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EA Sports PGA Tour vs PGA Tour 2K23 Compared: Which Is Better and Which Should You Buy?

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Golfers have long clamored for an authentic and exhaustive golf video game to let them explore their sport virtually. With EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23 both on the market, which is the best and which you should you buy?

EA Sports PGA Tour vs PGA Tour 2K23

We’re kicking off our comparison with what we consider the most important aspect: the gameplay. Put simply, which plays better, feels better and resembles golf better? In our opinion, the point here goes to EA Sports PGA Tour .

It’s not that PGA Tour 2K23’s gameplay is poor; in fact, it’s good. We find it smooth and comprehensive as well as intuitive and easy to learn. However, it can feel a little too easy to learn. Within hours of picking up 2K23 I was able to sink chips frequently, whip my tee shots around obstructive trees to find the middle of the fairway and easily get within inches of the pin regardless of the hole, conditions and clubs. It’s a slightly truncated version of golf, simple and quick (which does have its bonuses) but not exhaustive and granular.

That’s why EA Sports PGA Tour takes the point here. There’s countless shot types to piece together, a wealth of information to take into account on every shot and ball physics that feel realistic. PureStrike technology makes nearly every shot (see our criticism of pitches and chips) feel rewarding or punishing depending on how you played the shot. Anyone who’s played real golf knows that’s how the sport goes: within seconds of playing your shot you’ll know whether it’s on the right tracks or headed for disaster. That can lead to EA Sports PGA Tour feeling difficult and even merciless – but that is golf.

EA Sports PGA Tour Drive Data Feedback in-game

Golfers, Licenses, Courses & Modes

This round comes out as a tie for us. EA Sports PGA Tour, proudly ‘The Home of the Majors’, brings 28 brilliantly realized golfing environments to life and will bring more in the future. It also lets players try their hand in countless tournaments, from the rookie to the top level. These have official licenses and branding, adding to the ultra-realistic gameplay to emulate various tournaments excellently.

2K23 can offer the same in terms of the presence of the PGA Tour and over 20 officially licensed courses, but its courses aren’t quite as refined as EA’s. However, its community-built courses are certainly a counter. Players can create environments based on whatever they like — just the other day I enjoyed a full 18 holes set at Hogwarts. Another personal favorite is a post-apocalyptic Seattle course that’s straight out of The Last of Us.

Away from courses and licenses, there’s a plethora of ways to play in each title. From Career Mode to Quick Play and competitive matches online, both ensure you can play the way you want to. EA Sports does feel like a deeper dive, especially in Career Mode. I felt more like myself – with better character design options and swing customization – when I entered into tournaments. Hence, if you’re wanting to build your dynasty and cement yourself as the best golfer of all time, it probably edges 2K here — but that’s not to say you can’t do the same with their title.

In terms of golfers, it’s a mixed bag for both. There’s exclusive big names in each, but there’s also noticeable absences. 2K is the only one that has Tiger Woods. It also brings eclectic and enjoyable presences like Michael Jordan and Steph Curry, but EA Sports holds it own with the presence of stars like Jordan Spieth and Nelly Korda. Both games are clearly designed for players to use their own creations as much as possible.

Tiger Woods in PGA Tour 2K23

Finally, a word on in-game stores and microtransactions are pertinent. We’re disappointed with both in this regard. Unsurprisingly given their track record with FIFA and Madden, the EA Sports PGA Tour store is thrust on players so egregiously it’s actually difficult to avoid in the average session. There’s real-life brands – TaylorMade, Ping, etc – front and center and there’s no denying that being willing to throw real-life money at the game will benefit you significantly.

This is when we’d love to be able to say 2K is the exact opposite; a utopia free of microtransactions. Unfortunately, 2K’s foray into golf also takes a leaf out of its NBA 2K book and incorporates large numbers of microtransactions, encouraging players to plough more money into the game. It feels cynical (as it does in EA’s title) so, with both disappointing in this regard, we’re chalking this entire round up as a draw.

Here, there’s a clear winner, and it’s PGA Tour 2K23. It’s certainly not a surprise given the newness of EA Sports’ PGA Tour, which only released in April of 2023. As a result, it’s down from its launch price ($79.99 / £69.99) and available for around $59.99 / £49.99 depending on the platform, version and retailer.

In contrast, PGA Tour 2K23 is available for as little as $19.99 / £14.99 depending on the platform and chosen retailer. We know this round is probably unfair on EA Sports’ game. 2K23’s release back in fall 2022 guaranteed it’d be cheaper at this point, and will probably stay that way for a while. Regardless, cost is undoubtedly a major factor for most players when buying a game, so it’s only natural to rank it on this basis. Point to 2K.

Each game has one round in the bag and the other’s a tie, so we might be at a crossroads. However, we do have advice for you. The game you choose should be dictated by how you intend to play and what you want out of your golf video game.

If you’re searching for a realistic and immersive golf game that is difficult, rewarding and exceptionally detailed, then it’s EA Sports PGA Tour that you want. It’s as faithful a golf game as there’s ever been, giving you a wealth of customization tools, truly remarkable commentary and beautiful courses.

If you’re after a simpler, quicker and downright easier golfing experience, then it’s PGA Tour 2K23 you’ll want to purchase. It’s the ideal title to play with friends as a social event, being able to get in a quick eighteen and see who comes out on top in what feels like arcade golf. You can even use the money you’ve saved to purchase Michael Jordan and play as basketball’s GOAT in the golfing world.

Hopefully, this guide on EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23 has helped you decide where to invest and what you can get out of them. We can summarise it simply: EA Sports is better if you’re a golfer who wants to game, 2K is probably better if you’re a gamer who wants to golf.

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EA Sports PGA Tour vs. PGA Tour 2K23 Comparison

Now that we have two developers creating golf games again, we can compare the two: Between EA Sports and 2K, who made the better PGA Tour?

Franz Christian Irorita

EA Sports PGA Tour vs PGA Tour 2K23 Comparison

Now that we have two developers creating golf games again, it's time to compare the two: Between EA Sports and 2K , who makes the better PGA Tour golf game?

Well, if you're just basing it on our review scores for both games, then you'd think that EA Sports PGA Tour is better than PGA Tour 2K23. While EA Sports PGA Tour objectively offers the higher quality package, there are a few distinctions between the two, and a couple of aspects that would make you pick one game over the other. There are a lot of pros and cons in picking one game, and they're different enough that you can have the best of both worlds and actually play both games. In this article, we take a look at what would be the reasons why you'd pick one game over the other.

Tale of the Tape: EA Sports PGA Tour vs. PGA Tour 2K23

Here are some statistics between the two that are relevant to this discussion:

Why Pick EA Sports PGA Tour?

EA Sports PGA Tour simply is made of better quality material. Although that doesn't make it perfect, it does have a better presentation and deeper, more strategic gameplay features. It also has a more exciting Career Mode, and has undoubtedly more famous courses as it has exclusive rights to the Masters courses, including the Augusta Masters course. It also boasts a more technologically-advanced backend system for its golf ball physics with the Shotlink Trackman, which, although not in your face, definitely is felt throughout the game. Here are the pros of picking EA Sports' golf game:

  • Better Career Mode
  • Deeper Gameplay
  • A lot of Quickplay Game Modes
  • Better Ball Physics
  • More Licensed Courses at launch
  • More Pros at launch
  • Better Graphics and Presentation
  • Has all four Majors

Why Pick PGA Tour 2K23?

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PGA Tour 2K23 also has good features that could make people consider it over EA's version. For starters, its controls are much more intuitive, and it has a more fun progression system with its unique skill tree. It also has way better player customization, better online features, and has crossovers with the other 2K games. It's also more intuitive and has many ways to help out newbies to get better at the game. Also, it has Topgolf and Course Designer! Here are the pros of picking PGA Tour 2K23:

  • Closer likeness for its pro player character models
  • Deeper player customization and more customization options
  • Has crossover guest pros like John Cena (WWE 2K23), Michael Jordan (NBA 2K23), and Stephen Curry (NBA 2K23)
  • More online gameplay features and game modes
  • Has Topgolf
  • Easier to get into
  • More interesting design in character skills and club customizations
  • More brand apparels
  • Better UI and Menus
  • Course Designer

And that's it for our comparison between the two games. Again, while EA Sports PGA Tour is technically the better game between the two, there are still good reasons why you'd like PGA Tour 2K23 more. For more on gaming, stick with ClutchPoints Gaming .

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The definitive ranking of every Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game

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Last August, the newest golf video game—PGA Tour 2K21—was released to the public, quickly becoming a hit among golf fans. While there had been a number of golf games released since the final iteration of the Tiger Woods video game series (in 2014), this was the first one that felt like a must-have, even without Woods' name on the box.

Seven months later, it was announced that Woods will in fact be back on the box. The 15-time major champion has inked a long-term deal with 2K , meaning he'll be returning to a console near you in the future. Rejoice, Cyber Tiger is back.

Of course, this news comes not long after Woods was in a single-car accident, one that has had him hospitalized ever since. Hopefully, Woods makes a full recovery and returns to the real course.

In the mean time, fans might get to relive their Tiger Woods glory days with Woods on an Xbox or Playstation again soon. That got us feeling nostalgic, so naturally we ranked all 16 iterations of the Tiger Woods franchise.

MORE: New PGA Tour 2K21 update allows you to play Bay Hill’s sixth hole like Bryson

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2006 was a very weird year for all the EA Sports games. It was basically a lame duck year, as Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were now the systems to have. That left ’ 06 games in limbo for PS2 owners. Essentially, they were the same game as the year before with a couple of dumb, shiny new features. This was definitely the case for the “Tiger Woods” series as well. ’ 06 was as forgettable as they come.

Not all that different from 1999, which we’ll get to in a bit.

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The first year of the analog stick swing. Literally changed the game.

Honestly, 2003 was great, but what came after it makes its existence almost irrelevant.

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One of the big selling points for 2011 was the Ryder Cup mode, which flat out stunk. If you’re going to introduce an event like that into the game, one people hold very near and dear to their hearts, you’ve got to do it right. Funny enough, they introduced a pretty big event in the 2012 version of the game and nailed it.

This is purely out of respect for the franchise. Back to where it all began. Graphics? Terrible. Gameplay? Pretty good for PS1 in 1999! After years and years of playing with the analog stick, I can’t imagine playing a golf game where you had to time a meter like you’re kicking a field goal in Madden, but that’s the way it was. Kinda cool that it was exactly Tiger’s swing, but it didn’t feel like you were controlling him. Like I said, this is out of respect. By the way, something I just learned in doing research for this ranking was that there was an “Easter Egg” in the first 100,000 pressings of the game that played “Jesus vs. Santa,” a lost episode of South Park, which is on YouTube . I’m not kidding.

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The first “Tiger Woods” to be on PS2 had strong graphics and looked much more like the video games of today, as opposed to the Golden Tee-esque versions of 1999 and 2000. But this game still had the whack swing meter.

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I think the only thing separating ’ 09 from ’ 08 was Hank Haney being your coach in the game. The hell was that about?

Might as well just lump 2008 and 2009 together. Kind of forgotten years in the series in my opinion. The big jump on the new systems came in 2010. Although, none of the newest games have the Jesus shot:

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This year was a massive step forward for the game in graphics and presentation, which makes sense given it was on the new systems. The real fun, however, was on the PS2 version, which I still own. There was a great team mode and some fun fantasy courses (I believe there was a course in Central Park in this game). But the best part was the addition of Riviera, a course I must have played a thousand times in that game. I guess that means I was “woke” before “woke” even existed, which is an elite level of woke-ness.

2010 was a hit for many reasons, and I think the Nintendo Wii version was the most popular of the bunch this year. But I had it for Xbox 360 and it was just delightful. First off, it was perhaps the best cover of the series, featuring Tiger’s famous, double-fisted U.S. Open celebration at Torrey Pines. That was a particularly nice touch because this was also the first year the U.S. Open was in the game, which coincided with the year it was back at Pebble Beach. Most importantly, this was Anthony Kim’s video-game debut, which was such a monumental occasion that there’s video of Tiger talking up Kim in one of the game ’ s trailers. This was probably the first time in the game’s history that I popped in the disc for the first time and played with someone other than Tiger, that someone being Kim.

Considering it wasn’t all that different from ’ 12, ’ 13 probably shouldn’t be this high, but sometimes more of the same is good. ’ 13 continued to focus on Augusta/The Masters, and the collector’s edition of the game even had a green-jacket ceremony. The two best additions to the game were Rory McIlroy, who was somehow left out of 2012 after being in 2010 and 2011, and Dustin Johnson. They both returned in ’ 13 and ’ 14 and were easily the second- and third-best players in the game behind TW. ’ 13 was the last year of Adam Scott and Justin Rose, who were each staples in the franchise for years. Course-wise, ’ 13 also made some great adds in Royal County Down, Royal Birkdale, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Crooked Stick and PGA National.

Some may be scoffing at this being No. 4, which is fair. The first year of Augusta National and a “ Road to the Masters ” career mode in a video game should be worthy of No. 1, but the game only got better in its final two installments. With the introduction of Augusta also came the familiar voice of Jim Nantz, which no one complained about. ’ 12 also featured “The Caddie Experience,” which was cool for all of the first 10 minutes until it became redundant. New golfers included Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson, the Molinari brothers, Zach Johnson and Bubba Watson. Sadly, this was the final year of Anthony Kim in the series. Pour one out, folks.

While the year we still haven’t gotten to is the game’s peak, 2005 is actually my favorite year of “Tiger Woods.” Gameplay was similar to the previous year, but there were welcome additions like the ability to adjust your stance/ball position to hit it higher or lower, and the ability to hit a punch and flop shot as well as chips and pitches. Putting was the same, with the same caddie advice and a back and through stroke once you read the putt, but this was the first year of “Tiger Vision,” which you got to use a handful of times per round with the use of the R1 button. By holding it down, your player would zoom in via a narrow cone (just like Tiger!) and see exactly where to aim the putt, turning a sure three-putt into a 76-foot eagle conversion.

Where this game separated itself was the legend mode, which allowed you to unlock Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan and, of course, “Sunday” Tiger Woods. Trying to unlock all those greats, a sick soundtrack, and new courses like Harbour Town, Colonial, Sherwood, Greek Isles (fantasy course) and, my personal favorite, Couer d’Alene, where I once shot 48 with “Sunday” Tiger and … lost to a buddy of mine who shot 46 with Hogan, had me glued to this game for hours on end.

The last “Tiger Woods” game was, in my opinion, the best of the Xbox 360 era, though I won’t fault any ’ 12 or ’ 13 truthers for wanting those higher on this list. All three had Augusta National, which is enough to put them all in a tie for second, but ’ 14, the historic edition specifically, just did it for me. You could play Augusta National in 1934, reverse routing and all. New courses included Muirfield Village, Royal Troon and Oak Hill. In a brilliant nostalgia play, the game also brought back unlockable legends: Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Sam Snead. There were even different versions of them, like an early 1960s version Jack Nicklaus and a late 1970s Jack Nicklaus, and you could compete as all of them or against them in reenactments of their greatest career moments. The game’s best feature, however, was having all four major championships in career mode. Much like Michael Strahan, the “Tiger Woods” video game went out on top with the ’ 14 version.

