The Golf Club 2019

[Danimal]

So I was -3 going into 18 in round one and finished +2 Ended up shooting -1 in round 2, again was much better but then had a water hole somewhere and drop 4 or 5 strokes. After that knowing I had no shot I played the last 2 rounds with no shot preview, I never used it and I think I was +5 in each round. It is a totally different game when all you can do is hit B to look at the yardage book.

I'm looking forward to playing next week with no shot preview available to see what happens. Now can you turn it completly off or is it just a limited number of uses per hole or round? Because I'd vote for totally turning it off.

[DChaps]

My scoring in this game had been on a gradual, overall decline since December, but I'll offer what I can here. First of all, playing the game with Pro clubs now offers me the same degree of challenge as Master clubs did in November, as the tempo regulation is now very tough for me with Master clubs. I might only hit perfect/perfect tempo 15 to 20% of the time with Master clubs, whereas I'm more like 80 to 85% with Pro clubs. I'm sticking to Pro clubs until I can find my tempo again and I would suggest that for anyone struggling with this game.

Secondly, always stop your backswing before you get to the mechanical stop, and stop well on the short side of hitting the mechanical stop. You can take the stick back 75% and still get what's considered a full backswing by the game. I find that when I stop short of the mechanical stop, I have a better chance of getting perfect/perfect tempo, plus my swing path tends to track much better when I do so.

Don't worry about a heavy follow through. You're more likely to introduce swingpath errors when you try to have a long follow through. Honestly, you're better off letting go of the stick once you've made contact with the ball than riding it through to the mechanical stop. I think it's a shortcoming in the game's interface that this is so, but you have to take advantage of it if it's there.

Play you're approach shots as though they are 4 to 5% shorter than the stated yardage. Most of the missed greens I see in this game are the result of the ball not stopping on the green in a way that your senses tell you they should. I see this from the majority of the ghost balls and live players I play with... too much club for an approach, and a lot of chipping, flopping and pitching back to the pin after completely traversing the green.

Hope this helps Don!

Thanks so much, that is exactly what I was looking for. What do I need to be doing mechanically. I definitely have been pulling back to mechanical stop and then pushing forward hard to mechanical stop in most scenarios, especially driving. Time to hit the driving range. Thanks again!

[10spro]

Hope you join the tour DChaps.

Personally, I’ve been struggling for weeks now as I have no game, no feel, no tempo, nada. Zilch. I keep guessing whether my sticks are just too loose, broken, but haven’t had the time to buy a new controller. After two rounds I am flirting at Even par at the Palmer Invitation as I can’t even nail a shot at the fairways, landing 80% of the time in the sand or the rough.

After two rounds I probably hit the fairways 6 times. Seriously. Something really wrong with my game, but I keep plugging at it trying to find something positive. It’s been so bad that I mentioned going back to beginners’ club a few weeks ago.

But Pro it is, I will continue to plug along...

[Sudz]

Joined and played the 1st 2 rounds of the latest tourney... not doing too well. Spending too much time in the water and the sand..

I'm Vibrantorange

[Leadfoot5]

Joined and played the 1st 2 rounds of the latest tourney... not doing too well. Spending too much time in the water and the sand..

I'm Vibrantorange

New blood!!! Awesome!!

Our Society is the only reason I fire up my XBOX these days, still really enjoy the competition...

[J_Cauthen]

Joined and played the 1st 2 rounds of the latest tourney... not doing too well. Spending too much time in the water and the sand..

I'm Vibrantorange

Yeah, welcome to the club Sudz. Are you using Pro clubs? Bay Hill kicked my ass in the first round, as I had four, 3-putt greens. I was also missing fairways I shouldn't have missed. Keep in mind that it's easy to get too fast with your tempo in this game. I'm thinking more in terms of matching my backswing speed with my downswing speed to get the desired perfect/perfect tempo. A perfect/fast downswing can be fatal in this game.

[J_Cauthen]

Hope you join the tour DChaps.

