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PGA Championship Golf 2000

Last updated: January 9, 2026

Overview

PGA Championship Golf 2000 stands as one of Sierra Sports’ most acclaimed golf simulations, representing the pinnacle of the company’s golf franchise evolution1. Developed by Headgate Studios and published by Sierra Sports in 20002, the game was designed to deliver the most realistic golf simulation experience available on PC at the time. As Hartford Courant noted, “PGA Championship Golf 2000 is by far the most developed and satisfying of what has become a long line of golf games from Sierra”3.

The game revolutionized golf simulation through its innovative TrueSwing 3 technology, which used mouse movements to simulate actual golf swings rather than traditional click-based mechanics4. This groundbreaking approach earned widespread critical acclaim, with Eurogamer declaring it “quite frankly the best golfing simulation on the market” and awarding it a 9/10 score5. The game achieved an impressive 88% average rating on GameRankings6 and was rated “E for Everyone” by the ESRB7.

Story Summary

PGA Championship Golf 2000 does not follow a traditional narrative structure, instead focusing on providing an authentic professional golf career simulation. Players create custom golfers and guide them through either amateur or professional tour circuits8. The game “claims to be the first golf simulation to offer both complete Season and Career tour-style gameplay”9, allowing players to experience what it might feel like to play as a PGA professional10. The career mode encompasses multiple tournament types including skins games, best ball competitions, and Ryder Cup matches3.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

The game’s most distinctive feature was its revolutionary TrueSwing 3 technology, which Hartford Courant praised as having “risen to become the best implementation of a non-click mouse interface in PC simulations”3. Unlike traditional golf games that relied on timing-based clicking systems, TrueSwing 3 “accurately reflects mouse movements as a golf club”11, creating an unprecedented level of realism. Eurogamer emphasized this innovation: “You have to actually use this to believe just how good it is - it reacts accurately to your mouse movements, and behaves just as you would expect”5.

The system was enhanced by SmartSwing technology, which “learns the gamer’s style of mouse use and adjusts the game accordingly to its effectiveness”11. This adaptive learning system helped accommodate different playing styles and skill levels. GameVortex reviewer Woody was particularly impressed, exclaiming “I have never, ever seen the number of options in any other golf title as there are in PGA Championship Golf 2000!”12

Structure and Progression

The game offered extensive customization options for both golfers and gameplay experiences. Players could “create your own golfer (give him a face, a body, and a unique style of dress) and take him onto the pro tour or the amateur circuit”13. For skill development, “the putting practice greens and the driving range are available”13. The game included multiple tournament formats spanning professional tours, amateur circuits, skins games, best ball, and Ryder Cup competitions3.

Course variety was substantial, featuring 13 total courses with 8 carried over from the previous edition and 5 newly created14. The game’s Course Architect tool allowed players to design custom courses, with “more than 250 free routes available” for download11. Additionally, over 1,600 user-created courses became available through the community6.

Puzzles and Mechanics

Rather than traditional puzzles, PGA Championship Golf 2000 challenged players with realistic golf physics and course management decisions. The game stripped away “unrealistic golf-sim conventions such as aiming flags and shot arcs and replacing them with a more true-to-life shot-setup mode”15. Weather conditions, wind effects, and terrain variations all impacted ball physics, requiring players to make strategic decisions about club selection and shot placement.

The TrueSwing system demanded actual skill development, as CNET Gamecenter noted it was “a complete, innovative, and fun golf game”16. MyAbandonware user Diguelo highlighted that “the skill involved is pretty high if you like a challenge”17, while another reviewer called it “a great reproduction of golf”17.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

PGA Championship Golf 2000 received widespread critical acclaim from major gaming publications, establishing it as the premier golf simulation of its era.

PublicationScoreNotes
Eurogamer9/10Called it “the best golfing simulation on the market”5
GameSpot8.9/10Praised as “currently the unrivaled king of golf sims”15
Game Over88%Described as “arguably one of the best golf simulations ever”14
GameVortex95%Impressed by the extensive customization options12
CNET Gamecenter8/10Highlighted the innovative TrueSwing technology16
GameRankings88%Aggregate score representing critical consensus6

Stephen Poole’s GameSpot review was particularly comprehensive, concluding that “PGA Championship Golf 2000 is currently the unrivaled king of golf sims”15. He praised the game for “stripping away unrealistic golf-sim conventions” and implementing “a great mouse-swing system”15. Game Over’s Cody Nicholson declared it “arguably one of the best golf simulations ever to be released for the PC”14.

