Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR Golf

[10spro]

I'd like a party of foursomes tonight going at it with your CAG. Being on the west coast I'd like to see if anyone will be available around 4 PM PST. I am currently playing on Custom mode where everything is off except zooming. Once you get your XP's don't forget to upgrade your clubs, the game is coming around for me, especially putting even though it's does not feel organic. Shortening my swing improved my putts. Thanks for the advice Divot.

If it's too early for everyone, I would like to come back around 8:30 PM PST after my real golf practice with a buddy with the short game.

[TCrouch]

I'm playing on a Custom Tour Mode much like 10s'....everything on hard and off except the zoom. I shot a +6 in my first full 18 hold career game on a new golfer as a test.

I still, for the life of me, cannot figure out the tempo. I don't know if slow/fast is a relative thing---slow backswing means you need a slow downswing, or if a fast forward swing means you have to have a faster backswing, or what. But I cannot rip that stick any faster forward and have yet to have anything but slow.

And I tried different speeds of backswing, going so far as to hit the limit as the golfer reaches the top of his animation, then rip it--still slow.

I know it sounds ridiculous (and it probably is), but it's absolutely driving me batsh*t crazy.

[Danimal]

Good tempo is measured at a 3 to 1 ratio, or 3.0. This is the ideal swing tempo based on studies of professional golfers.

What that means for this game I have no idea, but I just thought it funny I read that 5 minutes before reading Terry's post.

[DivotMaker]

I'm playing on a Custom Tour Mode much like 10s'....everything on hard and off except the zoom. I shot a +6 in my first full 18 hold career game on a new golfer as a test.

I still, for the life of me, cannot figure out the tempo. I don't know if slow/fast is a relative thing---slow backswing means you need a slow downswing, or if a fast forward swing means you have to have a faster backswing, or what. But I cannot rip that stick any faster forward and have yet to have anything but slow.

And I tried different speeds of backswing, going so far as to hit the limit as the golfer reaches the top of his animation, then rip it--still slow.

I know it sounds ridiculous (and it probably is), but it's absolutely driving me batsh*t crazy.

Gotta flick the stick back and forward Terry. Wish I could show you how I do it as I am consistently getting +overswing and normal to +speed on downswing.....

[TCrouch]

That may be it--I've got a backswing that I keep trying to do like my real one...slow, steady, wait until it's at the top, and then swing it.

By "flick it", you mean flick it down as quick as you can, then flick it back up when the golfer reaches his maximum swing rotation? That would be something I have NOT done, because it feels totally counter intuitive to my golf swing. Almost like you're queuing up animations and not actually swinging anything.

[DivotMaker]

That may be it--I've got a backswing that I keep trying to do like my real one...slow, steady, wait until it's at the top, and then swing it.

By "flick it", you mean flick it down as quick as you can, then flick it back up when the golfer reaches his maximum swing rotation? That would be something I have NOT done, because it feels totally counter intuitive to my golf swing. Almost like you're queuing up animations and not actually swinging anything.

Yes, watch your animation when you swing and not the green circle.....if you watch the animation in what you are doing now, it probably looks like a slow swing. I have been watching my animation the last few rounds instead of the green ball and the flicking works and looks natural during the swing to me.

[10spro]

Perhaps the word 'Tempo' is wrongly implemented in the game. For me a good tempo represents a smooth and flowing swing which it'll rob you of some yardage if you do it here. It seems like it's more of a quick twitchy swing instead of tempo-ing your swing.

[TCrouch]

Yes, watch your animation when you swing and not the green circle.....if you watch the animation in what you are doing now, it probably looks like a slow swing. I have been watching my animation the last few rounds instead of the green ball and the flicking works and looks natural during the swing to me.

That is 100% accurate to my swing. It's a slow animation back, decent swing speed through. I'll try the flick method on a new guy tonight--and thanks for the tip on the full rounds option. That will make it much more enjoyable to play 18. I already struggled on 5 holes, so 18 should be a good time.

Perhaps the word 'Tempo' is wrongly implemented in the game. For me a good tempo represents a smooth and flowing swing which it'll rob you of some yardage if you do it here. It seems like it's more of a quick twitchy swing instead of tempo-ing your swing.