I could just write “DMX. That is all” and drop the mic, but that wouldn’t fully describe this game’s GOATness. Everything about it was perfect right from the “Up in here” opening montage. There were 20 courses, the most in a Tiger Woods game to that point, including new additions like Bethpage Black and Sahalee, as well six fantasy courses (Black Rock Cove was a personal fave). 2004 also featured “Game Face,” which allowed you to create your player’s face to your exact liking, wrinkles and all. The gameplay wasn’t all that different from 2003, but it didn’t need to be. Once the analog stick was introduced, the gameplay was pretty much perfect in the PS2 era. But 2004 was its peak.

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Ea sports vs. 2k: which pga tour game is better.

which pga tour game is better

EA Sports PGA TOUR

which pga tour game is better

With the release of EA Sports PGA Tour back in early April , it meant that there was finally serious competition among golf simulation video games. While PGA Tour 2K23 and its predecessors had been dominating the space since all the way back to when the series was known as The Golf Club and 2K wasn’t even involved, the release of the EA game suddenly gave golf fans a choice again. Since both games were released in partnership with the PGA Tour, the two came complete with the kind of credentials to make it clear that realism would be a top priority. The companies involved in EA and 2K left little doubt that this was a heavyweight gaming bout too, the kind of head-to-head battle the companies haven’t had to wage with their other sports games since the days of NBA Live and NFL 2K .

EA Sports Vs 2K: Which PGA Tour Game Is Better?

which pga tour game is better

The inevitable question then when considering the two current golf titles has to be: which game is better? As is so often the case though when considering the world’s biggest questions, the answer is complicated and not nearly as black and white as you’d hope. EA Sports PGA Tour is a newer and shinier toy, complete with better graphics than 2K’s golf game and a gorgeous rendering of the difficult Augusta course. The gameplay is also easier and therefore more accessible, but because of this comes with less of a skill gap that makes hitting the best of shots so rewarding in PGA Tour 2K23 . The courses may look prettier in EA Sports PGA Tour , but there’s a limited number of them thanks to the lack of the kind of course creator boasted by PGA Tour 2K23 , which continues to see stellar tracks regularly churned out by the course design community.

Now that we’ve looked at the overhead view of the two games, let’s go ahead and zoom in closer to get a better perspective of what each of the two games do well and where one might be lagging behind the other. If we aren’t able to fully declare one game to be the better of the two at the end of the comparison, then we should at least be able to help you to decide which golf game might be the best for your own personal preferences.

which pga tour game is better

Player Creation And Customization

The creation suite for your golfer is a little more extensive and detailed in PGA Tour 2K23 than EA Sports PGA Tour , as you’re able to mold a few more specifics on the face to make it as unique as possible instead of choosing from a variety of presets. It’s disappointing though that when it comes to body type, neither game allows you to make someone in the mold of a John Daly with an impressive gut. Both games offer a nice selection of clothes, accessories, and equipment to make sure your golfer is looking good when you hit the course.

which pga tour game is better

Player Progression

As for your golfer’s skills, the 2K title leans heavily on having you choose an archetype , each of which comes with its own particular strengths and weaknesses. As you play more and more rounds, you’ll be be able to unlock skills for your various club-sets that will provide boosts when you meet certain criteria on the course. This component is a little too arcade for my tastes, but it doesn’t tend to influence a round as much as your abilities with your controller. You can also customize your clubs from a cosmetic standpoint as well as use fittings that you unlock from playing rounds to improve the attributes of your clubs.

EA Sports PGA Tour has you upgrading your abilities on the course by using points that you gain by playing rounds to spend on whatever areas of your game you feel are most in need of attention. As you improve in these areas, you’ll also be able to unlock new types of shots that can make your life easier in situations, such as using a pick shot to stop the ball on a dime coming out of the bunker. Unfortunately, there’s an aspect of improving your clubs that relies somewhat on microtransactions, as you can purchase specs from the store to add power or precision.

It probably has to be declared a dead heat between the games with regards to player progression, as they both take slightly different approaches and are mostly successful albeit with a questionable decision or two that are vulnerable to criticism.

which pga tour game is better

Graphics And Presentation

When it comes to a comparison of the graphics and presentation between the two games, it’s pretty easy to declare that EA Sports PGA Tour performs better in almost every way. That starts with your golfer, who appears larger and moves more fluidly than any of the rigid swing animations you’ll find in PGA Tour 2K23 . The courses in the EA game are more vibrant as well, popping off the screen with the location’s atmosphere in a way that won’t be seen in 2K’s title. The visuals to set the scene during rounds are just a notch better from EA throughout rounds, including fly-overs prior to each hole that not only showcase the game’s graphic capabilities with every blade of grass but also provide insight into the best way to play the hole. Perhaps the only aspect of PGA Tour 2K23 that is superior is the sound and that’s mostly just because the smack of the club hitting the ball in the EA game sounds so far off from the real thing.

which pga tour game is better

Perhaps the most important aspect of both games, the question of which of the two options plays better when you’re out on the course is also likely to be the most divisive. Although they each have difficulty settings to make hitting the ball where you want it to go as challenging as you like, the EA title is the more accessible option. While dialing in the proper distance for your shots can be a tad tricky, finding the right tempo to keep the ball traveling straight doesn’t require all that much effort. This makes it incredibly rare to see shots, especially those off the tee, that veer extremely off-target in any one direction. Even with an amount of RNG involved on your shots, there won’t be a lot of deviation from your target if the attributes of your player are decent. You’d also expect to see more punishment on shots from the rough or the sand, but these surprisingly won’t cost you much in the way of either distance or accuracy.

PGA Tour 2K23 requires more precision on the sticks (or buttons if you prefer 3-click) if you want to avoid the rough and those pesky bogeys, especially on higher difficulties like master. It’s increasingly rare on those higher difficulties that you’ll be able to achieve perfect tempo, and you’ll often be content to have slightly slow or fast feedback so your ball ends up at least close to where you were aiming. If you’re not careful and consistent though, it’s likely that you’ll have shots where your tempo is very slow or very fast. These will invariably lead to errant strikes that are short or long on distance and head wildly in a direction that you were not planning. Because you’ll suffer so severely for the slightest of issues in your swing (and be severely hampered on any shots from the rough and sand), it makes it feel more like real golf than the EA game and is more satisfying when you’re able to pull off amazing shot.

which pga tour game is better

Career Mode

The career modes in the two games are relatively similar in that they both see you climbing the ranks by competing in events to win prize money and points on the leaderboard. Some vital differences exist within the customization offered in 2K’s game that won’t be found, at least at the time of this writing, in the EA title. Perhaps the most significant one of these is the ability change the number of rounds for events in the 2K game all the way down to a single round if you like while events in the EA game can’t be reduced down from the full 4 that real pros play. To be fair, you are able to play quick rounds during events in the EA game that will have you making shots on key holes only during rounds, but this is a poor substitute for putting you in control of every shot in fewer rounds altogether. To allow even more flexibility, you can also swap out the courses for certain events in the 2K game, helping to keep things fresh every season.

which pga tour game is better

The most succinct way to summarize a comparison between the available courses in the two golf games is to say that PGA Tour 2K23 has more courses, however the courses in EA Sports PGA Tour are better. The fact that both games boast some of the same courses makes it a little easier to look at a famous locale like Pebble Beach in the two titles and draw the conclusion that EA’s recreation has a level of detail that 2K can’t match. The area where EA’s game comes up lacking though is with the absence of a course creator. The course creator in 2K’s game has allowed the community to both recreate real courses in remote towns from across the world and invent some wildly imaginative ones that would be nearly impossible to build in real life.

which pga tour game is better

Online Modes

If you’re wanting to play rounds with friends, then the 2K game is probably going to be a better bet, at least until a patch adds the kind of turn-based functionality to the EA game that’s being offered by 2K. As it stands now, you’re able to play a round alongside a friend but with no opportunity to stand and watch your friend play his shots like you would in real life (and in PGA Tour 2K23 ). The 2K game has a more elaborate ranked system when stacking your skills up against others too, plus it has the casual option of playing different types of matches like skins, alt shot, and scramble.

The EA game does have some neat ideas with challenges and online tournaments, the former of which has you trying to recreate the feats of real golfers in recent events while the latter has you posting scores against the community to earn rewards based on where you finish among the fierce competition. PGA Tour 2K23 has a similar good thing going with online societies that allows the community to create seasons of events that can be customized to your own specifications in terms of rounds, courses, and difficulty level.

which pga tour game is better

Bottom Line

The real truth is that both EA and 2K have created uniquely solid golf games, and if you’re trying to decide on only one of them to purchase, the choice will come down to what you personally want from a golf game. If you need the game to look as good as possible, then you’ll likely prefer the EA game. If you’re after more challenging and rewarding gameplay, you’ll probably want to opt for the 2K game. 2K’s course creator allows for its game to have an unlimited number of layouts to play, but the limited number (32) of recreations simply look and feel better in the EA game. The online realm is significantly better in 2K’s game at the moment, but there have been indications from EA that turn-based play (and more) is coming and that would go a long way towards improving their online offerings. If you’re a die-hard fan of golf though and you want the best of both worlds, there’s nothing wrong at all with picking up both games and enjoying the fact that competition between these companies has caused both EA and 2K to up their game.

which pga tour game is better

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PGA Tour 2K23 Review

Bland virtual golfing with limited ways to play is hard to get excited about..

Matt Paprocki Avatar

Real golf doesn’t lack thrills – watching a player sink a delicate chip-in generates no shortage of excitement. But in the context of a video game, it needs some extra energy. A pizazz. An added enthusiasm, even if it’s when browsing a menu, just to keep it from becoming something you can sleepwalk through. PGA Tour 2K23 lacks that. It’s silent, it’s calm, it’s bland, it’s so… proper.

PGA Tour 2K23 (and previously, PGA Tour 2K21) was born of HB Studios’ fanatically accurate simulation The Golf Club, and the change in name hasn’t changed much about the underlying philosophy behind it. The actual shot mechanisms, ball physics, and standard frustration when sinking into a bunker retain their dazzling authenticity, and yet, even with a year off between editions to rethink things, HB Studios has produced another plain, stuffy, elitist golf sim with as much personality as a white polo shirt. 2K23 makes minor strides towards loosening up the pomposity, but lands inches from dropping in the cup.

2K brings the points-based FedEx Cup into focus as the central career goal. That’s fine, although the PGA draws more attention for the Masters, US Open, and other high-profile events – the stuff EA licensed in the past for its golf projects. PGA Tour 2K23 doesn’t have those, or their most famous courses, like Augusta National. That means the career mode feels like filler as it works around licensing restrictions and takes us through second-tier courses like the Detroit Golf Club and TPC Southwind. That’s an issue when it’s the primary way to play, and here there aren’t a lot of other options.

Taking to the course, the major publisher influence from 2K becomes evident. There’s an effort to streamline things, including an optional three-click swing system. That’s new, but brutally difficult to master, and not the accessible feature that was expected. This method involves holding the swing button to set power, releasing to begin a spinning meter that needs to be stopped twice to determine swing accuracy. If you’re anything like me you can expect botched shots on the regular before reverting to the smooth, clean, and precise analog stick swing.

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HB Studios mastered this analog method, thankfully. Other golf games have tried – and even succeeded in their own ways – but HB’s quest to mimic the feel and challenge of a real club pays off. It’s an appropriately fragile existence off the tee or from the fairway, as stick speed dictates a slice or hook. Even when well practiced, the possibility always remains to botch a shot – as it should be. Plus, 2K23 adds needed shot types like punches to squeeze the ball under hazards, furthering PGA Tour’s repertoire and strategy.

There’s an attempt to add charisma to this series, but it comes across as half-hearted. Selectable golfers include cover star Tiger Woods and other known PGA names, but also celebrities like NBA stars Michael Jordan and Steph Curry. In the equipment section, a hockey stick is offered as a putter choice, giving necessary nods to Happy Gilmore. That’s it though, and those celebrity players exist only in side modes or versus play. Say what you will about the defunct Tiger Woods PGA Tour series, but maintaining golf’s central appeal while driving with Happy Gilmore’s walk-up swing was a delight, with no gameplay cost.

There’s also TopGolf, a party-esque challenge founded in 2000. Now it’s digital, and a passable substitute for when short on time with friends, if also an uneventful target practice event unlikely to earn any long-term engagement.

Likely, the most time people are going to spend with PGA Tour 2K23 will be with the career, mostly because that’s almost all that’s offered. There’s one goal (FedEx), one play style, and outside of exhibitions, nothing else to do for solo golfers. Brief (usually) one-event rivalries using a Stableford scoring system bring the slightest additional drama. Local and online versus adds small variety like two-on-two match-ups and skins play. That’s something. Between matches the deepening RPG side offers incremental skill upgrades. Some offer easier swing timing, others accuracy, or better work out of bunkers. Leveling requires tiered decision making as each club type is individually boosted, and opportunities grow in tandem alongside the custom golfer’s XP meter.

PGA Tour 2K23 - Release Date Announcement Screenshots

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In a reversal of HB Studios’ usual philosophy, clubs themselves matter. Not just the clubs, but every boost to them, which are acquirable after winning events. A +3 club shaft of power matched with a +2 grip of shot shaping can form a credible weapon – err, piece of sporting equipment. Given PGA Tour 2K23’s demanding swing precision, even a tiny boost to accuracy or timing will reduce risks, and that’s appreciated. It’s a notably game-y idea for what is otherwise such a deep simulation though, and purchasing actual clubs makes no difference. Only the part boosts do.

Moving toward the FedEx Cup means dealing with HB Studios’ weak point: The dismal quality of its attempt to recreate the atmosphere of televised golf. It’s not bad so much as utterly broken in places. Commentators make the wrong calls regularly, such as failing to identify when a ball is or isn’t on the green or whether it’s trailing left or right. Attempts to show replays from earlier in the tournament take excessive time to load in this era of SSDs (and chug further when trying to reach the server sometimes), and when they do show up they frequently don’t actually show anything. Rather than following the ball, these snippets stay on the golfer reacting to an unseen shot, but at least the character models justify that lingering attention. Coming from 2K, whose emulation of NBA broadcasts set a best-in-class example, PGA Tour 2K23’s non-functional delivery annoyed more than helped once I got past the first match’s introduction.

As a side note, the orchestral music playing over the menus painfully adds to the idea of golf being a dull, elitist game. There was room for PGA 2K23 to build energy while maintaining its status, but it didn't take a single opportunity to do so.

The recurring course creator lets people give PGA Tour 2K23 the spark if they so want it. That also helps fill in the course selection’s holes – someone will render an accurate Pebble Beach in no time (with titles like, “Pebbles on the Beach Golf Course”), although as I played before release there was nothing available to download yet. That said, trying to build something offers a pleasant, easy-to-use menu system flush with choices. Better, everything is open from the outset, meaning there’s no need to unlock items to fill the spaces. Yes, a crocodile hiding out by hole 9’s green is just as much an option as placing a hotel on 16.

Even after a year off, PGA Tour 2K23 returns offering minimal progress from its preceding, prior-generation edition. A new three-click swing is an unforgiving mess, it’s somehow worse at emulating the look and feel of televised golf, and the few spurts of personality that’ve been layered on can’t counter developer HB Studios’ penchant for preserving pro golf’s elitism above all, or the apparent terror of breaking from that form. At least PGA Tour 2K23 can define itself through the properly challenging golf sim at its heart and the barebones career mode that stands all but alone in its menus.

