Links 386 Pro

Links 386 Pro is the golf simulator that Access Software released for DOS in 1992. The camera sits behind the golfer and shows the fairway, the trees, and the water hazards before each shot. The landscape fills almost the whole screen; the clubs, the scoreboard, and the swing meter sit in a strip along the bottom.

Your first job is to read the hole. The distance to the flag guides your choice of club, but the wind and the surface where the ball has landed matter too. A long shot that ends up in the water can cost far more than a short approach to a clear area.

You Make the Shot with the Mouse

The circular meter combines power and accuracy. Hold down the left button to start the motion, release it to set the power, and click again when the indicator returns to the bottom mark to adjust the accuracy. It is worth practicing its rhythm with a single club before changing distance. The golfer's animation and the ball's path let you check the result; the next attempt starts from the position reached.

The panel distinguishes straight shots, draws, fades, chips, and putts. You can consult other views and statistics instead of relying only on the main image. Access's original advertising presented the configurable windows and the overhead and side views as tools for studying the trajectory and the terrain.

Setting Up the Round

In the Game menu, Start New Game takes you to the list of players. Select a golfer in the right-hand column to add him to the group on the left, and confirm with OK. Then choose the course and review the wind conditions, the tees, and the skill level. The copy offers predefined golfers; there is also an option to create a new one.

Harbour Town lets you start with a recognizable course right in the game's own title. On the first hole, the screen shows par 4 and 414 yards to the flag from the tee used in the test. Those numbers correspond to that configuration: other tees and positions change the situation of the shot.

This DOS Copy

The download preserves the RetroBat ZIP. To launch it in a DOS emulator, run GOLF.BAT. The site's player prepares its own settings and uses DOSBox-X. The old configuration is kept under a different name inside the emulated session so that the game can create a new one; the files in the original download remain untouched.

The executable also appears in the GOLF subfolder of the collection's copy of Ski or Die. The two files have been verified as identical, so they are combined on this game page. Links 386 Pro is a different game from Ski or Die, even though they ended up stored together. The screenshots on this page come from the DOS program; the background uses its title screen.