Golf video games that seek to authentically simulate the mechanics of the sport can flummox players not looking to have a pixelated good walk spoiled. The HB Studios team behind this release got the memo and added a Perfect Swing mode, the way to go for casual fans of the sport who simply want to Zen out on beautifully rendered courses that host tour events from Pebble Beach to Oakmont which is staging this season’s U.S. Open and simply tap birdies in on autopilot and fist pump after the occasional chip-in or bunker save.

If Putting Aint’ Broken
Imagine if the tried-and-true grid with moving dots was scrapped, and gamers were forced to do an approximation of aim point to assess the slope and decipher breaks on a green—they’d be hurling their controller out the window. If you have any experience coaxing virtual dimpled balls holeward bound this century, basic flatstick gameplay is instantly familiar with putt previews available in the easier skill modes. If you're lipping out or blowing it past the cup, it won’t take long to dial things in—and probably surpass your IRL self.

Enhanced Swing Mechanics
This is where the gameplay shines. The swing mechanics and the underlying physics that govern them have been fine-tuned and feel more legit. Motion is measured with contact, rhythm, transition and swing path all factoring into your shot—and you'll see the results. Even the slightest tremor on the analog stick can cause a push or pull. While everyone has their own style, two-thumbing it remains my go-to for maximizing fluidity. On higher skill settings, you need to be locked in to stay consistent—much like real golf—which is a welcome challenge.

Graphical Leap
The sun-dappled courses are pretty sick-that aspect was definitely not par for the course. For this iteration HB Studios threw the hammer down. “For this iteration, we found with our healthy competition in this space with EA, we really wanted to tear everything right down to the studs. So, we went all the way back to our original head scans, we looked at our shaders, our tone mapping, our textures and our lighting was huge. We had a dedicated lighting artist,” Joel Thompson, senior art and animation director, explained. “All that combined allowed us to take the next step in graphic fidelity that we really wanted to see, to keep us more in line with our competition and in my opinion overtake them.”
 
Mode Life
For those who love multiplayer, virtual club fittings, avatar customization, or season mode, PGA Tour 2K25 has plenty of options to keep you engaged. A new addition this year is the ability to level up your equipment, unlocking better performance as you progress. Personally, I’m more of a quick-play guy—pick a character and jump right in. While demoing the game, I rotated between Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Brooke Henderson, enjoying how each golfer’s attributes brought different strengths to the course. Apparel junkies will also appreciate the extensive gear selection, with over 30 brands featured. From golf staples like FootJoy, Cobra, and Odyssey to fresher names like Eastside Golf, Bad Birdie, and Tiger’s Sun Day Red, there’s plenty of customization to flex your style.

Verdict
Graphics    10/10
Gameplay   9/10
 
With a noticeable leap in aesthetics, nuanced swing mechanics that reward precision, and customization options out the wazoo, PGA Tour 2K25 is a key title on any ball and stick game aficionados collection. Whether you’re grinding through career mode, playing a skins game against a fiend or simply flexing on fashion by styling your golfer with the latest fits, accessories and equipment from over 30 brands, or just hopping on for a quick solo round the fun factor is first page of the leaderboard.  While hardcore sim players and golf sickos might crave even more realism (when are we going to get gators and birds on the course), casual players will appreciate the balance struck between authenticity and accessibility.

The first round of a fresh PGA Tour season tees off tomorrow in Maui at Kapalua. While the world’s top golfers shake off any offseason rust with their opening drives, PGA Tour Live feed flippers tuning in will get their first taste of the Tour’s new content hub in action.

When the PGA Tour entered into its current domestic media rights deal that runs through 2030, it cemented agreements with existing partners and established a new deal with Disney, making ESPN+ the exclusive home of their subscription video service. As the tour supersized the volume of live production and original programming, the need for new digs became critical. The previous studio, nearly five times smaller than the new facility, housed just a single studio.
“When we did our deal in 2020 for ESPN+ for the four PGA Tour live feeds—featured hole, marquee group, featured group (actually two groups) and the main feed which takes shots from the other feeds and creates a pseudo broadcast for streaming—just doing that deal, right out of the gate, we had already outgrown that old building,” Luis Goicouria, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of media, said. “That old building had one control room and that only enabled us to produce one feed. So, we had to build a compound with TV trucks in the parking lot of our St. Augustine facility. That’s how we’ve been producing our ESPN+ feeds for the last three years.”  