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golfer Tiger Woods, wearing black slacks and a red and gray polo, watches a shot fly with a crowd of spectators behind him at The Players Championship in PGA Tour 2K23

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PGA Tour 2K23 is Elden Ring for golf, somehow

Thrilling golf marred by frustrating swinging mechanics and career progression

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I don’t spend much time playing video games whose difficulty is a selling point; if it’s anything like a Soulslike, I’m likely to avoid it. So it’s been a long time since a game has made me swear as much as PGA Tour 2K23 has. I’m not proud that one of those instances occurred when my wife came downstairs to see how things were going, just as I shanked a tee shot — for perhaps the 50th time? I’ve lost count at this point — into a thicket of trees on the left side of the fairway.

From wayward drives that end up in the drink to gimme putts that somehow don’t drop, the analog stick swing mechanic is my greatest frustration in PGA Tour 2K23 . After all, swinging is the main thing you do in this game; it takes 60 to 80 shots, on average, to complete a full 18-hole round.

But after taking thousands of swings across hundreds of holes of golf, I still don’t feel like I have a great handle on my virtual clubs in PGA Tour 2K23 . In other words, I don’t feel like I’m improving — an issue that is compounded because I’m also not getting a meaningful sense of progression for my created golfer in the game’s MyCareer mode.

Collin Morikawa, wearing a pastel pink polo and dark slacks, watches a shot fly in PGA Tour 2K23

PGA Tour 2K23 defaults to a control scheme that’s common in golf video games: To swing, you pull down on the right stick and then flick it upward. Here, though, the timing of the second motion (the downswing) is crucial — you’ll pull the shot to the left if you flick too quickly, and push it to the right if you’re too slow.

Downswing timing is the bane of my existence. I’ve enabled many of the assists available in the game’s settings, and have been hoping I’d eventually be able to wrap my head around the swing system. But even on the second-easiest difficulty setting, swinging feels like something of a crapshoot. No matter how many practice cuts I take, I’m liable to hook a shot when I swing for real.

There’s another option now: Fulfilling a long-standing request, developer HB Studios has added a traditional three-click system in PGA Tour 2K23 . It’s much less analogous to a real-life golf swing than, well, the analog stick scheme, but it’s good that an alternative is available.

This is HB Studios’ second effort under 2K Sports, a mass-market publisher. As such, I’m surprised that PGA Tour 2K23 doesn’t feel substantively more accessible than its predecessor, 2020’s PGA Tour 2K21 . Even the three-click swinging is implemented in a way that feels like it’s different for the sake of being different. Rather than simply pressing the button three times, you first hold it down to determine power, and then tap it twice to fine-tune the accuracy. I tried this system and quickly reverted to analog controls, despite my issues with them.

an overhead shot of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, with the green sitting in a lake, in PGA Tour 2K23

PGA Tour 2K23 ’s MyCareer mode also ends up feeling overcomplicated, although its foundation is solid. When creating your MyPlayer character, you choose one of five archetypes. For instance, Powerhouse players can drive the ball farther than anyone else, but they struggle with accuracy and putting. I’ve stuck with Woodsman because, frankly, I miss so many fairways and greens that I need all the help I can get when recovering from a bad lie in the rough. It’s nice that I can change my archetype if I ever want to, at no cost.

Here, HB Studios’ design works beautifully: The archetypes are meant to offer packages of strengths and weaknesses to support and complement your personal play style. My shots may often land on pine straw or in a fairway bunker, but thanks to the Woodsman archetype and its shot-shaping benefits, I don’t feel like all is lost when they do — and in fact, I’ve managed to save par in many of those cases.

The same customization-based design philosophy applies throughout MyCareer, but it’s less successful outside the realm of archetypes. The experience points you earn by playing tournaments aren’t used to directly upgrade your player’s attributes, like in a typical role-playing game (or in, say, a standard career mode in a sports game). Instead, you get a single skill point every time you level up, and you use the points to unlock and upgrade skills.

To avoid getting too far into the weeds (or woods) here, I’ll just say that almost all of the skills take effect only on a situational basis: They’ll either activate when you’re struggling and deactivate once you regain your form, or activate when you’re doing well and deactivate if you don’t keep it up. And as you level up a skill, it activates more easily and stays active for longer.

a Black woman wearing a pink polo and black slacks watches her tee shot fly in PGA Tour 2K23

While the concept is sound, this setup makes the entire skill system feel inert. The first skill for hybrid clubs, Gusto, seems eminently valuable: When you’re mired in heavy rough, your shots will fly farther. But at level 1 of the skill, it only takes effect if you happen to be hitting into a headwind of at least 15 mph — an exceedingly rare combination of circumstances, in my experience. Because it takes a while to earn skill points, I’m not inclined to waste my precious few points on a skill that I don’t expect to get much use out of, even if there are more desirable ones locked farther along that branch of the tree.

Personalization is also the driving force behind club fittings, the most significant (and concrete) method of improving your performance in PGA Tour 2K23 . Fittings are parts of a golf club — head, shaft, or grip — that you can equip to magnify its attributes. Each one has a level of rarity attached to it, as with loot in a game like Destiny 2 ; the more rare it is, the stronger its effects. Attaching an “uncommon” head to a wedge might boost its power rating by 6 points while also dropping its timing attribute by 2.

Unlike in PGA Tour 2K23 ’s basketball sibling, NBA 2K, you can’t spend real-world money to power up your athlete, thankfully — at least not by buying fittings, since you receive them only as random drops. Virtual Currency, 2K Sports’ real-money currency (called “coins” here), is used primarily to purchase items like licensed clothes and gear from companies such as Adidas and Mizuno, none of which affect gameplay.

However, a pay-to-win element does creep into the game with respect to fittings: It costs coins to equip them to each club. The charge for attaching a legendary shaft to an iron is 150 coins, so I had to spend 900 coins to outfit all six of the irons in my bag. Considering the slow rate at which you earn coins through play — something like 250 coins if you can manage to finish in one of the top spots of a tournament — you may end up staring longingly at a collection of fittings that you’ve unlocked but can’t afford to equip.

Steph Curry, wearing a multicolored polo and a black baseball cap, watches a tee shot fly in PGA Tour 2K23

The real bummer here is that I’ve had to spend so many words analyzing all that ancillary stuff, because once I’m playing a hole in PGA Tour 2K23 , most of those nuisances fade away. This is a true-playing golf game — I had a devil of a time with the steep greens at Los Angeles’ Riviera Country Club, and I’ve found it tremendously satisfying to craft and execute shots . The unforgiving difficulty of the swing mechanics, coupled with the game’s complicated system of fittings and skills, can lead to more frustration than fun. But when it all comes together, and I manage to pull out a birdie just when I need one to hold off a challenger on the leaderboard, it makes for thrilling moments of fist-pumping glory.

Perhaps I’m just too much of a casual gamer for the PGA Tour 2K series. To wit: I played many hours of PGA Tour 2K21 and didn’t remember having trouble with its swing mechanics — but when I booted up that game to check the options, I realized that I had disabled the downswing timing setting. At some point, I must’ve gotten frustrated enough to give up on the challenge (and the associated boost to the rate at which you earn XP). I’d also love to be able to save-scum, but that’s not an option: Due to the integration of VC, this is an always-online game by default, so it saves your progress with each stroke, with no allowances for mulligans.

It seems like my best bet — if I want to more fully enjoy my time with PGA Tour 2K23 — would be to turn off downswing timing. Either that, or it might be time to put this franchise on my personal “I don’t need this stress in my life” list, right next to Elden Ring .

PGA Tour 2K23 was released Oct. 14 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed using on PS5 using a pre-release download code provided by 2K Sports. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here .

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Ea sports pga tour initial review: hands-off with ea's golfing return.

We've been given a tour around some of the Tour. Here's what we've learned so far.

It's been a fair old while since Electronic Arts dabbled with golf. Even though it was the gaming home of the PGA Tour since the start of the 90s, we've not had a new game from EA Sports since 2015's Rory McIlroy.

In the meantime, HB Studios and 2K Games have capably filled the gap, first with The Golf Club and snagging their own PGA Tour licensing in latter days.

Now though, EA is about to return to the fairway with a new addition to the franchise. And, it's looking like it'll carry on exactly where it left off, albeit with a fair few modern bells and whistles thrown in for good measure.

We've been privy to a hands-off demo of the game and a walkthrough of its features by some of the developers. Here's how it's looking so far.

EA Sports PGA Tour

With 30 courses planned for launch and all the major tournaments, including the Masters at Augusta, EA Sports PGA Tour is shaping up to be a thorough title for enthusiasts and casual gamers alike. From what we've seen so far, it's also looking superb thanks to the adoption of the Frostbite Engine. We can't wait to get our own hands on it soon to see if it's up to par.

  • Stunning course mapping
  • Great attention to detail
  • 30 PGA Tour courses to play on
  • All the majors
  • Too soon to tell

EA Sports PGA Tour is the publisher's biggest golf game yet. It is exclusive to current-generation consoles - PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S - and PC, which means there have been few compromises on graphical fidelity. From what we saw streamed in an online demonstration, anyway.

The development team has switched to Frostbite for the graphics, which not only renders player models (real-world and created) in great fidelity - much like the latest FIFA, Madden and NHL games - but it presents the 30 included courses in sometimes photo-realistic detail.

That's because every course was mapped using multiple methods - by helicopter using LiDAR technology, through high-resolution camera drones too, and by taking thousands of photos on the ground. Augusta even gave the developer access to its tree health system, which accurately maps every flowerbed, tree and other types of flora to ensure they are placed in exactly the same position in the game as in real life.

Impressively, this level of minute detail doesn't just help the look of the game but the feel. The bumps on the ground are in the exact same spot - as are the imperfections on the fairways and greens. And so, we were told, that when a ball interacts with the course, it will move across these minor spots in the same way it would for real.

That is further improved through the use from two other third-party data sources - the PGA Tour's ShotLink and TrackMan - which not only gave the team real-world mechanics for ball movement, thanks to storing many thousands of shots from the PGA Tour itself, but also player motion and behaviour that has provided the animation specifics for each licenced professional in the game.

EA calls its new stroke engine Pure Strike and it enables gamers to take shots in a more fluid, natural way.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

The gameplay that we viewed showed a new swing arc that is used for the accuracy and power of a shot. The power is determined by a small line on the arc that you meet during the backswing (using a thumbstick). The speed of the follow-through is important too and reminds us a little of the mechanics in PGA Tour 2K23. However, EA hasn't gone full simulation with its effort. There is still the option for boost and other gamified elements of its previous titles in the series.

One major new feature is that, as well as club selection, you also get the choice between types of shot each time - from a pool of 20. And each club in your bag will have their own assigned shot types that you can customise. In previous years, the clubs from different manufacturers would have their own stats - this is gone, but the shot types can still make one driver feel different to another, say. You can adjust depending on your play style, therefore, which is inspired by the pro golfers and their experiences on the real Tour.

It's this mix of realism and fun that we're looking forward to testing more when we get our own hands on the game.

We were also told that the old three-click shot method of yesteryear will make a return as a playable option, but wasn't active for our demo.

Putting has changed a bit this time around - perhaps even more so than the main shot system. You get a suggested line to give you a decent read of a green (although that can be turned off in settings) but the putting meter is certainly different to before. You have a smaller swing overlay that suggests power and works more like the main shot arc. Again, it's something we have to try for ourselves before we can give you more on how it works.

Licenced to thrill

Perhaps the most impressive part of EA Sports PGA Tour for us so far is the amount of licenced content in the game. The 30 courses, the clothes, clubs and shoes, the different tournaments, including all the majors, and a healthy selection of PGA and LPGA professionals to play as and against. There is also a great cast of commentators that use dynamic phrasing to make the presentation feel just like a TV broadcast. They've even recorded unique voice clips for points of interest on course that you may never hear - such as if you bounce a ball off a specific fence, which cues a sentence about that actual event.

As well as the licenced players, you can also create your own, of course, with an in-depth editor and the choice to set him onto the path of greatness by either entering amateur tournaments first, the Korn Ferry Tour, or the PGA Tour itself. And, if you want to play as a woman, the Amundi Evian Championship is there for the taking too.

In short, EA is ensuring that while it has taken a seven-year leave of absence from golf, it is coming back with its most expansive offering yet. It's certainly not doing things by half.

First impressions

It's hard to give a genuine opinion on a game we've not physically played ourselves, but everything we've heard and seen so far shows much potential. We've really enjoyed 2K's rival title (and still do), but can't help admitting that we've missed the traditional EA Sports PGA Tour games over the last few years. Plus, we're really looking forward to playing in The Masters at Augusta and this will provide the only opportunity to do so. We await it with bated breath.

EA Sports PGA Tour will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC from 24 March 2023.

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Pga tour 2k21 review: finally, a golf game that’s the best of both worlds.

  • Nick Menta ,

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“PGA Tour 2K21" is the deepest golf video game you’ve ever encountered.

That’s the benefit of giving an online community access to a custom course designer.

The rest – the official Tour, course and player licensing that’s been so heavily pushed in the marketing – is kind of just window dressing, albeit really attractive, sorely missed, nice-to-have-back window dressing.

Having spent the better part of the last week toying around with 2K21’s career mode, I can tell you that, judged as a PGA Tour simulation, this title returns golf gamers to the place where EA Sports left them previously. In that sense, we might actually consider it a push.

But if you take what gamers had before as a simulation and combine it with a full-blown course designer, then you have something else entirely. “PGA 2K21" is best judged then as the marriage of two features that had been previously kept separate.

As someone who’s been playing PGA Tour video games since 1999, this was the one thing I always wanted from EA Sports: the ability to create my own courses or to recreate courses that EA simply couldn’t license. Once I got that from HB Studios in “The Golf Club,” I found myself pining for what I had with EA: Tour branding, Tour pros, Tour courses.

This game, finally, has both.

EA’s long-running “Tiger Woods” title came to an end in 2013, and a rebooted offering headlined by Rory McIlroy was abandoned after a single release in 2015. That left gamers in the woods (no pun intended) for three years, after they’d grown accustomed to a yearly Tour release for two decades.

Filling the void was a lesser-known title, “The Golf Club,” from a lesser-known developer, HB Studios. “The Golf Club ” – a game focused on allowing users to create, play and share their own custom-designed golf courses – begat “The Golf Club 2" and what eventually came to be known as “The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour.”

That was the turning point. And not to disparage it – because I certainly spent enough time playing it – but “The Golf Club 2019 ” is, in retrospect, a (really good) half-step, a bridge to where we are now. The game, developed like its previous iterations by HB but this time published by 2K, was the first to feature Tour branding in three years, since EA’s “McIlroy ” release. It came with seven real-world courses, including TPC Sawgrass and TPC Scottsdale, and served as a starting point.

“ 2K21 " is really the final product, the completed version of “2019.” It’s what gamers hoped to get when the PGA Tour decided to get back into the video game business, and it’s what they have now two years later.

