Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

So long, EA Sports: ‘The Golf Club’ developer secures PGA Tour license

By
The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR announcement.

HB Studios, the independent studio behind The Golf Club series, has secured PGA Tour licensing for the third game in the series, The Golf Club 2019, which launches this August (via GolfChannel).

Recommended Videos

The Golf Club 2019 will feature a robust career mode that takes players through Q-School (to get their tour card), the Web.com Tour, and eventually to the big stage, the PGA Tour, where users will play through 32 events culminating with the FedEx Cup Playoffs. At launch, the game will feature six replicas of TPC venues.

  • TPC Summerlin (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open)
  • TPC Scottsdale Stadium (Waste Management Phoenix Open)
  • TPC Sawgrass’ The Players Stadium Course (The Players Championship)
  • TPC Southwind (FedEx St. Jude Classic)
  • TPC Deere Run (John Deere Classic)
  • TPC Boston (Dell Technologies Championship)
Please enable Javascript to view this content

Since the PGA Tour season will be 32 events, many of the events will still be played on courses designed by HB Studios, though it sounds as if more official courses could be made available post-launch. Up until now, The Golf Club series has gotten its legs from its elaborate course design tools. Players can design their own 18-hole courses, upload them to the servers, and enjoy a near endless number of different venues (more than 170,000 user-created courses have been made so far). Although both games in the series feature solid simulation golf, the lack of an official license has probably limited the game’s overall reach among fans.

The Golf Club launched in 2014, and its sequel, The Golf Club 2, arrived just last summer. The quick turnaround for the third entry and the shift to a yearly naming convention signals that HB Studios may be trying to pick up where EA Sports left off. For more than two decades, EA Sports was a consistent and reliable producer of licensed golf games, including the lengthy stretch of Tiger Woods PGA Tour titles from 1999 to 2013. EA tried to move the series forward in 2015 with Rory McILroy PGA Tour, but it was severely lacking compared to the Tiger Woods branded titles.

Sadly, it doesn’t appear that HB Studios has been granted player licenses, so don’t expect to relive the glory days playing as Tiger Woods or teeing it up as Jordan Spieth.

The Golf Club 2019 launches in August on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Topics
Steven Petite
Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
In the Switch’s final days, Nintendo finally gets serious about eShop moderation
Two men browse the soon to be defunct Wii U eShop.

The Nintendo eShop is notoriously full of shovel ware, money-grabs, and porn games — but the recent disappearance of many adult-oriented titles suggests Nintendo might finally be taking more steps towards moderating the shop. X user Naruki, known for tracking trends across the eShop, first spotted the change.

Despite its family-friendly image, the Nintendo eShop has long been plagued with a frankly astounding amount of NSFW titles. Since the majority of eShop operations are handled by an algorithm, these titles often appear as a great deal or a new release. Even though most are age-gated, the thumbnails are still provocative enough that it raises concern among parents.

Read more
This 32-inch gaming monitor is on sale for under $200
LG UltraGear 32-inch QHD Monitor 32GN600-B with gameplay onscreen.

Don't forget to upgrade your rig with monitor deals too after taking advantage of gaming PC deals! However, if you've already used up most of your budget on your new gaming desktop, don't sweat it because you can still get a decent display on a tight budget. The 32-inch LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor is a great example -- it's already pretty affordable at its original price of $349, but you can currently buy it from Walmart for just $188 following a $161 discount. You're going to have to hurry though, as tomorrow may already be too late to shop this offer.

Why you should buy the 32-inch LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor
The LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor isn't going to match up to the features and specifications of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming monitors, but for its price, it's a very solid screen that will be enough for most gamers to appreciate the graphics of the best PC games. It all starts with the Quad HD resolution on its 32-inch screen, which will show your games with sharp details, and it's also got HDR10 support for rich colors and contrast to enable an immersive experience.

Read more
These affordable Nintendo Switch controllers are down to $26
The YUOY Switch Controller on a white background.

If you've been waiting for the official Joy-Con controllers to appear with discounts from Nintendo Switch deals because you don't want to pay their retail price of $80, it might be time to consider buying a more affordable alternative. Check out the YUOY Switch Controllers, which are already much more affordable at their original price of $50, but they're now down to only $26 following a $24 discount from Walmart. Stocks of the gaming accessories will likely run out quickly, so you should complete your purchase as soon as possible if you don't want to miss out.

Why you should buy the YUOY Switch Controllers
The Joy-Con controllers are one of the most innovative features of the Nintendo Switch, and there are plenty of reasons why you'd want extra pairs -- some titles can support more than two players such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Mario Party Jamboree, and you may want a spare pair as a back-up. However, if you're on a tight budget, the YUOY Switch Controllers are a more affordable alternative. They're compatible with the original version of the console as well as the Nintendo Switch OLED, and they come in a variety of striking colors that match the overall aesthetic of the Nintendo Switch.

Read more