Teeing off at Masters, Wii-style

Thanks to EA Sports, I finally got my chance with the release of “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters.” For the first time in its history, Augusta National and the Masters Tournament are in a video game, giving everyone a chance to play Amen Corner, instead of watching it from behind the ropes or on TV.

Chairman Billy Payne said that Augusta National licensed its rights as part of its initiative to grow golf worldwide. Proceeds from sales are going to that pursuit.

Stewart Cink — British Open champion, Georgia Tech grad, Duluth resident and 13-time Masters participant — agreed to play “PGA Tour 12” with me to verify the authenticity of the look of the Augusta National course, the roll of the ball on its famous greens, the lengths of shots and anything else that one might wonder about. His sons, Connor and Reagan, joined our virtual loop.

Wearing a green sweater, which is the closest thing I had to a green jacket, I started with Cink and his sons in the awesome basement of his home. I’m thinking about doing something similar in my cave, minus the Ryder Cup trophies, golf bags, indoor putting green, Karaoke stage, etc. If you’re curious, the Claret Jug is upstairs, welcoming friends, and me, into the Cink’s warm home.

Connor and Reagan, video-game experts who have walked the real course with their father many times, were impressed with the graphics. The pine trees seem to sway in the breeze. The greens of the fairways and the second cut are deeply colored. The pinks of world-famous azaleas pop like fireworks.

The big oak tree, with its Wisteria vine creeping up its massive trunk, spreads its branches in a welcoming embrace to the clubhouse. The Eisenhower tree guards the fairway on No. 17. The game’s wind meter swirls like a gyroscope on No. 12 in the confusing way it has for years. Like the real course, there’s not a speck of anything out of place. It’s perfect.

You can almost taste the famous pimento-cheese sandwiches.

With no stretching and perhaps less thought, we embarked on our round. The goal was to try to better Tiger Woods’ first-round score of 2 under par during his first Masters victory in 1997. In the version of the game we chose, we played as what looked like the bulked-up, modern version of Woods, playing on the up-to-date Tiger-proofed version of the course. Because the Cinks were “PGA Tour 12” rookies, and I had a few rounds (of golf) under my belt, we chose the game’s easiest settings.

Reagan pounded his first drive up the No. 1 fairway, putting it exactly where dad said to put it. He tried to cut his approach into the first pin, but missed the target, leaving a very tough pitch back down the green. Three putts later we carded a 6.

Stewart took over on the next hole, the par-5 second. A birdie hole, he was disappointed to walk off with a par after missing the front pin and having to putt back down the treacherous green. The game tries to help you read the greens, giving you one opportunity on each putt to see how the ball will react to the contours based upon your aim.

We didn’t need the computer. Cink was reading the greens as if he were there. He said they accurately represented the correct rolls on putts. The biggest difference, at least when playing on the easiest settings, is that Cink said approach shots don’t land on the greens and then retreat back to the low areas as they really do. In most instances the ball would hit, bounce, roll and then stop.

We got into a groove over the next seven holes, posting numbers that golfers like: 3’s, 4’s and 5’s to finish the first nine (as Augusta National prefers to call it) at 1 over. Polite claps all around. A 2 under was within reach.

Some swings were funny. Stewart tried a wobbly, rubber-legged, rubber-armed swing that still resulted in a 300-yard bop down the fairway. One of the differences between someone who knows his golf swing and someone say, like me, is that when the caddie on the game suggested we hit a shot at 67 percent, Cink could come really close to swinging at that speed.

“Could you hit a shot at that percentage in real life?” I later asked.

“No,” he said.

And then came No. 10.

For those of you have watched the tournament on television, it’s hard to do justice to the elevation drop one sees when standing near the tee box and looking down the fairway. Cink describes it as standing on the edge of a cliff. Mixing a bit of gravity with a decent swing would seem to result in a pretty long drive.

Cink, who has 13 wins as a pro golfer but is admittedly a Wii rookie, tried to hit a big draw. I imagined him hammering the swing, the familiar high follow-through resulting in a ball flying off the tee and whizzing between the pines before skidding down the fairway to set up a makeable approach. We saw something a bit different.

Cink pointed the control at the ground and swung, standing high on his front leg at the finish. Instead of a laser penetrating the soothing blue sky, the ball nosedived off the tee and scurried left, searching for a safe spot in what most people call rough, but Augusta National elegantly calls the second cut.

“What happened?” he asked.

Topped. A 51-percent swing, Wii answered.

Now, with the ball doing its best to hide and with 281 yards left to the green, Cink topped his fairway wood. His kids laughed. I sympathized. It didn’t get better. With 124 to the hole, the caddie suggested an aggressive pitching wedge (you can actually see the model name on the back of the wedge as you set up) into an 11-mph wind with another one of those bizarre 76-percent swings. Cink tried, but the ball hit the back of the green, rolled down the hill and found a home in the pine needles.

Then came the three words that no golfer wants to see or hear: “Out of bounds.”

The game put Cink back in the fairway. He tried a safer shot that again hit the back of the green and rolled down the hill. This time the ball stopped short of “OB.”

“I’m so confused right now,” Cink said.

Around the green is where Cink usually cleans up. Six shots later, the game had enough. Mercy rule. An 11.

“Is there any chance you’d actually make an 11 on any hole in the tournament?” I asked.

“Yeah, on every hole you could make 11,” Cink said laughing. “But there’s no chance you can do the shot-limit exceeded. The game has the mercy rule. But there’s no mercy at the Masters.”

We played Amen Corner, holes No. 11, 12 and 13, in 2 under. We didn’t try to replicate Phil Mickelson’s 2010 tournament-defining shot off the pine needles on No. 13. Instead, we shook hands with some trees on the left side of the fairway and were forced to lay up.

We rolled along and virtually signed for an 80.

Finally, the million-dollar question for fans of golf: “Was it realistic?”

“Oh, yeah,” Stewart said.

And the million-byte question for fans of video games: “Would you buy the game?”

“Oh, yeah,” Connor and Reagan answered.

So, Mr. Payne, as you can see, I am ready to play your beautiful course. I’ll try to catch up with you this week to make sure you have my correct address.

The 75th Masters

When: Thursday-April 10.

Site: Augusta National Golf Club (7,435 yards; par 72)

Television: ESPN, CBS