An arcade hit since the early '90s, the Golden Tee series has rarely found its way home in general consumer form. A few PC translations and a Playstation release cannot capture what this series is famous for: the trackball. That's the key feature this Radica plug & play console sells itself on. Unfortunately, it misses the features from the PC and Playstation in the process.
The first notable is that this is not the arcade version. In fact, this is a brand new version of the game. There are no 3-D graphics here. This looks like something that came from the Super NES era. Your golfer is stuck in a small box in the top right of the screen, and while animated well, it's hard to get the full feel of the swing.
There is only one eighteen-hole course to play, in addition to a basic driving range. A few different modes allow for up to four players (match, stroke, and tournament), though multiple units can't be linked together. You'll need to pass it around to the next in line each time.
Construction is sturdy plastic, especially the face that holds the buttons and trackball. The bottom has a battery compartment and is nicely rounded to fit neatly on your lap. There is also a port for an AC adapter instead of four AA batteries, though one is not included. As with the slew of plug & plays available, the video cord is hard wired to console. It's a thin composite cable and supports mono audio only.
With all of the complaints though, this still plays a great game of golf. For the slight disappointment with the plastic build, no money was wasted on the trackball. It's solid, heavy, and feels great. To swing, you'll pull back and push it forward as quickly as possible to achieve maximum power. You can also hook it in either direction, though the course design doesn't provide a lot of need for it.
Article comments
1 - Paul
If you LOVE GoldenTee, probably makes more sense to get MAME (Multi-Arcade-Machine Emulator) for free onto your PC, buy the new X-Arcade Joystick w/trackball, and get the free (Albeit shady and slightly illegal) GoldenTee ROM off the internet.
It will cost more than this thing for $40, but it will be a helluva lot more fun!
2 - Unhappy Customer
I purchase a Golden Tee Golf game from Walmart while I was in Orlando. The game is total JUNK!
You can't drive the ball more than 50 yards as there is way too much play in forward movement.
No replies from numerous attempts to Radica games to resolve the problem. Radica does not stand behind their products.
3 - Dan
I love Golden tee, unfortunately where I any living at the moment there is no arcade version available.
So I purchased the home version plug and play type.
It's not bad but I am pretty sure Combat for my Atari had better grafics and sound effects, and there is only one course. I am very disappointed with this product, it had so much more potential.