Having come late to the original Xbox, I'm still playing this. It's a great golf game - probably the best I've ever played.
Even now the only competition - the Tiger Woods series - is still introducing "new" features. Such as the "single strength putter" EA have introduced in TW10, and simultaneous online play they introduced in TW09. Both features were in Links 2004 (released Nov 2003).
Online mode still works well - though Microsoft have shut down the XSN Sports websites that was used for running official tournaments. It's playable on Xbox 360 in 720p (though not widescreen) and it looks better than ever.
Some friends and I are planning another manual tournament soon. Send me a message if you'd like to play.
