry. Simple mechanics equal simple
fun when it comes to my portable pastime. But let me run this by some of the
golfers out there. If the famed island green hole at the TPC Sawgrass can be
treated like any other par 3 wouldn't that constitute a squandering of the locale?
Talk amongst yourselves.
I like this game as much as I liked its European counterpart. Perhaps that's
because they are almost exactly the same game. There are simply different courses
(5 in total) to play upon and American pros like Davis LoveIII and Tom Kite to pit
your skills against. Black Pearl has improved PGA 96 over European PGA
Tour by adding back and top spin to the draw/fade option screen. The addition of
top spin makes chipping from off the green a far more manageable task than
before, allowing you to get back at the pros who still continue to drain everything
from just off putting surface.
This another good addition for all those portable golfers out there. But if you
already own European PGA Tour you will have to decide whether the addition of 5
different courses and a few small additions make PGA 96 a worthwhile companion
to your earlier purchase.
I give PGA 96 7 out of 10 (Par)