Sid Meier’s SimGolf: The History of a Hole-in-One Golf Sim

Released in 2002, this gem of a game allowed players to design, build, and manage their own golf courses. Oh, and you get to play the courses too. Sid Meier’s SimGolf brought a fresh and engaging twist to the sports simulation genre.

I found Sid Meier’s SimGolf the same way I found a lot of games in the early 2000’s: I saw it on a shelf at BestBuy. I recognized Sid Meier‘s name from a series of other games such as Sid Meier’s Pirates! and a little game called Civilization. My passion for video games then and now is sometimes rivaled by my passion for golf, so seeing a golf sim by one of the great developers made the purchase a no-brainer.

Let’s dive into the fascinating history of this game and explore what made it so special and addictive.

Origins and Development

The story of Sid Meier’s SimGolf begins with Sid Meier, a name synonymous with strategic depth and engaging gameplay. Meier’s entire gaming journey is detailed beautifully in his autobiography, Sid Meier’s Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games, which is absolutely required reading for anyone who is a fan of his games. Meier had started his gaming career in the 1980’s, founding MicroProse with his business partner, Bill Stealey. There, they had created some of the most well-known games in the world, with their biggest being the Civilization series.

After creative differences with Stealey in 1990, Meier sold his stake in MicroProse to Stealey, but stayed on as an employee, still developing games, as that was his passion. However, by 1997, Meier, along with other MicroProse employees left the company and formed Firaxis Games.

Initial Prototype

Meier had been working on a dinosaur game for a long time, but kept running into roadblocks that kept him from completing the game. After a lot of effort and failed prototypes, he finally decided to kill the dinosaur game (we never got Sid Meier’s Dinosaurs!, and that is a damn shame). With time to pursue other ideas, he saw a contest in a golf magazine for designing golf holes. It piqued his interest. He didn’t know that there was more to golf course design than just plopping down some grass, hills and a bunker or two. Golf course design was a big deal, and far more strategic than he realized. He set out to create a prototype.

Meier put together the initial prototype for the game while on vacation, which was a standard practice for him. Reusing some of the gameplay mechanics and assets from his Civil War game, Sid Meier’s Gettysburg!, he quickly put together a playable prototype. “All I had to do was swap out those Union grays for an argyle vest, and my golfing prototype was halfway done,” Meier later quipped.

The initial prototype of the game was a golf course creator and modeler, not a simulation game.

Partnering with Maxis

When Meier got back from vacation, he showed his prototype to Bing Gordon, CCO at Electronic Arts, who said, “This feels like it could be part of the Sims universe”, referencing the iconic SimCity and The Sims games created by Maxis, a subsidiary of EA. Gordon put Meier in touch with the folks at Maxis to bring this new Sims/Tycoon-style golf game to life. Many traits from Maxis and The Sims games are present in the final version. The most obvious are the Sims-style navigation and the inclusion of Simlish, a made-up language of nonsensical sounds that the characters on the screen speak.

Getting the fundamentals of the game in place with Maxis didn’t take long. However, instead of keeping the Sim characters in the golf game happy through manipulating their behavior, like in The Sims, it was done through the environmental design of the course you were creating. You couldn’t bribe people to like a course, they either liked it, or they didn’t.

But, that led to a core question: What makes a great golf course?

Neither Meier nor the folks at Maxis knew.

Going Pro

With a glaring flaw in the game (frankly, not knowing how to score if a course is good or bad) Firaxis cofounder, Jeff Briggs called his brother in law who was a member of a prestigious club in New York. Briggs convinced his brother in law to bring some of his professional golfing buddies down to Firaxis to discuss the concept (and play a few rounds of golf).

The professional golfers took turns telling Meier and Briggs what made a great golf course.

“It needs to be easy, nobody actually likes a hard course,” one of them said.

Meier replied that all of the greens should just be a funnel down to the hole to make it as easy as possible then.

“Yeah, okay. So, you want it to look hard, but still play easy,” the golf pro replied.

As they discussed further, the scoring system began to take shape. The team learned that people like golf holes that play to their strengths, but not other people’s strengths. Being able to make a shot someone else couldn’t made golf holes appealing and exciting.

With a scoring system in his mind, Meier and the other developers went back to work to make the gameplay.

Gameplay Mechanics

Sid Meier’s SimGolf offered a unique blend of gameplay elements. Players started with a plot of land and a limited budget, with the goal of transforming it into a successful and profitable golf resort (not just course). The game allowed for extensive customization, letting players design every aspect of their course, from the layout of the fairways to the placement of bunkers and water hazards. Players could also place other buildings, such as marinas, and features to enhance the entire resort’s appeal.

