Tiger Woods 13 PGA TOUR and CE Info

[Gangrel]

If going to 90+ in power and accuracy is going to make it harder to hit fairways, then the game is broke.

As it is, I'm in that sweet spot of having to really work at making pars and birdies. But I dont appreciate notion that folks that consistently hitting unreal scores are also trying to tell me that higher ratings will make the game more challenging.

While I'll agree if you have 90+ in both power and accuracy that the game shouldn't be any harder, but if I choose to slough all my points into power and ignore accuracy, then ya, I fully expect to miss a lot more fairways.

Not that I'm any pro golfer IRL, but even I know the harder I swing at the ball, the more apparent my mistakes are going to be. The more force on the ball, the more spin if you're already slicing, etc.... causing the ball just to go further out of bounds, where maybe now you just catch the first cut.

But I agree, the only way it makes sense things are "harder" under increased power AND accuracy is perhaps now you are reaching for the more difficult places to land the ball, where the margins of error are quite high........



Question...... I played the daily today (couldn't do the tournament as I had to work on the weekend, and there was no way i was doing all four rounds today. ) and it started to pour on about hole 4.

It seemed the ball flew shorter in the air then before. While in real life that makes sense, I just didn't know if that was part of the ball physics?

And I'm talking about hang time, not after you hit and roll, as the ball definately was just sticking once it hit the earth again.....

[Aristo]

The other factor is that the farther you hit a ball, the farther off target it will land with any deviation. It's just like kicking FG's.

I'm willing to keep plugging away, because my rounds of golf right now are a total blast. I wish I was in the main DSP CC, but I think in time we will get guys playing more. I would like to compare my stats with a larger group.

I have room for improvement. But just like Madden gameI can score 70 points at will, baseball games I can go several game withut issuing a walk, and hockey games I can score 8 goals a night, if I am beating real life scores without stress, I will move on. When games act like that, there are far better "fantasy" games I'd rather be playing. I'll accept being a super star gunslinger in Red Dead Redemption.

I'm not sure what effect rain is supposed to have on carrying distance. I'll probably have to look at a lot of the factors. Today at Kaiwah I faced a pretty steady 4-5mph wind. But it seemed to have a larger effect on my accuracy than I have noticed before. I finally accounted for it, but I don't know why.

[Wilk5280]

Ill spare you some time and tell you that yes, if you play the game a lot and increase your ratings you are going to be shooting some pretty low scores more times than not. That being said I still pick my places to try and score and hold back on others due to pin placement, danger, etc. Ive never played a more fun golf videogame and we have to remember that. This is, afterall, a videogame. It does a fine job of replicating the real thing Imo. Better than any golf game before it.

[MERACE]

As I've stated previously, it's mostly a guess for me on which way the ball will break with the grid lines off. I normally only get to play my rounds very late at night when my eyesight is not at it's optimum. However, I do like DivotMaker's ideas to the developers for improvements in the cameras and grids for reading the greens.

My biggest problem in this game is with approach shots that are between clubs. Any advice from the elites on the best method for hitting these shots any closer than 25+ feet from the hole? Do you modulate your forward swing (which I find almost impossible to do correctly) or pick the longer club and move the aiming arrow back (which for me I overshoot or come up very short of the hole)?

-MERACE

[webdanzer]

Shot a -5 to finish the weekly at -15. East Lake was pretty fun.

Also just hit a -8 at the Oakmont daily, with some of my best pin-hitting yet. Good round for me!

I like a toggled, topographical color shading idea for green elevation, with gradual shading along the color spectrum representing hills (Red), level, (Green) and valleys (violet). Slips my mind where, but I believe I've seen that in a golf game before.

[Gurantsu]

Well, I'm going to let my jets cool a bit before I make a final decision, but at the moment I'm planning on dropping out of the club.

The main reason I got the game on Xbox is to use the Kinect. Then, after the great deal on the PS3 version at Target and my buddy here also wanting to play using it I got it on that also and like the controller much better. Using the two different controllers makes for a world of hurt when the game on tournament level is so dependent on feel (which is a good thing in my opinion). So I finally decided to go back to using the Kinect on Xbox, and it has been nothing but frustration.

