Like its namesake, you can usually expect great things of the annual release of EA Sport's Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Mind you, last year's iteration, Tour 08, was a muddlesome, overly ambitious affair a little too keen on new generation console features and a little whack when it came to a playable videogame of golf.

No worries now; all fixed up in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, the must-have golf game for the PlayStation3.

As you'd suppose, it’s a brilliantly rendered links simulation replete with name brand pros, patented courses and trademarked equipment options aplenty.

Controller mechanics are finely tuned and patiently playable with an club swing emulated with the right thumbstick, which is analog so your every nudge and camber translates to a believable, physics-laden smack, complete with draw or fade or worm-burning skuller, intentional or otherwise. Graciously, there's also the option to play with the simpler, swing-metered button taps, old school.

But what really makes Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 the one to buy this year -- and hang on to for years to come, mayhap -- is its polished online multiplayer component where you can join a foursome (or a wealth of customized challenges, tournaments, etc., for that matter) that's very much like real golf except without the all the waiting around looking at the trees and maybe accidently coughing when buddy's on his backswing.

Instead, you all play simultaneously, more or less. As it sounds, having all involved tee off at the same time -- with color coded trajectories of each player delineated on your single screen at home -- speeds the game up to at least four times the speed of traditional foursome play, letting you enjoy the kinetic parts of the sport without the standing-around-waiting bit, because there's no water hazard fountain to admire there in your living room; might as well get right to it.

Ironically, a single player round means you will have to wait for your computer controlled opponents to take their turn (though the single player exercises and challenges are relatively speedy and tangibly rewarding). However, if you're playing by yourself, you're probably hungover or at least in a lazy-day-on-the-couch mood, anyway.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 TIP: For Big Head mode, enter CEPHALUS (case sensitive) as a password entry found in the EA Sports Extras option of the My Tiger section off the main menu.