subject: Do Golfers Play Golf Games? [print this page] There are thousands of opportunities to play golf games with the wealth of games available. They range from the good to the terrible. Most of them require the players to use keyboard strokes to "swing" at the ball. In reality there is no swing; just a tap of a certain key to launch the ball away from the tee. While there may be pleasure to be had from playing a game of this kind, it isn't golf. It may use the sport's rules and general layout, etc, but it still isn't real golf, and most golfers will get little enjoyment from it.
While any attempt to play golf games leads to disappointment in most cases, there is an exception: the Wii. The Wii is a games platform that has been around for a few years. It was a radical step forward in game play, because player had to actually mimic the real movements required to play the games. Playing tennis, for example, required players to hold a Wii controller, a white plastic device an inch or so think and maybe six inches long, a swing it in the air as one would do with a tennis racquet.
Playing golf on the Wii requires a similar approach. You stand in your living room in front of the TV monitor displaying the game, you address the ball, calculate the distance and make the shot. Meanwhile, on the TV monitor screen, a character representing you makes the exact same moves that you do. It isn't quite exactly like playing golf, but it's as close as affordable technology has devised so far.
It would be easy to see frustrated golfers switching on their Wii games players, choosing golf as the game to play, and having a quiet round or two in the living room on days when the rain emptied out of the skies, or when there was six inches of snow on the fairway. being able to play golf games will never replace the desire to actually play golf, but it could whet an appetite or two occasionally.
