Previous Next

It's a pity I played Golf Construction Set before polishing up my clubs for Leader Board. It's like playing pitch and putt after the US Masters. Still, Leader Board has lots to commend it and even scores over GCS in a few areas.

Unlike GCS, Leader Board is purely a golf simulation - you can't design your own course. There's a choice of four courses (none of them real) which look so alike, it's a wonder why Access bothered to give you a choice. More about those later.

Starting options include 1 to 4 players and choice of 'novice', 'amateur' or 'pro' levels. These are important because they determine what happens to your shots. As a novice, you're not affected by the wind, hooked or sliced shots. In 'pro' mode, they whole lot gets thrown at you - better get the swear-box ready.

Like GCS you get a full set of clubs and you choose one for each shot (funnily enough, you don't get a sandwich, sorry, sandwedge). Unlike GCS, a player actually appears on screen who swings and thwacks his way up the course - mine looked like Arnold Palmer with lumbago.

The process of hitting shots is fairly simple. When you've set the direction of shot, you set its strength on a power meter by pressing and letting your fire-button go. That also determines whether the ball will hook or slice. There's also a power meter for the putting green.

It's all a bit confusing at first but is mastered fairly quickly, especially since there's a driving-range option for practising on. It also lets you experiment with different clubs and the distance you can gain with them. Be warned, though, you'll need a joystick with a pretty sensitive button. That's it really, apart from the wind indicator and the slope marker for the greens.

In terms of realism, Leader Board scores well on shots. Club distances are accurate and so are the effects of wind, gradients and hooks and slices. When you've mastered those two, you can sit back and watch as your tee-shot curves majestically towards the green.

Sound effects (Ball plopping down the hole, ball hitting the pin) are adequate. Scoring is very good too - a complete scoreboard appears after every hole so you know exactly how you and your partners are getting on.

Leader Board doesn't fare so well on graphics. The courses look mostly like green islands surrounded by sea; there are no bunkers, no trees, no rough. Maybe all American courses are like this? Maybe the programmers just don't like trees?

The only real hazard is whacking your shot into the water - that happens quite regularly in 'pro' mode. "Occasionally you will find other small hazards that do not appear to be grass," says the manual. I never found any though. Could they be the type you wouldn't like to tread in?

To sum up, Leader Board just doesn't have the attention to detail and shot control of Golf Construction Set. If you're an armchair 'Pro-Celebrity Golf' watcher, Leader Board will probably satisfy you. But for the tartan trouser brigade, it's got to be Golf Construction Set.