I really, really wanted to like this game and had been waiting on its release for a while, so it hurts me to leave this review, but I just can't recommend it right now. Not at this price. It's apparently not in early access either so I'm not sure how much will be changed or added.

There are things that are done very well. If you want a sandbox game to build pretty golf courses in then this is probably a good enough game for you with the Sandbox Mode. Just keep in mind your build options are quite limited.

There just doesn't feel like much of a "game" here to me. Being able to play your own holes is very cool and probably the best aspect of the game, but you can also do that with better course design tools and a better golf game overall on any of the actual golf games like 2K or PGA. Here, the execution of it definitely feels secondary which would be fine if the primary experience was more engaging.

Workers and stats like hunger/fatigue/etc. feel kind of pointless/thrown in at the last second. Your hole ratings go down if you make them actually challenging at all to the golfers. The best way to "beat" the campaign is to just make a bunch of straight and flat Par 4s/5s right on the edge of the Par lower, with minor hazards along the edges to fill up the ranking bar, so that your golfers make insane scores and get happy about it.

I had designed a cool 5 holes or so with cool water features and doglegs, but I quickly got bored and frustrated when I realized I was basically being penalized for it.

I guess my main gripe could come down to this: There aren't enough features/decorative options to make for an engaging sandbox golf course designer, and there isn't enough "game" to make the function of designing challenging holes and managing finances engaging.

Very sorry again to leave this review and I'd be more than willing to change it in the future if things were changed. It's very cool to see this even attempted, regardless of how I feel about the finished product.

If you have been waiting 30 years for a new SimGold, this is better than nothing, but it is very hard to recommend.

On the management side of things, the game is basic, but ok. This is not a big deal, because I don't feel like this is the important part of the game.

The important part of the game is the golf course design and this is where things need a lot more work. Everything feels unfinished. The UI behave strangely, trees are bouncy, OOB rules are nonsensical, terrains do weird things (different types of rough don't touch each other, water is not flat,...).
Add to that other small issues like golfers claiming a hole in one after hitting 4 time on a par 3...

Overall, there are no big issue, but so much small ones that it is pilling up.
If the game was an Early Access, I would be impressed, but has a released game with Day1 DLC, this is a let down.

I hope the game will become better over time, that would definitely change my review. But will I still be playing when that happens? I don't know.

Welp after only 6 hours i have already beaten the career mode with 3 stars in every level and to be honest i would have beaten it faster if i hadn't gone for 3 stars. That's how easy of a game this is and I'm honestly quite disappointed.

If i knew how easy this game would have been, i would have stuck to the demo, played Golftopia or some other golf game. It is very clear that little testing has gone into this game as you aren't punished at all for making the same basic easy holes over and over.

Heck you can even make 18 tiny 9 yard holes and the golfers don't complain, in fact they love it. I mean it was funny when it worked in Simgolf (You could build 18 25 yard par 2's and get away with it on easy) but here its just pathetic.

I will admit the course tools are fun and easy to use, assuming you are playing in sandbox mode but in career mode there is no reason to use most of them, you get like what 4 types of fairway, 2 types of sand trap, 2 types of rough, 2 types of greens, trees and rocks.

Also like i mentioned in the demo review, i'm not fond of the controls when playing the course. Though to be honest once you max your stats out the feature becomes a joke and also like i mentioned before there isn't much incentive to play your course other than testing even though there is already a feature in the game that tells you how your golfers plan to play your holes.

The music, while nice can get a bit repetitive with only 6 whole tracks in the entire game. Also while i did say that the sounds effects were a charming touch in the demo review, they can get old really fast at certain points in the game.

The graphics are alright, for indie game standards at least. The decor and the buildings look good and the animations are smooth, so that is something positive about this game.

Lastly, during my time playing i noticed a couple of bugs, for instance once when i completed a level just as i was placing down a hole, the "fake fairway" didnt display and i was unable to delete the hole until i saved quit then reload. Also i've had some instances of golfers and staff getting stuck.

Overall, i can't recommend this game at this price. To me it was a complete let down and only made me long for a re-release of SImgolf on GoG.