I wish it would tell me just what the hell it wants me to do. At first I think it's my head moving that makes shots go awry, then I think maybe its my hips, or maybe my hands moving forward or backward during my swing. Turns out its none of these, or maybe all of these, who knows because the game gives you absolutely NO feedback on what you are doing right or wrong with the Kinect. Why is there feedback for the controller but not the Kinect? Maybe the designers don't even know what is supposed to work with it. I did my last two holes of the club daily making swing moves reminiscent of the Urkle dance, and had better shots than when I was actually trying. If they at least told me what they wanted I'd work towards it, but with no feedback at all its useless when I do what I feel is the same motion three times in a row and get three different results, whether in a round or in the practice facility.

So there may be a spot opening up later today, and there may be a 360 copy for sale in the For Sale thread. I love the tournaments, but if I'm not having fun I'm not going to play, and right now the PS3 version if just more fun for me.

[Leebo33]

Ill spare you some time and tell you that yes, if you play the game a lot and increase your ratings you are going to be shooting some pretty low scores more times than not. That being said I still pick my places to try and score and hold back on others due to pin placement, danger, etc. Ive never played a more fun golf videogame and we have to remember that. This is, afterall, a videogame. It does a fine job of replicating the real thing Imo. Better than any golf game before it.

I agree with you on picking your spots. One of the main reasons besides my stats increases that my scores are improving is course management. I'm starting to get a feel for where I want to end up on the green and when I can take a chance. But I also like that I can still occassionally hook a drive OB or into the woods. It's going to be a long while before I think the game is too easy. I also like how it seems like you can just back out XP points and either leave them in the bank or apply them elsewhere if the game is too easy in a certain aspect.

The game plays and looks fantastic. I've already played this more than I did Tiger 12 and I liked that game too.

[orthostud23]

I play gridless in my career mode so going gridless for the daily's weekly's is no biggie for me. I could really care less on my finish in the events. Its just nice being part of an active OCC!!

[DivotMaker]

I play gridless in my career mode so going gridless for the daily's weekly's is no biggie for me. I could really care less on my finish in the events. Its just nice being part of an active OCC!!

Ditto, going grid less myself in CM and could not agree more with the rest of your post. Having a blast competing with you all and discussing the game....

[Leadfoot5]

As someone else mentioned, I too am a "speed golf" player. Just didn't realize it until I saw the term mentioned. On the tee it's check wind, elevation, adjust aim and club, and shoot. Approaching the green it's a quick flick down to check the lie, then check the landing zone and wind, adjust as necessary and shoot. On the green it's adjust the length, take a good guess at the break and shoot. Each of these shots takes me 5-15 seconds to set up depending on the difficulty of the situation. Playing H2H against some dude at Augusta last night was really frustrating. He was taking up to 30s a shot and it was like nails on a chalkboard.

So playing without the green grid has been a bit of a shock for me. Having to read the green using the left stick, doesn't allow me to keep up the rhythm I'm used to and it bogs the game down. I'm still going to compete in DSP CC events that don't use the grid, but I know that I will just shoot crappier scores as I don't have the patience to do more than use the normal view to make a guess on the break.

All that said, I haven't put this many hours into a video game in a long time, and I am loving the competition in the DPS CC!!!

[Aristo]

TW 13 is on the verge of its biggest challenge for my time.

The Witcher 2 drops tomorrow.

[webdanzer]

TW 13 is on the verge of its biggest challenge for my time.

The Witcher 2 drops tomorrow.

I'm interested in the Witcher too, but I'm more concerned with what 'IT'S TRIALS TIME BABY!!!' is going to do to me come the next day...

[sportdan30]

Just picked up the game and obviously trying to get used to new swing mechanic. Hot Shots Golf this is not, and that's fine with me. However, I am having the most difficult time understanding the nuances of the tempo of the swing.

