Golf

This article is about the 1984 video game. For other uses of the term "golf", see Golf (disambiguation).

Golf
NES box art For alternate box art, see the game's gallery.
Developer	Nintendo R&D2 Hudson Soft (PC-8801, PC-8001mkIISR, and Sharp X1 ports)
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System, NEC PC-88, Sharp X1, PC-8001mkIISR, Family Computer Disk System, PlayChoice-10, e-Reader, Virtual Console (Wii U), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online
Release date	Famicom/NES: May 1, 1984 October 18, 1985[?] November 15, 1986[?] PC-8801: 1985[?] Sharp X1: 1985[?] PC-8001mkIISR: 1985[?] Famicom Disk System: February 21, 1986[?] Nintendo PlayChoice-10: August 1986[?] e-Reader: April 21, 2003[?] Virtual Console (Wii U): October 10, 2013[?] October 10, 2013[?] October 10, 2013[?] November 13, 2013[?] Nintendo Switch:* March 3, 2017[?] March 3, 2017[?] March 3, 2017[?] March 3, 2017[?] March 3, 2017[?] *Playable only through July 11 Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online: July 3, 2024 July 4, 2024 July 4, 2024 July 4, 2024
Language(s)	English (United States)
Genre	Sports
Rating(s)	ESRB: - Everyone PEGI: - Three years and older CERO: - All ages ACB: - General USK: - All ages
Mode(s)	1–2 players
Format	NES: Game Pak FDS: Disk Card Wii U: Digital download Nintendo Switch: Digital download Game Boy Advance: e-Reader card
Input	NES: NES Controller Wii U: Wii U GamePad Wii Remote (horizontal) Classic Controller Wii U Pro Controller Nintendo Switch: Joy-Con Joy-Con (horizontal) Nintendo Switch Pro Controller NES Controller Game Boy Advance: Gamepad
Serial code(s)	Famicom: HVC-GF

Golf is a game for the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System released in 1984. It is based on the sport of the same name and is the predecessor to the Mario Golf series. The golfer, a heavyset man with a cap and mustache, has been identified as Mario in supplemental material, albeit not wearing his traditional shirt and overalls. However, the game Captain Rainbow would instead identify the golfer as a separate character named "Ossan," which happens to be a generic internal name Mario had during the development of Donkey Kong. On the North American box art for Golf, the character is shown with red clothing, likely to make the Mario connection more clear, though this is actually the Player 2 color; a similar situation occurred in Ice Climber. Installments of the Mario Golf series more clearly depict the main golfer as Mario.

Nintendo planned to release an 18-hole golfing game as a launch title for the Family Computer, but software companies declined the project and believed that it could not be done with such limited memory at the time. Then-HAL Laboratory employee Satoru Iwata was eager to prove this technical achievement and program the game himself, which required him to create a custom data compression routine. It is the second-released video game that Iwata programmed for Nintendo, after Pinball.

Golf is a playable NES game in Doubutsu no Mori for the Nintendo 64 and its GameCube port, Animal Crossing. Additionally, a copy of the original game was embedded in Nintendo Switch firmware. Activating it required the internal system clock to be set to July 11—Satoru Iwata's death anniversary—and performing his iconic "directly to you" hand gesture with both Joy-Con controllers on the HOME Menu. If the player was successful in doing so, a voice clip of Iwata from a Japanese 2012 presentation would confirm the input, and Golf with added motion control support would promptly boot up. This version of Golf was overwritten as of the 4.0.0 update, making it unplayable. It was later added to Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online in July 2024.

Gameplay

An in-game screenshot

The gameplay of Golf is relatively simple. The player is given a ball, and a map on the right side of the screen shows the hole that they must hit the ball into. The obstacles on the way are also displayed on the map. The player gets more points depending on how many times they hit the ball to get it into the hole. Many different types of clubs are also available to choose from by pressing Up/Down on the + Control Pad. Left/Right changes the direction the player will hit the ball in; on the fairway, this is limited to 16 directions and represented by an arrow, while on the putting green, the directions are unlimited and represented by a crosshair-like target.