Personally, I’ve been struggling for weeks now as I have no game, no feel, no tempo, nada. Zilch. I keep guessing whether my sticks are just too loose, broken, but haven’t had the time to buy a new controller. After two rounds I am flirting at Even par at the Palmer Invitation as I can’t even nail a shot at the fairways, landing 80% of the time in the sand or the rough.

After two rounds I probably hit the fairways 6 times. Seriously. Something really wrong with my game, but I keep plugging at it trying to find something positive. It’s been so bad that I mentioned going back to beginners’ club a few weeks ago.

But Pro it is, I will continue to plug along...

Sounds like you're in the same kind of funk I'm in of late. LOL... it's gotten so bad with me and my "colorful" reactions to some of my shots that yesterday, when I was booting up the game, as soon as my American Boxer Bulldog saw my golfer taking position on the first tee, he quietly got up off the couch and slithered out of the rec room... he gets upset when he hears me go off in a fit of rage

[Leadfoot5]

I was 1-stroke back of the lead heading to the 17th hole of the 4th round of this weekends tournament. I hit what I thought was a good tee shot on the par-3 17th, but it took a very unlucky bounce off the fringe and shot into the water. As deflating as the moment was, it was still a great tournament this weekend!!

[JOZ]

I was 1-stroke back of the lead heading to the 17th hole of the 4th round of this weekends tournament. I hit what I thought was a good tee shot on the par-3 17th, but it took a very unlucky bounce off the fringe and shot into the water. As deflating as the moment was, it was still a great tournament this weekend!!

I was kind of on the opposite side of that. I had a one shot lead over Vader going into the final hole and went through the tree on the left with my drive. Tried to salvage a par, but bogied to tie. Another good tournament.

It will be interesting to see how things go without the shot preview. I am assuming the shot preview is where you just zoom in to the general area where your shot will go if hit correctly?

[Leadfoot5]

I was 1-stroke back of the lead heading to the 17th hole of the 4th round of this weekends tournament. I hit what I thought was a good tee shot on the par-3 17th, but it took a very unlucky bounce off the fringe and shot into the water. As deflating as the moment was, it was still a great tournament this weekend!!

I was kind of on the opposite side of that. I had a one shot lead over Vader going into the final hole and went through the tree on the left with my drive. Tried to salvage a par, but bogied to tie. Another good tournament.

It will be interesting to see how things go without the shot preview. I am assuming the shot preview is where you just zoom in to the general area where your shot will go if hit correctly?

No, I believe this is where you go into the practice swing mode and then can take a full shot and see where the ball goes. I've used it a couple of times, but generally don't bother with it. Didn't use it this weekend at all. It may only apply to the Pro and Beginner clubs?

[10spro]

Hope you join the tour DChaps.

Personally, I’ve been struggling for weeks now as I have no game, no feel, no tempo, nada. Zilch. I keep guessing whether my sticks are just too loose, broken, but haven’t had the time to buy a new controller. After two rounds I am flirting at Even par at the Palmer Invitation as I can’t even nail a shot at the fairways, landing 80% of the time in the sand or the rough.

After two rounds I probably hit the fairways 6 times. Seriously. Something really wrong with my game, but I keep plugging at it trying to find something positive. It’s been so bad that I mentioned going back to beginners’ club a few weeks ago.

But Pro it is, I will continue to plug along...

Sounds like you're in the same kind of funk I'm in of late. LOL... it's gotten so bad with me and my "colorful" reactions to some of my shots that yesterday, when I was booting up the game, as soon as my American Boxer Bulldog saw my golfer taking position on the first tee, he quietly got up off the couch and slithered out of the rec room... he gets upset when he hears me go off in a fit of rage

Well John, whatever you did with your game, at least it works. I much prefer your funkiness than mine.

Well played at the Arnold Palmer tournament. Congratz!

[J_Cauthen]

Well John, whatever you did with your game, at least it works. I much prefer your funkiness than mine.

Well played at the Arnold Palmer tournament. Congratz!

I don't know what happened, but starting in round 2 at Bay Hill, the tempo started coming in more consistently and the 12 to 20 foot birdie putts that I'd been barely missing, started dropping. Most importantly though, I only had two 3-putts over the last three rounds.

