The latest trend in golf sims is the use of the mouse swing instead of the traditional mouse-click method. It first showed up in Maxis' SimGolf (where it was called, appropriately enough, the MouseSwing) and last year the inaugural Front Page Sports: Golf included a mouse swing as well (called the TrueSwing). Because of its better implementation in FPS: Golf, it actually won some gamers over. Finally, Accolade's Jack Nicklaus 5 followed suit.
Empire Interactive's The Golf Pro doesn't see the mouse swing as a trend - trends sometimes fade away - but seems to consider it as the next development in golf sims: The game doesn't even contain a traditional meter swing. One difference with The Golf Pro mouse swing is that you move the mouse laterally instead of forward and back, which feels a bit unnatural and more prone to error. The difference is negligible, however, and you can become accustomed to either given some practice time.
What's more important is the fact that The Golf Pro gives you no choice. If you don't like the concept of the mouse swing, chances are this one won't change your opinion. But if you're always up for something new and would like to take a crack at it, be advised that a well-cleaned or brand-new mouse is vital. Don't count out one of those precision mouse pads either. If your mouse is prone to sticking, your biggest frustration might not come from your high golf score but from your onscreen golfer stopping in the middle of his backswing.
Using a precise mouse wouldn't be so important either if The Golf Pro wasn't such a precise simulation. Besides moving the mouse in a straight line, you also have to be conscious of turning the mouse, and thus the club head, maintaining a smooth, consistent movement, and not overswinging. The swing is much more sensitive to error at the amateur and pro levels, but in return you also get more distance than at the beginner level; and to advance to the pro level you have to first achieve a minimum handicap.
If you have the patience to practice the mouse swing and learn to swing straight without cheating (using a guide to stay straight), then The Golf Pro does present some new challenges that can be fun to master. Many of the holes in the two courses in the game have angled or dogleg fairways, forcing you to hit your drive with a slight draw or fade to achieve maximum distance and not end up in the rough, or worse, out of bounds. The physics of the ball and the effects of the swing are also impressively realistic, so much so that the game could be used as an instructional tool. For example, release the mouse button too early on the downswing in a medium or deep rough lie and you'll hit too far behind and under the ball. Chances are you won't go more than ten yards. The useful instructional videos with Gary Player will tell you all about it and maybe teach you a thing or two about good swing mechanics.
Unfortunately, what makes The Golf Pro score below par are the pre-rendered graphics. In today's 3D world, the limitations of pre-rendered screens are hard to overlook, and The Golf Pro is afflicted with a severely limited number of viewpoints. So if your shot isn't going to land in a viewing zone, you never get to see the result. Even the replay only plays back from that same perspective. For example, after you hit your drive, the view will only change to one from down the fairway if your ball will stop within the predetermined frame. If not, it doesn't switch, and you never know the result.
The problem gets worse on and around the green. Although the usual grid overlay helps, it can still be difficult to get a good read of the green. There are even times when your golfer is standing right in your line, blocking your view to the hole. There are two other views you can switch to, but neither is much better. And although you can click on the green to view it from that location, there is no grid overlay.
Certainly, The Golf Pro takes the mouse swing trend and runs with it. It's unfortunate however that Empire also didn't follow the trend towards 3D graphics, which other golf games have been doing for years. Pre-rendered images don't allow for enough versatility and can be downright problematic in many ways, such as lack of visual depth, limited practice locations (you can't just drop a ball anywhere), limited shot analysis (if the view doesn't switch to the landing zone, you can't see the result), and poorly integrated objects, to name but a few. Although The Golf Pro has a lot of polish and promise, its handicap places it in amateur status.
