To the untrained eye, golf has always been a sport that is much more fun to play than it is to watch. Maybe that's because golf was historically an exclusive game, reserved for country club patrons and wealthy people with hefty wallets. In the 90s, the world of golf changed when Tiger Woods spearheaded a subtle shift in the golfing world. With time, the doors of the golfing community slowly opened up to the masses and with it came a newfound love for watching golf. In the gaming world, a similar paradigm shift has occurred in golfing. Prior to 2006, playing golf with thumbsticks or a D-pad left gamers with the same hands-off and distant feeling of country club golfing. The subtle nuances of golf were lost to a single button press. However, thanks to the Wii's accelerometer and infrared system, golf once again gained mass appeal to a new audience - the home gamer. However, the Wii isn't the only gaming system that makes golf fun. The iPhone and iPod Touch have recently joined the fray to bring casual gamers the joy of accelerometer driven golf. Let's see how the top golf games on these platforms measure up.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, for the Wii, and Geoplay Golf, for the iPhone and Touch, both use an accelerometer to put gamers right into the action. Before PGA Tour 10, the Wii employed strictly an accelerometer and infrared control scheme. Gamers felt the weight of having an imaginary club in their hand with each swing. Just like in a real golf game, you would point your controller down at the floor like a golf club to prepare for your swing. After take a few practice swings, you would bring your arms backward like a golf club then execute a drive or put. The Wiimote's accelerometer would measure the heft and direction of your swing. Swing too gently and a Par 3 would quickly turn into a Par 5. Swing too hard and you would find yourself trapped in the rough. Unfortunately, the accelerometer wasn't enough to give veteran golfers the feeling of actually being there on the green. Wii golfers didn't feel like they had total control of their swing. With the advent of Wii Motion Plus, nearly every nuance in your swing was registered in game. Gamers could now include Draws and Fades into their driving arsenal.

Geoplay Golf utilizes the iPhone's built in accelerometer. Just like with the Wiimote, gamers must use their iPhone as their club. After dragging the screen in the direction you wish to swing, you will be prompted to point your phone down with the screen facing the hole. When you hear the ding sound, you can pull your phone back like a club and then swing. Although not as precise as the Wiimote and Wii Motion Plus combo, the accelerometer registers the weight of your swing. PGA Tour 10 gamers will also notice that it is much easier to register a full 100% on your swing power on the iPhone that on the Wii, which is fine for novice gamers.

While precision may be lacking in Geoplay Golf, when compared with Wii Motion Plus, the feeling of being on the golf course is overwhelmingly present in this game. Geoplay incorporates the iPhone and Touch's built-in GPS to create a profoundly new gaming experience. Once you turn on the GPS, your phone will create a map of your location then build a golf course out of it. Gamers can setup the location of the hole and tee according to their preference, as well as the size of the course. After you hit the ball, you can actually follow the on-screen GPS map to the golf ball and play it where it lies. So no matter where you are in the world, there is a golf course waiting for you. As Darth Vader would say, "Impressive." If you'd like to take your gaming experience one step further, you can also swap out the landscape on the screen with one of five built in environment themes. PGA Tour 10 offers a similar "true to life" experience, by letting gamers play on the actual course of PGA Tour tournaments in real time. So, weather and professional in-game statistics of actual golfers are updated as you play. In this fashion, you are competing right alongside your favorite golfers.

Geoplay Golf and PGA Tour 10 are two games that have made the best use of the iPhone and Wii's accelerometer technology; each game creates unique gaming experiences for home and on-the-go gamers on its respective platform. Geoplay Golf puts you right there on a golf course of your own design, making this the most real iPhone golfing experience to date.