The Celtic Manor Resort is set in 1400 acres of panoramic parkland in the beautiful Usk Valley, just down the road from me, as it happens. It’s where super rich people go to relax and play golf. I’ve been there only once in my whole life, for a fabulous wedding that probably cost more than my house is worth. The dress code for the resort is very strict so I found it rather amusing to stroll into the extremely posh lobby of the main hotel wearing jeans and my Ready Up t-shirt, announce that I was with EA Sports and get politely greeted and chauferred about a mile through beautiful countryside to the Twenty Ten club house.
The Twenty Ten Clubhouse was built in 2007 specifically for the 2010 Ryder Cup which will be held there from 1st-3rd of October this year. It was named Clubhouse of the Year in a prestigious annual poll and last week was ‘invaded’ by a bunch of games journalists (in trainers!!) who’d come to check out some motion-capture footage being taken of Northern Irish golf pro, Rory McIlroy for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 which will be released on the 8th of June for the 360, PS3 and Wii.
20 year old Rory is the youngest winner of the PGA tour since Tiger Woods and is the first golfer to ever appear alongside Tiger on the cover of a PGA tour game – to commemorate the addition of the Ryder Cup game mode. I got the chance for a quick chat after the motion-capture session and he said it was a great honour to be included on the pack. Rory has been a gamer since he was a kid and plays sports games like FIFA, Madden and the PGA Tour series. When I asked how he felt playing golf compared to playing golf games he replied without hesitation that the games were easier and that the Wii version was definitely more similar to the real thing as you get to control your swing. He also said he’d enjoyed the motion-capture session and chatting to the press and that events like this one helped him to relax and switch off.
The game itself is looking rather pretty. With the stillness of the beautiful Welsh mountains and the silent onlooking crowd in the background you can really feel the suspense and tension in the air as you examine the course, carefully and precisely line up your shot then, if you’re like me, whack the hell out of the ball. It was kinda tricky for a nub who doesn’t really know all that much about golf but I still managed to get the highest scores when taking it in turns with a couple of people. Yay me!
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