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This Fall's Berenberg Invitational at GlenArbor Golf Club in Bedford Hills, NY raised $750,000 for pancreatic cancer research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine, bringing Berenberg’s combined tally over the past two tournaments to to $1,450,000. The funds will go towards medical research that will enhance our understanding of the complex disease and hopefully lead to new drug development.

There was an all-star turnout with Berenberg ambassadors Gary Player, Tom Watson,
Fred Couples, Mark O’Meara and Bernhard Langer joined by a bevy of golf superstars. The field boasted Presidents Cup International Team captain and 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman along with fellow green jacket owners Mike Weir and Larry Mize along with  three-time U.S. Open winner, Hale Irwin.

Also competing were U.S. Women’s Open champion, Brittany Lang and the sole  golfer to claim Player of the Year honors on all three PGA Tours,  Tom Lehman.

Topping the leaderboard were the team captained by Fred Funk and Emma Cabrera-Bello, pictured, above.

“UNMC and Nebraska Medicine’s partnership with Berenberg is vital to our research on the molecular complexities of pancreatic cancer and our continuing efforts in early detection of the disease,” Dr. Sunil Hingorani, director of the UNMC Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence and Nebraska Medicine pancreatic cancer program, said. 

“The Berenberg Invitational is especially meaningful because this cause is deeply personal to several of the professional golfers who participate in the tournament annually, as it
is to me.”

David Mortlock, Managing Partner at Berenberg added: “We are proud of the opportunity to raise
funds for a very worthy cause while spending time with our clients in a unique and meaningful way.
Our focus on charitable efforts will never waiver, and our Berenberg Invitational would not be possible  without the generous contributions made by both our clients and an incredible field of participants.”

Swing thought confession time.  I recently had a golf lesson where my swing was pared back to the bare bones, the essentials.  In order to quiet my mind and keep my swing thoughts to a bare minimum I’ve distilled the pre-shot head game chatter down to a single mantra: lead with my shoulders, resist with the left hip on the takeaway. That’s it.   Another swing ingraining technique I’m using is playing with a penny just out front and to the right of my ball and that’s preventing me from coming out over the top.

My tempo pre-lesson had become akin to a rollercoaster climb with a slow and plodding backswing that would take a dramatic pause at the apex in tribute to Hideki Matsuyama and then suddenly explode on through to the ball into the finish.  This slo-mo build up followed by a fast forward lash was causing major inconsistencies.  That’s all out the window.  The new overarching swing thought to create a more smooth and balanced motion is to swing like I’m skipping a stone across the water.  So now it’s all 1) Lead with the Shoulders 2)Resist with the Left Hip 3) Swing like I’m skipping a stone across the water. Nice and smooth.

To commemorate my bare bones approach, I'm showcasing a trio of sweet skeleton watches by Stuhrling. CyberMonday may be over but I got you covered. For 20% off any of the three Stuhrling skeleton watches pictured above and shown in the below video, just enter the promo code GOLF at checkout: Modena 889 Automatic 46mm: https://bit.ly/2BqFXVp Emperor's Grand DT 127A2: https://bit.ly/2DRFnmc Emperor's Grandeur 127A: https://bit.ly/2KnzehK

 Ok, this vegan nut swill has half the calories as the stuff that comes out of a cow's udders so it's great for weight loss and there's also zero cholesterol.  Pulverized almonds blended with water and strained now accounts for 4% of all milk sales.  But did you hear about leche de almendra’s vaunted club cleaning abilities?

We put the urban-legend  to the ultimate test. Pitted against Palmolive & water, water (as a control test), and vodka (just for kicks and giggles) does almond milk come out on top of the leaderboard?  Watch the below video and witness the astounding results.

Just caught wind of Undone, the custom  fashion watch leaderboard topper who graciously has offered Slinging Birdies readers and viewers a 10% off use discount code: MIKE10

Ever seen a watch in a store and though it’s cool…but it would be much cooler if the dial had a more modern vibe and the case was a shade different.  And while we’re at it, could the bezel have been olive green rather than navy?  Get customizing.

