Tiger Woods finally makes his way to Nintendo platforms in a serious title, instead of the whacky-but-fun CyberTiger on the N64. This unfortunately uses the analogue stick swing method of golf games, and manages to make it even worse by removing any kind of feedback from your swing. As you start moving the stick, the HUD vanishes and you only know anything from how your ball lands. I found it immensely difficult to be consistent at any point.
To make matters worse, there’s also no way to get a good look at the hole, with rather awkward controls for aiming and changing clubs, which really should be incredibly simple. A game like this would also benefit massively from creating your own player, but that’s a big omission in Tiger Woods 03. There are a bunch of different modes, but when the core gameplay is so wonky, they’re not that fun…except one.
Speed Golf is an immensely fun addition. How many times you hit the ball is irrelevant, you just need to get to the hole fastest. Two golfers play at the same time and need to hit the ball and then run towards it. It’s silly but very amusing. Mario Golf would finally add this mode on the Switch, but sadly lacked any kind of split screen.