I'm anxious to see if this continues and today's DSP tournament at Craig's new 2019 version of Whistling Straights should be a good test

[J_Cauthen]

I was kind of on the opposite side of that. I had a one shot lead over Vader going into the final hole and went through the tree on the left with my drive. Tried to salvage a par, but bogied to tie. Another good tournament.

This course has a lot of trees that sneakily come into play. I know in round 4 I hit what I though was a perfectly good drive on a short par 4, only to find my ball had come to rest behind a huge oak tree. I played a punch shot with a pitching wedge and stayed under its branches, but had too much heat on it and it wound up 15 yards behind the green. I took three strokes to get down from there.

It will be interesting to see how things go without the shot preview. I am assuming the shot preview is where you just zoom in to the general area where your shot will go if hit correctly?

As I was setting up today's Daily tournament, I noticed that the "Shot Preview" feature was already OFF. I think that on some settings, the game will just stick with whatever you had it set to previously until you change it again. Does anyone recall being able to play a shot preview in a Daily, at least in the current season?

Jozarus, I think what you're thinking of is what's called the scout camera, or zoom to aim camera as some people call it. It can be turned off also, and it does make it tougher to aim. I may have actually turned scout camera off for this round, as an experiement... I know I was thinking about doing it when I set today's tournament up last Friday.

[Danimal]

Ok I think we are talking about 2 different things.

I set my local settings so that I can't hit the Y button and zoom in on where the ball will land and aim that way. Hitting Y now just zooms to the center of the green, there is no aiming marker it just zooms a straight shot to the center of the green. So you need to use judgement and the yardage book for say 2nd shots on par 5's etc. It is more like actual golf.

I had no idea you could go into a practice swing and see the results of your shots, that is f***in weak s*** if that is true. I also had the caddy thing turned off all this time. It wouldn't suggest shot type or club. I turned it on to see what it did and I had no idea it set the aiming marker on putts in terms of distance. I wasn't using that either and it explains a lot.

Anyway I was under the impression we were getting rid of the press the Y button to be able to see the exact landing spot and aim with it. If we aren't i would bother changing anything because only that will make a real difference.

[JOZ]

Wow, I had no idea about the shot preview. Not sure why they would even have that on there. I have done practice swings, especially before my first tee shot after I haven't played for a bit to get my timing down. I've never noticed an option to preview the shot though. I guess I never would think they would have that so I didn't pay attention.

Not having the option to hit Y to zoom to where your ball will land will definitely be more realistic, and definitely be more challenging. I will have to look to find the yardage chart option as I never use that either.

[Danimal]

Wow, I had no idea about the shot preview. Not sure why they would even have that on there. I have done practice swings, especially before my first tee shot after I haven't played for a bit to get my timing down. I've never noticed an option to preview the shot though. I guess I never would think they would have that so I didn't pay attention.

Same, I never even consider this to be an option, it makes zero sense. Why not just allow unlimited mulligans or the ability to control the ball flight in the air for fucks sake.

Not having the option to hit Y to zoom to where your ball will land will definitely be more realistic, and definitely be more challenging. I will have to look to find the yardage chart option as I never use that either.

You just hit the B key to bring up the yardage book, it is much more realistic but it also slows down your round. If you're in the mode of come to a hole, hit Y, aim and then swing it doesn't work like that. You need to pick a target you can see and hit the yardage book to figure out its distance and then look at your club distance etc.

I'm going to imagine most people will hate it, but anyway like you I never even new that shot preview was an option.

[J_Cauthen]

I'd forgotten about the Shot Preview option because I played using Master clubs only for my first 5 months of playing the game. Shot Previews are not available with Master clubs, I think only 3 or 4 are available with Pro clubs, and maybe 8 or 9 are available with Beginner clubs? I've never actually used Shot Preview in a Society or Matchmaking round when using Pro clubs. It just sounds totally hokey to me.

I did turn the Scout camera off for today's round at Whistling Straights. You'll have to use the overhead map to aim, as Dan so aptly described above. It's more work, but it's closer reality than a zoom to aim drone camera. I'm good with either one, but I'd like to see what the popular take is on this one.