Hitting the ball is done via a meter beneath the viewing field. Pressing the button once makes the golfer swing the club back, with the arrow on the meter moving left. Pressing it again causes them to swing forward, also moving the arrow back to the right—how far to the left it was determines the stroke's power, and if it reaches the far left, it will start moving right again on its own without a strength being yet determined. Pressing it a third time hits the ball, with the arrow's position relative to the meter's target area determining the impact point and thus how the ball will move; hitting the target on the center makes the ball go straight, hitting to the right of the target causes a left-curving hook ball, and hitting to the left of the target causes a right-curving slice ball. If the second step is skipped, the ball will merely be swiped a few yards ahead, and skipping the third step causes the club to miss entirely. The ball's direction in the air is also influenced by the direction and speed of the wind, which varies between rounds and is determined by an arrow and label found above the viewing area. On the putting green, meanwhile, the direction is influenced by the lay of the green, represented by arrows in different directions and densities.

Unlike in most golf games following it, there is no distinction between fairway and rough; as such, the only terrains are standard grass, putting green, and sand bunkers (which halve the drive), with trees representing out-of-bounds areas.

Clubs

There are 14 different clubs in the game: three woods (1W, 3W, 4W), eight irons (1I, 3I, 4I, 5I, 6I, 7I, 8I, 9I), a pitching wedge (PW), a sand wedge (SW), and a putter (PT). Higher numbers mean lower length on the shaft and the resulting drive. Woods have a drive that causes the ball to roll a short distance after landing, and as such, they are most useful for covering ground. Irons have a drive that causes the ball to stop short almost immediately after landing, making them the most useful for precision with avoiding hazards. The pitching wedge gives a short-length but very tall drive, and as such, it acts as a 10-level iron. The sand wedge gives a short-distance swat and is the most useful for escaping sand bunkers. The putter is unique, only rolling the ball a small amount forward along the ground to move it onto and across the putting green; its meter is shorter than the others and lacks an impact area, and it is the only club available while the ball is on the green.

Clubs and meters		Fairway shot	Bunker shot
1W		240m*	120m
3W		220m	110m
4W		210m	105m
1I		195m	97.5m
3I		175m	87.5m
4I		165m	82.5m
5I		155m	77.5m
6I		145m	72.5m
7I		130m	65m
8I		115m	57.5m
9I		100m	50m
PW		80m	40m
SW		60m	30m
PT		30m	15m

* - Boosted to 280m if a "super shot" is achieved through perfect timing

Holes

Golf features 18 holes separated into nine labeled "OUT" and nine labeled "IN." Each hole features some green and some woods, and every hole except hole 11 features sand traps. Holes 2, 3, and 5 feature inland ponds; holes 7 and 16 feature rivers; and holes 6, 9, 13, 15, and 18 have water covering the majority of the map. The other holes do not have water. Once the player gets the ball close to the target (the actual "hole," marked by a flag) on each map, the section of the screen that previously showed a map of the entire course shows a zoomed-in map of the putting green.

Outward nine

Hole 1
	390y
	Par 4

Hole 2
	395y
	Par 4

Hole 3
	215y
	Par 3

Hole 4
	388y
	Par 4

Hole 5
	491y
	Par 5

Hole 6
	398y
	Par 4

Hole 7
	408y
	Par 4

Hole 8
	494y
	Par 5

Hole 9
	247y
	Par 3

Inward nine

Hole 10
	395y
	Par 4

Hole 11
	220y
	Par 3

Hole 12
	410y
	Par 4

Hole 13
	542y
	Par 5

Hole 14
	174y
	Par 3

Hole 15
	343y
	Par 4

Hole 16
	400y
	Par 4

Hole 17
	466y
	Par 4

Hole 18
	513y
	Par 5

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Golf.

• 

  NES logo

• 

  Famicom cover artwork

• 

  Mario (player 2)

• 

  NES version gameplay

References in later media

• Super Mario-kun – In the second volume of the manga, Mario reminisces of his time in Golf.
• Wii Sports – Nine of the holes in Golf reappear as the 9-hole course in this game.
• Wii Sports Resort – The same nine holes that appear in Wii Sports reappear as the back nine of this game's course in the same order.
• Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – The first hole from Golf reappears in the Golf game in this game.
• NES Remix – Several challenges are based on this game.

Staff

Main article: List of Golf staff

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	ゴルフ[?] Gorufu	Golf

External links

• Official Japanese site