Modern Assessment

Contemporary players have maintained appreciation for the game’s innovative design. Amazon customer reviews average 3.3/5 stars18, with many praising the TrueSwing system. User Mark A. Symmonds noted that “TrueSwing uses the mouse to make a complete stroke instead of doing the old three click”18. A GOG user recalled, “Loved playing this, always good for a quick session when on a break, and the handling of the shots via mouse was smooth and extremely accurate for my taste”19.

MobyGames users rated the game 77% overall20, while GameFabrique awarded it 7/10 in a retrospective review21. However, some modern assessments note that “it’s not in the same league as Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, but it’s still worth a look”21.

Development

Origins

PGA Championship Golf 2000 emerged from Sierra Sports’ determination to revitalize their sports gaming division following the disappointing reception of NFL Football Pro 9914. As Game Over noted, “With the embarrassing release of NFL Football Pro 99 in January of 1999, the Sierra Sports label finished digging its own grave”14. The golf franchise became one of the few Sierra Sports properties to survive this period.

Senior producer Mike Jacob explained the market dynamics in a archived SportPlanet interview: “We ran into production delays with PGA Championship Golf 1999 that hurt our marketing efforts”22. However, he noted that “as the competition thinned, it left more market share for the remaining players”22.

Production

The development team at Headgate Studios, led by designers Brian Silvernail and Mike Jacob6, focused on refining the TrueSwing technology introduced in the previous game. Sierra’s marketing emphasized that the game was “Written by Golfers for Golfers”5, reflecting the development team’s passion for the sport.

Beta testing was extensive, with Sierra announcing that “their beta test selection process for phase one of the PGA 2000 beta test is complete”23. The company received “more interest than they expected” from experienced PGA 1999 players for multiplayer testing23. Beta testers were required to be “available to play online week nights and some weekends”24.

Voice acting featured Mark Lye and Grant Boone as color commentators15, providing authentic golf commentary throughout gameplay. The game “went gold in May 2000, scheduled for retail release by end of May”25.

Technical Achievements

The TrueSwing 3 engine represented a significant technological advancement in sports simulation. Unlike previous golf games that relied on timing-based mechanics, TrueSwing 3 provided real-time mouse control that “uses realtime swing control to simulate… realtime swings”26. The system included “improved physics from previous version” and featured “new TrueSwing interface”25.

However, development constraints impacted some planned features. As archived sources note, “hardware acceleration was planned but dropped due to time and budget constraints”25. The game supported resolutions up to 1920x160014, though modern compatibility issues exist, with users reporting that “resolution should be less or equal than 1024x768 for the game to register your swing”27.

Technical specifications included minimum requirements of “Pentium 166 or equivalent” with “32MB RAM” and “765MB hard drive space for full install”4. The game supported multiple multiplayer options including “Internet, LAN, Modem”28.

Legacy

PGA Championship Golf 2000’s impact on golf simulation gaming was substantial and lasting. The game earned recognition as “GameSpy 2000 – Sports Game of the Year”29, cementing its status as the premier golf simulation of its era. Its TrueSwing technology influenced subsequent golf game development, establishing mouse-based swing control as a viable alternative to traditional clicking mechanics.

The game spawned multiple enhanced editions, including the Titanium Edition which added “7 more courses, expanded Course Architect art library, and improved multiplayer linking technology”20. A Collector’s Edition followed in 2001, featuring “12 new 18-hole courses developed exclusively for the game, bringing the total number of courses available to 32”30.

Post-release support was robust, with Sierra releasing multiple patches including version 3.2.7.1 and 3.3.4.531. CD Magazine reported that “the new patch goes a long way in both stomping bugs and improving the overall mechanics of the game”32.

