Links Championship Edition (Microsoft PC)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald rating: * * * * * )

Just when the whole of New Zealand is talking about golf, Microsoft launches the latest edition of Links.

Last year's version of Links 2001 was about as close to golf heaven as you can get on a computer, and Microsoft hasn't tried to tweak it up for a 2002 release.

Instead, the company has piled heaps of add-ons to the 2001 game and called it Championship Edition. Which begs the question: is it worth buying if you already have last year's game?

The answer would probably be no, if it wasn't for one intriguing addition — the Arnold Palmer Course Designer. This nifty package lets you build your own course, and an obvious place to start would be your home club.

To design it to the standard of the official Links courses would be almost a lifetime's work, but you can knock up a passable 18 using the map on the club scorecard and your memory.

I'm waiting for a cold, dark winter night to build a model of my bete noir — the 6th at Helensville, north-west of Auckland.

For the record, Links Championship Edition contains Links 2001 and that game's five courses, four courses from the expansion pack, four new courses, and a converter that makes all previous 36 Links courses playable.

Arnie's still there, although golf's own punk, Sergio Garcia, is the name player. LPGA champ Annika Sorenstam steps up for women who play Links.

peter_eley@nzherald.co.nz