Mark Twain once said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled."  For anyone who is not a die-hard enthusiast, it's easy to understand why.  If you're playing with a good-sized party, there's lots of standing around and waiting.  If it's a hot day, it can quickly get unbearable.  If it's a cold or rainy day, ditto.  Nothing's more aggravating than repeatedly hitting the water hazard and sacrificing a few Titleists* to the Gods of the Green.

Mario Golf supplies all of the best parts of golf - challenging courses, camaraderie through multi-player gaming, multiple hazard and rules styles - with none of the negatives, i.e. actually experiencing the weather, losing your balls, or waiting for other people to play (actually, it doesn't have that one resolved, but you could always grab a "cold one" from the fridge while your buddy decides if he's going to try to drive the sh** out of the ball and risk a hazard or take a more conservative two strokes without the risk).  Since my friends Mike and Mike (no relation) introduced me to Mario Golf, I've had more of a hankering than ever to go out and play 18 holes... on my couch.

There's my opinion, at least as it pertains to golf.  Now, I know a lot of you out there love your Madden, NBA Jam, NHL 2k5 and 2k6, etc, but do you prefer it to the real thing?

* pronounced tie-tuhl-ists, not tit-lee-ists (although my high school gym teacher always got a kick out of the second one... it's a good thing someone was laughing at his jokes).