Mario Golf: World Tour is a fine game overall, with lots of ways to play and a challenges that reward skill, but what makes it great is how smoothly its levels progress you from beginner to unstoppable golfing machine. This sense of progression, paired with lots of content and smart multiplayer options, make it a worthwhile way to spend your time.

Hitting a ball in Mario Golf is as easy or as difficult as you want it to be, though it does reward those who take the more skillful route. You can line up the ball normally and just hit for power, or you can switch to the manual mode, which lets you add various spins to pull off fancy shots. Here, Mario Golf strikes an excellent balance of risk and reward. Putting backspin onto a ball so it will roll backwards toward the hole feels great when you pull it off, but it’s also easier to miss the “sweet spot.” Poor judgment can send your ball zooming into a sand pit or reeling backwards away from the hole, and learning those nuances comes with training as well as raw play time. Loading

The bulk of Mario Golf is made up of three courses, each with 18 holes, and they all have something new to teach you. The forest course has slow winds and is relatively free of danger, so you’re free to learn the basics. The seaside course adds strong gusts and sand traps. And finally, the mountain course adds obstacles to shoot past and steep edges to avoid. Each course has that goofy, bulbous look and charm of a Mario world, though they are a bit tame until you unlock the challenge maps.

Mario Golf steadily ramps up in difficulty, but it intelligently teaches you new skills the whole time. By the end of the third course I was avoiding cacti, adding spin to my swings, and taking advantage of the wind to nail my shots. It felt great. There is always challenge, but there’s success and learning alongside it. Each match played also unlocks a new golf accessory in the store, so you can customize your golfer with new clubs and threads. Unfortunately, many of these items share identical stats, and differ only in how they look. It can also be difficult to find the store, or anywhere else, really, because the map is bare and unmarked.

After finishing the campaign, there are plenty of additional challenge maps to unlock. Finding them is a bit tricky because they’re located in a separate set of menus, even though they directly tie-in with the main map area. But once you do, Mario Golf opens up into a new kind of game that’s focused on trick shots. Collect all the coins on a course, send the ball through all the rings, and so on. It's another thing to think about instead of just getting the ball to the hole.

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The courses also introduce items that affect how your golf ball travels. The Bullet Bill power-up sends your ball racing forward in a straight line. Another one sends your ball exploding upward, which is useful for nabbing coins. Just when you think you’ve mastered the game, it adds new ways to play. And the rewards for these challenges are new themed maps, like a Princess Peach course, or an underwater course with water physics.

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Even though Mario Golf uses plenty of golf jargon, there are plenty of options that keep casual players’ heads above water. Toad’s tutorials are fast and well explained, and they cover the nuances of elevation, sloped shots, and dealing with wind.

Plus, before competing in any of the three main course championships, I was able to take a practice round and earn a handicap for myself. It’s a great way to test the waters, and as you improve, your handicap will change to match until, eventually, points are actually being added to your score because you’re just too good. This system even makes practice feel rewarding and worthwhile, instead of something you just do until you’re ready for the real tournament.

Mario Golf’s multiplayer modes are awesome, and they’re a great way to keep improving after completing the main courses. There’s the traditional competition to earn the lowest score, and one mode has you racing to complete three holes in the shortest time. It’s great, because with all the variables you’re used to dealing with in golf, doing things quickly is something I’d never had to consider.