For the first four days of release The Golf Club 2 was rendered largely unplayable due to server issues that made both Career Mode and Online Societies inaccessible. The problems appear to have been ironed out as the weekend went smoothly with all features working properly.

The only issue I’ve run into since Saturday are completed rounds played in Society that, when returning to start the next round, have lost results for a handful of holes in the completed round. I’ve had to re-play the final two to five holes. The leaderboard which tends to lag some in results may also be reflecting the servers falling behind on saving them.

So again, now that things are up and running, feel free to join the Pastapadre Online Society on PS4 where we are on to the second event of the season. The four round tournament will come to a close on Wednesday with a new one starting on Thursday. Competing on the leaderboards against others, potentially earning coin payouts, and helping to build up the society has already proven to be a good deal of fun for everyone involved.

While still a game presenting a difficult challenge at times, The Golf Club 2 is much more friendly to novices and delivers more content than the original in the form of Career and Societies. It’s definitely worth being picked up by fans of the sport or anyone seeking out simulation golf, and those with Amazon Prime can still get it for 20% off.

It’s no longer a surprise when a new game releases and online connectivity is inconsistent or completely unfunctional. Unfortunately that’s been the case with The Golf Club 2 which came out on Tuesday. The original didn’t have any problems of the sort but with a sequel that’s likely performing better with consumers the downside to that is an independent developer up against a challenge they may not have been prepared to face.

One of the great things about The Golf Club is that progress is saved after every shot. That means if the servers cut out and you’re dropped from the game you’ll likely be starting at the very same point you were at once they recover (or at most a shot behind if one was in progress). However when the servers are down the majority of the game goes with it.

Some of the courses are playable offline but Career Mode and Online Societies require an online connection. As far as Career Mode being always-online that’s something I failed to recognize for the review that went live Tuesday and I’m not aware if HB Studios made that known prior to release. While I’ve received a server down message a few times numerous attempts to enter those areas of the game have been thwarted without any sort of error notification.

To their credit HB Studios have been posting regularly on the official Twitter account acknowledging the issues and informing work is being done to stabilize the situation. That means little though to people who just want to play and are unable to do so, and with the game releasing in Europe tomorrow the troubles look likely to continue at least through the end of the week.