Top 5 best golf games on iPhone (2010)

The last eight months of Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods's life have been a rollercoaster.

14 Major titles, 97 professional wins, $1 billion in winnings and endorsements - yet in November 2009 the only number on the world's mind was 121 ladies. See the National Enquirer for more details.

Anyway, next Thursday the serial birdie maker and 155 other professional swingers will descend upon St Andrews for The Open Championship, which was won last year by somebody. The attention this time around, though, will primarily and predictably fall on the big American cat.

Because we're considerate, we've compiled a list of the top five golf games on iPhone. So that you can occupy yourself constructively during one or 12 of Peter Alliss's dreary reminiscences about the golden days when a young golfer's wood only saw life on the range.

See you at the 19th hole...

Before the lurid revelations concerning Mr Woods's private life surfaced, EA released a mighty fine iPhone-optimised version of its blockbuster console franchise Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

Swiping down the on-screen meter sets the backswing, while swiping up establishes the forward swing. Any deviation from a straight swipe translates into hook or slice.

The innovative system is totally intuitive, remarkably accurate, and very handy for helping launch your pro career on seven of the world's finest and impressively drawn courses.

Multiplayer is available over Bluetooth head-to-head or local wi-fi, and your commentator for the round is ex-pro Sam Torrance.

Whereas EA's Tiger offering focuses on realism, licensing, and innovation, Gameloft’s Let's Golf! tees up a bright, colourful, and fun fairway adventure.

By opting for the traditional tap-to-swing gauge, the French developer has ensured that anybody remotely familiar with a cabinet or console golfing title will be collecting eagles in no time.

63 holes can be mastered in the single-player Tournament mode over four courses, some of which are unlocked as your putting skills improve.

Local wi-fi and Hot Seat mode give perennial caddies the chance to get their own back on the over-demanding boss.

This time last year, I went on one of those News of the World £1 caravan holidays. Suffice it to say, it was overpriced.

Beaten into second place by the return journey, the next-best part of the four-day break was a lunchtime trip to the town of Great Yarmouth and its brilliantly inventive mini golf course.

Well, glory be, some enterprising iOS coding folks over at Digital Chocolate have only gone and recreated the charm, challenge, and absurdity of the scaled-down seaside staple.

Four unique themes and 100 zany, obstacle-ridden holes await all ye crazy enough to step up to the 3D Mini Golf tee.

With beautifully rendered visuals; time- and score-based challenges; and realistic ball physics, this entertaining title only missed out on a hole-in-one through the omission of multiplayer.

Back when iPhone gaming was in its infancy, many were enthralled by the possibilities of touchscreen + accelerometer + 3D graphics.

Those brave / pioneering / mental souls over at SGN decided to take advantage of this potentially short-lived app craze and released iGolf, since renamed for iReasons unknown.

The premise is simple and not-at-all Wii-like - swing your iPhone about yourself as if it were a Callaway 3 iron; wait for the distance and speed to be recorded; and try again.

One thing to note: grip the handset tighter than your mum's finest crockery, lest your brand new iPhone 4 gets thrown out of the bedroom window and a dodgy antenna becomes the least of your problems.

In development for longer than a typical Tiger Woods affair, Eurocentre's stunningly presented crazy golf sim was worth the wait. It even supports iPhone 4's Retina display.

Offering clubbers the world over a mind-boggling 72 courses to dexterously navigate, Adrenaline Golf Online isn't short on hazards, platforms, and opponents.

As the game's moniker would suggest, over-the-air putting duels are an important component of the whole package, not least because bonuses collected during an online round can be used to handicap your opponent in real time.

All par for the course, really.