Get ready to go head-to-head on Xbox. Get the scoop on the best sports games from Operation Sports Managing Editor Shawn Drotar. In addition to writing previews, reviews, and the site's blog, "Splinters From The Pine," Shawn is proud to provide exclusive coverage for Xbox.com. He can be contacted at shawn@operationsports.com.

Operation Sports:

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005: From Amateur to Pro

By Shawn Drotar, Managing Editor, OperationSports.com

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 2005 is the most feature-packed golf game available for your Xbox®, and there's plenty of different ways to play, both by yourself or with friends. Anyone of virtually any skill level can pick up an Xbox controller, watch the tutorial video, and be ready to hit the links. However, some veteran Tiger players and other gamers familiar to golf may find themselves looking for a greater challenge than the level the game presents by default.

Fortunately, Tiger has you covered with the game's Tour difficulty and its in-game options menu. Playing on Tour difficulty makes everything tougher on you. First of all, precise movements with the controller are critical. Any hitch at the top of your swing or side-to-side movement on the controller stick can have a sizeable effect on your shot. Hooks, slices, and other unfortunate slipups become much more common. Putting becomes a real challenge, as the targeting tips on the green are eliminated, leaving you the break line as your only tool to gauge distance and accuracy for your putt. In addition, the AI players perform better, and you have a tougher time fending them off. You're rewarded for playing Tour difficulty, however—the money you earn to buy equipment and improve your player is increased by a multiplier, and this lets the daring golfer quickly improve their virtual alter-ego, if they're playing good, solid rounds of golf.

Get that ball out of the sand.

However, let's say you're more of a "sim" player—someone who wants all the strategy of shot-making, but doesn't want to take advantage of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005's tools to make the game easier for the novice. Well, there's hope for you yet! Head to the EA SPORTS™ Options & Extras menu, and choose Game Setup. You can toggle each of Tiger's game options on or off to suit your taste. Don't want the Xbox to automatically handle your tap-ins? Then turn that option off, and do them yourself. Is your caddy a little too helpful? Don't want to know the exact elevation and distance before you shoot? Then turn off those options, and golf by dead reckoning—just as if you were on a real course. If some of Tiger's more arcade-like elements make things too simple for you, you can easily turn these elements off as well. Eliminate the Swing Aid, Power Boost, and Spin Control options to make each shot an exercise in pace, rhythm, and accuracy, and put your shot-making and course management skills to the test. Even Tiger Vision—the game's newest putting feature—can be toggled off to make the putting the same challenge it is for the PGA Tour pros. Last, but not least, the game's presentation options can be suited to taste, with Big Hit Cameras and Gamebreakers among the options available to tweak. Essentially, you can make Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005 as difficult, as challenging, and as fun as you want it to be.

Battling your opponents, the greens … and the sun.

Here's an example: I've played an awful lot of rounds of golf in Tiger 2005 for these articles—and I've played most of them with the game's default settings. I played a round at Pebble Beach with my created player and shot a ridiculous -19 under par. After activating Tour difficulty, I opened the game options menu and turned off Gameplay Hints, Caddy Tips, Tiger Vision, Aiming Marker Info, Swing Aid, Power Boost, Spin Control, and Big Hit Cameras—leaving only Tap-ins, Break Line, Wind/Lie Indicator, Vibration, and Gamebreakers on—and the game completely changed for me. All of a sudden, the mental game of golf was just as important as my controller skills. Shot placement was critical, as was strategy. No longer did I hunt for every pin; now I had to lay up short of the green, or play a putt more conservatively. Balls hooked and sliced more often, and bad lies in the rough or on the sand were much more dangerous. I shot a +2 over par that round—and had my most enjoyable time with Tiger ever.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005 may not seem at first like it was made with the simulation golf gamer in mind, but with a few easy tweaks here are there, the game can become a sim fan's dream. Playing in your first career PGA Tournament, where your only realistic goal is making the cut, getting a sponsor's attention, and maybe earning enough cash to buy a better set of clubs? Now that's the real drama of golf—and it's definitely possible in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005, if you know where to look … and now you do.

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