Exactly my problem...my perspective. I was treating it as a back-to-forward-swing ratio, much like Danimal said above, although I was always told it was a 4-to-1 ratio and not 3-to-1, but that's neither here nor there. I know that swinging like that hasn't done me any favors, so I bet it's just "speed of swing" and not tempo, per se.

[TCrouch]

Nope I still can't do anything but slow haha

[TCrouch]

FINALLY figured it out. The "flick" was definitely helpful...I was holding my follow through. So when I moved forward, my thumb held it slightly.

When I stopped that and just flicked and released, now I'm getting perfect/fast tempo. Thanks.

[TCrouch]

I will also say that the "flick" method leads to totally unpredictable putts.

When I use a slow, controlled backswing and smooth push through (and hold on the follow through), my putts are on point. So the game almost takes a couple different types of swings to do well all around.

[Diablo25]

I will also say that the "flick" method leads to totally unpredictable putts.

When I use a slow, controlled backswing and smooth push through (and hold on the follow through), my putts are on point. So the game almost takes a couple different types of swings to do well all around.

Agreed.

[MizzouRah]

Played 9 holes today.. not sure at this point. I think it would be a blast online or with golfing friends over (especially my uncles and wife's uncles who don't play video games, but love golf).

Might be best for me to wait on a price drop as for now.. I don't think I'd play it once NHL comes out, plus I have Batman and Witcher to finish.

Still have time left on EA Access though and will play it for all 10 hours.

Was being able to change the swing to the LS or RS always an option? I don't remember that. I'm so used to RS swinging I was happy to see I could switch it. (although I was getting used to it on the LS)

[DivotMaker]

FINALLY figured it out. The "flick" was definitely helpful...I was holding my follow through. So when I moved forward, my thumb held it slightly.

When I stopped that and just flicked and released, now I'm getting perfect/fast tempo. Thanks.

Yea!

[Danimal]

Terry sorry I didn't play online with you. I wanted to put some time into career mode since that is how I will mostly play if I buy it. I had fun, even though my golfer hits the ball shorter than I do in real life right now. I'm lucky to hit my 3 wood 200 yards. I've already grown sick of those silly animations from my cery Happy Gilmore golfer.

Over All I'm leaning on keeping my purchase but the really small number of courses is going to make the pro single player get repetitive fast.

[Inuyasha]

Having more fun on tour w a created player.

Putting I cannot figure out what mechanism this game uses.

Question - in Pga tour 1st tourney, why did I start out on the 14th hole -1? Why didn't it let me play the full 18? Am I on some beginner setting or is that how the game does the tour?

Added wtf round 2 I started out on hole 5! Why can't I play a full 18?

Added 2. I started on hole 5 and the round ended on hole 9. Wtf is this s***.

UPDATE: I finally figured this out when I went to play Bay Hill Invitational and played the first 5 holes, then it simmed the rest of the first round.

When starting Career Mode, go to Career History and turn off Quick Rounds and enable full 18 hole rounds. I am thinking about deleting my current Golfer and starting over so I can play full rounds.

Oh, and the Create a Golfer feature....SUCKS. I am a goofy looking f***er, but I can't get anything close to what I really look like.....

Thanks for finding that. Is there a way to only make the tourneys in the tour 1 round instead of 4?

[Inuyasha]

It's a sad commentary on the state of console golf games that TW 11 and 12 and Links 2003 for the original Xbox still represent the best of the genre. If Rory was the latest edition of FIFA or Madden, people would scream to the high heavens that this edition was a regression.

Golf fans yearn so much for a solid console title that I think many warts are being tolerated. This game is pretty. It has a strong sense of immersion. But it's not a good representation of the sport on the turfgrass, from my first impression. I have Frostbite -- because this game is leaving me cold.

EA Access pays off again, saving me dineros in the long run.

I sort of enjoy the game even with all its warts. I'll probably not buy full price but wait for a discount. Then obviously get it free on ea access when they make it available probably next year.

But TGC is much better than this game at this point.

