PGA TOUR 2K21

[Diablo25]

You will love it. I LOVE my sim. Having it during this pandemic has been huge. I have a SkyTrak with an 8x12 impact screen, gaming laptop, Fiberbuilt mat. It Definitely is an investment but it’s worth it if you are going to use it. Over the last 5 years I have gone from a fairly basic setup to pretty damn nice one. I am hoping to update my launch monitor to a Uneekor in the next year. Follow Jay at Golfsimulatorvideos on YouTube. Great dude.

Here is a video of me at Pebble Beach a few months back.

It looks like you've got enough room where your's is setup to where you wouldn't feel any restriction. I couldn't see much overhead, but how high is your ceiling/overhead in your garage? At what resolution are the graphics displayed when you're playing the game... is it 1080p? That would be fine with me, I just don't know if any sacrifices are made on launch monitors for this.

I may have asked you this before, but does the delay between the time you hit the shot and it's actual depiction on the screen make it feel less connected? It seems like there's about a three or four second delay there. Finally, how does the putting feel with the Skytrack? I've read other reports that say the putting actually has more feel and acuity on the Skytrack than it does on the Trackman.

I have 10 foot high ceilings...no problem at all with space. I have a 1080P BenQ projector. On the 8X12 foot impact screen it looks absolutely fine. My gaming laptop can run the game at much higher resolutions but the projector’s highest res is 1080. There is like a 2 second delay after the shot. It really doesn’t bother me. Sure, I would like it to be instant but it is far from a game breaker. The Uneekor QED launch monitor that I want is pretty much instant. Putting is fine on the SkyTrak. You can set it to “Straight Putting”. When on that setting your putt with roll straight unless your stroke is total s***. It’s nice because you can simply work on your swing pace, etc.

[J_Cauthen]

I have 10 foot high ceilings...no problem at all with space. I have a 1080P BenQ projector. On the 8X12 foot impact screen it looks absolutely fine. My gaming laptop can run the game at much higher resolutions but the projector’s highest res is 1080. There is like a 2 second delay after the shot. It really doesn’t bother me. Sure, I would like it to be instant but it is far from a game breaker. The Uneekor QED launch monitor that I want is pretty much instant. Putting is fine on the SkyTrak. You can set it to “Straight Putting”. When on that setting your putt with roll straight unless your stroke is total s***. It’s nice because you can simply work on your swing pace, etc.

Your 10 foot tall ceiling would certainly eliminate any fears I have there. Thanks for the info on the projector. I think 1080p would be fine with a launch simulator... anything beyond that would be gravy. So it's more like a 2 second delay? I can only project what that would feel like to me doing it in person, so I really have nothing solid to go on.

I had not even heard of the Uneekor QED launch monitor until I read your post. I did some research on it and it looks like it delivers a lot of punch for a very reasonable price tag. I watched a couple of "Golf Simulator Videos" looks at it on their You Tube channel yesterday and the impact to shot depiction animation was almost instantanous. It looked like they cover all the bases with the shot variables as well with the Uneekor.

I'll be eagerly following your progress with this purchase. It looks to me like you're on the right path!

[Rodster]

I picked up the PC version while it was on sale and i'm digging it. So far from my brief playtime with it, the ball doesn't exhibit the crazy physics like the previous game where you felt like you were playing Super Monkey Ball. The audio is pretty slick too and it has the most realistic TV like presentation i've heard in a golf game. Much better than the TW audio team. I'm sure i'll get tired of hearing the same old lines and the quirks of the audio team but the audio gives the game a little more immersion.

That said, I hope they up the graphics with the new TW game because the Unity engine is holding the series back. You can compensate for it on the PC but the game probably doesn't look good on the consoles and i'm basing that opinion playing it on the XONE and PS4.

[Danimal]

Just curious have they fixed saving replays yet? I want to put together a video of great shots etc but the feature has never worked. I know I can get around it by using Nvidia or other capture software but if they have a feature in the game it should work.

[J_Cauthen]

I picked up the PC version while it was on sale and i'm digging it. So far from my brief playtime with it, the ball doesn't exhibit the crazy physics like the previous game where you felt like you were playing Super Monkey Ball. The audio is pretty slick too and it has the most realistic TV like presentation i've heard in a golf game. Much better than the TW audio team. I'm sure i'll get tired of hearing the same old lines and the quirks of the audio team but the audio gives the game a little more immersion.

The game audio effects are pretty slick in this game, IMO. A shanked shot sounds like a shanked shot. I haven't played buy one round in the career mode, so I really can't comment on the the professional broadcast team that does the commentary for it. What I've heard in clips from them sounded pretty good.

