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In UTour Golf, players can choose from a number of visually spectacular golf courses -- such as the fictitious Richmond Pines, Hanwell Fields and the Sakura Country Club -- complete with high-definition golfers, manicured greens lined with lush trees, dynamic weather conditions and other eye-candy such as birds, ponds and sun flares. Not only will the crowd cheer following an impressive drive or putt, but you can bask in your brilliance with TV-style replay angles from different perspectives. And no, despite the gorgeous graphics, you won't need a supercomputer to run the game.

UTour game modes range from tutorials, practice and a driving range to quick-play games and head-to-head matches to closest-to-the-pin challenges and tiered tournaments. For all game types, your lifetime statistics are tracked as you play, including number of Eagles, Birdies and Bogeys, as well as the longest drive, longest successful putt and more. The scoring will be familiar to golfers as it's based on a series of standard one-to-four player game types including Stroke Play, Match Play and Stableford Plus.

Whether you're playing by yourself or against a live opponent over the Internet, you can also choose a desired level of difficulty for the course and how many holes you've got time for (1 to 18). On a related note, you can also let the game make choices for you, such as picking the appropriate club. If you prefer to run the show, you can take control over these decisions. UTour Golf employs the classic three-click swing mechanism: one is for your backswing, a second to determine the amount of power you want and a third for fade, draw or straight hit. It's quite simple to pick up, even if you've never played a round of computer golf.

You can challenge another UTour player for free but if you want to play for cash -- up to $100 a game -- you'll be able to find a like-minded opponent in the lobby, and with a similar skill level. Plus, there are a host of daily events and tourneys for thousands of dollars in cash and merchandize prizes. Advanced community features include in-game chat (hit the backspace to begin typing), friend invites and buddy lists and tools to create your own events.

To get going, simply visit UTourGolf.com and download the game "fore" free.

Review by: Marc Saltzman