Accolade's Mean 18, released in 1986, was arguably the first golf game to introduce the 'three-click' system for taking a shot (click to start, click again for optimum/desired power, click a final time when the pointer reaches zero for accuracy).
Links and its successor Links 386 'adopted' this system, and later became the phenomenally successful Microsoft Golf series. In Mean 18, the power meter is a simple vertical bar; whereas Links memorably changed this to the iconic circular 'golf ball' meter which I bet many of you are familiar with.
But back to Mean 18. Its other 'unique selling point' at the time was the 3D view of the course from the golfer's point of view, rather than a simple top-down 2D view of the hole or the course. Unfortunately, the view does revert to top-down once you reach a green.
Unlike other golf (or mini-putt) games of the time, Mean 18 also boasts two difficulty settings. I recommend that you stick to Beginner until you get the hang of the three-click system and can achieve near par (or better). It's often notoriously difficult to choose the correct club in Expert level.
Well do I remember the many hours I spent in my office in the 1980s playing this game! Unusually for a game this old, it
contains a course designer, and I also remember that many dedicated souls designed a huge number of Mean 18 courses, distributed by BBSs world wide, to the huge delight of Mean 18 enthusiasts like myself.
Obviously Mean 18 has nothing like the near photo-realistic graphics of Links or any current golf game, but this is truly where it all began for computer golf games. I guarantee that you'll find it both engrossing and genuinely challenging, and it still stands up well when compared to many later computer golf games. It's well worth the seemingly impossibly small download, and I will be amazed if you don't spend at least one day trying to master it.
