PGA TOUR 2K23 Deluxe Edition

PGA TOUR 2K23 is a third-person golf simulation that puts a serious amount of thought into how the actual act of swinging a club feels. HB Studios spent two years between entries, and you can tell: the swing system received a genuine overhaul rather than the usual annual patch. You now choose between the analogue Swing Stick, which demands precise back-and-forward stick movement with consistent rhythm, and the newly added 3-Click system. The 3-Click option fills a colour-coded power circle then asks you to hit two timing windows to set swing path and club face angle - it's approachable in minutes at lower difficulty, and it opens the door for friends who'd normally tap out after three slices into the rough. Per-player difficulty settings mean a seasoned sim player can crank up swing timing precision while their less experienced friends stay on the assisted end, which is a genuinely good call for couch sessions. For those Saturday night crowd-pleasers, the good news is that split-screen local multiplayer supports up to four players, and you can run Stroke Play, Alt-Shot, Skins, Scramble, and the new Divot Derby mode across the same screen. The TopGolf minigame mode also shows up here as a bite-sized alternative when a full 18-hole round sounds like too much commitment. Online Societies let you build a private league with friends complete with season points, custom tournament scheduling, and a virtual prize pool that adds a small but satisfying competitive layer. Cross-platform play was not confirmed at launch, so check current status before trying to link up with friends on different hardware. On the single-player side, MyCareer sends you through Q-School, up through the Korn Ferry Tour developmental league, and eventually onto the PGA Tour itself while you grind XP, unlock skill buffs across club types (driver, irons, putter all have separate skill trees), and court sponsors for bonus objectives. Tiger Woods returns as the headline cover athlete and top-tier Rival, and the playable pro roster includes Justin Thomas, Lexi Thompson, Collin Morikawa, Lydia Ko, and several others from both the PGA and LPGA tours, each with distinct stat profiles. The Fittings system lets you mod your clubs for swing path and lie range boosts, though consumable ball upgrades drew some criticism for feeling like a nudge toward optional spending. Where things get less exciting is in the presentation layer. Commentary from Rich Beem, Luke Elvy, and Henni Koyack tends toward repetition and fails to capture tournament atmosphere convincingly. Course visuals are functional but flat, and the career mode lacks the dramatic structure you'd find in, say, a basketball franchise mode - rival look-in cutscenes during tournaments add little at standard difficulty. There is also no way to jump straight to a specific hole for practice, which stings when you want to dial in a tricky par-3 without playing the preceding 15 holes first. The difficulty curve in career can plateau quickly once you find a comfortable swing rhythm, so veteran players should bump to the higher settings from day one. For a casual golf fan who wants something to rotate through on a weekend with friends, the split-screen options, the genuinely fun TopGolf mode, and the accessible 3-Click controls make the package land well. Hardcore sim players will find enough swing depth to stay engaged. If you've played 2K21 recently and were happy with it, the gap here is meaningful but not transformative. If you're new to the series entirely, this is the best place to start.

Riley · Scout Team

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