Jack Nicklaus 4

Jack Nicklaus 4 is a 1997 sports golf video game. It was published by Accolade, and is the fourth in a series of video games named after golfer Jack Nicklaus, following Jack Nicklaus Golf & Course Design: Signature Edition (1992). The original Microsoft Windows version was developed by Cinematronics. Versions were also released for Macintosh and DVD. A PlayStation version titled Jack Nicklaus '98 was also in development. The game was followed by Jack Nicklaus 5, released later in 1997.

Jack Nicklaus 4 includes eight different game modes. The player competes against various opponents throughout the game, including Jack Nicklaus, who is not a playable character. While aiming, the player can get an overhead view that goes up to 150 feet high. The DVD version includes 10 game modes and an ABC Sports video titled Toughest 18 Holes. The DVD version also features four golf courses, as well as six others that were made with the course designer. In addition, the game offers three types of weather and five types of wind.

Jack Nicklaus 4 was developed by Cinematronics, with Michael Franco as producer. The team's goal was to develop a game which would recreate the experience of playing real golf, partially through graphics and sounds. The game would also offer more viewing angles than other golf games, and more control over the swing profile. During development, the game included the subtitle Golden Bear Edition. Development was underway as of January 1995, and the game was announced that month at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show. The game was developed for Microsoft Windows due to the operating system's increased prevalence. Fregger joined the development team in 1996, when Cinematronics contacted him to help finish the game. Dennis Clark programmed the physics, while Mike Sandige programmed the rendering. Jim Mischel programmed the course designer. The game has 32 megabytes' worth of sound, which include regionally authentic bird sounds for the golf courses. The game uses DirectSound, and its multiplayer mode utilizes DirectPlay. The course designer was modeled after Nicklaus Productions' computer aided design system. In May 1997, Accolade announced that it would release the game on Macintosh later in the summer. A free upgrade with several new features was released online in June 1997. That month, Accolade announced it would release the game on DVD in the summer, to take advantage of the format's increasing popularity. A PlayStation version, titled Jack Nicklaus '98 and featuring the same courses as Jack Nicklaus 4, had been scheduled for release in late 1997, although it was never released. The Macintosh version was published by MacSoft. An online game, Jack Nicklaus Online Golf Tour, was released in 1998. and online courses created with Jack Nicklaus 4 were playable through Jack Nicklaus Online Golf Tour.

Jack Nicklaus 4 received positive reviews, but sold poorly. The game was praised for its graphics, its multitude of online courses, and its course designer, although some reviewers were critical of the inability to create custom objects with the designer. PC Zone criticized the game for difficult aiming and putting. Macworlds Michael Gowan wrote about the Macintosh version, "Featuring five courses, network play, a convincing physics model, and the ability to create your own courses from scratch, this golf simulation has only one bogey: the delay between swinging the club and the corresponding animation." Dean Renninger of MacAddict stated that while some of the game's graphical details were good, they were "a far cry from photorealistic." Renninger considered the game too easy, and believed that the Links series was superior. AllGame's Jonathan Sutyak reviewed the DVD version and criticized it for not taking advantage of the DVD format. In addition, Sutyak criticized the graphics and sound for not being improved over the computer version, and criticized the in game instructions for being erroneous. He praised the gameplay and called the game "very good," but "not enough of an improvement" over the computer version, stating that people who owned the original version would have no reason to buy the DVD version.