When Coop and I attended the EA Sports Preview a few weeks ago, we got to try out this year’s Wii iteration of Tiger Woods. I’ve been pretty skeptical about the Wii Motion Plus add-on ever since Nintendo unveiled it, and couldn’t wait to try it out with this game to see how miserably it would fail. After playing a few holes, not only am I convinced that Wii Motion Plus could really be amazing, but I’m also pretty sure this is going to be the best version of Tiger Woods to date.

I’m by no means the world’s greatest amateur golfer. When I hit the links, people two holes over pay attention. Not because they’re dying to see my swing, but because they need to know when to duck. Strangely enough, when the same thing happened while hacking my way around the virtual Beth Page Black, I was happy. Previous incarnations of Tiger Woods on the Wii have allowed you to use the controller to swing/putt/chip/slice across official representations of real PGA courses, but the motions you were in no way going to translate on an actual course. This year, with the 1:1 controls, not only will you see a dramatic difference in how you play the game, but you’ll also see a pretty big difference in the results. You may be amazing at the game, and not notice the change at first, but as soon as you try the new short game, you’ll be amazed at how accurate, or in my case inaccurate, your chipping and putting can be.

Wii Motion Plus does an excellent job replicating the exact results of your real life swing, as opposed to the simulated results the regular controller would create based on your swing mechanics. It’s not the same has being out on the course, or learning from an actual teacher, but playing this game with the new controller allows you to see the flaws in your game so you can try to make changes on the very next swing. When I’m out on the real course, there’s no way for me to know what adjustments to make because I have no idea what my previous swing looked like. Here, the HUD shows just how poorly you swung, so you know for the next time whether or not to hold your hands in or use a little less backswing. Granted, in the brief amount of playtime I had the game was set for the highest difficulty, not because I’m some sort of masochist, but because EA wanted to show just how responsive the controls could be should you want as near a real life experience as possible. You don’t even actually need the new Motion Plus add-on to play, and games can be played simultaneously with any control setting so that I, a savvy tour vet, could be challenged by someone who has never even seen a television before.

Aside from the standard Tour mode, I got a chance to try out one of the new additions to this year’s game, Frisbee Golf, or as you may know it, Frolf. It really is as easy as it seems, and the Wii controller does replicate throwing the plastic disc pretty well. Any of the courses you play in the regular game modes are available, so if you wanted to try and land that perfect toss on the 17th at the TPC at Sawgrass, knock yourself out. Or end up like Kevin Costner in Tin Cup. It’s all up to you. The mode seems like it could be fun with a handful of friends passing the controller around, drinking some brewskies, and just trying not to take the game of golf too seriously. After spending the last year or so converting as many people as I could into Hot Shots Golf 5 fans, I should have a fairly easy time convincing them to give this a try.

Even though I only got to play the game for about fifteen minutes, I’m pretty sure that Tiger Woods 10 on the Wii is going to rule my summer. It’s hard for me to find time to hit up a golf course in real life these days, but with how true the controls feel in this game, I can keep working on my swing until I’m ready to unleash it on the world. EA in no way promised this game would be as good as taking lessons, but the price is right, and I’m in no rush to become a tour pro, so Tiger Woods 10 seems like just the thing I’ve been looking for.