5 things we love about the new PGA Tour 2K23 video game, and a few things we don’t

November 16, 2022

The new edition of the PGA Tour 2K23 was released last month on Playstation, XBox and PC and we’ve spent some time upgrading our skills, playing TopGolf, graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour and playing as Tiger Woods.

The release of PGA Tour 2K21 a few years ago was a big step forward for the franchise after HB Studios’ and 2K took The Golf Club on to the PGA Tour.

The new edition with Tiger Woods gracing the front cover, again lets you customise your golfer, work your way towards the big stage in MyCareer mode, and includes the ability to play courses created by users via the course design mode.

I’ve spent a good few weeks getting a good feel for the game and I think it’s time I shared a few things I love about it. Plus a few extra things that I hope the franchise improves upon on in future.

Let’s start with the good stuff!

The new 3-click swing

While skeptical at first, the new 3-click swing control has become a favourite. Initially, I thought it was a regression back to the Leaderboard Golf style click swing but I’m finding it hard to go back to the moving stick method. It’s less analogous to a real golf swing compared with the back and forth swing mode, but I’m finding it a little more consistent and had more success with this swing type. At least in the Amateur mode I’ve been playing at anyway. Beware though, it gets really hard on more difficult settings. A slight delay may leave you frustrated and demoting yourself back down a difficulty level.

Playoffs!

The biggest letdown of the previous instalment of the PGA Tour 2K was the lack of a playoff system at the end of a tied tournament. I can clearly remember the deflating feeling when I made a birdie on the final hole to force a playoff only to be awarded the victory without having to go to extra holes. Thankfully, a simplified version of sudden-death holes is now a part of the game and creates the tension of making clutch shots with the tournament on the line.

MyCareer is better, and slicker

There is a lot is going on under the hood in PGA Tour 2K23 and it can be a little overwhelming to understand what clubs, skills and sunglasses you should be upgrading first. But the new MyCareer mode does a nice job of leading you through a few events, earning money and attracting the interest of sponsors. Give it a few rounds on the Korn Ferry Tour and you’ll be itching to make the big time with more than a few sponsors adorning your outfit. Not to mention the crafting the type of golfer you want to be and upskilling via the new club fitting features.

Bring @Topgolf to your living room and challenge your friends in #PGATOUR2K23!
Who's hitting the 🎯?#MoreGolfMoreGame pic.twitter.com/FG7vpjOYev

— #PGATOUR2K23 (@PGATOUR2K) October 26, 2022

TopGolf

The successful IRL driving range game has been added for some light-hearted fun to the PGA Tour 2K franchise that may attract more non-golfers to play the game. While not as much fun as an evening at a TopGolf facility, the side game is a nice diversion that has already piqued my kids’ interest.

Play as Tiger Woods, Lydia Ko, and Michael Jordan

Now you can play as a pro again. The previous edition of the franchise only allowed you to play against the pros, but PGA Tour 2k23 finally allows you to play as Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Lydia Ko and many others. Unfortunately it’s only possible in the casual game mode but we’ve had a stack of fun playing a round as Jon Rahm around Riviera, and Steph Curry at the perfectly, user-recreated NSW Golf Club.

Course creators, this one is for you! 🫡
Share your course for a chance to be featured! #PGATOUR2K23 pic.twitter.com/dm6MawLOzQ

— #PGATOUR2K23 (@PGATOUR2K) October 28, 2022

+1 Bonus Content

I’m also excited about even more bonus content rolling out for PGA Tour 2K23. A limited number of official courses are included with the game, but more are being rolled out to download in the coming months, including the par-3 Top of the Rock Golf Course (which was released yesterday), and Pebble Beach.

And as much as we love the game…

There are still several things we would like to see implemented in updates or future editions of the PGA Tour 2K franchise.

Searching for courses is still a little clunky. Especially when you’re looking for courses designed by the PGA Tour 2K community via the Designer feature.
The graphics aren’t a huge step up from the previous version of the game and we’d really love to see some platform cross play implemented so we can play against a bunch more golfers on the Playstation and PC, say.
I’d still love to play against a few mates in the same room, using their Xbox account. At the moment that isn’t possible.
You can only play as Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Brooke Henderson and Jon Rahm, say in casual round mode. There isn’t any way to play as these golfers on tour. 🙁

Reviewed on XBox One S with code provided by the publisher.