Despite its innovations and critical acclaim, PGA Championship Golf 2000 is not available on modern digital platforms like Steam33, making it primarily accessible through preservation sites and abandonware collections.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

  • Not available on Steam or GOG

Download / Preservation

References

Footnotes

  1. https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-07-09-0007172268-story.html - Hartford Courant review providing comprehensive game analysis ↩

  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Championship_Golf_2000 - Wikipedia entry with development and release details ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-07-09-0007172268-story.html - Hartford Courant review covering gameplay modes and features ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. https://archive.org/details/PGA2000D - Internet Archive demo preservation with technical specifications ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. https://www.eurogamer.net/pga2k - Eurogamer review with TrueSwing 3 analysis and scoring ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Championship_Golf_2000 - Wikipedia data on ratings, designers, and trivia ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. https://www.esrb.org/ratings/5226/pga-championship-golf-2000/ - Official ESRB rating information ↩

  8. https://www.mobygames.com/game/2991/pga-championship-golf-2000/ - MobyGames description of career mode gameplay ↩

  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20030525180012/http://www.cdmag.com/articles/027/103/pga2000.html - CD Magazine archived announcement about game features ↩

  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20030525162403/http://www.cdmag.com/articles/027/154/pga_gold.html - Archived CD Magazine article describing game simulation aspects ↩

  11. https://www.gamepressure.com/games/pga-championship-golf-2000/zc1092 - GamePressure technical specifications and TrueSwing details ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. https://www.gamevortex.com/gamevortex/soft_rev.php/1735 - GameVortex detailed review highlighting game options ↩ ↩2

  13. https://www.mobygames.com/game/2991/pga-championship-golf-2000/ - MobyGames official game description ↩ ↩2

  14. https://www.game-over.net/review/june2000/pga2000/ - Game Over comprehensive review with Sierra Sports background ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  15. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/pgachampionshipgolf2000/review.html - GameSpot professional review by Stephen Poole ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20001029055452/http://gamecenter.com/Reviews/Item/0,6,0-4344,00.html - CNET Gamecenter archived review by Jason Ocampo ↩ ↩2

  17. https://www.myabandonware.com/game/pga-championship-golf-2000-a5h - MyAbandonware user reviews and download information ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  18. https://www.amazon.com/PGA-Championship-Golf-2000-Titanium-PC/dp/B000056OYP - Amazon customer reviews and ratings ↩ ↩2

  19. https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/pga-championship-golf-2000-2000 - GOG user community memories and feedback ↩

  20. https://www.mobygames.com/game/3068/pga-championship-golf-2000-titanium-edition/ - MobyGames Titanium Edition details and ratings ↩ ↩2

  21. https://gamefabrique.com/games/pga-championship-golf-2000/ - GameFabrique retrospective review and assessment ↩ ↩2

  22. https://web.archive.org/web/20010501103026/http://www.sportplanet.com/features/interviews/pgac2000/ - Archived SportPlanet interview with senior producer Mike Jacob ↩ ↩2

  23. https://web.archive.org/web/20030525184833/http://www.cdmag.com/articles/027/103/pga2000_beta.html - CD Magazine archived beta testing news ↩ ↩2

  24. https://web.archive.org/web/20030525180012/http://www.cdmag.com/articles/027/103/pga2000.html - Beta tester recruitment requirements from CD Magazine ↩

  25. https://web.archive.org/web/20030530112900/http://www.cdmag.com/articles/027/040/sierra_golf.html - CD Magazine archived development and release timeline ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  26. https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/03/31/pga-championship-golf-2000-announced - IGN announcement article describing TrueSwing technology ↩

  27. https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=63536 - VOGONS technical forum discussion about compatibility issues ↩

  28. https://www.neoseeker.com/pga2000/ - Neoseeker database entry with multiplayer specifications ↩

  29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Championship_Golf_2000 - Wikipedia entry listing game awards ↩

  30. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/pgachampionshipgolf2000/news_2775868.html - GameSpot news about Collector’s Edition features ↩

  31. http://sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/Patches-Updates-Games/PGAChampionshipGolfUpdates.html - Sierra Help patch and update information ↩

  32. https://web.archive.org/web/20030525180922/http://www.cdmag.com/articles/029/066/pga2000.html - CD Magazine archived patch release coverage ↩

  33. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=PGA+Championship+Golf+2000 - Steam search results showing game unavailability ↩

  34. https://archive.org/details/pc-pga-championship-golf-2000 - Internet Archive full game preservation ↩

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