The wait is finally over for Nintendo players with the official arrival of PGA TOUR 2K25 on the Nintendo Switch 2, and as someone who has spent far too many hours obsessing over the perfect draw, I couldn’t wait to see if the upgraded hardware could handle the fairway.
After a solid week of “testing” (ignoring my laundry), I’ve found that while this port brings some good championship energy to the palm of your hand, it still hits a few bunkers along the way. So I’m about to tee-off on the good, the bad, and the slightly frustrating.
The Fairway: What Works
Let’s start with the green. When you are actually out on the course, the gameplay is genuinely good. 2K has introduced the EvoSwing mechanic, and it’s a game-changer. It feels incredibly intuitive, especially on the new Switch 2 controllers. Both the joycon 2 and the Nintendo Pro Controller 2 handle the controls well and the style feels responsive and tactile.
The sheer volume of content is also impressive. There are 29 licensed courses right out of the gate, including the debut of the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. For the creative types, the Course Designer is fully featured here, allowing you to build and share your own diabolical creations. This is the feature that gives the game a sense of community and longevity and I’m looking forward to jumping into other peoples creations to have a look.
But for me, the heart of the game is MyCAREER. There is something undeniably addictive about creating a custom character and grinding your way through the Korn Ferry Tour to the big leagues. It’s deep, it’s personal, and on the Switch 2, it finally feels like a “big console” experience that you can actually take on a plane.
The Rough: The Teething Issues
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows on the links, though. Despite the beefier specs of the Switch 2, we’re still dealing with a port that delivers some flat and occasionally dull graphics. At times, the environments feel a bit more like a high-end mobile app than a cutting-edge 2026 simulation.
The technical gremlins are also present. The load screens are notoriously long, so long, in fact, that I frequently found myself tapping the screen to see if the game had crashed. Speaking of crashes, the game’s reliance on an internet connection for MyCAREER is a bit of a sore point. If your Wi-Fi flickers, the game has a nasty habit of freezing/crashing entirely, which is the last thing you want when you’re lining up a birdie on the 18th. When this happened I was actually able to go back to the game where I left off after I rebooted it, but that ment also going through the load screens again.
Lastly, we have to talk about the “aggressive” elephant in the room: microtransactions. The push toward virtual currency and premium editions is hard to ignore. While the gameplay stands on its own, the constant reminders to upgrade your gear via the Pro Accelerator Pack can feel a bit like a persistent caddy asking for a tip every time you hit a decent drive.
The Verdict: Should You Buy It?
Despite the technical stutters and the pushy sales tactics, PGA TOUR 2K25 on Switch 2 is still a massive amount of fun. The core golf engine is the best it has ever been. If you can look past the occasionally sluggish menus and the odd connectivity hiccup, there are hundreds of hours of quality golf to be had here.
It is the most comprehensive golf sim ever put on a handheld, and being able to play the 2026 Majors while sitting in a café is a novelty that hasn’t worn off yet. However it’s a bit rough around the edges, and at $109 in Australia it feels a bit steep given you’ll also be putting your hand in your pocket for Season Pass and Clubhouse as well. But hey, I guess golf is a “rich mans sport”. As much as I like this game and I have faith the bugs will get sorted out with updates, I’d be holding out for a price reduction or sale.
