Links 2001

Links 2001 features five real golf courses: Aviara Golf Club (California), Chateau Whistler (Canada), Old Course at St Andrews (Scotland), Prince Course at Princeville Resort (Hawaii), and Westfields Golf Club (Virginia). A fictional sixth course, called Mesa Roja, features a red rock desert environment meant to be somewhere in the southwestern United States. The game includes informational videos of each course. A course converter allows courses from the Links LS games to be played in Links 2001. Courses from Microsoft Golf 2001 Edition can also be made compatible.

The game features 14 golfers, including Arnold Palmer, Sergio García, and Annika Sörenstam, and the player can choose to make their golfer left-handed. The on-screen golfer makes comments in reaction to the player's golfing. The player can create new golf characters with various customization options, which include the golfer's appearance. The player can also customize the golfing clubs.

Links 2001 was developed by Microsoft, and uses a revamped graphics engine and new game physics over its predecessors. The greens in the game were created through 500 GPS points taken on the actual golf courses. Microsoft described the game as "the most comprehensive upgrade to the series since Links: The Challenge of Golf was introduced ten years ago". Links 2001 is the first game in the Links series to include a course designer.

The Arnold Palmer Course Designer is the same tool used by the development team to create the six included courses. García and Sörenstam provided their voices to the game, and Sörenstam is the first LPGA golfer to be featured in the Links series. Links 2001 was completed in mid-October 2000. It was published for Microsoft Windows and was released in the United States at the end of the month.

Links 2001 received "generally favorable reviews" according to Metacritic. Critics considered it an improvement over its predecessors, including Links LS 2000. Some considered it the best golf simulation available, while others felt that PGA Championship Golf 2000 was a superior game. Keith Pullin of PC Zone wrote that "only the most loyal of Links fans will actually notice any difference" between Links 2001 and its predecessors.

The graphics were generally praised and considered the best in the Links series up to that time. Stephen Poole of GameSpot called it the best-looking golf simulation available at the time. However, IGN's Dan Adams considered the graphics and the golfer animations to be lifeless. Eurogamer stated that the golfers were "superbly done," but that they "can appear a little false and fuzzy around the edges when set against some of the course backgrounds." Alan Lackey of Computer Games Magazine stated that the golfers "look more natural to their surroundings and no longer have the appearance of being pasted into the scene."