Many people question the logic of yearly sports releases and the Tiger Woods series has always been a poster boy for those sentiments. This year, however, several features such as Dynamic ratings, a swing coach, club tuner and online simultaneous play make the game worth investigating, even for die-hards.

Upon starting the game your swing coach (and Tiger’s) Hank Haney provides you with an introduction to the game and he will appear throughout the course of your virtual career to give advice and work on your game. After each round your ratings go up or down based on your play; Haney will provide you with drills that will temporarily improve your play for the next round.

So if you’re playing the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and your accuracy goes down based on your shots, Haney might pick a particular hole that you had trouble on and give you some drills to complete. These temporary bonuses only last for the next round. It’s a very novel idea and keeps Haney’s involvement in the game somewhat useful—the problem lies in his voiceovers. To call Haney’s voiceover work, or for that matter the work of the new announce team (Kelly Tilghman and Sam Torrance) uninspiring would be along the lines of a compliment.

How you play overall affects your attributes from round to round; miss enough fairways and your accuracy will go down. Each golfer is measured in four categories; power, accuracy, short game and putting. These base ratings only improve (or decline) based on your play, they can be boosted by the previously mentioned coaching tips and better equipment. This is by far the best feature in the game and the increases and declines happen at a rate which is well balanced to the gameplay.

It would be nice in future versions if these attributes were adjusted during a round, as any golfer knows you have your off days and sometime you can’t hit a putt to save your life. While the season long dynamic adjustments are terrific, imagine if there were a subset that was on a round by round basis. From a front end stand point the displays and charts of your attributes are outstanding and they really give you an idea of how your game is changing and what needs work.