Pretty Good Golf

Pretty Good Golf was one of the Web's very first Shockwave games. If debuted in January, 1996 and soon after won one of the first Macromedia Shockwave Site of the Day awards. Since then, it has been upgraded many times. This is version 3.2.

The game is played looking directly down on the golf course. Different patterns on the screen represent different terrains, such as the fairway, rough, sand or trees. When you begin, the game lets you choose among several different courses and three levels of play. To learn the game, start with the practice level.

The infomation/menu bar shown here will appear on the right side of your screen in the game. It shows your scorecard at the top, your club choice, the wind direction and speed, the terrain where the ball lies and the swing meter.

To make a shot, first select your club. Do this by clicking and holding the pop-up menu. Next, position the cursor near the ball. The ball appears as a white dot on the course display.

The image here shows the portion of the screen with the ball. The user has positioned the cursor to the left and down from the ball. Two lines appear in that direction. The shorter line shows the amount of power you wish to apply to the swing, while both lines show the desired swing direction. You can also see the target mark at the top right of the image. The target mark, shown only at practice level, tells you where the ball should first hit the ground. It does not talk into account swing error and wind.

An easy way to remember which direction to point the line is to think of the line as a billiards stick. Position the line behind the ball.

Notice the swing meter at the bottom of the informtaion/menu bar. To swing, click down and hold. A black line will rise on the swing meter. Release it when it matches the red line already on the meter. If the two lines match, the swing will be perfect. Otherwise you will either slice or pull the ball.

Pay attention to what type of surface you are hitting from (tee, fairway, rough, etc.), as this affects the drive. Once the ball reaches the green, the display will change to enlarge that portion of the course.

Using the pop-up menu at the top of the display, you can reset the game at any time. To submit a score, you must play at the professional level. When you complete all 18 holes, you will be asked for information to complete your submission to the leaderboard.