To settle all the intricacies of buying land player simply pick a piece of land with their designated money. A prime spot in Las Vegas or Hawaii is a tad too costly, but a nice spot in Monterey is a good low-cost start. From there the sim aspect is simple. SimGolf uses The Sims interface to make customization a breeze. There are three main buttons that players use to manage all aspects of the course – Build Course, Add Building, and People. In Build Course you can lay down the green on the property and add rough terrain, sand, rocks, and any other golf type pasture. To start a play area, just add a tee and a flag and the course is set for play. Sim players will automatically start appearing on your course to play a round of golf. The terrain menu is a sub set of the Build Course button and lets players add pathways, benches, scenery, and more.

Once you start earning cash, the Add Building button lets you build buildings that will enhance a certain aspect of play quality for your sim golfers. If players choose to add a Snack Bar then sim golfers won’t get cranky about hunger. Add a Cart Garage and golfers can get around in carts to speed up turnaround business. There are a total of eight buildings so customization doesn’t get too complicated. But its price is that it isn’t too deep either. Players can fine tune the elevation of their course in the Add Building section. You can choose to raise a small or large area just by clicking the left mouse button, or decrease elevation with the right mouse button.

The People button grants access to hire employees, peak at how each golfer likes your course, or customize your own golfer to play on the course. There are a total of eight employees that are separated into basic and skilled. Players can pick from soda vendors to technicians who get rid of nasty weeds. Specialized employees cost a couple hundred dollars more a week then the average Joe employee. If you want your own golfer playing on the course, you can customize your own and add points to improve each golf skill.

SimGolf is one quirky gem. You’ll hear and see comments from each golfer as he or she putts through your course. As you build your course, birds may suddenly drop from the sky because you built on their habitat. It gets a bit chaotic when your resort becomes the hit of the town – which isn’t too hard to do. Big wigs will stop by and play a round. If they like what they see they’ll invest in your course and boom – you have more cash to expand your resort. Every few months in game time players will receive an update on how their course is performing, and receive a yearly report to compare the course growth or loss. If you think your course is the cream of the crop and doesn’t need any more fixing, you can retire the course and play it in Championship Mode.

To get your golf game on SimGolf has several shot techniques to use – Straight, Fade, Draw, High Back Spin, and Low Back Spin shot. As your golfer gets more skilled, the Sim Golf Association will ask to host tournaments or pro challenges on your course. It’s not the meat of the title but it’s fun to enjoy your creation.

Sid Meier’s SimGolf is a great sim. Players can create and manage easily and it has enough slapstick comedy to keep you entertained. More course customization elements would make a deeper sim, but that’s what expansion packs are for.