Career mode

As mentioned at the top, the marketing of “2K21 " has focused on its licensing agreements – with the PGA Tour, with tournament sponsors, with a list of pros, with 15 real-world courses, and with equipment and apparel manufacturers. It’s worth running through it. Here’s the real-world stuff in the game:

Courses (and tournaments)

  • Atlantic Beach Country Club
  • Copperhead Course at Innisbrook (Valspar Championship)
  • East Lake Golf Club (Tour Championship)
  • Quail Hollow Club (Wells Fargo Championship)
  • Riviera Country Club (Genesis Invitational)
  • TPC Boston (The Northern Trust)
  • TPC Deere Run (John Deere Classic)
  • TPC Louisiana (Zurich Classic)
  • TPC River Highlands (Travelers Championship)
  • TPC San Antonio (Valero Texas Open)
  • TPC Sawgrass (The Players Championship)
  • TPC Scottsdale (Waste Management Phoenix Open)
  • TPC Southwind (WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational)
  • TPC Summerlin (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open)
  • TPC Twin Cities (3M Open)

PGA Tour pros

  • Patrick Cantlay
  • Cameron Champ
  • Bryson DeChambeau
  • Sergio Garcia
  • Billy Horschel
  • Matt Kuchar
  • Kevin Kisner
  • Ian Poulter
  • Justin Thomas
  • Gary Woodland

Equipment and apparel

  • Bridgestone
  • Jack Nicklaus
  • Polo Ralph Lauren
  • Royal and Awesome
  • Tattoo Golf
  • Under Armour

You encounter these elements by working your way through career mode. You play events, you earn in-game currency, you spend that currency on clubs and apparel to spruce up your create-a-golfer. If that sounds a little too familiar, that’s because it is; it is very much a return to the career mode players received from EA Sports.

The advancements are largely rooted in making the golf courses look like they do during Tour events; so you’re getting a digital replica of the stadium built around the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale, just as one example. HB has also made an effort to make your tournament rounds feel a little like a PGA Tour broadcast, as gameplay will occasionally cut to highlights of what other players – like JT or Bryson or Sergio – are doing on the course. This idea works better on paper than in practice, as the cut scenes add little, don’t seem to be influenced by anything you’re actually doing, and take too long to load.

The Tour pros featured in the game also need to feel more like active rivals and competitors than what they are now – also-rans. That you can’t play rounds as the featured pros is also worth mention.

It’s why I’m calling career mode a push; its’s a return to what users had from a Tour title years ago.

That said, it’s wonderful to have back with this level of detail, the courses look terrific, and I’ve been glued to it for a week.

Course designer (Hey, you, read this)

Separately, the course designer remains difficult. There’s a steep learning curve if you want to get good at it, and it’s straight up intimidating at first pass. But there’s a reason it’s complicated. It’s the same designer the HB Studios team uses to create the game.

Here’s the good news, and “Golf Club ” veterans already know this: Even if you’re unwilling to dive into the designer yourself, you get to free ride on the work of others. This is the important part – the part they can’t really advertise.

Are you the guy or girl going, “What? No Augusta? And mostly a just a bunch of TPCs?”

Pay attention.

No, Augusta National, Pine Valley, and Cypress Point are not officially in this game. But did users in TGC 2019 recreate these layouts – tee for tee, green for green, bunker for bunker, down to the very yard, down to the very tree – and upload them to the game’s servers?

Yes. Yes, they did.

You can find all sorts of real-world recreations, from major-championship venues like Merion and Oakmont and Pebble Beach and St. Andrews to even your local muni. It just depends how much time someone had on their hands and what they were motivated to build. If someone created a course in “2019,” they can import into “2K21.”

That’s why this is the deepest golf video game you’ve ever encountered. There’s no limit to what you or anyone else can add to it.

So where does the title go from here? HB Studios producer Shaun West told GolfChannel.com last month that while no official decision has been made on the timing of a future release, he sees the benefits of a two-year development cycle. And just like “PGA Tour 2K21 " built on the foundation laid by “The Golf Club 2019,” it’s his hope that game just keeps getting bigger and more detailed, becoming an even closer PGA Tour simulation.

Of course, we have “2K21 " to enjoy for the next couple years. There are users doing the Lord’s Work with the course designer, and there are online societies that organize their own tournaments and seasons. If you’re new to the series, welcome to the rabbit hole.

PGA Tour 2K21 is available on Playstation 4, XBOX One and XBOX One X, Windows PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch and Stadia

EA Sports PGA Tour Review - Hit The Links

  • First Released Apr 4, 2023 released

EA returns to the world of golf with a challenging and rewarding title that's let down by a couple of inconsistencies and an underwhelming swing mechanic.

By Richard Wakeling on April 12, 2023 at 10:55AM PDT

EA Sports PGA Tour is unlike any other golf game I've played. It still features familiar elements from the series' past--back when Tiger Woods was front and center--such as slow-motion heartbeat moments and climactic power shots. But after an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, EA has returned to the fairway with a more demanding recreation of the sport that's as much about feel as it is mastering the game's robust mechanics. With 30 courses covering all four majors--including The Masters at Augusta National--EA Sports PGA Tour has a plethora of golfing action to sink your teeth into. It's just a shame there are a few notable issues in critical areas that hold it back from greatness.

The first of these is the game's swing mechanic. If you've played a golf game before, the actual act of swinging a driver or 5-iron will be familiar. You pull down on the analog stick to bring the club back, then push forward again to unleash your shot. This has been a staple in golf games for a number of years now, and there aren't any alternatives at the moment--not until a three-click system is implemented in a later update. The issue with EA Sports PGA Tour is that there's a slight delay between your input and the on-screen visual. Your swing isn't 1:1, so there's an uneasy disconnect where you never quite feel like you're in total control. The general malaise of each swing doesn't help matters either, with the slow, clunky pacing and frustrating lag making it difficult to nail the timing and power of each shot. I eventually grew accustomed to these idiosyncrasies over time, but it never feels quite right and fails to capture the satisfaction that hitting a 300-yard tee shot should achieve.

To compound the issue, EA Sports PGA Tour also lacks any sort of meaningful tutorial. There are tooltips that pop up and cover the basics the first time you play, but these brief snippets barely scratch the surface of everything going on under the hood. Instead, the game has a suite of challenges that happen to include a Coaching Academy. This is the best place to start, even if these challenges still neglect to offer any tips or feedback to help you along the way. What you get is a variety of contextual situations covering different aspects of the sport, from putting downhill to dealing with elevation changes and the multitude of shot types on offer. There's a lot of trial and error involved, but the repetition of replaying each situation does give you a greater understanding of how everything works. It's not a very user-friendly approach, but it sets expectations and is genuinely helpful in an unconventional way, even if it might prove frustrating for some. Plus, completing these challenges also earns you XP that can be used to improve your created character.

EA Sports PGA Tour

EA Sports PGA Tour's career mode sits front and center, starting off with your no-name golfer competing in the qualifying school before moving on to the amateur Korn Ferry Tour. The ultimate goal is to reach the PGA Tour, which can be done either by winning one of the many four-round courses or by placing highly enough in the Korn Ferry rankings come season's end. You can expedite this process by opting for a quick play mode where you only need to play a few holes rather than an entire round, but I think playing full rounds is the way to go. That's mostly because it gives you ample time to fine-tune your skills, learn the courses, and gain a better understanding of the game's mechanics. There's also a palpable sense of progression that comes from leveling up your golfer. Earning XP lets you build your skills in driving, approach play, short game, and putting, while progressing each attribute also unlocks more shot types, giving you additional options when preparing to send the ball careening toward the green.

Fortunately, the Coaching Academy includes challenges for each of the game's myriad shot types, giving you the opportunity to see how each one functions before playing competitively. There's value in understanding the differences between a runner, spinner, or knock-down shot, but knowing when to utilize each one essentially comes down to a matter of feel. In this respect, EA Sports PGA Tour resembles the sport of golf more accurately than any other game. There are a number of variables at play for every single shot, to the point where there's a real thought process behind each swing. You have to choose the right shot type and club for each situation, adjust for wind and elevation, judge how much power you need to put into the swing, and account for the distinct ways each course plays--tweaking your shot shape depending on the shape of the fairway and lie of the bunkers. The game helps to some degree by displaying relevant information such as wind speed and distance, but then you're left to your own devices. This can be frustrating, particularly early on when you're still learning the ropes and your golfer's attributes aren't up to snuff, but once everything clicks, EA Sports PGA Tour plays an engrossing game of golf that can be incredibly rewarding.

Much of this is down to the courses themselves. Every single one of the 30 officially licensed courses is staggeringly beautiful and offers an authentic attention to detail, whether it's Liberty National and its view of the Manhattan skyline, the waves crashing against the sand at Pebble Beach, or the alligators lurking in the water at TPC Sawgrass. Almost every course is iconic on some level, and they've all been faithfully rendered and recreated, right down to individual blades of grass. The absence of a course designer is a tad disappointing, but unlike PGA Tour 2K23, it's not something that feels like a necessity because there are already so many 18-hole delights. The courses are the game's main character, providing the kind of variety and depth to stave off any tedium. Mastering a golf game's mechanics is usually the key to success, but EA Sports PGA Tour's courses demand much more from you. Each one plays differently, whether it's the roll of the green or the width of the fairway impacting your decision-making. It genuinely feels like you're playing against the course rather than the shot meter.

EA Sports PGA Tour

The physics model, which is built around the official TrackMan data for ball tracking and swing analysis, is excellent for the most part. However, there are some inconsistencies when it comes to ball rollout. On The Old Course at St Andrews, for instance, the rollout is overly extreme to the point where the ball will roll uphill at pace, even through heavy rough. This forces you to account for situations that shouldn't really occur. Once you land on the green, putting is also equally aggravating for different reasons. Each green contains a grid that uses moving beads to show you the direction of the break. The problem is that sometimes this data is inaccurate and the break is opposite to what the beads are showing. The putt reader alleviates this somewhat by showing the ideal path to the hole, but this is also misleading at times. With no reliable way to gauge the breaks, putting is a lesson in irritation that will only be rectified if these issues are fixed in future updates.

Outside of career mode, EA Sports PGA Tour also features various tournament options for use in online matches against the community. If you want to play against friends, however, stroke play is the only option, and there's a disappointing lack of alternating play for those who want to see each other tee off. A range of daily, weekly, and seasonal tournaments give you another chance to earn XP and items like club specs and in-game cash for a limited time before they're refreshed, so there's an incentive to keep coming back. That in-game cash can be spent in a store of rotating items including various cosmetics, which holds some appeal because the character creator is extremely barebones. Outfitting your golfer in branded clothing can be fairly costly, though, which is explained by the inclusion of microtransactions for those who would rather buy the in-game currency with real money. This isn't a surprising move, but it doesn't exactly vibe with the serene mood.

After almost a decade away from the sport, EA's return to the golf course is a promising one. The range of shot types, courses, and tangible variables make for a methodical and tactical game of golf that's both challenging and rewarding. It stumbles by barely introducing players to its robust mechanics, while a laggy swing and inconsistent putting are notable flaws on what is otherwise a fantastic golf sim. EA Sports PGA Tour represents a solid re-entry for the series and lays down a sturdy foundation for an auspicious future.

  • Leave Blank
  • Each shot must be carefully considered, taking into account a number of variables
  • All 30 courses are wonderfully recreated and each one feels distinct
  • Offers a tough but satisfying simulation of golf that's close to the real thing
  • The lack of tutorials makes for a rocky start
  • Swing mechanics are delayed and create a disconnect
  • Putting information is frequently misleading

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Richard Wakeling

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which pga tour game is better

Is PGA 2K23 better than 2K21? A golf expert‘s in-depth comparison

As a veteran golf gamer and sim enthusiast who has extensively played both PGA Tour 2K21 and the new 2K23 release, I can confidently say that 2K23 is a better, more polished game overall. However, the upgrades are more iterative refinements rather than game-changing revolutions. If you already enjoy 2K21 and aren‘t dying for new rosters and features, waiting for a price drop is reasonable. But for those ready to tee off with the latest offering, 2K23 is absolutely worth paying full price to upgrade your virtual golf experience.

Let‘s dive deep into the key improvements 2K23 brings over its predecessor:

Visual Presentation – Remarkably Realistic

The most immediately noticeable upgrade in 2K23 is the visual presentation – it simply looks more like actual golf on TV than ever before. Player models are far more realistic with enhanced textures, lifelike skin tones and authentic gear/apparel physics that elegantly move and react. Emotive facial expressions and fluid celebrations also help bring the pros to life. Environments are richer too – foliage density is increased for thicker natural settings and on-course objects have finer detail. Most impressively, lighting generates true-to-life shadows and reflections across dawn, daytime and dusk settings. When you combine all these gains with buttery smooth 60fps gameplay, no golf video game has ever achieved this level of visual realism.

Comparatively, 2K21‘s visuals now look dull and dated even just 2 years later. Trust me, once you see your first replay in 2K23, you‘ll be blown away by how much better it looks. The visual jump is akin to the tech progression seen in sports games between generations of consoles.

Refined Core Gameplay – More Skill Rewarding

Veteran players will be happy to know that 2K23 retains the same intuitive and responsive swing and shot mechanics core to the series. However, subtle enhancements to ball physics, club dynamics and player skill boards make the on-course action more authentic and rewarding of proper play.

The ball reacts more like the real thing, checking and releasing on greens based on factors like backspin, temperature and elevation in nuanced ways. Club face angle and impact point also influence launch angle and curve shape in a more accurate simulation. Player attributes like power and putting ability now have greater influence on shot outcomes to reward honing skills. Overall, the refined gameplay enhances the skill gap by demanding proper swing tempo, smart shot shaping, and expert reading of lies and wind. Casual players may struggle with the added realism, but for golf purists 2K23‘s refinements offer a heightened simulation experience.

Two Fun New Modes – Topgolf & Course Designer

2K23 intelligently expands the variety of play options with two new modes that provide engaging new experiences:

The popular driving range/mini golf hybrid has been authentically recreated in 2K23, offering a fun arcade-style competitive mode supporting up to 4 local/online players. The rules play out just like real-world Topgolf, with points awarded for accurately aiming shots at different color-coded targets. This fast-paced and social game mode is a great way to take a break from traditional golf and enjoy the 2K23 physics and skills in a casual environment against friends. After sinking hours into career and sim rounds, Topgolf is a welcome addition.

Course Designer

For players who want to try their hand at crafting their own dream course layouts, the Course Designer tools provide impressive depth and freedom. From sculpting fairways to dotting greens, the terrain shaping and object placement options enable stunning custom creations. While the learning curve is steep, the ability to build and share courses adds infinite replay value. I‘ve already enjoyed fantastic user-made courses exceeding EA‘s old PGA Tour offerings.

Upgraded Career Mode – More Progression Depth

MyCareer mode is expanded in 2K23 with greater depth for building up your custom pro golfer. A branching sponsorship system allows signing with brands like Adidas, Callaway and TaylorMade for perks and cash. Rivalries also develop organically with pros who challenge your ascent. And new side activities like taking on generated scenarios, playing practice rounds with coaches, and participating in pro-am events with celebrities provide fun new ways to hone skills and earn rewards. Combine the boosted career progression with enhanced training mini-games and 2K23 does a much better job keeping MyCareer engaging.

Expanded Roster – 14 Playable Pros

In terms of name recognition, 2K23 has a clear edge over 2K21 thanks to its expanded roster of 14 playable pros:

  • Tiger Woods
  • Justin Thomas
  • Rickie Fowler
  • Brooke Henderson
  • Will Zalatoris
  • Collin Morikawa
  • Lexi Thompson
  • Justin Rose
  • Xander Schauffele
  • Matt Fitzgerald

Cover athlete Tiger Woods rightfully gets top billing, with fellow stars like former #1 golfer Justin Thomas and fan favorite Rickie Fowler also making the cut. Furthermore, women‘s golf gets better representation with the inclusion of top 10 ranked pros Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson. While the 2K21 roster wasn‘t bad with 8 pros, 2K23 adds both quantity and star power that‘s appealing for any golf fan.

