Variations
There are no real “variations” on this game; pressing 1-4 on the keyboard indicates how many players are participating. Rather than following the format of real golf, each player takes it in turns to play a complete hole, and is represented by a different colour.
In Golf, players have free control over their golfer as they walk around the course, which is represented a hole at a time from a top-down perspective. The angle of the golfer’s club changes according to their relative position to the ball, and holding the joystick’s button starts a backswing, always in a clockwise direction. The angle the ball will travel will thus be calculated according to where the club was when the backswing started.
The longer you hold the button, the more powerful the swing, but if you allow the backswing to go all the way around, the power of the shot will be randomised. Upon landing the ball on the green, the display switches to a zoomed-in view, where the same control scheme is used for putting. After sinking the ball (achieved simply by causing the ball to overlap the hole graphic — there are no “near misses” in this game) you move on to the next or, in a multiplayer game, the next player gets to take their turn.
The game runs for 9 holes, each of which has a unique layout, but the only hazards besides the course’s shape itself are trees.
Original release date: 1978
Also known as: Computer Golf! (USA)
Golf 
Golf
Pete’s Take
It may be slow and plodding, and it may be simplistic — there’s no par for each hole, there are no bunkers and the implementation of multiplayer is different to how real golf works — but Golf is an enjoyable game with a bit of depth and skill to it. It’s especially fun if you can gather a friend or three to play together, and despite being one of the few early Videopacs that only has a single game on the cartridge, it’s actually very content-rich for the era, with nine full holes to master.
Atari 2600 veterans will likely recognise the way this game does things, but since that console’s take on Golf (not directly related to this one) came out in 1980, this game predates it by two full years. The 2600 title did add slightly more detail to its visuals and additional hazards, but the core mechanic of the clockwise backswing is identical — if a little faster.
The game’s manual promises “a very human reaction from the electronic golfers” if you drive the ball into the trees, and I have to say, even given the technological limitations of the G7000, it’s hard to imagine a more convincing depiction of electronic anger than that which is provided in this game. It’s proof that even the most potentially dry of games (such as a golf simulation!) has room for a bit of humour in the mix.
Videopac Games 