Scoring

The scoring system was based on the abilities of individual golfers and whether they could or couldn’t do certain things with a shot. For example, a big hitter could hit a drive 250 yards, but an average player would only hit it 200 yards. So if you put a big hill 225 yards from the tee box, the big hitter could carry it, and see the ball roll down the other side, while the average player wouldn’t make it over the hill, and their ball would roll backwards. The difference between these two shots would then be calculated and the bigger the distance between the shots, the better. It showed that one player had an advantage, and that’s what makes a great hole.

Playing the Course

One of the standout features was the ability to play the golf courses you designed. This added a layer of interactivity and personal investment that was missing from many other simulation games. You could step into the shoes of a golfer, take on challenges, and experience firsthand the fruits of your design efforts.

This aspect was overly simplified to tee shots and iron shots to get the ball to the green. You could select from the type of shots you wanted to make, either making a normal shot, a draw, a fade, throwing the ball high in the air with backspin, etc. This enabled you, as the player, to see how challenging their course was as they faced off against another AI player in the round.

Adding to the enjoyment, your golfer could be upgraded as you played. Skill points were given when the character was first started and then earned after certain achievements were reached, such as sinking a long putt or hitting an approach shot close to the pin.

Course Management

Managing the golf course involved not just creating challenging and enjoyable holes but also catering to the needs and preferences of your golfers. Each golfer had a unique personality and skill level, which affected their performance and satisfaction.

Keeping your golfers happy was crucial to maintaining a successful course. If one course was tailored to a big hitter, another had to be tailored to the average golfer who may be better at something else, like chipping. Creating a variety of these types of holes is what led to more satisfied players and more success in the game.

You also had to hire staff to take care of the course. Without groundskeepers and technicians, dandelions would pop up around the course, which would annoy the players.

Strategic Depth

What set Sid Meier’s SimGolf apart from its predecessors and other simulation games was its strategic depth. Players had to balance the aesthetic appeal of their course with its playability and profitability. Over-hiring would lead to negative cashflow. Under-hiring would lead to the course not being well maintained and players leaving.

Decisions about pricing, marketing, and amenities all impacted the success of your golf resort too.

The game also featured various tournaments and events that added to the complexity. Players could host competitions to attract more golfers and earn prestige, which in turn helped to boost their course’s reputation and profitability.

Like most strategy games, it’s about finding the balance that works best for the outcomes you want. If you want to create a course that’s run on a razor-thin margin, you can, but it will take a long time to accumulate cash. If you don’t spend much on the course, you risk losing players, but for brief periods you could see large amounts of cash come in. In the end, it was up to the player to decide which strategy to take.

Reception and Legacy

Upon its release, Sid Meier’s SimGolf received positive reviews for its engaging gameplay and innovative blend of simulation and strategy. Critics and players alike appreciated the game’s depth, the charming graphics, and the unique combination of building and playing golf courses. To some players and reviewers alike, the whimsical nature of the game was surprising and even refreshing coming from the man who brought the world Civilization and Sid Meier’s Pirates!.

While it may not have reached the iconic status of Civilization, Sid Meier’s SimGolf carved out a niche for itself and remains fondly remembered by fans of simulation games. It demonstrated Sid Meier’s versatility as a game designer and his ability to create compelling experiences across different genres.

Should You Play It?

For me, Sid Meier’s SimGolf was more than just a game; it was a creative playground where I could create the type of golf course I’d love to play. It was also such a pleasure to create iconic holes, like the island green at #17 Sawgrass, and then have my player take it on.

The joy of designing a challenging hole and then sinking a birdie on it was immensely satisfying. It was a game that rewarded both creativity and strategic thinking, and that’s what made it stand out in a sea of simulations.

If you’ve never played Sid Meier’s SimGolf, it’s definitely worth a try. Whether you’re a fan of golf, simulation games, or just looking for something different, this game offers a unique and enjoyable experience that’s hard to find elsewhere.

The biggest issue you’ll find with this game is getting it to run properly. It came out in 2002, and ran on Windows 95 through XP. Because it wasn’t made for modern hardware, even if you pick up a copy, it takes a lot of hoop jumping to run correctly on Windows 10 and above. To get my old copy to work, I have to set my resolution to 800×600, which looks insane on larger monitors. But as soon as the music starts up, I know that all of that setup was worth it.