Say for instance, after my drive, I am 100 yards from the cup on the green with little or no slope. My club I'm using has a potential of cranking the ball 120 yards. How am I to figure out if my back swing should be fast, slow, etc? Furthermore, because I'm closer than my max swing output, how do I understand how much force I want to put in my follow through? I suppose another example would be using a putting wedge of with a max output of 60 yards, and I'm 35 yards from the hole. Albeit I'm the rough this time.

The game absolutely has me hooked, but also quite frustrated. It's very similar to my two golf experiences in real life. I have a great appreciation for golf, and early on with this game, it's translating all too well to how I play in the real world.

Thank you in advance!

[Leadfoot5]

Just picked up the game and obviously trying to get used to new swing mechanic. Hot Shots Golf this is not, and that's fine with me. However, I am having the most difficult time understanding the nuances of the tempo of the swing.

Say for instance, after my drive, I am 100 yards from the cup on the green with little or no slope. My club I'm using has a potential of cranking the ball 120 yards. How am I to figure out if my back swing should be fast, slow, etc? Furthermore, because I'm closer than my max swing output, how do I understand how much force I want to put in my follow through? I suppose another example would be using a putting wedge of with a max output of 60 yards, and I'm 35 yards from the hole. Albeit I'm the rough this time.

The game absolutely has me hooked, but also quite frustrated. It's very similar to my two golf experiences in real life. I have a great appreciation for golf, and early on with this game, it's translating all too well to how I play in the real world.

Thank you in advance!

With the 100 yard shots, I simply adjust the ball in my stance so I can continue using a normal tempo back-swing and follow-through. Striving for perfect on each.

The 30-60 yards shots are much tougher. You need to have good swing control, both in the back-swing and follow-through to execute. I spent lots of time practicing these shots on the Augusta range. I also like to use the Flop setup when about 30-50 yards out. For all of the different short shots, I try to keep tempo the same, and just adjust the length of my back-swing. Good luck! After some time, you'll start to get a feel for it...

[Aristo]

Say for instance, after my drive, I am 100 yards from the cup on the green with little or no slope. My club I'm using has a potential of cranking the ball 120 yards. How am I to figure out if my back swing should be fast, slow, etc? Furthermore, because I'm closer than my max swing output, how do I understand how much force I want to put in my follow through? I suppose another example would be using a putting wedge of with a max output of 60 yards, and I'm 35 yards from the hole. Albeit I'm the rough this time.

Are you using the swing meter? While I actually find the swing meter a distraction, it does provide some indications on what you want to do. You will not bring the club back as for when you need to go shorter than the clubs max. The swingmeter will have a notch showing you the proper spot. Eventually, it becomes natural.

I had a ton of problem getting used to the short game, but eventually it kind of clicked and I started nailing my chips and such. That's not to say I don't still occasionally come up short or sky it over the green, but I usually know i did it when I hit it now. In the beginning I was swinging and had no real clue where it was going to land.

the best way to learn the different swings is to use the meter, and then press down on the LS to bring up the practice swing. Then just practive hitting your marks and adjusting your temp. I think the swing mechanic is really well done once you learn it. This is proven by how much better it is to go without a meter at all once you figure it out. Putting is the same for me. The meter just jacks up my stroke.

[sportdan30]

Thanks guys. Yes, I am using the swing meter. I haven't changed any of the default settings at this point. I just have to practice more I suppose at stopping my back swing at the notch. There's definitely a lot of reward by having a perfect timed backswing and follow through. I'm lacking the consistency which is frustrating, but then again that is golf. With the controller, for whatever reason I can't seem to push back and forward in the same line often enough resulting in the ball more times than not flying off to the left and striking a fan or landing behind a tree.

One last question and that's regarding the meter or cursor. For instance, I'm putting for par or birdie and I'm say 10 yards from the hole. I understand how to read the grid but what I don't get is how you determine whether to push the left d-pad forward or back (in front of the cup or behind it). As stated, I'm 10 yards from the hole, but the cursor might say 7 yards, 3 inches. How do I determine whether to adjust this or not? I suppose this same question could be asked when hitting with an iron after my first drive.

[Aristo]

When you pull the cursor closer to you, you are setting the meter up for less power. When you push it farther away, it is for more power.