That said, I hope they up the graphics with the new TW game because the Unity engine is holding the series back. You can compensate for it on the PC but the game probably doesn't look good on the consoles and i'm basing that opinion playing it on the XONE and PS4.

I'm very curious to see where they go with the next edition. I don't see how they can stick with Unity for another round, but I also can't assume that HB Studios is going to be as adept with another more high tech game engine, like NBA 2K21's Eco-Motion, for example. I'd like to see them try something else because I think they've milked all they can get out of Unity, especially with the player models and animations.

[J_Cauthen]

Just curious have they fixed saving replays yet? I want to put together a video of great shots etc but the feature has never worked. I know I can get around it by using Nvidia or other capture software but if they have a feature in the game it should work.

It's been so long since I tried to use replays that I can't answer. I'll check it out later today and see what I can come up with.

[10spro]

Experienced some odd freezes during the first two rounds at the masters. About 4-5 times in 18 holes, just wondering if any of you got it too. Will restart the game and see if that changes. I know the servers are overwhelmed sometimes during Divot Derby, a mode I am loving...

[JOZ]

I got the freezes too. 2 or 3 times in the four rounds that I played last night. About 3 seconds or so. Weird. Also noticed the frame rate wasn't great when I would hit "Y" to fast forward my shot.

[J_Cauthen]

Just curious have they fixed saving replays yet? I want to put together a video of great shots etc but the feature has never worked. I know I can get around it by using Nvidia or other capture software but if they have a feature in the game it should work.

I tried this yesterday and couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Something's missing from the in-game package to me. I gave up in frustration trying to use it.

[J_Cauthen]

Experienced some odd freezes during the first two rounds at the masters. About 4-5 times in 18 holes, just wondering if any of you got it too. Will restart the game and see if that changes. I know the servers are overwhelmed sometimes during Divot Derby, a mode I am loving...

I played the TGC Tours Beer League tournament this week at a course called Grand Lakuna, and it was a shimmering, stuttering mess on my Series X at 60 Hz vsync. The only salvation was that none of that occurred during the actual swing. When I'd pan the camera to aim, the shimmering, even with TAA enabled, was rampant. I'd then get a good deal of stuttering during ball flight and rolling. This course and Shelter Harbor are plagued with this it seems. I'm glad this problem is isolated to only a few courses.

The screen freezing seems to be getting worse though. I see this most frequently after hitting a tee shot and the screen has just been displayed for my second shot. I'll have to wait 3 or 4 seconds before I can pan to change my aim. Then sometimes again if I want to adjust the aim again. It's not game breaking, but it is annoying. I wish they would add a third option for vsync OFF. I think that would eliminate the shimmering and stuttering for Series X owners with VRR capable displays. It might even help the freezing problem also.

[Rodster]

I've purchased every version on the PC and i've got to say that 2K21 is the most accessible in the series by far. When you put on the training wheels it feels like you are playing a TW game albeit a little more difficult.

[J_Cauthen]

I've purchased every version on the PC and i've got to say that 2K21 is the most accessible in the series by far. When you put on the training wheels it feels like you are playing a TW game albeit a little more difficult.

I agree... it is by far and away my favorite of the series. You can make it as easy or as difficult as you want, with plenty of degrees of variability in between.

I don't know how many who play here will be affected by what HB Studios did today, but the enacted a server side patch to take away the benefit of using what is called the "Red Fast" exploit in the game. It used to be that the player could intentionally aim a formula determined number of blocks/ticks to the right and swing the club with an intentionally fast tempo that would register as a "Red Fast" tempo on the swing feedback meter. It was easier to consistently hit this Red Fast status than hit a "Perfect" tempo swing, so once you got the hang of the Red Fast tempo, and learned how to use the adjustment formula, you could cheese the game for all it's worth. When you do that now, you'll lose 15 to 25% of your distance, depending on how far you go between "Red Fast" and "Very Red Fast". Lots of cheesers are whining about it today, but I think most 2K21 players are happy with it.

We don't ever see this technique used in the DSP Society on the XBox side, but I do play in a couple of societies where I have seen it used. I think it cheapens the game, for lack of a better description.

[J_Cauthen]

Boys, we got us a nyce 'un going at TPS Louisiana right now in the DSP Society... at least through round 1! I don't know what it is about that course; it just seems so meh, but I love to play it!

[J_Cauthen]

fsquid1, I gotta ask you... have you been taking putting lessons from Major Bubs!? Your putting performance in round 2 at TPC Louisiana was reminiscent of Major Bubs final round at Harbor Town! Oh, and when you weren't making putts, you were chipping in from 50 feet, like you did on 17 in round 2. That was a great round of golf though. I had you and Major Bubs along with me in this round, and the Major almost looked human again

I'm enjoying this tournament as much as any we've played this season. It's fun to have the field this tight.