 They’ve been in the tailor made, customized, personalized to your liking made to order watch game for four years now.  All production is in-house in their Hong Kong based office so they don’t farm out elements of their operation so they can control the quality.  We take a look at their Aqua model in the below video, keep watching to the end for some Lego Voltron action.  The sharp golf polo worn in the video is Rhoback's Cabana Boy

Just discovered Stance, their NBA Future Legends sock line, including a Curry and a Harden  made quite the splash.  For socks that really pop on the fairway, take a gander at their  Bubba and Jack looks and the below pictured Caddyshack themed socks.    Been wearing Stance all week long now and beyond the fashion statement they're really very comfy and well made.

As  a longtime sufferer of of the dreaded micro flinch on putts, you know the ones that cause those "are you kidding me" misses by just a few centimeters, I was very intrigued to say the least about this stability enhancing aftermarket putter shaft by BGT, the new outfit by Adams golf founder Barney Adams.  Justin Rose has already given the product tour cred putting it in play in competition.

The innovation game seems to have bypassed plain Jane steel  putter shafts for years while every other piece of club anatomy went through as many tune-ups as the Star Wars franchise.
 
As putter heads have gotten bigger and heavier, putter shaft technology stagnated and didn't evolve with the rest of the club.
 
The stability shaft is designed to minimize vibrations on contact or "impact wobble" something pretty much every amateur has experienced while playing a round.  Watch the below  vid for the full scoop on this product already gaining Tour cred as Justin Rose and K.J. Choi have put it in play!

If you dig the The Droppin' Bombs tee featured in the video check out Weekend Warrior Golf, they've got plenty of awesome graphic tee designs.

Like Bubba Watson likes to say, you need to live your best life on and off the course. Dude’s right, sometimes you need to play without your clubs. A perfect day in North Carolina kicked off at the Foothills Regional Airport, 8 miles northeast of downtown Morganton. This is the launch pad of Thermal Valley Aerosports , a family-run outfitter offering thrilling aero-towed tandem hang gliding experience where you’ll feel like Superman to rank newbies like the Slinging Birdies crew.

Flights start at $159 for 1500 feet on up to $385 for a mile high glide. So what’s it like to get pulled behind a Dragonfly, an ultra light and ultra maneuverable Australian bush plane? Well it’s a lot like waterskiing in the sky and then when they cut the tow cord when you reach the assigned altitude that’s when this human kite flight gets dialed up to the next level as you catch the thermals and float down to terraferma while pulling off every aerobatic maneuver in the book if you’re so inclined! See if you can catch the Dragonfly pilot pull off a few gnarly moves after cutting us loose. Next we feasted at JD’s Smokehouse is a Burke County BBQ institution, drawing commuting diners as far as adjacent states for their fall of the bone ribs, pulled pork, brisket and a smorgasbord of Southern sides—I can vouch for the cobbler and the red slaw and admit to stealing a couple envious glances at a neighbor’s sweet potato crunch. Then it was off to Sidtracked Brewery. Their 5 Barrel system chugs and choos over a dozen whistle-wetting beers like Cross-tie Brown, Light Rail Blond and Thomas the Dank Engine New England IPA. Did some locomotive artwork ogling and brushed up on my Lantern Signals while sampling a flight of delicious brews. They’ve also got the pub sports: ping-pong in the back and there’s darts to fling too. As it started to get dark we sauntered over to Cawtaba Brewing Co.   to knock back a couple White Zombie’s and catch a cover band.

 Birdie Bundle takes  customization a step further than any other golf sub and gift box on the market.  In addition to logging customers style preferences, a common best practice, they also account for dislikes. Wouldn't be caught dead off the first tee wearing a checked or paisley polo? No problemo, Birdie Bundle will screen them out when they hook you up.  The surprise factor is still intact they just do their due diligence to avoid unhappy surprises.  We sneak a peek inside a Birdie Bundle down on Daufuski Island, South Carolina's southernmost inhabited island and give you the goods in the below video which is queued right up to the unboxing portion of the video.