So when the arrows are flowing away from you, that is downhill, so you want to hit it softer. If the arrows are flowing to you, it is uphill, and you wil need to hit it harder.

[J_Cauthen]

This game is such a roller coaster ride for me; this morning I came home from work and even with a three putt par from 14 feet on the first par 5, I shot an 11 under round at East Lake to finish second in the DSP CC weekly. This afternoon, I tee it up at Oakmont for the Daily, and had to hole a 40 yard pitch for a birdie on 18 (after I came that short of the par 4 with a driver and 3-wood that were each striped!) to post a +1. I hit 48% FIR and 38% GIR.

My Precision Putting Recovery method showed me in this round that when it fails slightly, the results are miserable. I had a 48 foot birdie put that was only 4 inches uphill - I left it 28 feet short of the hole, ran the next putt 13 feet past, but made the 13 footer for bogey. This round could have been much worse. I made a number of putts in the 12 to 18' range for bogey The 16 to 19 MPH winds were seemingly more punitive than they should have been and I never really came to grips with how to cope with them, particularly the left to right quartering winds.

What's ironic about this game is that I enjoyed both rounds about equally. It's good to know that I can get humbled by the game, conditions, and the course like this and definitely keeps it fresh and challenging. I'm also seeing some new problems arise with my game. At Oakmont, I was inexplicably pushing a lot of shots out to the right. I had to make a minor adjustment in my thumbstick motion that was small enough to make a difference in the shot result, yet wasn't reflected by the swing feedback meter.

SportDan, you're getting some great advice. I would like to reinforce the idea of getting away from the swing meter as soon as you've gotten an idea from it as to how easy it is to overswing, particularly on pitch and chip shots. You'll see step changes in your performance after a few days of what I found to be embarrassing lessons

[J_Cauthen]

DSP CC Daily course idea for Wednesday. I'd like to toss out the suggestion that we tee it up at Waialae Country Club in Wednesday's Daily. It's a DLC course, but a one play rental is only 6,000 coins, which I'm sure most of us have now. I know I've got like 38,000 and that's after having spent over 60,000 already. I thought Waialae would be a change of pace from what we've been playing.

Any thoughts on this?

While I'm at it, kudos to Tim (DivotMaker) for his -34 finish in the DSP CC Weekly last week. I gave it all I had but he burned it up those last two rounds. I've already come to hold the DSP CC Weekly as the most significant happening in my Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 career. It has that ongoing, developing event feel that sets it apart. It's also good to check in here are read the stories behind the scores and get to know the players behind those numbers on the leaderboard.

[webdanzer]

DSP CC Daily course idea for Wednesday. I'd like to toss out the suggestion that we tee it up at Waialae Country Club in Wednesday's Daily. It's a DLC course, but a one play rental is only 6,000 coins, which I'm sure most of us have now. I know I've got like 38,000 and that's after having spent over 60,000 already. I thought Waialae would be a change of pace from what we've been playing.

Any thoughts on this?

Just keep in mind that this week's weekly tourney is also a DLC course, with 4 rounds needed. I know there is a multi-round coin discount on a rounds purchase that will mitigate this somewhat, but folks should keep in mind that those who plan to use coins for the DLC rounds will prob need around $20k just to play the tourney.

[orthostud23]

So if the OCC tourney is set up to use green grids there is no way to manually change it huh??

[DChaps]

Well, I'm going to let my jets cool a bit before I make a final decision, but at the moment I'm planning on dropping out of the club.

The main reason I got the game on Xbox is to use the Kinect. Then, after the great deal on the PS3 version at Target and my buddy here also wanting to play using it I got it on that also and like the controller much better. Using the two different controllers makes for a world of hurt when the game on tournament level is so dependent on feel (which is a good thing in my opinion). So I finally decided to go back to using the Kinect on Xbox, and it has been nothing but frustration.

