DOS Days

PGA Tour Golf

Released: 1990
Published by: Electronic Arts
Developed by: Sterling Silver Software
Credits: Lee Actor, Dennis Koble, Don Traeger, Happy Keller, Jon Horsley, Wilfredo J. Aguilar, Nic Tenbroek, Jim Rushing, Jesse Taylor.

System Requirements

System Requirements 8088 or 8086 and compatibles. 512K RAM required. Hercules monochrome/CGA/EGA/VGA/Tandy & PCjr graphics supported. Audio support for PC speaker, Ad Lib, Roland MT-32 (or LAPC-I) or Tandy/PCjr.
Original Media Two 5.25" 360 KB (DD) disks (Program Disk and Course Disk), one 3.5" 720 KB (DD) disk, or one 5.25" 1.2 MB (HD) disk.
Installed Size (MB) 541 KB or 1.68 MB with the extra courses.

Introduction

PGA Tour Golf was a colourful, accurate and yet easy to get into 3D golf game released in 1990. It got excellent reviews from the gaming press at the time.

Despite the fact it went head to head with Access Software's Links: The Challenge of Golf which was very impressive and technically superior, there really wasn't anything else like it for DOS that could run on an XT or 286 computer.

The courses included in the game were TPC Avenel, TPC Sawgrass, Sterling Shores and PGA West Stadium. The Tournament mode puts you up against 60 PGA professionals in three 18-hole rounds.

Electronic Arts released a Tournament Course Disk in 1992 which added TPC Southwind, TPC Eagle Trace, and TPC Scottsdale. This course disk was also bundled with the original game in a special "Platinum Edition" released in 1994.


Advertisement (June 1992)

Box and Contents

The game came in a standard "big box" with the floppy disk(s), 55-page paperback black & white manual, quick reference guide and warranty card. Despite the box stating it's the 3.5" disk version, mine came with 5.25" floppies:



From where can it be run?

From the original floppy disks or from hard disk.

For hard disk installation, there is no install program - the manual instructs you to create a subdirectory on your C: drive called GOLF. Then insert the Program disk and copy its contents into C:\GOLF and then do the same for the Course Disk. If the game is on 3.5" disk or high-density 5.25" disk only one disk needs to be copied.

 

Copy Protection

Following the title screen, a yardage marker will appear at the bottom of the screen, and you will be prompted to select the correct yardage for the hole listed. Depending on the version of the game you have, you either have a reference card in the box, or you will find the answer in the middle of the game manual where you'll find pictures of each of the scorecards with yardage markers for three Tournament Players Club (TPC) courses.

Note the number that corresponds to the course, hole and tees (blue, white or red) shown on your screen:


From left: TPC Avenel, TPC Sawgrass, and TPC West Stadium

 

How to Setup

There is no Setup utility for PGA Tour Golf. The main executable file, GOLF.EXE does however support the following command-line arguments:

  • c - Run the game in CGA mode
  • t - Run the game in Tandy graphics mode
  • h - Run the game in Hercules mode
  • e - Run the game in EGA mode
  • v - Run the game in VGA mode

For audio, the game auto-detects what you have installed. If you have more than one, it will select the first it finds, in this order:

1) MIDI board, including Roland MT-32
2) Ad Lib board
3) CMS board
4) Tandy
5) PC speaker

If you want to run the game with an Ad Lib board, you need to firstly run Ad Lib's sound.com driver before running the game.

The game doesn't require any extended memory (XMS) or expanded memory (EMS) drivers to be loaded.

 

Tournament Course Disk

To add the courses to your installed game, it depends on whether you have the original floppy disk (see below for the original disk's contents). If you don't you probably only have the following files in your game folder:

Filename Size (in bytes)
16.HUF 151,915
256.HUF 160,869
CRSE.HUF 96,971
CRSF.HUF 97,166
CRSG.HUF 96,363
CRSI.HUF 96,937
INSTALL.EXE 12,622

If you have the Tournament Course Disk files in a directory somewhere (i.e. not on a floppy disk with the volume label "PGA_COURSES"), the INSTALL.EXE program will tell you PGA Tour Golf is not installed, and will abort. To get this to work you have to get these files onto a floppy disk (or an image if you're using a Gotek).

If you still have issues, there are ZIP files containing the full game as well as the additional courses elsewhere on the internet.

The files that get added after you have installed the Tournament Course Disk are:

Filename Size (in bytes)
EAGLE.16 121,344
EAGLE.256 242,688
EAGLE.CRS 35,468
SOUTHWIN.16 121,344
SOUTHWIN.256 242,688
SOUTHWIN.CRS 39,620
TPCSCOTT.16 121,344
TPCSCOTT.256 242,688
TPCSCOTT.CRS 39,620

 

Problems

Issue:
Cause:
Resolution
:

 

To Quit the Game

Pressing ESC takes you back one "layer" in the game, so if you are currently on a course it will take you back to the Pro Shop or the PGA TOUR Tent. If you're in the shop or the tent pressing ESC will take you back to DOS.


