Sid Meier's Sim Golf captures the essence of this relationship, and the essence of golf, very well. Sim Golf is a joint production of Sid Meier's Firaxis Studios (home of Civilisation and other great strategy games) and Maxis Studios (home of SimCity and The Sims). The combined influence of both studios gives the game both instant approachability and appeal, and underlying depth.

The basic idea of Sim Golf is to build financially successful golf courses all around the world, and keep your eye in by playing a few rounds along the way. There's no back story to speak of - you've inherited some money and you're forbidden from blowing it all on an Italian sports car and a GeForce 4. You have to build golf courses with it. Simple huh? So it seems...

Sim Golf is the sort of game you can, and should, just jump right into. You start with a modest sum of money, and a choice of where to buy your first block of land. Once you select a site you can afford, and that will leave you enough cash to start developing your course, the game is underway. Your course starts as nothing more than a clubhouse and maybe one other building, surrounded on all sides by wild gorse, water, trees, desert, or whatever, depending on where your land is. The clock is ticking - it's all real time - so you need to start building straight away to get golfers on your greens and paying fees.

Constructing holes and developing the course is easy. You view the game from an overhead, RTS-like perspective. There is a palette of terrain types and landscape features at the bottom of the screen. Selecting one allows you to place the terrain with the cursor on what is effectively an invisible grid on the map. Different terrain types cost different amounts to place. For a basic hole you will need a tee and green, and some fairway for the golfers to hit onto and play along. You can then spice the hole up with sand traps or water hazards, trees, or maybe a stream across the middle.

As soon as you are happy, you can open the hole and golfers will start playing. You will see the Sims-like characters walk up to the tees and watch them take each shot, watch the ball pitch and spin back, or roll and splash into the lake. As the golfers complete each hole, they will pay a green fee. Green fees are what keeps you in business.

But like real golfers, sim golfers have a love hate relationship with the game. If the holes you build are too tough, they'll have a very frustrating round and they won't want to come back. If the holes are fun, they'll love the course, pay big cash, and tell all their friends. Your job as course designer and developer is to make sure your golfers have fun. Building a fun course is not as simple as it first seems. If the holes are too easy, good golfers will go elsewhere for a decent challenge. The trick is to build holes with plenty of variety and options, perhaps with a nice gentle approach for a par or bogey and a tricky tee shot to make a birdie. Holes like this will appeal to golfers of all skill levels.

Fun can also be influenced by the placement of scenic landmarks such as flower beds, statues and so on. It can also be negatively influenced by the housing lots you might sell on the course to earn some quick cash, unless of course a celebrity like Pamela Panderson or Mel Gifford moves in, in which case the punters will love it. Golfers will also start playing badly, and having a bad time, if they get too tired, hungry, or thirsty. So you will need to place strategic benches, snack shops, and soda vendors around your course.

Selling food and drink can also turn into a nice wee earner too, as can the construction of various other buildings as your course gets larger. Pro shops, tennis clubs, marinas, putting greens, driving ranges and a fair few other buildings all either take golfers' money directly, or improve the appeal and therefore the bankability of your course in one way or another. Meanwhile costs will also escalate as you have to hire staff to do the weeding and keep the players moving. There are plenty of reports you can browse to help you keep track of what's going on with your course.

With all these options, your course will quickly begin to get very crowded and busy. You'll watch the moolah rolling in and find yourself re-modelling holes to keep traffic flowing smoothly and avoid dangerous crossing of holes. But you can't afford to forget that the most important feature of your course is the golfer.