[JOZ]

It's crazy how you can get on a roll with the putting in this game. Putting in 2019 would put my controller in jeopardy quite a bit. This year it's my favorite part of the game.

I think in this 3rd and 4th round I got on one of those rolls. It will be interesting how it plays out.

[J_Cauthen]

It's crazy how you can get on a roll with the putting in this game. Putting in 2019 would put my controller in jeopardy quite a bit. This year it's my favorite part of the game.

I think in this 3rd and 4th round I got on one of those rolls. It will be interesting how it plays out.

Putting is indeed more of an art in this game than 2019. Most of my putting meltdowns come from being too aggressive with eagle and birdie putt attempts. Everybody got hot in the final two rounds of the TPC Louisiana tournament except me, but for the most part, I could feel why I wasn't scoring. I was playing in a group yesterday with 10spro, vader, and fsquid1, and you guys were all putting lights out... it was a sight to behold!

For the first time since the server side "Very Fast" nerfing, I had the first instance of an inexplicable "Red Very Fast" tempo in the final round at Louisiana yesterday. I was -4 through 5 holes, I had hit every fairway and green and all of my tee shots were in the "Perfect" band. All of the sudden, on the 6th hole, a reachable par 5, I tallied a "Red Very Fast" tempo, and duck-hooked the shot into the water, which is well off to the left. Then on my third shot, I had a borderline "Red Fast" that hooked enough to catch the bank and bound into the water near the green. I wound up with a triple bogey. I then had a "Gray Fast on the back nine that produced just enough of a draw to find the water after getting an unfavorable bounce off the border wall. This led to a double bogey, but this one was purely on me, whereas the tee shot on 6 just seemed to come out of the twilight zone, as I was consciously trying produce a slow tempo there.

This round also included a 4-putt bogey on a par 5 I'd reached in two, but had left myself a 56 foot putt. I still managed seven birdies during the round amidst all of the trauma and wound up enjoying the round. I've decided today that I'm boing to hit the swing calibration process this morning and try to increase my overall tempo, so that it will be more difficult to tally a "Red Fast". I'll let you know how it works out.

[fsquid]

fsquid1, I gotta ask you... have you been taking putting lessons from Major Bubs!? Your putting performance in round 2 at TPC Louisiana was reminiscent of Major Bubs final round at Harbor Town! Oh, and when you weren't making putts, you were chipping in from 50 feet, like you did on 17 in round 2. That was a great round of golf though. I had you and Major Bubs along with me in this round, and the Major almost looked human again

I'm enjoying this tournament as much as any we've played this season. It's fun to have the field this tight.

Yea, it was just getting on a roll. I played round 3 a day or so later and couldn't make a putt and watched the Bubs just float by me on the leaderboard. I also had the roll on my approaches dialed in too. I had a ton of birdie putts that were less than 7 feet.

[J_Cauthen]

As planned, I did undergo a new swing calibration in which I intentionally tried to hit each drive with what would amount to a heavy "Gray Fast" or a mild "Red Fast". Nine of my ten drives drew in a fashion that represented that. I then played 36 holes of golf, including the DSP Society tournament today with my newly calibrated swing that in theory should hedge me toward a slow tempo. It appears to have done just that. I had two swings that were just left of 10 o-clock on the tempo meter, and the rest were either Perfects or Gray Slows with the exception of one Red Slow, but it still hit the green.

I also made a change to use partial pitch shots instead of splash shots going forward. I don't like the feel of the pitch swing in this game, partial or full, but the results look more believable and I think eventually, I'll adapt to the lack of proportional feel in the pitch swing. The splash swings just got tiresome and don't feel like golf in all the places I was using them. I didn't light the course up today, but that had more to do with three 3-putt and one 4-putt green than my overall swing.

[10spro]

Probably just me but on St Mary’s isle daily, all my pitch shots went only half way of the desired yardage. Either that or my controller is more f***ed up than what I thought.

Challenging course.

[J_Cauthen]

Probably just me but on St Mary’s isle daily, all my pitch shots went only half way of the desired yardage. Either that or my controller is more f***ed up than what I thought.

Challenging course.

I had to hit two partial pitch shots in my round, and they both came up short enough to leave me with unmakeably long birdie putts... then again, the way I've been putting over the last few weeks, anything outside of 3 feet is unmakeably long! I had two pitch shots which were full or almost full and they came off with the expected carry. The pitch shot interface just feels like it's lacking an intuitive sense of proportion. When you hit a partial pitch shot you have to have what feels like a jabbing foreswing to get it to carry the desired distance, whereas in real life, I use the speed of my swing more to set the carry. I just can't make my instincts "jab" the partial pitch shot like I have to in order to execute it properly in this game!