J Cuthen can sleep well tonight

[Wilk5280]

Seems OK, but after playing it for a little bit last night I've decided to cancel my Amazon preorder and wait to pick it up a couple to 3 weeks after launch when I'm sure I'll be able to find it on sale somewhere for 39.99

[Danimal]

Seems OK, but after playing it for a little bit last night I've decided to cancel my Amazon preorder and wait to pick it up a couple to 3 weeks after launch when I'm sure I'll be able to find it on sale somewhere for 39.99

I'm considering doing the same. This smells of value digital download in less than a month. It's astonishing how much is missing from this game considering the 2 year cycle.

[Sudz]

I'm +3 after the 1st round of my 1st PGA Tour event. Digging the game so far, but still need to figure out how to putt better. I do feel, that like real golf, the more time you put into each shot, the better you do.

I am curious to see if the online portions all end up like earlier versions...where the leaders all shoot like 43 for 18 holes...

[TCrouch]

Thanks for finding that. Is there a way to only make the tourneys in the tour 1 round instead of 4?

No, because you just disabled the setting that does that.

Quick Rounds plays a few holes from each round, giving you 18 for the tournament--spread out amongst the four rounds.

After I figured out the tempo and putting last night, I was in a serious groove and THOROUGHLY enjoyed my time with the game...although I did start seeing the "too easy" perspective, even with swing advanced/hard/wind gusts on, etc.

The only thing I struggle with would be green reading, but mostly because their grid without the little dots moving doesn't give any good indicators, and turning it off and attempting to move the camera around is not much better. I really like Perfect Golf's method of the "break line" from the cursor, so you can get an approximate read of the green without the grid and without the disconnect you get when attempting to read a digital surface.

I have no doubt that the online guys are going to be insane still, because even using quick rounds, I was finishing tourneys last night somewhere between -11 and -7 with a CAG, and I'm still coming to grips with it. The aliens are probably already going to be -20, because there isn't enough shot variation with "perfect" swings. It's dead straight on a rope. I was hoping there would be a cone of inaccuracy, and the cone is smaller based on the swing itself, but this seems to be the same thing as previously.

Because of that, I enjoy the quick rounds. If I was playing full rounds and shooting -11 for a round, I'd kill the field. As it is, I'm in contention, but a few missed putts means I haven't won one yet.

[pk500]

Agree with you cats. This will be a $39.99 game at retail or digital download by Labor Day.

[TCrouch]

I would agree, but I'm not sure they're going to do that. The stuff that's coming (unannounced) doesn't sound like it's going to be a knee-jerk reaction if initial sales are slow.

[Danimal]

I would agree, but I'm not sure they're going to do that. The stuff that's coming (unannounced) doesn't sound like it's going to be a knee-jerk reaction if initial sales are slow.

I guess that's possible but I'm looking at it this way. Once i get to 10 hours with EA Access I'll probably of had my fill for now. Madden is coming out, NHL. Without a compelling reason to play such as Country Clubs or a detailed SP career mode I'm not sure it's wroth it. Plus if I wait and thy do release some good post launch content I can get back in.

[J_Cauthen]

It's a sad commentary on the state of console golf games that TW 11 and 12 and Links 2003 for the original Xbox still represent the best of the genre. If Rory was the latest edition of FIFA or Madden, people would scream to the high heavens that this edition was a regression.

Golf fans yearn so much for a solid console title that I think many warts are being tolerated. This game is pretty. It has a strong sense of immersion. But it's not a good representation of the sport on the turfgrass, from my first impression. I have Frostbite -- because this game is leaving me cold.

EA Access pays off again, saving me dineros in the long run.

I sort of enjoy the game even with all its warts. I'll probably not buy full price but wait for a discount. Then obviously get it free on ea access when they make it available probably next year.

But TGC is much better than this game at this point.

J Cuthen can sleep well tonight

You and PK have pretty much encapsulated my overall thoughts on RMPGAT, although I have no rooting interest in The Golf Club over an EA Sports golf game... I want them both to be good. I actually didn't sleep as well, considering the disappointment I have over RMPGAT. PK pointed out my number one disappointment about this game and that's its lack of feel. There's little to no sense of intertial control over the golfer's swing from the driver all the way to a two foot putt. I want to feel a kinesthetic connection with my golfer, but it's not there at this point.

