Top 10 Golf Games

Professional golfer Lee Trevino is widely quoted as having remarked 'If you're caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.'

That sentiment says a lot more about the sport than is instantly obvious - especially considering that the sport of golf is one that automatically retains a mixture of both love and hate in the minds of its players.

Bearing in mind that Golf is certainly not a new or unique sports game in terms of historic video games and gaming - after all even the most casual of examinations of the history of video games will illustrate that Golf was one of the most popular sports to be given the electronic game treatment... It is worth emphasis that it also happens to be one of the most popular sports to get that game treatment.

Not to beat the horse with a stick or anything, but the history of golf in video games goes way back. In 1979 gamers were offered 'Golf' for the Magnavox Odyssey and 'Pro Golf' for the Apple II. Those basic takes on the sport were followed by golf games for the Atari 2600, Nintendo NES and Gameboy, the GameCube, and a plethora of PC offerings from Amiga to Amstrad, the Atari 800 and ST, Commodore C=64 and ZX Spectrum - and that barely gets us to 1985!

Literally dozens of golf games later and the game has found so many different voices that you simply cannot judge a golf game simply on it being a golf game - which makes for lots of latitude in creating this sort of article.

Bearing in mind that when we sit down to create a Top 10 Best article we generally have a set of criteria that we employ - and in this case thanks to the popularity of the sport as game, and the large number of both series and titles that exist, the criteria is very simple.

We can consider all of the games ever made, but only one title from any specific series makes the list. That allows us to pick the best game from within a given series as its entry in the list, which in turn ensures that the list ends up a high quality if judgmental treatment of the subject.

Of course as is the case with any Top 10 list, the selections we make are subject to our take on the matter. Your take will likely differ, so as is also the case with this sort of article, we want to invite you to make use of the comments system found at the bottom of the page(s) here to share with us your take on the subject of the Top 10 Best Golf Games.

So with that said, we present you with the SuperCheats take on the Top 10 Best Golf Games!

10. Minna No Golf / Hot Shots Golf

Depending upon the region you are in and the version of the game that was sold there, you know this title by one of three names: Minna No Golf, Everybody's Golf, or Hot Shots Golf. Regardless of which of those three titles you know it by, it is still a very special addition to the PS1 Library for some very good reasons.

Hot Shots, which offered a rather unique take on the sport that easily explains why in Europe it was sold under the tile Everybody's Golf. The reason for that is simple: it was a golf video game created to appeal to all gamers - both those who are golf fans and those who are not.

There are a variety of modes including Tournament, Training, Stroke Play, Match Play, and a Miniature Golf course.

The game featured several characters; those not available from the start had to be unlocked for play by defeating them. A player could earn experience points for his character for winning tournaments and hitting a variety of shots. These points were used to open new courses, which added a deeper element to play.

While all of that is great in terms of features and content, the greatest element to this game was its easy accessibility - the idea being to make a golf game that anyone - golf fan or casual gamer - can easily master, play, and enjoy, making it an entry-level offering that secured it this slot in our list.