As fun novelties, NBA greats Michael Jordan and Steph Curry are now playable as bonus legends in 2K23. Unfortunately, their presence seems more like an attempt at crossover promotion with the NBA 2K series than meaningful additions. Neither basketball icon offers any unique skills or storyline purpose. Frankly I‘d rather have seen other real golfers like Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau or Dustin Johnson instead, but the core PGA roster is still quite strong.

Multiplayer Enhancements – Online Societies

Those wanting to take their skills online will appreciate 2K23‘s improved offerings. Private online societies allow groups of players to organize scheduled events, tournaments and full seasons while tracking stats. It‘s a great addition that enables playing consistent rounds with friends and rivals. Casual matchmaking is still available for quick pickup games too. As a big online player, I‘m thrilled by the added league and tournament options. The only thing missing now is a proper spectator viewing mode to watch other matches in progress.

In closing, I can wholeheartedly recommend PGA Tour 2K23 as a must buy for golf gaming fans, especially those who have been patiently waiting for a true next-gen experience. The combination of visual leap, added content and incremental improvements make 2K23 definitively superior to its already solid predecessor. While $70 is still steep, you get plenty of extra gameplay value over 2K21. Customization lovers can also purchase bonus DLC player packs and courses.

However, more casual players who still enjoy playing 2K21 with buddies or solo shouldn‘t feel compelled to immediately upgrade. 2K23 is undoubtedly better, but not radically different. Waiting for a discount down the road is reasonable if you aren‘t dying for the latest rosters and refinements. Regardless, with its exclusive licensing of the PGA Tour and its namesake stars, the 2K golf franchise remains the undisputed champion of virtual golf. 2K23 extends that dominance to current hardware and will satisfy both veterans and newcomers to the fairway.

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EA Sports PGA Tour vs. PGA Tour 2K23: A Detailed Comparison for Golf Enthusiasts

which pga tour game is better

EA Sports PGA Tour vs PGA Tour 2K23: The Ultimate Golf Game Showdown

Golf simulation games have always been popular among fans of the sport, and two titles currently dominate the market: EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23 . Both games strive to deliver an authentic golfing experience, but each has its unique strengths and weaknesses. In this comprehensive comparison, we’ll dive into the details of graphics, gameplay mechanics, character customization, and more to help you decide which golf game best suits your preferences.

Graphics and Visuals: EA Sports PGA Tour’s Stunning Graphics vs PGA Tour 2K23’s Realistic Visuals

The graphics and visual presentation are a critical aspect of any golf simulation game. EA Sports PGA Tour sets the bar high with its breathtaking visuals, meticulously detailed courses, and dynamic weather conditions that contribute to a truly immersive experience. However, the crowd animations leave something to be desired.

In contrast, PGA Tour 2K23 offers realistic visuals, but they don’t quite match the level of detail found in EA Sports PGA Tour. Nevertheless, the game’s course environments and character models are well-designed and visually appealing.

Gameplay Mechanics: EA Sports PGA Tour’s Accessible Gameplay vs PGA Tour 2K23’s Intricate Simulation

When it comes to gameplay mechanics, EA Sports PGA Tour delivers a satisfying and challenging experience, balancing simulation and accessibility. Precision-based swing mechanics and various visual cues help players improve their skills, although the absence of a proper tutorial can be a hurdle for newcomers.

PGA Tour 2K23, on the other hand, leans more towards simulation, with advanced swing mechanics and intricate ball physics that cater to hardcore golf enthusiasts. The game offers three control schemes, giving players the flexibility to choose the one that best suits their play style.

Character Customization and Career Mode: EA Sports PGA Tour’s Limited Options vs PGA Tour 2K23’s Robust MyPLAYER Mode

Character customization is an essential feature for many gamers, and in this area, PGA Tour 2K23 has the upper hand. Its MyPLAYER mode offers a wide range of options for physical appearance, clothing, and equipment, allowing players to create a unique golfer. The skill tree system in the game’s Career Mode adds depth and progression to the experience.

EA Sports PGA Tour, unfortunately, falls short in character customization, providing limited options for players to create their golfer. The Career Mode does offer long-term progression and a sense of achievement, but starting characters are significantly weaker than the pros available in Quick Play mode.

Additional Features and Community Engagement: EA Sports PGA Tour’s Challenge Modes vs PGA Tour 2K23’s Comprehensive Course Designer and Top Golf Feature

EA Sports PGA Tour offers engaging challenge modes that test players’ abilities and encourage them to experiment with different strategies and techniques. These modes add replay value and keep players invested in the game.

PGA Tour 2K23, however, outshines its competitor with its versatile and comprehensive Course Designer mode, which allows players to create and download community-designed courses. This feature significantly enhances the game’s replayability and keeps the community engaged. PGA Tour 2K23, unlike its competitor, includes a free play mode and a driving range, allowing players to practice their skills and improve their gameplay without the pressure of participating in full events.

Moreover, PGA Tour 2K23 introduces the exciting Top Golf feature, an innovative game mode that combines the challenge of hitting targets on a driving range with the fun of earning points based on accuracy and distance. This unique addition sets PGA Tour 2K23 apart from EA Sports PGA Tour and appeals to a broader audience, including casual gamers and those looking for a more social golf experience.

The Verdict: Which Golf Game Comes Out on Top?

Ultimately, the choice between EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23 depends on your preferences. If you prioritize stunning graphics and a more accessible gameplay experience, EA Sports PGA Tour might be the game for you. On the other hand, if you prefer intricate gameplay mechanics, robust customization options, and engaging community features, PGA Tour 2K23 is likely the better choice.

Overall, PGA Tour 2K23 appears to have a slight edge over EA Sports PGA Tour due to its well-rounded offerings and versatility. The inclusion of a free play mode and driving range, along with its robust Course Designer feature, allows players to practice and refine their skills in a more relaxed environment. Additionally, the online multiplayer component and variety of control schemes cater to a wider range of player preferences and skill levels. The MyPLAYER mode in PGA Tour 2K23 also offers more customization options than its counterpart, enabling players to create a unique golfer that truly represents their desired persona.

Both titles have their strengths and weaknesses, but they deliver enjoyable experiences for golf fans. Whichever game you choose, you can look forward to countless hours of virtual golfing fun on some of the world’s most iconic courses.

which pga tour game is better

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which pga tour game is better

Brad April 27, 2023, 5:57 am

There definitely ain’t no competition here EA Sports are the clear winners in this battle. Well let’s face it their competitor is a JOKE. the only thing 2k have got that is good is tiger woods. Hopefully he will see sense and go back to EA. 2k and HB studios know NOTHING about golf, there gameplay is embarrassing, not enough REAL pga tour courses, too many fake rubbish ones, what is the point of being in partnership with the pga tour if your only concern is that awful course creator. They might as well just make a golf game WITHOUT any deal with the pga tour. Just call golf 2k. so do us all a favour 2k and STOP making golf games! stick to Nba and Wwe.

which pga tour game is better

GamingLyfe.com April 27, 2023, 9:54 am

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PGA Tour 2K23 vs EA SPORTS PGA TOUR: Which is the hole-in-one and which is out of bounds?

Richard Dobson

It would be fair to say that The Golf Club/PGA Tour 2K series picked up where EA SPORTS left their golf games. Prior to the release of EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, the last golf entry from EA was back in 2015 with Rory McIlroy PGA Tour , by which point The Golf Club had dipped their toe in and liked the sensation. Four games later from HB Studios and EA have come back swinging with their own golf game. 

But which is best? Is it PGA Tour 2K23 or EA SPORTS PGA TOUR? Well, luckily for you, we are here to answer that question. Running against the criteria of courses, roster, features, gameplay and presentation, we are going to pit the two together and give you the ultimate answer. Let’s hit the links and find out.

ea sports pga tour bunker shot

Unlike say, a FIFA or a Madden game where their green bits play identical amongst stadiums, the courses that appear in a golf game can make or break it. It is one of the most crucial features, allowing players to play the courses of their dreams that may not be otherwise possible.

At launch, PGA Tour 2K23 launched with twenty-four courses, compared to EA SPORTS PGA TOUR’s thirty. Courses such as Torrey Pines, TPC Sawgrass and Pebble Beach feature across both but EA SPORTS’ title has arguably the two most famous courses in the world up its sleeve: The Old Course at St Andrews and Augusta National. The latter being playable in a golf game for the first time since Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14.

Whilst Augusta National alone is enough to give this round to EA SPORTS, PGA Tour 2K23 does technically boast an unlimited number of courses thanks to the course creator feature. However, in this instance it is quality over quantity, and the winner is EA.

Winner: EA S PORTS PGA TOUR

pga tour 2k23 tiger

For years, Tiger Woods graced the cover of the annual EA SPORTS golf game. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that when 2K got the rights for one of the greatest golfers of all-time that they would plaster him all over their front cover. But who else is included?

Once again there are crossovers with the likes of Xander Schuffele, Tony Finau and Lexi Thompson all appearing in both. EA SPORTS has a selection of golfers from both the PGA and LIV tours, whereas 2K has purely focused on the PGA roster. There are some big names on the LIV Tour, but it remains controversial, so think what you will of their inclusion.

EA SPORTS is also missing Jon Rahm who, after winning the latest Masters tournament and becoming world number one, is a big omission.

Both games feature a small handful of LPGA Tour golfers. The aforementioned Thompson plus Brooke Henderson and Lydia Ko for 2K, and Nelly and Jessica Korda, Jin Young Ko, Danielle Kang for EA. It is a start, but not enough compared to the men’s list.

But, once again 2K has an ace up its sleeve with playable characters away from the world of golfing. From launch they have had Steph Curry and Michael Jordan as playable characters, and have more recently added John Cena and the guys over at Barstool Golf as well. The former personalities are all from 2K making use of their various licenses in NBA 2K23 and WWE 2K23 , and it’s this that has earned them the point here.

Winner: PGA Tour 2K23

pga tour 2k23 topgolf

Both games feature extensive single-player Career modes and for the majority of players, these will be the main focus. But what else is included to distract you from aiming for the FedEx Championship?

2K has the previously mentioned course creator which can easily take up a chunk of time for those who are of a creative persuasion. It also features Topgolf, playable in both local and online multiplayer. For those that don’t know, Topgolf is a social golf space set in various locations in the real world. Think of it as like a bowling alley but for golf; the emphasis is more on fun rather than skill.

EA hasn’t necessarily gone for ‘bloating the game with modes’ approach. There are challenges to undertake, along with live ones based on the current real-world major being played, but no exclusive modes. Instead, they have tried to make the most realistic looking golf game of all-time. And they really have: courses play drastically differently from one another and you can see how the shadows change as you progress on your round and the night draws in. EA have also painstakingly recreated these courses using custom Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology that is more realistic than public sources. For the layman out there, that basically means you can see the individual blades of grass.

Both games will feature post-release content as well, only increasing the amount on offer here, but for the sheer attention to detail, it has to go to EA on this round.

Winner: EA SPORTS PGA TOUR

ea sports pga tour swing

PGA Tour 2K23 attempts to be much more of a simulation golf title, as opposed to EA SPORTS PGA TOUR simulation. The reason behind this is because EA’s offering is still rooted in the past with more arcade-inspired options, and I mean that in a good way. Being able to boost your shot power and adding spin after you have hit the ball are all present once again in EA PGA, but do somewhat dampen the simulation realism.

Also perhaps leaning towards the arcade style is 2K’s inclusion of a three-click system, reminiscent of some of the very early golf titles. The use of analog sticks is present in both, but the inclusion on 2K’s part at least attempts to bring newcomers in.

But once again, I am going to give this round to EA. It’s the sum of the parts; the huge variety of different shots, the pseudo-arcade/sim gameplay and the one feature that every single game needs, the Heartbeat Moments. Nothing beats the moment you hit a shot that is arrowed into the hole and the speed slows down, the camera focuses in and a beating heart comes out of the speakers. The first time you get a Heartbeat Moment, you know you’ve hit a special shot.

Presentation

ea sports pga tour hole

Our final criteria is for presentation. Both games replicate golf well enough, but which one has those little extras? The touches that elevate the game from very good, to excellent?

First off, I will say that the fact that neither game has a licensed soundtrack feels like a trick missed. The intro to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 with Party Up by the late DMX blaring is iconic. And what music is present in these latest games isn’t the greatest.

The green and yellow of The Masters sets the tone for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR though. It is used in the main menus and also in the presentation when playing on Augusta. When not on that course, the UI is crisp and presents all the information you need. This is coupled with commentary that provides useful info for each hole and a wide variety of feedback based on performances in recent tournaments. 

How does 2K hold up?

Well, one of my biggest gripes for PGA Tour 2K23 was in relation to the pretty lifeless courses. This, and the very long delays between loading up a replay really do pull you out of the moment of hitting a good shot. As a result, I think you know which way this point is heading again.

So we get to the final score and are left with: PGA Tour 2K23 1 vs 4 EA SPORTS PGA TOUR

For 2K’s sake, it is a shame that this isn’t golf scoring where the lowest score wins. But the truth of the matter is that EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is night and day better than PGA Tour 2K23. In years gone by where there hasn’t been an EA offering, the 2K option has been the only real choice. And whilst it is a solid golf game in its own right, up against competition it is way behind. And sadly, not even Michael Jordan and John Cena can do much to improve it.

The winner, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is out now for Xbox Series X|S from £69.99 . The runner-up, PGA Tour 2K23 is available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S priced from £59.99 . I guess you could give another point to 2K for a cheaper game, but that £10 difference is worth it for the superior game.

Let us know how you feel about these golfing masterpieces by dropping into the comments. It feels like we may need to rewrite our best golfing games article …

  • EA Sports PGA Tour
  • PGA Tour 2K23
  • Xbox Series X

Richard Dobson

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Gez

I’ve just bought the 2K23 version for 22 quid. I’ve played a lot of PGA games, right back to Megadrive days, but not played any since Rory McIlroy on the Xbox. I wasn’t sure why there were two ‘new’ PGA games so I went for the cheap option without much research, I’ve barely scratched 2K23 but even the training got me frustrated. The timing of the stroke is something you must get right, yet there is no (that I’m aware of) method of knowing when to push the stick forward to get the sweet spot. I ended up hooking 90% of the training shots, slicing a few then without knowing how – hitting one in the right place to move on. I’ve downloaded the EA free trial now but will likely end up getting it as I miss the ‘spin’ and ‘power’ options. I don’t care if it’s real or not..it’s about fun for me.

Nigel

I totally disagree. I stumped up 70 quid in a pre order for the EA game whilst playing 2K23. Couldn’t believe how bad it ended up compared to 2K23. I guess I just don’t like the arcade feeling. I think the perspective is too close to the player and there is no sense of space like on a real course. You can’t even see the ball a second or so after hitting so it switches to follow mode. 2K23 feels like you have loads of space and if you disable the automatic ball follow, you get a massive sense of satisfaction watching your ball from first person perspective. Smoking a perfect drive down the fairway still feels awesome after months of playing. If you play society games there are amazing course creators out there creating beautiful and interesting courses to play. I’ve ditched EA and gone back to 2K23. Yes there are problems with 2K23 but by far the most enjoyable game for me.

