It’s always an exciting time for me previewing any 2K title. You wouldn’t think by looking at me, but I’m a big sports guy. While golf is something I’ve only played once or twice, I love the PGA Tour 2K series. I recently got the chance to go hands-on with PGA Tour 2K25 down in London where I was let loose on the game. I was able to jump into the MyCAREER and play a couple of tournaments, as well as try out the new swing mechanics and play as some of the new and updated pros. One thing is clear, 2K want this to be for everyone, and there’s plenty to entice those familiar and new to the series.
The new EvoSwing
Let’s jump straight into it by talking about EvoSwing. It’s a new mechanic that gives you plenty of control over four key aspects of your swing. Unlike the NBA, all of the skill required to play golf comes through in the initial swing and the few that follow as opposed to a range of constant plays and switches between offence and defence. Golf is about precision and patience, and the EvoSwing is a welcome addition to how you play. It’s broken down into the initial contact with the ball, followed by the rhythm of the swing and its transition, into an accurate swing path. Each of these components are incorporated into the swing, giving complete control over every shot.
Whether using the right analogue or button inputs, you can land each part of the swing perfectly. If there’s a slight mistouch the degree of your shot might be slightly off. It doesn’t take long to become familiar with the swing, but there’s plenty of room to master it, and playing through a career is going to give you a chance to refine to your heart’s content. PGA Tour 2K25 can be as easy to play as you want, yet if you want a challenge, the difficulty settings can be tweaked significantly.
Perfect Swing allows you to play without any issue, where things like wind won’t effect your play. You’re free to turn these on or off depending on what you want out of the gameplay. MyCAREER feels similar in its approach to the competitions and encountering rivals along your journey, but there’s more of a focus on refining what type of golfer you want to be. Not only that, but you can level up your equipment with a new progression system that helps to synergise with the style you choose to play as.
PGA Tour 2K25: The archetypal player
I created a player built around the Powerhouse archetype because it gives you the support to smash long balls right down the course, but it does leave you without a certain flair. The other four archetypes, Technician, Magician, Greenskeeper, and Sculptor all offer something for different types of players, though. That focus on player build and the opportunity to refine your experience flows into every aspect of MyCAREER and MyPLAYER. The main focus for me in this PGA Tour 2K25 preview was all about focusing on how it feels to play.
I didn’t get too long to see how the reworked skill trees effected my game, but you have five areas to build up: Tee, Approach, Recovery, Bunker, and Green. One thing I did enjoy about the MyCAREER was how you don’t have to play every single hole on every single tournament. There’s an option to jump in and play four or five holes, with the rest of them being scored on how performance is on other holes throughout the career as well as on that course. It simulates based on how you play and matches pretty well, which is something that other sports titles never seem to get right.
Visually, PGA Tour 2K25 is phenomenal. The presentation is excellent, but it is the courses that blow you away. The attention to detail is staggering, feeling as close to their real life counterparts as possible. One of the first courses I tried was the TPC Scottsdale ahead of this week’s Waste Management Open. There are 27 licensed courses in total, and from the few seen so far, the series has never looked this good before. The weather illuminates the course, yet the calmness in the trees along the fairways add to that chilled out feeling while playing.
I’m so excited to get stuck into the full release for review when it arrives later this month. PGA Tour 2K25 is looking excellent so far, and with only a few weeks left to go until release, there’s little more waiting left to do. The new swing mechanics offer plenty of control into every facet of each swing, and those final shots on the putting green feel so satisfying with the slightest adjustment to the putt being felt. It looks stunning, and MyPLAYER and MyCAREER aren’t drastically different, but those refinements into player progression are going to help you to really hone in to the type of golfer you want to be.
PGA Tour 2K25 releases on February 28 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
