Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14: 5 New Features That Make This the Best Version Yet

Talk about perfect timing. EA Sports couldn't have scripted this any better.

With Tiger Woods' victory at Arnold Palmer's tournament yesterday—aka, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard—the two living legends of golf are front-and-center for the latest release of the popular video game series Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, featuring Tiger (of course) and, you guessed it, Mr. Palmer, on the cover.

This year's rendition of the number one selling video game franchise is all about legends—a throwback version, if you will—where you can celebrate the rich history of the game by matching your skills against icons like Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and more.

You'll attempt to "Take Down Legends" on some of the world's most prestigious championship courses—20 in all—as you travel back in time to challenge their reign and claim your own spot among the best to ever play the game.

Here are five new features of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 that make this the best version yet.

Take Down Legends

In Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, nine legendary golfers are featured—Tiger, Seve Ballesteros, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Lee Trevino and my personal favorite, Arnold Palmer.

In the all-new Legends of the Majors mode, you can relive the history of the game from the dawn of tournament play in 1873—complete with period-specific attire and the proper hardware: brassies, niblicks, mashies and the like—all the way to more modern day action.

There are six golf eras in this year's game, each with their own set of gameplay physics, graphics, crowds, presentation and clothing.

You can play against these aforementioned iconic players with your own created golfer or play as them and relive some of golf's greatest moments. Each of these legends has their own true to life ratings and their own personalized Swing Styles settings.

Plus, there is more than one Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods in this game. Each of these golfers enjoyed success in different eras and your options reflect those different eras.

For example, you can choose Arnold Palmer from 1958-1962 or Arnold Palmer from 1972-1978. Or you might prefer to play the "Tiger Slam" version of Tiger Woods, circa 2000-2001.

When I met Mr. Palmer at his hometown Latrobe Country Club last year, I told him how I wished I could go back in time to see him play in his prime—to be a part of "Arnie's Army" and to witness first-hand the excitement he generated in showcasing his brand of golf to the entire world.

And before I played a round at Oakmont Country Club, I walked the halls of the clubhouse, looking at "old-time" framed photographs with their historian. More than once, I mentioned to him how I wished I could go back in time to see great players like Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones play the game.

With Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, it's as close as I'll ever get to making those wishes a reality. It's the next best thing to actually having been there.

New Courses, New Golfers

There are now a total of 20 championship golf courses featured on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14. Five new courses make their debut this year, including Jack Nicklaus' home course, Muirfield Village, home of the PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament, and Oak Hill Country Club, site of this year's PGA Championship.

The others are Mission Hills, home of the LPGA Tour's first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship; Royal Troon in Scotland (which has hosted the Open Championship eight times); and TPC Louisiana, site of another PGA Tour stop, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

My Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 experience is highlighted by Augusta National, of course. I've watched The Masters so many times I feel like I've already played there.

In The Masters Historic Edition of the game—the version I am playing—I can also go back to 1934 to play Augusta National the way it was originally conceived by course architects Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie, when the first "Augusta National Invitational" Tournament, as the Masters was originally known, took place.

The Augusta National Par 3 Course is also included.

Aside from the thrill of simulating a round at Augusta National, it's really incredible to be able to play two of my favorite golf courses in the world—Oakmont Country Club and the restored Pinehurst No. 2.

I've actually played both courses so it's a trip down memory lane each time I fire up a quick practice round at one of these historic venues.

As for the golfers, this year's game features a whopping 35 playable characters. New additions include Keegan Bradley, Lexi Thompson and the new No. 1 female golfer in the world, Stacy Lewis. Other favorites of mine include Rory McIlroy, Paula Creamer and Dustin Johnson, to name just a few.

All-New Physics

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 makes your golfing experience even more realistic with advanced shot shaping, an enhanced strike meter and improved ball physics. Everything has been upgraded to better reflect the real-world golfing experience.

This year's version builds upon the gameplay foundation that was set last year by expanding on the Total Swing Control feature and debuting a Golfer Swing Styles feature. This new offering allows you to define and add style to each and every one of your golf shots—which adds up to 24 unique golfing styles in all.

When you create your golfer, you'll not only be able to determine the way he or she looks in great detail (I'm unlocking all the available Nike equipment and clothing when I get my Golfer Level rating high enough), you'll also be allowed to determine some unique swing styles, like: Power vs. Control, Draw vs. Fade, Low, Medium or High Trajectory, and Right-handed vs. Left-handed.

As a Power or Control golfer, you'll be able to take advantage of your golfer type and add extra Power or Control to your shots. With Advanced Shot Shaping, you will be hitting a slight draw or fade on all your long distance shots, just as most pro golfers do.

And it's not just your created golfer who can take advantage of the new Golfer Swing Styles feature. All of the pro golfers in this year's game, including the legends, have their real life swing style settings applied to them, as well as different ball physics and distances with the equipment from different eras.

There is also a Simulation mode where you can ramp up the difficulty level by removing the green grid, putt meter and swing arc. I like this a lot, but don't even think about using it until you get a very good feel for the game. Again, it just adds to the real-world golfing experience when you strip it down to this level.

Play the Majors—All of Them

For the first time in the history of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise, you will have a chance to capture the Grand Slam by participating in all four major championships: The Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship.

Not only will you be able to play in these tournaments, you'll get the full, realistic major championship experience, right down to the official branding, logos, structures and banners at these events—even the iconic Rolex clocks.

You can play the majors in Legends of the Majors or Career Mode, but you can even use the Quick Tournaments feature. Pick a major, then select a golfer and a final round scenario. You'll get to experience all the emotion and drama of major championship action in a quick and easy to access mode.

With the Masters Tournament coming up in just a couple weeks, I decided to throw myself into Sunday contention with Quick Tournaments. I selected Bubba Watson from four different player possibilities in a head-to-head battle against Tiger Woods.

Jim Nantz and David Feherty were announcing, the familiar Masters music was playing between holes (ahhh), and the appreciative galleries lined each fairway. The only thing I questioned was a leaderboard that included names like Derek Ernst, George McNeill and Andrew Svoboda. Really?

Night Golf

Night golf. With illuminated golf balls. That is happening.

The newly added Night Golf feature in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 let's you play after the sun sets. It's a unique part of the new Live and Dynamic Time of Day feature in this year's game.

The time of day you choose to play can be set to a number of unique settings, ranging from early morning to late afternoon.

You start at a chosen time (almost like making a tee time) and the sun moves through the sky as it would naturally, determined by your start time and the geographical location of the course. This way, the lighting conditions replicate the true to life conditions at the course you are playing as closely as possible.

So, even if you have a late tee time, you can keep playing as dusk falls upon your round.

I teed it up for 18 at Oakmont in the late afternoon and by the time I got to the 16th tee, the sun was just peeking over the horizon with a rather red sky. There was a warmth about it that brought back many fond memories of late afternoon rounds that ended just as it was getting dark.

I love that feeling and I love this feature.