Brad

You might disagree but 2k23 has very poor swing mechanics compared to EA. it’s doesn’t play or look like an authentic golf swing and why are you praising that course creator? Every fake course I’ve come across looks and plays horrible! if I am playing a PGA tour golf game, I want to play REAL pga courses! Not these made up rubbish ones. what is the point in 2k being in partnership with the pga tour if there game has a course creator? I HATE that feature.

There definitely ain’t no competition here EA Sports are the clear winners in this battle. Well let’s face it their competitor is a JOKE. the only thing 2k have got that is good is tiger woods. Hopefully he will see sense and go back to EA. 2k and HB studios know NOTHING about golf, there gameplay is embarrassing, not enough REAL pga tour courses, too many fake rubbish ones, what is the point of being in partnership with the pga tour if your only concern is that awful course creator. They might as well just make a golf game WITHOUT any deal with the pga tour. Just call golf 2k. so do us all a favour 2k and STOP making golf games! stick to Nba and Wwe.

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Game Review

Is ea sports pga tour better than pga tour 2k23.

Can’t decide which golf game to buy? Let us help you out.

Andrés

Golf fans eager for a video game of the sport have two big options to choose from currently: EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23. But which one is better?

It’s a bit hard to objectively tell which of the two games is better, honestly. They both have a different approach to golf, which may attract or deter different types of players.

So instead, we’ll give you a quick rundown of each game to let you choose for yourself. Read on and let’s dive into it!

Overview of EA Sports PGA Tour

which pga tour game is better

EA Sports PGA Tour is the newer game, releasing this April. Since it’s so new, it does suffer from having some bugs and glitches early on. Hopefully, these will be patched quickly, but keep it in mind.

That aside, the game itself is quite fantastic. It offers an approachable golfing experience that is trying to please most gamers.

It provides a solid arcade-like experience, while also having a harder mode for players who prefer more simulation-oriented gameplay.

which pga tour game is better

However, its simulation aspects aren’t quite as fleshed out as the more hardcore golf players might wish.

We recommend EA Sports PGA Tour mostly to more casual gamers, or those wanting more relaxed arcade-like gameplay.

Overview of PGA Tour 2K23

which pga tour game is better

PGA Tour 2K23 was released in October 2022. Thanks to that, a lot of its rough launch bugs have been ironed out by now. This is one advantage it has over EA Sports PGA Tour.

The game is also basically the opposite of EA Sports PGA Tour: this is a full-on golfing sim. This makes it a game primarily aimed at hardcore golf fans who want a realistic simulation of the sport.

which pga tour game is better

It absolutely does an amazing job at it, too! Hardcore fans have been greatly pleased by the depth and quality of the game as a golfing sim.

From calibrating your swing to choosing specific settings that can improve your swing, the PGA Tour 2K23 offers a lot more options than EA Sports PGA Tour.

The one thing, however, is that players dislike the game’s monetization. The game itself is fantastic, but some of the business practices leave a lot to be desired.

which pga tour game is better

In the end, we can sum things up like this: get EA Sports PGA Tour if you want a more casual-friendly game; get PGA Tour 2K23 if you want hardcore realistic golf sim.

Whichever one you pick, you will get a fantastic golf game. It’s just that each one attempts to do things somewhat differently.

We hope this helps you out deciding which game to play!

ALSO READ: Crab Champions: Ultimate Totem Guide

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Home of the Majors

EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ is available now.

"EA Sports PGA Tour is clearly a labor of love, passion, and painstaking effort combined with the newest technology."

GLHF on Sports Illustrated

"…put simply, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is the best looking golf game to date."

Gamers Heroes

"Stunning realism"

Bleacher Report

"It’s by far the best-looking golf game ever made."

Push Square

"The foliage, the courses, and the presentation all come together for a fantastic package that really drives home the point that this is the Home of the Majors."

Clutch Points

"Quite simply one of the best golf games we’ve ever played."

"EA SPORTS PGA TOUR does an amazing job of being one of the truest tests of virtual golf yet."

Pure Strike

Attack every hole like a pro with superior golf gameplay powered by ShotLink®.

The world’s most exclusive courses

The tee is yours at 30 courses at launch, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning quality with Frostbite™ so you can enjoy more of golf’s finer details than ever before.

Your career, your way

As your golf game improves, so does your path to becoming a Major champion. Create and customize a golfer, develop your skill set with new Shot Types, gain deeper course knowledge as you play, and learn to attack every hole like a pro.

The tee is yours

Tee off at Augusta National where you can compete for a Green Jacket.

FOLLOW US @EASPORTSPGATOUR

Operation Sports

EA Sports Vs. 2K: Which PGA Tour Game Is Better?

W ith the release of EA Sports PGA Tour back in early April , it meant that there was finally serious competition among golf simulation video games. While PGA Tour 2K23 and its predecessors had been dominating the space since all the way back to when the series was known as The Golf Club and 2K wasn’t even involved, the release of the EA game suddenly gave golf fans a choice again. Since both games were released in partnership with the PGA Tour, the two came complete with the kind of credentials to make it clear that realism would be a top priority. The companies involved in EA and 2K left little doubt that this was a heavyweight gaming bout too, the kind of head-to-head battle the companies haven’t had to wage with their other sports games since the days of NBA Live and NFL 2K .

EA Sports Vs 2K: Which PGA Tour Game Is Better?

The inevitable question then when considering the two current golf titles has to be: which game is better? As is so often the case though when considering the world’s biggest questions, the answer is complicated and not nearly as black and white as you’d hope. EA Sports PGA Tour is a newer and shinier toy, complete with better graphics than 2K’s golf game and a gorgeous rendering of the difficult Augusta course. The gameplay is also easier and therefore more accessible, but because of this comes with less of a skill gap that makes hitting the best of shots so rewarding in PGA Tour 2K23 . The courses may look prettier in EA Sports PGA Tour , but there’s a limited number of them thanks to the lack of the kind of course creator boasted by PGA Tour 2K23 , which continues to see stellar tracks regularly churned out by the course design community.

Now that we’ve looked at the overhead view of the two games, let’s go ahead and zoom in closer to get a better perspective of what each of the two games do well and where one might be lagging behind the other. If we aren’t able to fully declare one game to be the better of the two at the end of the comparison, then we should at least be able to help you to decide which golf game might be the best for your own personal preferences.

Player Creation And Customization

The creation suite for your golfer is a little more extensive and detailed in PGA Tour 2K23 than EA Sports PGA Tour , as you’re able to mold a few more specifics on the face to make it as unique as possible instead of choosing from a variety of presets. It’s disappointing though that when it comes to body type, neither game allows you to make someone in the mold of a John Daly with an impressive gut. Both games offer a nice selection of clothes, accessories, and equipment to make sure your golfer is looking good when you hit the course.

Player Progression

As for your golfer’s skills, the 2K title leans heavily on having you choose an archetype , each of which comes with its own particular strengths and weaknesses. As you play more and more rounds, you’ll be be able to unlock skills for your various club-sets that will provide boosts when you meet certain criteria on the course. This component is a little too arcade for my tastes, but it doesn’t tend to influence a round as much as your abilities with your controller. You can also customize your clubs from a cosmetic standpoint as well as use fittings that you unlock from playing rounds to improve the attributes of your clubs.

EA Sports PGA Tour has you upgrading your abilities on the course by using points that you gain by playing rounds to spend on whatever areas of your game you feel are most in need of attention. As you improve in these areas, you’ll also be able to unlock new types of shots that can make your life easier in situations, such as using a pick shot to stop the ball on a dime coming out of the bunker. Unfortunately, there’s an aspect of improving your clubs that relies somewhat on microtransactions, as you can purchase specs from the store to add power or precision.

It probably has to be declared a dead heat between the games with regards to player progression, as they both take slightly different approaches and are mostly successful albeit with a questionable decision or two that are vulnerable to criticism.

Graphics And Presentation

When it comes to a comparison of the graphics and presentation between the two games, it’s pretty easy to declare that EA Sports PGA Tour performs better in almost every way. That starts with your golfer, who appears larger and moves more fluidly than any of the rigid swing animations you’ll find in PGA Tour 2K23 . The courses in the EA game are more vibrant as well, popping off the screen with the location’s atmosphere in a way that won’t be seen in 2K’s title. The visuals to set the scene during rounds are just a notch better from EA throughout rounds, including fly-overs prior to each hole that not only showcase the game’s graphic capabilities with every blade of grass but also provide insight into the best way to play the hole. Perhaps the only aspect of PGA Tour 2K23 that is superior is the sound and that’s mostly just because the smack of the club hitting the ball in the EA game sounds so far off from the real thing.

Perhaps the most important aspect of both games, the question of which of the two options plays better when you’re out on the course is also likely to be the most divisive. Although they each have difficulty settings to make hitting the ball where you want it to go as challenging as you like, the EA title is the more accessible option. While dialing in the proper distance for your shots can be a tad tricky, finding the right tempo to keep the ball traveling straight doesn’t require all that much effort. This makes it incredibly rare to see shots, especially those off the tee, that veer extremely off-target in any one direction. Even with an amount of RNG involved on your shots, there won’t be a lot of deviation from your target if the attributes of your player are decent. You’d also expect to see more punishment on shots from the rough or the sand, but these surprisingly won’t cost you much in the way of either distance or accuracy.

PGA Tour 2K23 requires more precision on the sticks (or buttons if you prefer 3-click) if you want to avoid the rough and those pesky bogeys, especially on higher difficulties like master. It’s increasingly rare on those higher difficulties that you’ll be able to achieve perfect tempo, and you’ll often be content to have slightly slow or fast feedback so your ball ends up at least close to where you were aiming. If you’re not careful and consistent though, it’s likely that you’ll have shots where your tempo is very slow or very fast. These will invariably lead to errant strikes that are short or long on distance and head wildly in a direction that you were not planning. Because you’ll suffer so severely for the slightest of issues in your swing (and be severely hampered on any shots from the rough and sand), it makes it feel more like real golf than the EA game and is more satisfying when you’re able to pull off amazing shot.

Career Mode

The career modes in the two games are relatively similar in that they both see you climbing the ranks by competing in events to win prize money and points on the leaderboard. Some vital differences exist within the customization offered in 2K’s game that won’t be found, at least at the time of this writing, in the EA title. Perhaps the most significant one of these is the ability change the number of rounds for events in the 2K game all the way down to a single round if you like while events in the EA game can’t be reduced down from the full 4 that real pros play. To be fair, you are able to play quick rounds during events in the EA game that will have you making shots on key holes only during rounds, but this is a poor substitute for putting you in control of every shot in fewer rounds altogether. To allow even more flexibility, you can also swap out the courses for certain events in the 2K game, helping to keep things fresh every season.

The most succinct way to summarize a comparison between the available courses in the two golf games is to say that PGA Tour 2K23 has more courses, however the courses in EA Sports PGA Tour are better. The fact that both games boast some of the same courses makes it a little easier to look at a famous locale like Pebble Beach in the two titles and draw the conclusion that EA’s recreation has a level of detail that 2K can’t match. The area where EA’s game comes up lacking though is with the absence of a course creator. The course creator in 2K’s game has allowed the community to both recreate real courses in remote towns from across the world and invent some wildly imaginative ones that would be nearly impossible to build in real life.

Online Modes

If you’re wanting to play rounds with friends, then the 2K game is probably going to be a better bet, at least until a patch adds the kind of turn-based functionality to the EA game that’s being offered by 2K. As it stands now, you’re able to play a round alongside a friend but with no opportunity to stand and watch your friend play his shots like you would in real life (and in PGA Tour 2K23 ). The 2K game has a more elaborate ranked system when stacking your skills up against others too, plus it has the casual option of playing different types of matches like skins, alt shot, and scramble.

The EA game does have some neat ideas with challenges and online tournaments, the former of which has you trying to recreate the feats of real golfers in recent events while the latter has you posting scores against the community to earn rewards based on where you finish among the fierce competition. PGA Tour 2K23 has a similar good thing going with online societies that allows the community to create seasons of events that can be customized to your own specifications in terms of rounds, courses, and difficulty level.

Bottom Line

The real truth is that both EA and 2K have created uniquely solid golf games, and if you’re trying to decide on only one of them to purchase, the choice will come down to what you personally want from a golf game. If you need the game to look as good as possible, then you’ll likely prefer the EA game. If you’re after more challenging and rewarding gameplay, you’ll probably want to opt for the 2K game. 2K’s course creator allows for its game to have an unlimited number of layouts to play, but the limited number (32) of recreations simply look and feel better in the EA game. The online realm is significantly better in 2K’s game at the moment, but there have been indications from EA that turn-based play (and more) is coming and that would go a long way towards improving their online offerings. If you’re a die-hard fan of golf though and you want the best of both worlds, there’s nothing wrong at all with picking up both games and enjoying the fact that competition between these companies has caused both EA and 2K to up their game.

EA Sports Vs. 2K: Which PGA Tour Game Is Better?

DiamondLobby

How to Improve Your Player Fast in PGA Tour 2K23

Enzo Zalamea

There are only a few ways you can improve your player in PGA Tour 2K23 because most of the gameplay relies on your mechanical skills and knowledge of the game.

You can have all the best skills, perks, clubs, shafts, and balls, but you still have to make the right decisions and hit all the perfect timings on the fairway.

For this post, we’ll show you how to improve your player fast in PGA Tour 2K23, whether it is through skills, clubs, technique, and everything in between.

Ways to Improve Your Player

Choosing the right archetype for your playstyle is one way of improving your player.

Greensman – strong putting skills, but weak with recovery shots

Powerhouse – strong driving distance, but weak with timing/accuracy

Rhythm – strong with timing or accuracy, but weak with driving distance

Sculptor – strong with shot shaping, but weak with distance control

Woodsman – strong on recovery shots, but weak with putting skills

Every archetype gives a different playstyle for your player. The only noticeably weak archetype here would be the Woodsman.

You don’t need to be strong on recovery shots if you always find the green or the fairway. Since it also puts a damper on your putting skills, the archetype is horrible.

Apply Fitting

In the main menu screen, you can go to “MyPlayer” and press the “Locker” icon. From here, you can see four different tabs – Golf Bag, Collection, Fittings, and Apparel.

Under Golf Bag, Collection, or Fittings, you can equip a head, shaft, and grip on your clubs. Each club can be fit with one head, shaft, and grip. All of these fittings have different rarities and stats.

The higher the rarity, the better the boost. However, you would want to choose stats that can be beneficial to you.

Driver Fitting

For example, if you are using a Powerhouse archetype, you would have some slight problems with swing difficulties. You can compensate for that specific weakness by adding swing path and timing bonuses.

In a way, it would pretty much be the same if you are using a Rhythm archetype and you are adding fittings that increase your power.

However, it is important that you can increase your drive distance, as finishing 5-par holes will always give you a chance for an eagle. If you can carry upwards of 310 yards on your driver, you can make the green with two strokes and go for the eagle.

You can have custom clubs with fittings that are built specifically for accuracy and timing, while other clubs are built to carry more power.

For example, you can add more timing and swing path to your 6-iron while adding more power to your 5-iron. You can have better recoveries on the rough with the 5-iron, and you can use the 6-iron for more accuracy.

You can even opt for using a bigger club if that club has more timing and swing path fittings. You can just reduce the power on the swing.

Fit Fee

It is also worth noting that equipping fittings on your clubs will have a fit fee. The higher the rarity, the higher the cost.

You can replace the fitting any time you want, but it will cost you coins every time you switch. The fittings do not disappear if you change them.

