Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 - hands-on

Confidence. On Sundays, on the 18th green, staring down a birdie putt for the win, Tiger Woods has it. Sergio Garcia? Not so much.

After Garcia missed a putt for the win at the 2007 British Open, he lost the ensuing playoff to Irishman Padraig Harrington, and left any confidence he had in a deep bunker somewhere on the back nine at Carnoustie. As confidence plays such an important role in the game of golf, it's about time EA included it in its upcoming Tiger Woods PGA Tour game. And so it did.

Think about it. You can hit driver off the tee for extra distance, but you have to draw the ball over a water hazard to do it. It's a tough shot, a risky shot. Or you could lay-up off the tee with an iron, setting up an approach shot with another long iron. What shot you decide to hit off the tee boils down to just how confident you are that day, how confident you are on this hole, with each club, and finally with what shot type, be it a full swing or a flop shot.

In Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, confidence will follow you everywhere, from the PGA season mode to the Tiger Challenge to the arcade challenges. The confidence meter will track your performance on every hole of every course with every club and every swing type. But how does this affect the actual gameplay on the links? Confidence - and some tuning with the analog swing - is making Tiger 08 EA's most challenging golf title yet.

Think about it. You can hit driver off the tee for extra distance, but you have to draw the ball over a water hazard to do it. It's a tough shot, a risky shot. Or you could lay-up off the tee with an iron, setting up an approach shot with another long iron. What shot you decide to hit off the tee boils down to just how confident you are that day, how confident you are on this hole, with each club, and finally with what shot type, be it a full swing or a flop shot.

In Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, confidence will follow you everywhere, from the PGA season mode to the Tiger Challenge to the arcade challenges. The confidence meter will track your performance on every hole of every course with every club and every swing type. But how does this affect the actual gameplay on the links? Confidence - and some tuning with the analog swing - is making Tiger 08 EA's most challenging golf title yet.