EA Sports PGA Tour Promises Realism "Down To The Blade Of Grass"; 30 Courses Revealed

EA Sports has announced all 30 courses that will be included in EA Sports PGA Tour when it launches this March and also provided some insight into the lengths the developer went to as part of its effort to accurately depict courses and make them true-to-life.

The roster of 30 courses available at launch includes 28 real-life tracks and two fantasy setups. The real courses include iconic ones like Augusta National, St. Andrews, Pebble Beach, and TPC Sawgrass. The fantasy courses are Wetlands and Lighthouse Pointe. More courses are coming after launch, including Oak Hill, Los Angeles Country Club, Royal Liverpool, Olympia Fields, and Marco Simone.

In a blog post, EA said every course in the game was crafted with "stunning quality" through the Frostbite engine. Some courses got special attention, including Augusta National, which was mapped by photogrammetry scanning, drones, and GPS. EA also collected data from low-altitude helicopter flyovers of the courses, using LiDAR.

"Using these technologies, which are actually designed to discover underground gold mines and oil reserves, we achieved pin-point accuracy down to the blade of grass for many courses in-game," EA said.

EA also mapped each course's clubhouses, vegetation, bridges, tee markers, water, and other course elements to represent them as faithfully as possible. EA also had developers walk the courses in person and speak with course superintendents.

"We were able to even record the distinct cuts of grass and how the ball behaves on them along with upcoming changes they're making for future seasons to capture a full picture of these courses and how each of them play now and in the future," EA said.

In EA Sports PGA Tour, players will encounter three different times of day--morning, midday, and late afternoon--as well as four biomes that can affect things like atmospheric haze, lighting, and clouds.

Every golfer knows that the way a ball bounces and rolls on the course varies from venue to venue, and EA said each course in EA Sports PGA Tour "has its own subtleties including everything from the speed and firmness of the fairway to the firmness and length of the first cut."

EA added: "The ball will behave differently across different terrains like pine straw, firm fairway, soft fairways and more. So you can expect to see the ball bounce differently on softer terrains in comparison to hard ones, just like you'd see in real life."

In real life, ball flights are also impacted by altitude, and in the game, courses at higher attitudes and lower altitudes will have ball behavior that corresponds appropriately.

You can see the full list of launch-day courses for EA Sports PGA Tour below. The game launches on March 24 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It's EA's first golf game on console since 2015's Rory McIlroy PGA Tour.

EA Sports PGA Tour Launch-Day Course List

• Augusta National
• St Andrews
• Pebble Beach
• The Country Club
• Southern Hills
• TPC Sawgrass
• East Lake
• Wilmington Country Club
• TPC Boston
• TPC Southwind
• TPC Scottsdale
• Whistling Straits
• PGA West
• Quail Hollow
• Torrey Pines
• Kiawah Island Ocean Course
• Chambers Bay
• Banff Springs
• Wolf Creek
• Bay Hill
• Liberty National
• Harbour Town
• Riviera Country Club
• Tara Iti
• Top of the Rock
• Bandon Dunes
• Evian Resort
• Teeth of the Dog
• Wetlands (fantasy course)
• Lighthouse Pointe (fantasy course)