I was never in contention during this round at St. Mary's Isle, as I just flat out can't putt anymore it seems. I came to what I think is the 15th hole at -3. It's a 329 yard par 4 that I thought I might be able to reach under the wind and elevation conditions. I failed to recognize that the waste area to the front left of the hole was OOB. I had too much of a draw on it and the wind combined with that carried me into what I thought was a bunker. Nope, I got a penalty and was back on the tee for stroke #3. That was poor course management on my part... I should always look at the overhead map to check for inconspicuous OOB's like this.

[Rodster]

Any good Pinehurst courses for the PC?

[10spro]

Well, it’s been an interesting week playing the game away from home to say the least.

Besides the lousy WiFi connection in my hotel room where I was averaging a DL speed of 68mbps, little did I realized that I was still playing under 30HZ frame rate.

I travelled with the old Xbox One X and I totally forgot to change the settings of the game on that console to 60HZ, explaining my whole weekend experience why it felt like I was playing on mud. Deep mud.

Getting back home tomorrow, but there’s something that’s different lately, John.

Did you say there was a recent patch? Looking at your comments in the Xbox thread, the game seems to punish you if you have a fast swing (which I usually do) and that maybe explains why I asked you the question last week at a particular tournament where all my pitches were traveling only 50% of the intended yardage.

At today’s daily @The Belfry I went several times for a swim because of my fast swing. I had the choppy connection as enemy #1 so I kept compensating for a quicker swing which of course doesn’t seem to work lately.

If this patch punishes fast swingers like me, I will be in a world of travel no matter which connection I get.

Even on putts, I can’t seem to get a smooth tempo.

[J_Cauthen]

What a fantastic rendition of Kiawah Island Golf Resort that was on which we played last week's tournament! I played a few of the holes of the final round just as Brooks and Phil were playing them yesterday. If the creator of the course had access to a few more custom objects, it would have been perfect! It's a tough course that somehow seems to lure me into every front left greenside bunker on the course. Seriously, I had bunker shots on 14, 15, and 16, that all looked identical in the final round. I was 14 to 19 feet below the hole in each of them, with no green to work with. I had to hit three of the dreaded splash shots and I got a fully nerfed slightly "Red Slow" on one of them and got to play the shot again.

I blame myself for all the misses that left me in the bunkers though. None of them were Red Fasts... two were gray and one was perfect, I just didn't factor the wind right. I have also found that the new swing changes seem to punish lofted or delofted shots that are off tempo more severely. I've decided to shorten my backswing or club up instead of lofting and delofting now, and it's starting to work out better for me. I have the swing meter turned off, but I find that I can modulate my backswing reasonably well by using the "rumble" feature when it's in my desired carry zone. Shortening my backswing tends to make me be slow on the downswing tempo, but I'm slowly getting used to it.

Kudos to Major Babs (JOZ) for his incredible -28 total on this tough course. Seriously, you might be the best putter I've ever encountered in this game. If you ever host a putting seminar, please sign me up!

[MUTTS]

Can you please give me the name so I can find that Kiawah on the PS4--thanks.

[JOZ]

What a fantastic rendition of Kiawah Island Golf Resort that was on which we played last week's tournament! I played a few of the holes of the final round just as Brooks and Phil were playing them yesterday. If the creator of the course had access to a few more custom objects, it would have been perfect! It's a tough course that somehow seems to lure me into every front left greenside bunker on the course. Seriously, I had bunker shots on 14, 15, and 16, that all looked identical in the final round. I was 14 to 19 feet below the hole in each of them, with no green to work with. I had to hit three of the dreaded splash shots and I got a fully nerfed slightly "Red Slow" on one of them and got to play the shot again.

I blame myself for all the misses that left me in the bunkers though. None of them were Red Fasts... two were gray and one was perfect, I just didn't factor the wind right. I have also found that the new swing changes seem to punish lofted or delofted shots that are off tempo more severely. I've decided to shorten my backswing or club up instead of lofting and delofting now, and it's starting to work out better for me. I have the swing meter turned off, but I find that I can modulate my backswing reasonably well by using the "rumble" feature when it's in my desired carry zone. Shortening my backswing tends to make me be slow on the downswing tempo, but I'm slowly getting used to it.

Kudos to Major Babs (JOZ) for his incredible -28 total on this tough course. Seriously, you might be the best putter I've ever encountered in this game. If you ever host a putting seminar, please sign me up!

Thanks John. I think they nailed putting in this game. Quite the contrast from how I felt about putting in 2019.