[TCrouch]

I've used the shot preview before, and can't remember a single time it helped me. I only had a few per round, and my preview would always go in. Then I'd miss the next attempt, as I couldn't hit the same power/stroke I did on the preview.

Something that drove me CRAZY when I was trying to play this game was that massive dead zone when putting. You have to pull the stick so far back for putting that it frequently goes way further than I want...or I get a tiny mishit because it barely counted anything.

Is that something that just doesn't bother anybody else? It made it borderline unplayable for me, I can't imagine I'm the only one that has a very tough time with it. Why no dead zone adjustment in the game (if there is, I couldn't find it)?

[Danimal]

I did turn the Scout camera off for today's round at Whistling Straights. You'll have to use the overhead map to aim, as Dan so aptly described above. It's more work, but it's closer reality than a zoom to aim drone camera. I'm good with either one, but I'd like to see what the popular take is on this one.

Thanks, I know this is for fun so whatever the group wants. I'm playing all my solo rounds this way and it is more enjoyable to me anyway, sorry if I came off harsh, I never even knew the shot preview existed as it is contrary to any form of real golf.

I usually can't play on Mondays but i will find time to get my round in since the scout camera is off.

[J_Cauthen]

Thanks, I know this is for fun so whatever the group wants. I'm playing all my solo rounds this way and it is more enjoyable to me anyway, sorry if I came off harsh, I never even knew the shot preview existed as it is contrary to any form of real golf.

I usually can't play on Mondays but i will find time to get my round in since the scout camera is off.

You didn't come across as harsh, IMO... you simply stated the facts. You'll also want to try this one out for what I consider to be Craig's best recreation of Whistling Straights ever. It truly is remarkable!

[J_Cauthen]

I've used the shot preview before, and can't remember a single time it helped me. I only had a few per round, and my preview would always go in. Then I'd miss the next attempt, as I couldn't hit the same power/stroke I did on the preview.

Something that drove me CRAZY when I was trying to play this game was that massive dead zone when putting. You have to pull the stick so far back for putting that it frequently goes way further than I want...or I get a tiny mishit because it barely counted anything.

Is that something that just doesn't bother anybody else? It made it borderline unplayable for me, I can't imagine I'm the only one that has a very tough time with it. Why no dead zone adjustment in the game (if there is, I couldn't find it)?

I see just a hint of this from time to time, depending on the course. I know I see a big difference in the stroke lag when I forget to put my TCL 6 Series display in "Game" mode. The input lag goes from 50 ms to 17.5 ms when I switch from normal to game. I'm sure you've covered this base though. What display are you playing the game on?

Oh, if I get any stutter or abnormally long lag when starting my backswing on any shot in this game, I'll stop and readdress the ball and take the stroke again, until I get a glitch or stutter free response. It takes more attention to catch this during putting though.

[TCrouch]

It's not an actual input lag--it's like I put the "taller" stick on my XBox One Elite, and move it 20%....nothing. 25%....nothing. I have to keep moving it way back, and eventually the character's putter starts moving, but it's like I'm at half-stick before I get any sort of response while trying to putt. That's madness when trying to finesse a 9-footer with 4 inches of downhill for par (because I suck and can't land the shots very close).

I'm on a Sony XBR930E, always on game mode (the entire setup is ONLY for XBox/PS4 gaming). I can play any game on it, from twitch shooters to sports games, and don't have any complaints.

It's purely because I can move that stick about halfway before my on-screen character even starts to putt. I only really notice it when putting, because that's when I need the most granular control, but it's the same behavior everywhere, really.

[Danimal]

Honestly Terry I never experienced anything like that. I get the stutter Jon mentions where I pull back and nothing happens then it jumps to full back swing but not what you're describing.

[JOZ]

That's weird as I never get that either. There are times I wish I got something like that so I could blame my awful putting on anything but me.

Those putts inside of 7ft with any kind of moderate to heavy break just whip my arse.

[TCrouch]

Maybe "the hitch" is what I'm seeing as a dead zone, then. Only logical answer. Thanks guys, I'll look closer!