Good or bad? Good or bad? Good or bad? It’s my job to decide, and for some reason I seem to be torn on which way I will decide. Maybe it is both, or maybe I just don’t know enough about golf to complain; I will try to make some sense though.

One aspect of the game that I can comment on and compliment without any reason of a doubt is the character creation. First of all, Tiger Woods Golf 09 offers golf fans the ability to play as either male or female. After deciding your sex, the true customization begins. Anywhere from height to weight to individual limb sizes (size of arms or legs for example) to a total facial customization is available. The facial customization is so detailed that you can take control of individual features such as your eyes, nose, mouth, etc. If you actually truly care about your character’s looks you can end up spending hours of gameplay on just that feature alone.

As for playing the game, that’s where I’m having a bit of trouble deciding if I like the way it plays or not. First of all you have the X mode as I like to call it. That’s the easy game setting. For the most part you just press the X button and you play Tiger Woods Golf 09. While that mode MIGHT be entertaining for your youngsters, you will get sick of it in a matter of minutes. The real gameplay mode is the way to go, but unfortunately, that can get pretty tricky to get used to. Not only do you have the power bar (0 – 100%) available to charge before each swing (charge and swing is performed with the analog stick), but you have a booster by pressing the X button (the faster you press the higher the percent booster). Since the fast reaction time required to take the shot, I found it almost impossible to angle my shot (slice left or right). It seems I either pull on the analog stick a bit too much to one of the two sides. Personally, I think that they should have let you just select your angle before the swing, but I guess that adds more realism and difficulty to the game. Another problem I have with the game is the putting. For some reason I can be one foot away from the hole, yet four shots later I finally get the sink. Maybe my hands are just too twitchy for a finesse shot like that, or maybe my real life golfing skills are not allowing me to adjust to the game’s pace, but at the same time, I’ve never played in the NFL and I can throw or run a touchdown from the one yard line with a much, much better percentage then sinking a ball in Tiger Woods Golf 09.