Way back in my youth I used to be pretty good at golf, and now that I’m old it’s time to return to the gentleman’s game once again.  After playing PGA Tour 2K25 (PC edition) for the past few weeks I can say that golf is as easy as ever and I’m sure my prowess on the digital course will translate into the real world.

PGA Tour 2K25 is different to what I expected.  I have had minimal experience with the 2K23 version but this new iteration in 2025 is a huge improvement in many ways.  It is now not just a game you can grab a quick, fun 18 holes either by yourself or against others but a full golf RPG where you can create an entire career for your player, gaining sponsors, speaking to media, having friendly banter with other players and more.

You could argue that there is too much now, with so many options and pathways to branch into.  I am still getting my head around it after a few weeks – but to be honest, I have strung it out a bit so I can tell the wife that I am “working” when she sees me playing it. So let’s get into it.  

Pros:

  • Improved graphics
  • Deep game with plain old golf and/or a full RPG experience
  • Ability to level up without spending extra funds

Cons:

  • Can be challenging to navigate all the menus to find what you want
  • Annoying players playing matches well under their ability

Everything when it comes to graphics, is improved.  The player is more realistic-looking, and the course is more realistic, with each feature enhanced to an exponential degree.   While it’s not the best graphics ever seen, the improvement is great, while at the same time the game flows smoothly from one screen and animation to another.

Building your player for a newcomer to the game can be quite complicated.  Sure, anyone can choose hairstyles, clothing options and accessories but what clubs should you choose?  What do you want your player to excel at?

The game gives you short explanations and bars that give you all the trade-offs and options for choosing what you want.  2K call these templates to create your player archetypes and there are five to choose from:  Powerhouse, Technician, Magician, Greenskeeper, and Sculptor.

Each one of these is better at some things and not as good at others.  From here you can then choose your swing characteristics – do you want to favour a fade or a draw etc?  Then you can follow paths to progress your swing and your player.

Once you have performed this basic setup, you can further tweak your player’s characteristics by following what they call skill trees – like an algorithm that you can follow to improve your shots – Tee, Approach, Recovery, Bunker and Green.  I tweaked a lot of my recovery-type shots, including flop shots and more.

Your game will also progress the more you play with a new level-up system for clubs and balls using Level Up Tokens, Fittings, and EvoTools.  I used these to enhance the parts of my game that were not good.

Before starting you can follow the tutorials and practice sessions to help you fine-tune your game.  My main issue with these was the inability to practice exactly what I wanted.  For example, I was struggling with my chipping from the greenside but I couldn’t place the ball exactly where I wanted and practice a specific chip like I could in 2K23.  

New to PGA Tour 2K25 are the EvoSwing mechanics and new shot types, ball flights, roll physics and more.  There is just a lot more you can do with your shot now to adjust it to the conditions – real-world golfers will know what is required at times but even if you don’t know it already, the game explains to you when you may need one of these new shot types.  

EvoSwing breaks down the swing into contact, rhythm, transition and swing path based on your swing mechanics (where you move and click your mouse etc).  The shot quality (accuracy, shape and length) is determined by a combination of all of these.  It’s tough to hit the perfect shot but often I’ve found that near enough is good enough – but then I’m not playing at ‘Master’ level.

If that wasn’t hard enough, 2K have added Perfect Swing, a difficulty setting that reduces (or increases) the “material impact of external forces on a player’s swing.”  I tend to have this turned down, especially at my current noob stage.

There are a lot more courses for you to play and enjoy in this iteration of PGA Tour, now at 27 different courses, including the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club, and The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club.  I personally loved playing them all and although I’m a purist, I found the US courses more difficult in the game than the traditional links courses of the UK.  

There is still no Augusta but I am not fussed – I got to play the Old Course at St Andrews, which was great, seeing as I walked around it earlier this year so a lot of it was known to me.  The inclusion of the subtleties was good but there were a few things missing such as the caddy shed but the prominent landmarks were present, including the Swilcan Bridge (minus the tourists ready to run out and get a photo on it after the players have gone over it and gotten their photos).

The pros you can play have also been updated and some new ones have been added.  The new pros include  Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Rose Zhang, Lydia Ko, Tom Kim, Brooke Henderson, and Chris McDonald.  I’m not fussed by these, preferring to make my own avatar and golfer, but it’s improved if that floats your boat.

You can play individual events in the new Ranked Tours or you can go full RPG mode and play MyCAREER.   Ranked Tours includes daily and weekly events which follow the PGA Tour while it is in-season.   There are events for all levels 

MyCAREER allows you to develop the personality you want your golfer to have, and you do different things to increase their popularity and engage with other golfers, the media, sponsors, and more.  The better you play and the more you interact the better sponsors you will attract.

I don’t mind the RPG focus but I’m yet to see if it really makes that much difference to the game for me.  It does make it more than just the hitting part of the game and sometimes I do want that.  This is where PGA Tour 2K25 excels – it offers a choice of either.

This mode does allow you to qualify for big tournaments such as The Open and maybe once I have this thing mastered it will be something I look into more.  For now, it does seem a bit easy for me.  I’ve made the PC and competitors better, made my golfer harder to play but I still seem to be winning tournaments by over 10 shots.

Conversely, when I play an online Ranked Tour event against others I get smacked.  I might manage to get 5 or 6 under for a round or 2 tournament in the Pro-Am difficulty but there are folks getting 23-under.  Seriously, people, what are you doing?  Go and play where you abilities lie.  Bugger off and let us lesser-folks try and win.  It’s like Rory McIlroy coming to play the Elcho Park Open down in country Victoria.  I feel 2K need to make this not possible as it takes some of the fun out of it not having a chance to even get close to winning.

I do enjoy playing against others though so if you enjoy playing this and want a match hit me up on the socials.  I will warn you, I’m not very good, although I did just get a hole-in-one two minutes before typing this (and still lost to the guy in the Pacers jersey).

This year 2K has moved to a ‘non-expiring’ Clubhouse Pass, offering both a free and a premium track with 100 tiers per season.  You can skip tiers with virtual currency on either track but where is the fun in that?  If you just want to get all five seasons in one go, you can purchase a Members Pass giving you ‘the first 5 Seasons of Premium Clubhouse Passes, plus the Clubhouse Gear Pack, which includes one outfit per body type per season delivered at the beginning of each Season.’  

I like all this, but feel it is a bit of a novelty to me.  If you are serious about this game though, you will find plenty of competition and enhancements with these.

Another new addition this year is new tools within the Course Designer mode.  This allows you to design your own course for others to play.  With the improved graphics, there are more options for you to use when creating your course.  You could try to replicate your local course, or simply start from scratch and set it up the way you want.

Final Verdict

PGA Tour 2K25 is not just a great upgrade over 2K23, but a great game in its own right, making it arguably better than anything else on the market. It have improved graphics, and allows you to play practice rounds, range practice, lessons, along with any course they have access to. You can also upload courses downloaded from elsewhere (there are plenty of sites with them if you wish) or make your own.

Right out of the box, you can play any course, or you can carefully set up your golfer and start a career —an immersive RPG experience with everything from media to sponsors and rivals. The swing mechanics are improved and easy to perform allowing you to get half decent in a short time — even if you don’t you can change the difficulty of the game to suit your skills.

If you like golf and gaming or just any sports game, then I highly recommend you check out PGA Tour 2K25 for a lot of fun either by yourself or against others.