“You have to check out the bunkers.”

Golden Tee project manager Brian Jandula offered up these words as I stood over a Golden Tee 2013 trackball for the very first time.

Bunkers? I have my paws on all five new courses and you want me to take a visit to the sand? OK…

On my approach off the second tee, I pushed my shot to the left (on purpose this time, I promise), and my ball trickled down into the very bottom of a bunker. Been there, done that.

As the screen panned to my new landing spot, however, I saw what he was talking about. The sand was pristine, perfect and different from anything I’ve seen in Golden Tee. My inner GT nerd smiled and gushed over this greenside change. As I talked with the man pulling all the Golden Tee’s strings how he made this possible, he offered up one more thing.

“Wait until you see the long grass.”

The Golden Tee you know and love has gotten a graphical facelift. It’s not 3D, a trip into the strange, head-set wearing future, but instead a substantial step forward. You’ll certainly recognize your golfer when you ready yourself off your first tee box, but he’s never looked better.

Your shaft on your clubs is no longer pixelated. The leaves on trees all have smooth, defined edges. The beautiful blue water on Coconut Beach makes you yearn for a tropical vacation that much more. Your golfer has been smoothed over, and your environment feels more alive. Everything is crisper than it once was, and while this won’t improve your chipping, it’ll certainly enhance your experience trying.

Without diving too deep into how this has all been possible (I don’t want to hurt myself), here’s how the team has been able to accomplish these improvements. Anti-aliasing and shading algorithms have been added to the game, which smooth out the on-screen images and increase the depth of the picture. This technology is also featured in PowerPutt LIVE, and will provide a more vibrant golfing experience.

Translation: Everything looks better now, but nothing has changed. The trackball hasn’t moved, the physics are what they have been all this time, but the courses look better (albeit being unfamiliar now) and your golfer’s fashionable self looks slightly more polished than he/she did before.

If you’ve played at all in the past few years, you’ll notice the change almost immediately. And while the graphics have improved, that’s not the only change being made to the presentation.

More on that to come…