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Needs test ProtonDB Silver

The Golf Club 2

Proton (Windows) Sports / golf simulation 2017 other appid 554510 ⚙ GE-Proton
Does it run on your Deck?

About

The Golf Club 2 is a golf simulation by Nova Scotia studio HB Studios, the sequel to the 2014 surprise hit The Golf Club. Built in Unity, it pairs a tempo-based swing system with a powerful procedural course designer that let players build and share thousands of community courses. Its career mode centered on player-run online 'Societies' that hosted tournaments. The game was delisted from Steam on July 1 2020, and its online servers were shut down on February 28 2025, ending course sharing and multiplayer while leaving offline rounds and the course designer playable.

Identity

DeveloperHB Studios
PublisherMaximum Games
Released2017
GenreSports / golf simulation
ModesSingle-player, online multiplayer (servers shut down Feb 28 2025; offline play remains)
Engineother
TypeProton (Windows)
Steam appid554510

Launch

Binary
HB_Golf.exe
Needs files
none beyond the binary

Proton

Version
GE-Proton
Winetricks
ProtonDB
ProtonDB Silver runs with minor issues

⚙ Setup notes

DRM: Delisted Steam game (appid 554510, removed from sale July 1 2020). Unity title from HB Studios; the game exe is HB_Golf.exe in the install root.

Proton: ProtonDB tier is Silver with a Deck status of Playable — it installs and runs on Proton. GE-Proton is the safest pick; stock proton_experimental and older official builds (5.0-8 / 4.11) have also worked for users.

Display: Some reports note slow load/start and uneven framerate on the menus, so cap to 40fps via the Deck performance overlay if it stutters.

Controller: Gamepad input works, but not cleanly out of the box — the default mapping is awkward (swing defaults to the right pad / wrong stick) and players report misaligned bindings or missing actions like shot-shaper and practice swing. Open the in-game controller settings and switch the swing to the left stick; if bindings are wrong, toggle Steam Input (or set the controller up once in Big Picture) for that title.

Online: Online play is dead (servers shut down Feb 28 2025) — keep to the offline single-player / course-designer modes.

Install: deckport only configures the prefix; it never bundles or links the game files.

The one thing to know

Supply your own copy: Delisted from Steam (appid 554510) on July 1 2020 — not for sale. deckport links nothing.

Proton: ProtonDB Silver / Deck Playable — runs under Proton (GE-Proton recommended).

Controller: Gamepad is supported but needs in-game setup — the default scheme is awkward and some Deck users hit misaligned bindings / missing actions. In the in-game controller settings switch the swing to the left stick, and toggle Steam Input for the title if bindings come up wrong. Not a clean out-of-the-box remap.

Online: ONLINE IS DEAD — servers shut down Feb 28 2025, so online tours, the in-game store and progression rewards no longer work; offline rounds and the course designer still play.

Display: Some users report slow loading and occasional menu stutter — cap framerate via the Deck overlay if needed.

Binary: HB_Golf.exe should be confirmed against your own install.

Community guides

Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.

Get the artwork

deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.

Run it on your Deck

Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it writes the recipe (binary, launch options, Proton version) and registers the shortcut with artwork.