Skills add a lot of bonuses to your player. These skills are categorized by clubs. Each club has its own skill tree, and they will all have separate bonuses.

It is best to focus your skill points on clubs that are used the most. These are the putter, irons, driver, and wedge.

Most of the good skills take a while to unlock because you need to allocate skill points before unlocking the next tiers. On the bright side, you can unlock the best skills for a club even if you allocate some of your early skill points to the other clubs.

How to Unlock Fittings

To unlock fittings, you can get them through leveling reward bonuses, rivalry challenges, winning events, and sponsorships.

All of them are tied to just playing the game, performing well, and winning. However, when you get sponsorships , you can choose the brand that can give you rare or epic fittings.

How to Gain More Skill Points

To earn skill points, you need to level your player. Each level gives you one skill point, and the maximum number of SP is 50.

There are 126 skill points needed to allocate all the skills in the game, so you need to choose your skill points wisely. You can reset all your skill points, but it will cost you 500 coins.

Final Thoughts

All of the things mentioned are ways you can improve your player, but most of the improvements need to come from decision-making and mechanical skills.

The best tip to improve your play is to notice everything involved that can alter your shot accuracy.

Things like wind, shot timing, terrain, lie, swing path, shot types, spins, loft, and everything in between need to be noticed. Learning how to spin the ball can save you a lot of points.

You can find more guides for PGA Tour 2K23 on our site as we continue to produce content to help players get better at the game.

More PGA Tour 2K23

  • PGA Tour 2K23 Review
  • The Best Skills in PGA Tour 2K23
  • How to Putt in PGA Tour 2K23
  • How Long is the PGA Tour 2K23 Career Mode?
  • 11 PGA Tour 2K23 Tips for Beginners
  • How to Chip the Ball in PGA Tour 2K23
  • How to Earn Coins Fast in PGA Tour 2K23
  • The Best Archetype in PGA Tour 2K23
  • How to Spin the Ball in PGA Tour 2K23
  • How to Get Sponsorships in PGA Tour 2K23
  • Is the PGA Tour 2K23 Tiger Woods Edition Worth It?

which pga tour game is better

Watch CBS News

How to livestream PGA Tour golf: Your options, explained (plus 2024 schedule)

By Meredith Gordon

March 6, 2024 / 3:18 PM EST / Essentials

CBS Essentials is created independently of the CBS News editorial staff. We may receive commissions from some links to products on this page. Promotions are subject to availability and retailer terms.

scottie-scheffler.jpg

The 2024 PGA Tour is in full bloom, as the top male golfers compete on some of the world's most storied golf courses. Early in the season, Scottie Scheffler,  Xander Schauffele  and  Rory McIlroy  have already established themselves at the  top of the leaderboard , with  Jon Rahm  and  Viktor Hovland  nipping at their cleats.

Figuring out how to watch and stream each tournament can prove as difficult as trying to outshoot Scheffler. While we can't help you with your golf game, we can take the guesswork out of finding out how to watch every golf tournament on the 2024 PGA Tour. 

What network carries the 2024 PGA Tour

The 2024 PGA Tour will broadcast live on Golf Channel, CBS, NBC and ESPN. The PGA Tour will stream on ESPN+ and the live TV streaming services listed below. Not every channel will air every event.

CBS broadcasts an average of 20 weekend events per PGA Tour season, while NBC broadcasts weekend coverage of the PGA Tour for an average of 10 events each season. Golf Channel broadcasts early-round and morning weekend coverage of all PGA Tour events -- as well as weekend events not covered on broadcast TV. Golf Channel also carries primetime replays of all PGA Tour events. 

The final three tournaments of the FedEx Cup playoffs alternate each year between CBS and NBC.

How to watch the 2024 PGA Tour without cable

If you don't have a cable subscription, or your cable coverage doesn't include NBC or CBS, ESPN+ streams every PGA Tour event of the 2024 season. You can also stream NBC-aired tournaments on Peacock and CBS-aired tournaments on Paramount+, or catch the live feed of network coverage through one of the live TV streaming platforms featured below.

Watch the PGA Tour free with Fubo

You can also catch all network-aired PGA Tour events (both CBS and NBC), plus Golf Channel-aired events, on  Fubo . Fubo is a sports-centric streaming service that offers access to every PGA Tour event in 2024, every network-aired  NBA  and MLB game and almost every NFL game next season. Packages include CBS, CBS Sports Network, Fox, NBC, ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, FS2, NFL Network and more, so you'll be able to watch more than just PGA Tour golf this season, all without a cable subscription.

Sports fans will want to consider adding on the $7.99 per month Fubo Extra package, which includes MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, Tennis Channel, SEC Network and more channels. Or upgrade to the Fubo Elite tier and get all the Fubo Extra channels, plus the ability to stream in 4K.

To watch the 2024 PGA Tour without cable, start a seven-day free trial of Fubo. You can begin watching immediately on your TV, phone, tablet or computer. Fubo's Pro Tier is priced at $80 per month after your free seven-day trial while Fubo Elite is $90, though the streamer is currently offering $20 off your first month of service on any tier.

Top features of Fubo Pro Tier:

  • There are no contracts with Fubo -- you can cancel at any time.
  • The Pro tier has 185 channels, including the Golf Channel.
  • The Fubo lookback feature allows you to watch sporting events up to 72 hours after they air live.
  • Fubo includes all the channels you'll need to watch college and pro football, including CBS (not available through Sling TV).
  • All tiers come with 1,000 hours of cloud-based DVR recording.
  • Stream on your TV, phone, and other devices.

Stream CBS-aired PGA Tour events on Paramount+

If you don't have a cable TV package that includes CBS, one of the easiest ways to catch all PGA Tour events broadcast on CBS is through a subscription to Paramount+ with Showtime. The streamer offers access to PGA golf tournaments, plus all NFL games locally and nationally televised on CBS. In addition, you can watch top-tier soccer like the Champions League live and SEC college football games as well, plus popular shows such as "Survivor" and "NCIS." 

A subscription to Paramount + with Showtime is $11.99 per month after a seven-day free trial. You won't be able to catch live PGA Golf with a Paramount+ Essential subscription, but you can catch live CBS-aired NFL games with the Paramount+ lower tier.

Note: CBS Essentials and Paramount+ are both subsidiaries of Paramount.

Start watching Paramount+ free on Amazon Prime Video

Paramount+ content, including live sports, is available to stream on  Amazon Prime  via a Paramount+ with Showtime on Prime Video add-on subscription. Prime Video also carries some of the best sports docs, including "Kelce," which documents Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce's (assumed) last season in the league.

Amazon is offering a seven-day free trial of  Paramount+ with Showtime . Tap the button below to start your trial and start streaming now for free. After the free trial period ends, a subscription to the Paramount+ with Showtime tier is $11.99 per month.

Watch every 2024 PGA Tour event with Hulu+ Live TV

You can watch the 2024 PGA Tour, plus NFL football in 2024 including the NFL Network, with  Hulu + Live TV . The bundle features access to 90 channels, including both NBC and CBS. Unlimited DVR storage is also included. Watch every tournament on each network with Hulu + Live TV, plus catch live 2024 NFL preseason games, exclusive live regular season games, popular studio shows (including NFL Total Access and the Emmy-nominated show Good Morning Football) and lots more.

Hulu + Live TV comes bundled with ESPN+ and Disney+ for $77 monthly.

Stream the 2024 PGA Tour on Sling TV for half price

If you don't have cable TV that includes NBC and CBS, one of the most cost-effective ways to stream live PGA golf this year is through a  subscription to Sling TV .  The streamer also offers access to the NFL Network, local NBC, Fox and ABC affiliates (where available) and ESPN with its Orange + Blue Tier plan. Also worth noting: Sling TV comes with 50 hours of cloud-based DVR recording space included, perfect for recording all the season's top golf tournaments.

Sling TV does not carry CBS-aired content. To use your Sling TV subscription to watch the entire 2024 PGA Tour, you can upgrade your subscription to get the Golf Channel, which carries nearly every 2024 PGA Tour tournament.

The Orange +  Blue Tier plan normally costs $60 per month, but the streamer is currently offering a 50% off promotion for your first month, so you'll pay just $30. You can add the Golf Channel, NBA TV, NHL Network, NFL RedZone, MLB Network, Tennis Channel and more sports-oriented channels (25 in total) via the Sling TV Sports Extra add-on. These channels will cost you an additional $15 per month. You can learn more by tapping the button below.

Top features of Sling TV Orange + Blue tier:

  • There are 46 channels to watch in total, including local NBC, Fox and ABC affiliates (where available).
  • You get access to most local NFL games and nationally broadcast games at the lowest price.
  • All subscription tiers include 50 hours of cloud-based DVR storage.

Watch NBC-aired 2024 PGA Tour events on Peacock

Peacock offers its subscribers live-streaming access to PGA Tour events that air on NBC, while also giving access to NFL games airing on NBC and Peacock-exclusive NFL games next season. The streaming service has plenty more live sports to offer, including Big Ten football, Premier League soccer and WWE wrestling (including formerly PPV-only events such as Wrestlemania). There are 80,000 hours worth of recorded content to watch as well, including hit movies and TV series such as "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation."

A Peacock subscription costs $6 per month. An annual plan is available for $60 per year. You can cancel anytime.

Top features of Peacock:

  • If you want to watch the entire 2024 PGA Tour, there are better choices featured in this article, giving you more access to more PGA golf this year.
  • Peacock features plenty of current and classic NBC and Bravo TV shows.

Stream every 2024 PGA Tour event on ESPN+

ESPN+ is ESPN's subscription streaming platform , which offers exclusive live events, original studio shows and top-tier series that aren't accessible on the ESPN networks. ESPN+ subscribers may purchase UFC PPV events and access the platform's vast archive of on-demand content, including the entire 30 For 30 catalog, game replays and select ESPN films. 

It is important to note that ESPN+ does not include access to the ESPN network. It is a separate sports-centric service, with separate sports programming.

Top features of ESPN+ : 

  • The PGA Tour and the Masters.
  • Exclusive fantasy sports tools and content from some of the sports world's most respected voices in sports.  
  • Every Fight Night UFC event UFC PPV event (PPV events are subject to an additional charge).
  • Soccer including EFL Championship, US Open Cup and Bundesliga.
  • College sports including the Ivy League, Big Sky Conference and Atlantic A10 Conference.
  • MLB and the World Series.
  • Top-tier tennis including the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Watch the 2024 PGA Tour with an HDTV digital antenna

antenna.png

You can also watch the 2024 PGA Tour on TV with an affordable indoor antenna, which pulls in local over-the-air HDTV channels such as CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS, Univision and more. Here's the kicker: There's no monthly charge.

For anyone living in partially blocked-off area (those near mountains or first-floor apartments), a  digital TV antenna  may not pick up a good signal -- or any signal at all. But for many homes, a digital TV antenna provides a seriously inexpensive way to watch the 2024 PGA Tour without paying a cable company. Indoor TV antennas can also provide some much-needed TV backup if a storm knocks out your cable.

This amplified digital antenna with a 300-mile range can receive hundreds of HD TV channels, including ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX, Univision and can filter out cellular and FM signals. It delivers a high-quality picture in 1080p HDTV, top-tier sound and features an 18-foot digital coax cable.

2024 Golf major championship schedule

Often referred to as the majors, the four tournaments listed below are widely considered the most prestigious golf tournaments in men's golf. 

  • The Masters : April 11-14 at Augusta National, Augusta, Georgia (ESPN/CBS)
  • PGA Championship : May 16-19 at Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky (ESPN/CBS)
  • U.S. Open : June 13-16 at Pinehurst Resort (No. 2), Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina (USA, NBC, Peacock)
  • The Open Championship : July 18-21 at Royal Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland (USA/NBC/Peacock)

Full 2024 PGA Tour schedule

Below is a complete list of every remaining PGA Tour tournament in 2024. CBS-aired tournaments will also stream live on Paramount + with Showtime . NBC-aired events will stream on Peacock.

  • March 7-10: Puerto Rico Open  (Golf Channel)
  • March 7-10: Arnold Palmer Invitational (Golf, NBC)
  • March 14-17: The Players Championship  (Golf, NBC)
  • March 21-24, 2024: Valspar Championship  (Golf, NBC)
  • March 28-31: Texas Children's Houston Open (Golf, NBC)
  • April 4-7: Valero Texas Open (Golf, NBC)
  • April 11-14: Masters Tournament (ESPN/CBS)
  • April 18-21: Corales Puntacana Championship (Golf, NBC)
  • April 18-21: RBC Heritage (Golf, CBS)
  • April 25-28: Zurich Classic of New Orleans (Golf, CBS)
  • May 2-5: The CJ Cup Byron Nelson (Golf, CBS)
  • May 9-12: Myrtle Beach Classic (Golf, CBS)
  • May 9-12: Wells Fargo Championship (Golf, CBS)
  • May 16-19: PGA Championship (ESPN, CBS)
  • May 23-26: Charles Schwab Challenge  (Golf, CBS)
  • May 30-June 2: RBC Canadian Open (Golf, CBS)
  • June 6-9: Memorial Tournament (Golf, CBS)
  • June 13-16: U.S. Open (USA/NBC/Peacock)
  • June 20-23: Travelers Championship (Golf, CBS)
  • June 27-30: Rocket Mortgage Classic (Golf, CBS)
  • July 4-7: John Deere Classic (Golf, CBS)
  • July 11-14: Genesis Scottish Open (Golf, CBS)
  • July 18-21: Barracuda Championship (Golf)
  • July 18-21: The British Open Championship (USA/NBC/Peacock)
  • July 25-28: 3M Open (Golf, CBS)
  • Aug. 1-4: Olympic Men's Golf Competition (NBC or Peacock)
  • Aug. 8-11: Wyndham Championship (Golf, CBS)
  • Aug. 15-18: FedEx St. Jude Championship (Golf, NBC)
  • Aug. 22-25: BMW Championship (Golf, NBC)
  • Aug. 29- Sept. 1: Tour Championship (Golf NBC)
  • The Masters

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Expert Picks: Arnold Palmer Invitational

Expert Picks

Expert Picks: Arnold Palmer Invitational

Change Text Size

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf . Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments.

Aside from the experts below, Golfbet Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in this week's edition of Power Rankings .

Betting picks

WILL GRAY (Lead, Fantasy & Betting)

  • Winner: Winner: Max Homa (+2200) – This is an eye-catching price for a limited-field event, especially on a track where Homa has finished T17 or better each of the last three years.
  • Top 10: Chris Kirk (+375) – In his last 10 starts at Bay Hill, Kirk has finished T16 or better six times. Expect The Sentry winner to contend again on a course that suits his style.
  • Longshot: Keegan Bradley (+5500) – For a New Englander, he sure does like this track. He’s never missed the cut here in 11 starts and finished T11 or better each of the last three years in Orlando.
  • Head-to-Head (H2H): Viktor Hovland (-110) over Xander Schauffele – I still believe Hovland’s (relative) swoon will be short-lived, and it could end this week on a course where he’s had back-to-back top-10 finishes.

