Shank free zone

Tel. 0181 343 9143

#39.99

For Win 95

Take a seat by the first tee on any medal day at your local golf course and you will see a hundred or so different ways to hit a golf ball. Some players have short and fast swings as if they are trying to take the ball by surprise. Other golfers, blessed with rubber components, have long and loopy swings which by some miracle delivers the clubhead into the striking zone.

Grips are different too, showing from one to four knuckles; stances go from open to closed. The harsh facts are that unless these golfers are happy to be hackers their game will not improve without proper tuition.

In The Golf Pro featuring Gary Player the maestro shows you a thing or two about the game before sending you off to play St Mellion or Hilton Head in South Carolina.

Once you have loaded up (there are two CDs for each course), the keyboard can be dumped, but what you have to perfect are mouse skills. Move the mouse back and you take a backswing; forward to downswing and follow through. After several attempts you soon get the hang of it. When you make a bad ''swing'' Gary will tell you what you are doing wrong. ''Keep a better temper and rhythm,'' he constantly preaches until you get the feel of the mouse. Once you've cracked the mouse control you will soon be getting compliments.

Naturally you will be keen to get on the course but dare you skip a lesson from the great man himself?

The practise tee does not have an inviting outlook. If you get ahead of the ball it will cut into the trees, thwack. A quick hook produces the same result. You can almost feel Gary's cold stare when things are not going well and he can make you uneasy with some of his cutting comments. But when the ball starts coming out of the middle of the mouse he is ready to partner you on a world tour.

He doesn't let you relax, however, and if you have forgotten an earlier lesson he will remind you when you go wrong. But perhaps we have had enough chipping and pitching and playing out of long grass for the time being. Let's leave Gary and slip off to the golf course.

On the tee of each hole a commentary advises how to play the hole and where to place the ball from the tee for the best approach shot to the green. Here goes.

Remembering what the master told me on the practise ground, I dragged my mouse back in a straight line. Not too short, not too long. Position the ball to the right of the fairway the caddie said. Whack, a hook. ''Oh, you didn't make the fairway,'' a celestial voice says.

The next shot has a hanging lie. Again the voice pipes up ''Wow, that's an awkward looking lie.''

With the ball at least two feet above me, I was just about to make a stroke when my celestial ''friend'' reminds me that there is sand and water hazards around the green. Gamesmanship, too.

Oops, a top. ''Oh, you didn't make it out of the rough,'' the voice says in a smarmy tone after the ball travelled about two feet. ''You'll be wanting to make up some ground now,'' he encourages.

''Oh, no,'' he says after my next shot trundles another 20ft. It then dawned on me that the three-iron was probably not the best club to play out of this jungle. I changed to a nine-iron and approached the next shot with more confidence.

The nine-iron went high and wide and sailed out of bounds. My celestial friend delighted in telling me about its fate. ''I hope that ball wasn't precious to you,'' the voice said as I prepared to reload. ''Do you know the price of golf balls these days,'' he questioned.

And so the comments continued as the round went on, some good, most bad. But all extremely

entertaining.

The courses have been replicated and great attention has been given to the finest detail. They are immensely satisfying and great fun to play.

Tee height can be adjusted as can ball position. Stance can be altered to achieve a fade or draw and each shot can be viewed from three different camera angles. A text box carries the dialogue in words for those whose hearing is not so good and if you want to make things a little more interesting you can always turn up the wind.

And my score? It took 186 blows on my first attempt, almost level 10s. Not bad for a hacker but I guess it's back to the practise ground for another lesson from the maestro.