I wish it would tell me just what the hell it wants me to do. At first I think it's my head moving that makes shots go awry, then I think maybe its my hips, or maybe my hands moving forward or backward during my swing. Turns out its none of these, or maybe all of these, who knows because the game gives you absolutely NO feedback on what you are doing right or wrong with the Kinect. Why is there feedback for the controller but not the Kinect? Maybe the designers don't even know what is supposed to work with it. I did my last two holes of the club daily making swing moves reminiscent of the Urkle dance, and had better shots than when I was actually trying. If they at least told me what they wanted I'd work towards it, but with no feedback at all its useless when I do what I feel is the same motion three times in a row and get three different results, whether in a round or in the practice facility.

So there may be a spot opening up later today, and there may be a 360 copy for sale in the For Sale thread. I love the tournaments, but if I'm not having fun I'm not going to play, and right now the PS3 version if just more fun for me.

I completely agree 100% Grant. The first week I was soley playing in Kinect mode as I just do not like console controller golf. In the beginning it seemed pretty cool, but the more I played and experimented with the difficulty settings, the more I got the feeling like there was literally no connection to what I was doing and what happened in the game. I spent a decent amount of time searching the EA forums and elsewhere trying to find explanations from the devs, a guide, instructions, something. Mostly what I found were gamers that seemed to be guessing at it, but there was much conflicting information. It got to the point where I think I could have helicoptered Mr. Johnson in front of the Kinect and it would have hit a straight 300yd. drive. It seems like it was just a flat out gimmick to me. I look back at that EA Devs video where they were showing Tiger how it worked and he looked confused and/or bored. Those may have been legit emotions.

[DChaps]

As much as this game is frustrating me, it does keep me coming back for more so I have to give it credit for that. I am still trying to figure out my swing and what the meter is telling me and how I should be adjusting. I know this is probably TW 13 101, but can someone verify what I think this means in the picture below?

So, assuming I am using the left stick to swing, in the picture for this shot, the player was:

1) Pulling down on the right stick to get well below the ball in the sand and holding it there while they pull back on the left stick to start the backswing.
2) Pulled back too far on the left stick (thus Overswing), but perfectly straight in pulling back
3) Pushed forward on the left stick perfectly straight
4) The tempo at which this was done was considered perfect by the game

If I am correct about the 4 points above, what does the amount of red and green on the right and left of the circle mean? Is the tempo considered the overall pace of the pulling back and pushing forward process? What would the meter say if you were slow pulling back, and fast pushing forward? What would you see in the circle on screen if it was an absolutely perfect swing in travel, speed, tempo, etc.?

Part of the reason for my questions is that last night I had the meter look very similar to this on a drive that went 80 yards off the tee. It said overswing, perfect, and the green and red were about the same as what was in this picture, yet it went 80 yards. Then a couple holes later I had an underswing, slow that went 260 yards off the tee. I am still just not sure how to adjust to what the game is telling me after the shot.

[Aristo]

The amount of red in the bar is an indication of how much of an overswing there was. The same goes forthe top. Blue means slow, red mean fast. Underswing is blue, too, believe.

And yes, placing the RS target in the right spot is important in the sand or rough. I like to go wel under the ball in the sand. But in the rough I am trying to hit it square, unless I want backspin or the ball to bite on the green.

[Gurantsu]

I completely agree 100% Grant. The first week I was soley playing in Kinect mode as I just do not like console controller golf. In the beginning it seemed pretty cool, but the more I played and experimented with the difficulty settings, the more I got the feeling like there was literally no connection to what I was doing and what happened in the game. I spent a decent amount of time searching the EA forums and elsewhere trying to find explanations from the devs, a guide, instructions, something. Mostly what I found were gamers that seemed to be guessing at it, but there was much conflicting information. It got to the point where I think I could have helicoptered Mr. Johnson in front of the Kinect and it would have hit a straight 300yd. drive. It seems like it was just a flat out gimmick to me. I look back at that EA Devs video where they were showing Tiger how it worked and he looked confused and/or bored. Those may have been legit emotions.

The thing is I do really like the game overall, its just that Kinect is a gimmick as you said. What I think I'll do is keep it, just stick with the controller, and then drop to the DSP2 club. I like the tournaments, but as it is I'm sure there are other guys out there who would play it more consistently so they would be a better fit in the main club. Maybe I'll jump in for some online play now and then, but I think my spot would be better used by someone else.