BEN EVERILL (Senior writer, Fantasy & Betting)

  •  Winner: Jason Day (+3300) – He’s been threatening to join the winner's circle again recently and there’s arguably no better place for him to do it than here where he’s a proven winner.
  • Top 10: Matt Fitzpatrick (+240) – Fitzpatrick always plays well when pars mean something extra and he’s almost destined to eventually win at Bay Hill so I’ll take this conservative approach with confidence.
  • Longshot: Corey Conners (+5000) – Traditionally a ball striker's venue so when reaching for a longshot why not look at a proven striker of the golf ball?
  • H2H: Jason Day (+105) over Tommy Fleetwood - Given I’m taking my Aussie mate to beat the field it stands to reason I’m salivating at the plus money on offer for him to beat one player.
  • Bonus Pick Puerto Rico Open Winner: Ryo Hisatsune (+2200) – It’s been a pretty decent start for the DP World Tour graduates and I expect this continues for this Japanese star.

CHRIS BREECE (Senior Content Manager, Golfbet)

  • Winner: Rory McIlroy (+900) – I would argue there is not a better course on TOUR for McIlroy than Bay Hill. In nine starts here he’s gone (most recent first) T2, T13, T10, T5, T6, 1, T4, T27, T11
  • Top 10: Cameron Young (+220) – I’m going to keep picking him until he does something for me. He’s been one of the most consistent high finishers this year and he’s gaining 1.8 strokes on the field per round at Bay Hill.
  • Longshot: Jake Knapp (+5000) – I know, it’s right on the border- but who else do you feel good about right now that’s a better/smarter play here?
  • H2H: Patrick Cantlay (-130) over Sam Burns – Here’s the thing. Cantlay has been playing pretty well. He just can’t close. All he needs to do is close out one player.
  • Bonus Pick for Puerto Rico Open Winner: Victor Perez (+4000) – Flashes of brilliance last week at PGA National with rounds of 67-66.

MATT DELVECCHIO (Social Content Manager, Fantasy & Betting)

  • Winner: Sam Burns (+2200) – So close he can almost taste it. Coming in with four straight T10s, I would be shocked with anything less than that this week. One of the hottest players on TOUR this season, but the game-changer for him this week will be his putting. The last five winners averaged 12th in putts gained. Burns comes in 14th for the year in Strokes Gained: Putting and finished last season at 8th.
  • Top 10: Erik van Rooyen (+450) – The field is stacked this week, but I can’t ignore how amazing van Rooyen has looked on TOUR this past month. The number is insanely juicy I just had to take it. The icing on the cake was a win in the net portion of the Seminole Pro-Member on Monday after already going 8-under and grabbing a T2 at PGA National the day prior.
  • Longshot: Matthieu Pavon (+8000) – 2nd in SG: Approach, 2nd SG: Putting, 13th in bogey avoidance and 30th in Scrambling. No further explanation is needed, this man has been a machine.
  • H2H: Jason Day over Tommy Fleetwood (+105) – Day is another guy coming into the week playing some fantastic golf (solo 9th and T6 in his last two starts). Combo that with his great history at Bay Hill, we may see Day high up on the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.
  • Bonus Pick for Puerto Rico Open Winner: Ben Silverman (+3300): The 36-year-old Canadian continues to impress with a T13 in Mexico and a T16 at PGA National.

Odds were sourced on Tuesday, March 5. For live odds, visit BetMGM .

Want to see how to set up your PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf lineup? Scroll below.

THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below.

Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create a team, click the "LEAGUES" tab. Then click on "FEATURED," and then on the PGA TOUR Experts league that populates.

*Brett Jungles joined the Expert Picks league at the beginning of Segment 1 and did not accumulate any points from the FedExCup Fall.

Golfbet experts longshot: 0-9

For resources to overcome a gambling problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER today.

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  • Services & Software

Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024: TV Schedule Today, How to Watch, Stream All the PGA Tour Golf From Anywhere

There's a purse of $20 million up for grabs this weekend at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge.

which pga tour game is better

The PGA Tour heads to Orlando, Florida, this weekend for the final signature event before the Masters, as a host of big names battle it out at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

Last year's tournament saw Kurt Kitayama claim his first PGA Tour win -- a triumph that saw him double his total career earnings. This year's victor at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge is set to bag a cool $4 million share of a hefty $20 million purse. 

It's a strong field in the hunt for that bumper prize this weekend, with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler set to battle it out with fellow big-name stars Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele. 

Keep reading to find out the best live TV streaming services to use to watch each day of the tournament live wherever you are in the world.

Kurt Kitayama wearing a cap, swinging a golf club over his shoulder.

Last year's Arnold Palmer Invitational saw Kurt Kitayama beat Rory McIlroy by one shot to register his first ever PGA Tour win. 

What is the US TV schedule for the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024?

Linear TV coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the US is on The Golf Channel and NBC.

That means you'll also be able to live stream both networks' feeds via NBC's online service Peacock.

For more comprehensive coverage, steaming service ESPN Plus offers extended PGA Tour Live access, offering marquee groups, featured groups, featured hole and the main action feeds.

Here's the full TV schedule (all times ET).

Thursday and Friday

  • Golf Channel, Peacock: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
  • ESPN Plus: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday and  Sunday

  • Golf Channel, Peacock: 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
  • NBC, Peacock: 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

How to watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 online from anywhere using a VPN

If you find yourself unable to view the tournament locally, you may need a different way to watch -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds by encrypting your traffic, and it's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.

With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the tournament. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, nonblackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN , make it really easy to do this.

Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.

Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.

which pga tour game is better

Best VPN for streaming

ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It's normally $13 a month, and you can sign up for ExpressVPN and save 35% -- the equivalent of $8.32 a month -- if you get an annual subscription. 

Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Livestream the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 in the US

Linear TV coverage in the US is on The Golf Channel and NBC, while streaming service Peacock also boasts the same coverage of the entire tournament. 

For more comprehensive coverage, PGA Tour Live streaming coverage takes place Thursday through to Sunday on ESPN Plus, offering main action feeds, marquee groups, featured groups and featured hole coverage.

which pga tour game is better

Watch comprehensive Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 coverage in the US from $11 per month

ESPN's standalone streaming service costs $11 a month or $110 for an annual subscription.  Read our ESPN Plus review .

which pga tour game is better

Carries coverage of all four days for $6 a month

Peacock offers two Premium plans. The ad-supported Premium plan costs $6 a month, and the ad-free Premium plan costs $12 a month. You can use either Premium plan to watch the tournament.

Read our Peacock review .

Four of the major live TV streaming services offer The Golf Channel. 

which pga tour game is better

Hulu with Live TV

Carries the golf channel for $77 a month.

Hulu with Live TV costs $77 a month and includes The Golf Channel. Click the "View channels in your area" link on its welcome page to see which local channels are offered in your ZIP code.

Read our Hulu with Live TV review .

which pga tour game is better

Carries The Golf Channel for $73 a month

YouTube TV costs $73 a month and includes The Golf Channel. 

Read our YouTube TV review .

which pga tour game is better

Carries The Golf Channel for $75 a month

Fubo costs $75 a month and includes The Golf Channel. Click here to see which local channels you get.

Read our Fubo review .

which pga tour game is better

DirecTV Stream

Carries the golf channel for $85 a month.

DirecTV Stream's basic $85-a-month package includes The Golf Channel. 

Read our DirecTV Stream review .

Livestream the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 in the UK

Golf fans in the UK can watch the tournament live on Sky Sports. The tournament will be broadcast across its Sky Sports Golf and Main Events channels, with further coverage on its Red Button service. 

Watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 in the UK for £35

Viewers in the UK will be able to watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 on Sky Sports Golf, with extensive coverage of each day's play. Subscribers can also stream the action via the Sky Go app. Sky subsidiary Now (formerly Now TV) offers streaming access to Sky Sports channels with a Now Sports membership. You can get a day of access for £12 (perhaps just for the final round), or sign up to a monthly plan from £35 a month to watch all four days of the tournament.

Livestream the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 in Australia

The Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 can be watched Down Under on Fox Sports via Foxtel. If you're not a Fox subscriber, your best option is to sign up for streaming service Kayo Sports. 

Kayo Sports

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A Kayo Sports subscription starts at AU$25 a month and lets you stream on one screen, while its Premium tier costs AU$35 a month for simultaneous viewing on up to three devices.

The service gives you access to a wide range of sports including F1, NRL, NFL, NHL and MLB, and there are no lock-in contracts. 

Better still, if you're a new customer, you can take advantage of a one-week Kayo Sports free trial.

Stream the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 in Canada

Live coverage of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational will be available in Canada via TSN. Cord-cutters can watch via the network's streaming service TSN Plus. Coverage of the third round starts at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and at the same time on Sunday for the final round.

Watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 for CA$20 a month

TSN Plus boasts exclusive coverage of NFL games, F1, Nascar and Grand Slam tennis tournaments. Ideal for cord-cutters, the service is priced at CA$20 a month or CA$200 per year.

Quick tips for streaming the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2024 using a VPN 

  • With four variables at play -- your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN -- your experience and success when streaming may vary.
  • If you don't see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the "search for city or country" option.
  • If you're having trouble getting the tournament after you've turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs -- like Roku -- don't have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you'll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you're using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
  • All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network's sports app, you'll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location. 
  • And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you're using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend  Brave .

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Collin morikawa, adam scott, tommy 'ten cup' fleetwood among notables to miss cut at 2024 arnold palmer invitational, share this article.

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ORLANDO, Fla. - The top of the leaderboard is stacked at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but so, too, is the bottom. Several big names were sent packing.

The field of 69 players was trimmed to 58 who shot 3-over 147 or better. The API is one of three signature events -- along with the Genesis Invitational and the Memorial -- with a 36-hole cut this season. Low 50 players (and ties) and any additional players within 10 strokes of the 36-hole lead. With six tied at 7-under 137, that meant five players at T-53 snuck into the weekend, and 11 players in the field were sent packing. Rory McIlroy was asked what he thought about having a cut at the signature events. 

"I was indifferent," he said. "I think, when all these signature events were thought of, we were thinking no cut, but if it’s important enough, or if it’s that important to Tiger and Jack and if Arnold were alive, if it was important enough for him, then it’s their tournament, at the end of the day, and they can do whatever they want. I could have went either way, but if it’s important enough to those guys, then we’ll have a cut."

No doubt Rickie Fowler had an idea as he played 18 that he could use one more birdie if he wanted to have a weekend tee. He stuck his approach to 7 feet and rolled in the birdie putt to play the weekend. Adam Schenk dunked his second shot at 18 and made a double bogey to miss the cut by one. Long live the 36-hole cut!

Here's a look at the 11 players who were trunk-slamming on Friday at Arnie's Place.

Tommy Fleetwood

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Tommy Fleetwood waits for the seventh green to clear during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. (Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)

Tommy Fleetwood made a Ten Cup — as in he went Tin Cup style, hitting three in the water at the par-5 6 th  and carded a quintuple-bogey 10 . Stuff of nightmares. He made four more bogeys and not a single birdie on the front nine to shoot 45 going out.

He did make an eagle at 12 and two birdies in posting 80. It marked just the second time in eights starts that Fleetwood missed the cut at Bay Hill. It also marked his first missed cut this season and first weekend off since the Travelers Championship in June.

Tommy Fleetwood almost broke the Shot Tracker on 6 😳 pic.twitter.com/yq6xtTVukF — Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelTAN) March 8, 2024

Adam Schenk

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Adam Schenk of the United States hits a tee shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Golf Course on March 08, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Schenk’s weekend off may hurt the most because he made double on 18 to miss the cut by one.

Schenk hit in the water on his approach at the final hole to finish at 4-over 76. It marked the first time in four starts that he’s missed the cut at Arnie’s Place. Schenk ranked second to last in SG: Approach in the second round and ranked 57 th in SG: Putting.

Matt Fitzpatrick

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Matt Fitzpatrick of England reacts to a putt on the sixth hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Golf Course on March 08, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Fitzpatrick’s record had been sterling at Arnie’s Place — top 15s the last five years, including a runner-up finish in 2019 — but it wasn’t his week this time. He shot 74-75 and made just four birdies to nine bogeys. Fitzpatrick’s stats for two rounds were poor across the board but his proximity to the hole (51’9″) ranked dead last in the second round and 66 th  for 36 holes. Fitzpatrick has missed three of seven cuts this season and has yet to record a top-10 finish.

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Adam Scott puts on the sixth green during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Scott was playing this week on a sponsor invite but couldn’t make hay out of the opportunity. Scott hit just 12 of 28 fairways and it put too much pressure on his short game. He was just 5 of 13 in scrambling. Scott was sent packing after rounds of 73-76. It marked his first missed cut since the Genesis Scottish Open in July and his fourth missed cut in 11 career starts at Arnie’s Place.

Sami Valimaki

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Sami Valimaki lines up his putt on the sixth green during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Valimaki missed his second straight cut since finishing second at the Mexico Open at Vidanta. This one will be tough to swallow for Valimaki, who opened with four birdies in his first six holes on Friday to get back to even for the tournament. He was still level par after a birdie at 14, but played the final four holes in 5 over to spoil his second round. He shot 76-73 and is trunk-slamming in his tournament debut.

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

David Ford of the United States hits out of a fairway bunker on the sixth hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Golf Course on March 08, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

The North Carolina Tarheel held his own on Thursday, posting 1-under 71, but Friday was a different story. He failed to make a single birdie and shot 11-over 83. He was 0 for 6 in sand saves and ranked last in SG: Around the Green. But Ford will be back in action on Saturday with his college teammates on Saturday at the John Hayt Invitational, just down the road in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He also was back on the range practicing after a most trying round and his first round performance showed that he has promise when he does elect to turn pro.

Justin Rose

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Justin Rose hits his drive on the tenth tee during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Rose looked to be in good shape to the play the weekend until he made a mess at the par-5 12 th , carding an 8. It got worse from there as he came home in 42. Rose (72-77) hasn't played the weekend at Arnie's Place since 2019. It's his first missed cut in six starts this season. Blame the putter: Rose ranked 68 of 69 players this week in SG: Putting.

Collin Morikawa

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Collin Morikawa chips onto the sixth green during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

After a solid 2-under 70 start on Thursday, Morikawa looked out of sorts in the second round, making two early doubles -- at the first and fourth hole -- and a water-logged bogey at 6. He made just one birdie and shot 80. It's the second straight year he's missed the cut at Bay Hill. Morikawa ranked second to last in the field in SG: Around the Green on Friday.

Nicolai Hojgaard

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark reacts after a putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Golf Course on March 08, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Hojgaard was in the field as a sponsor exemption, and he failed to make the most of it. In mostly mild conditions on Thursday, he made two double bogeys and shot 77. His putter was the big culprit. He lost nearly four strokes to the field on the greens and ranked second-to-last in SG: Putting. He's 0-for-2 at Bay Hill and missed his first cut of the season in five starts.

Kurt Kitayama

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Kurt Kitayama, right, and his caddie Tim Tucker wait for a ruling after finding the hazard on the sixth hole during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

What a difference a year makes. Instead of being the 36-hole leader en route to his first Tour title, Kitayama will have the weekend off this year after shooting 78-73. Kitayama ranked dead last in SG: Tee to Green in the first round and second to last for 36 holes.

Adam Svensson

2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Adam Svensson of Canada hits a tee shot on the fifth hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Golf Course on March 08, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Brennan Asplen/Getty Images)

Svensson, the Canadian, missed his third cut in his last four events and this one was big-time struggle bus. He shot 79-80 and finished dead last. Svensson carded three triple bogeys and two doubles in 36 holes. Svensson actually putted well -- gaining more than 2 strokes on the greens Friday -- but otherwise this is a week he will want to put in the rearview mirror.

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