Supporting Documents

Here are the original documents that came with the game:


Additional Files, Drivers and Utilities

This section includes any additional files, updated drivers (original and third-party) or utilities that help make the game a better experience.

    • Tandy 3-voice patch - Forces Tandy 3-voice sound on a non-Tandy/PCjr machine. This of course is to be used with a Tandy compatible sound adapter on your regular IBM PC/XT/AT.


Save Games

Save game files exist in the game directory and have a .PLR file extension. They are 78 bytes long and not user-editable.

 

Versions of the game known to exist

Version Date Comments
? 1990 A Maxell-branded demo of the game, bundled with Maxell blank floppy disks.
Aside from the loading screen and the other intro screen advertising what the full game provides, the game is largely the same - only the final moments from the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass are available to play on this demo - you select Tournament mode from the menu to start.

The demo's readme.txt file is here. See screenshots below for images from this demo.
1.0 Oct 1990 First full release

 

Floppy Disk Contents - Maxell Demo Version

Disk 1 of 1 (720 KB 3.5" DD floppy diskette):

.              <DIR>            05-05-2021 12:17
.. <DIR> 05-05-2021 12:17
CMS DRV 4,855 19-09-1989 3:20
GFLY MUS 3,256 10-02-1990 10:56
GOLF EXE 109,234 24-08-1990 10:40
GR1 EGA 61,144 13-03-1990 13:41
GR2 EGA 23,994 17-04-1990 16:15
GR3 EGA 40,915 21-03-1990 0:55
GR5 EGA 10,248 20-08-1990 23:06
PRINTME BAT 565 27-08-1990 17:29
READ01 417 27-08-1990 9:29
READ02 447 27-08-1990 17:00
READ03 868 27-08-1990 10:18
READ04 959 27-08-1990 8:58
READ05 1,261 27-08-1990 14:44
READ06 1,055 27-08-1990 14:47
READ07 927 27-08-1990 10:19
READ08 1,150 24-08-1990 16:17
READ09 1,435 27-08-1990 14:54
READ10 1,119 27-08-1990 9:04
READ11 1,124 27-08-1990 10:20
READ12 1,130 27-08-1990 9:05
READ13 975 27-08-1990 17:02
README BAT 266 24-08-1990 17:54
README TXT 12,855 27-08-1990 17:04
SAWGR2 CRS 8,736 21-08-1990 0:24
SAWGRASS EGA 9,426 25-03-1990 2:09
TR2 EGA 29,557 29-03-1990 1:01
26 File(s) 327,918 Bytes.

Floppy Disk Contents - Full Version (with Copy Protection)

Disk 1 of 1 (720 KB 3.5" DD floppy diskette):

.              <DIR>            05-05-2021 12:58
.. <DIR> 05-05-2021 12:57
AVENEL CRS 28,724 12-04-1990 16:22
AVENEL EGA 8,363 12-04-1990 15:13
CMS DRV 4,855 19-09-1989 3:20
GFLY MUS 3,256 10-02-1990 10:56
GOLF EXE 110,592 29-04-1990 23:56
GR1 EGA 61,144 13-03-1990 13:41
GR2 EGA 23,994 17-04-1990 16:15
GR3 EGA 40,915 21-03-1990 0:55
GR4 EGA 8,048 09-04-1990 3:37
GTHEME MUS 7,264 11-02-1990 23:00
PGAWEST CRS 37,996 02-05-1990 8:24
PGAWEST EGA 7,686 25-03-1990 2:14
SAWGRASS CRS 44,640 02-05-1990 8:23
SAWGRASS EGA 9,426 25-03-1990 2:09
SHORES CRS 37,232 09-04-1990 17:20
SHORES EGA 7,462 25-03-1990 2:14
TR1 EGA 30,219 28-03-1990 13:49
TR2 EGA 29,557 29-03-1990 1:01
TR3 EGA 19,014 03-04-1990 1:04
TR4 EGA 29,908 28-03-1990 13:49
20 File(s) 550,295 Bytes.


Floppy Disk Contents - Tournament Course Add-On

Disk 1 of 1 (720 KB 3.5" DD floppy diskette) with volume label 'PGA_COURSES':

.              <DIR>            05-05-2021 13:46
.. <DIR> 05-05-2021 12:57
EAGLE CRS 35,468 06-09-1991 16:56
EAGLE EGA 7,459 13-09-1991 1:34
GOLF EXE 74,818 13-09-1991 17:29
GR1 EGA 61,144 13-09-1991 1:12
GR2 EGA 28,887 13-09-1991 0:47
GR3 EGA 40,942 12-09-1991 23:58
GR4 EGA 16,978 13-09-1991 0:08
SOUTHWIN CRS 39,620 07-09-1991 1:39
SOUTHWIN EGA 7,319 13-09-1991 1:34
TPCSCOTT CRS 36,044 12-09-1991 15:16
TPCSCOTT EGA 7,283 13-09-1991 1:34
11 File(s) 355,962 Bytes.