I really started off on the wrong foot with this game on Wednesday evening, I made the mistake of hitting the "Play Now" button while the game was still downloading. What that did was put me in a round at Chambers Bay, in arcade difficulty level. It was like playing golf on autopilot. I'd also never seen lighting conditions that bright in an EA Sports golf game and everything looked washed out. I quit after two holes and decided I didn't want to waste any more of my EA Access time with arcade mode.

When the download was complete, I got into career mode after creating a golfer (the create a golfer options are laughingly bad, BTW and I couldn't come up with anything remotely close to resembling myself). I played a few abbreviated web.com events in Tour Pro difficulty. There's a lack of feel in the swing interface that we've already talked about. I don't like the fact that they've stuck a HUD device right in your face that tells you when to stop your backswing to attain your targeted carry with the shot. Tim has pointed out that he's better off not watching it and going more on the golfer's swing animation. I've started doing that and I am getting more consistent results that way, but with the putting, it's harder to ignore it and if you overfill it, you're doomed to a catastrophically strong putt.

I rarely feel like I'm swinging a club, it's s more like modulating a spigot to fill up a glass of water (the backswing meter fills from the center to its outer dimensions as you pull the stick back further), and then slamming (flicking) the spigot handle (thumbstick) to perform what's supposed to be a tempoed downswing. I guess you could say there's a tempo component in this, but it's more of a twitch tempo component, not one that's based on a torsionally governed rhythm requirement. Tempo errors result in everything from an 18% slow to an 11% fast range in my experience, although I am improving slowly with time. I just never can get a real handle on how one swing that felt the same as the last, resulted in a tempo that was +3% on the previous, but 11% slow on the next!? There's just so little proportionality to it! Most of my misses in seven hours of play have been because I was over or under the desired tempo. I rarely lose one badly left or right, save for an occasional putt where I've relied solely on watching the golfer's animation.

I've seen a number of complaints about the lack of feel in the putting and I can see where it's coming from. I'm dissatisfied with the way the putting is implemented in this game so far. It's a matter of "dial in your desired distance you want to hit the putt, pull the stick back until the swing feedback meter fills to it's outer dimension, and follow through with a reasonable tempo. If the fill color changes from green to red/burnt orange, you've overswung and you need to stop the swing and re-cock. I need to look for a way to turn this swing feedback meter off because I'm sure the putting would be a lot harder without it. The putts seem to underbreak in this game, and because my senses are attuned to the degree of break we have in TGC, most of my misses in RMPGAT are because I'm overplaying the break.

With all that said, I'm warming up to it a little more with more play and honestly, I think the Wetlands course looks better than Sawgrass. I'm delighted that it's a fictitious course by EA Sports can be realistic.... nice job on The Wetlands! I played another slightly less realistic fictional course callled Lighthouse Point, which I could see fitting into a career mode season without it being to much of a stretch. It had a 730 yard par 5 in it , which pushed the imagination a bit though.

The game has an organic look, and I like that part of it, but it's grainier than I thought it would be, even under the darker lighting conditions that were present in rounds three and four of the web.com event at The Wetlands. I can't say for sure, but it looks like the resolution is at best, 900p, although I'm pretty sure it's 720p. The frame rates are hard to gauge so far because I find myself watching a "bubble fill meter" more than the swing. I'd say it's better than what I get on most courses on the XB1 version of The Golf Club. I can say that it doesn't feel as smooth as the swing interface on the PC version of The Golf Club, where I play with frame rates averaging in the mid 40's.

I'm hoping this game will grow on me more as I explore it further, but so far, it doesn't impress me as profoundly as I expected from a AAA next-gen golf game. I've still got a lot to explore with it though, so I'm not about to make any enduring pronouncements about it yet. I will be curious to see how the PS4 version compares to this though... I've got a sneaking suspicion that it will be sporting 180 more scan lines than the XB1 version, based on industry trends. I bet my 10 hours of EA Access time will expire before I have a definitive opinion about it though. I know for the first time in recent history, the latest EA Sports golf game won't be on my day one buy list, unless the PS4 version is miraculously better than the XB1. I think it will be the XB1 version in higher res though, and right now that won't be enough.