Has anyone other than myself wished that EA had somewhere documented exactly how their swing mechanic works?Like what exactly constitutes a perfect swing tempo. And how that timing correlates with the swing stick. Is it the time it takes for you to move the joystick to the 12 o'clock position on the downswing? Or is it the time it takes for the joystick to return to center after completing the swing?I realized right away that the swing timing and underswing added together resulted in your power. And I assume the swing path was just that... though based on some of my poor swings I have questions about that too. Some of the worse swing shapes have been the straightest shots... where many dead straight swings have gone awry.A definitive explanation of how this component of the game would have been appreciated. If it is something I have missed, would someone please direct me to the documentation.What seems obvious isn't so obvious based off shot results in this game.

@ELF014 wrote:2K's mechanic is consistent and repeatable, consistent input will provide expected results, unlike EA.I disagree. I do not find 2k consistent or repeatable at all. It's the main reason I don't play that game much anymore. I have both the PC and XBox X version of the game and I even made a macro on pc to see if I could get timing to be consistent. Even with my PC sending the swing inputs at EXACLTY the same cadence EVERY time, the 2k swing was jacked.

@ELF014 wrote:Where I do feel what you have noted about the swing path is true (hitting the two points). Distance control with the timing and how dispersion works I am not sure works as sold.I have seen too many shots not result in the expected distances based off the net power reading. I think the thing to keep in mind is that the dispersion circle for a given shot is the landing area (not adjusted for wind and not adjusted for rollout/spin back) for a perfect/perfect swing. For longer clubs that circle is fairly large (a multiple yard radius even). If your swing isn't perfect/perfect, you would have to relocate that circle to the new coordinates your imperfect swing has "selected".So taking an example of a 7 iron which I believe one of my toons hits around 200 yards. Let's say there's no wind. I'm hitting to a flat ground exactly 200 yards out and centering my dispersion circle exactly on the pin and leaving the height of the shot normal. Just as an estimate, I'd say the radius of the dispersion circle for that club is probably about 5 yards (maybe a little less but this makes the math easy lol). If you hit a perfect/perfect shot, you could LAND anywhere within 15 feet of the pin in any direction. Then unless the green is super slow, you have probably have another 3-5 yards of rollout. Therefore, if rng had you at the extreme north end of the dispersion circle, you may now have a 30 footer. Now let's factor in the tempo and power. Let's say 9% overswing, 1.9% fast (2.8% power). Now let's move the dispersion circle. 2.8% of 200 yards is 5.6 yards, so we now move the entire dispersion circle north of the flag by almost 17 feet. Now account for the fast. 1.9% of 200 is 3.8 yards. We are now moving the dispersion circle 3.8 yards (or another 10 feert) to the left. Your starting point for the center of the dispersion circle for that shot is already 17 feet North and 10 feet left of the flag. NOW stick the dispersion circle there and account for the RNG dispersion. At worst you with RNG and rollout, you could end up an additional 30 feet north and 15 feet left. All said, your 7 iron if you got really bad luck, could end up a total of 47 feet north and 25 feet left of the flag when aiming directly at the flag and having that imperfect swing.

@ELF014 wrote:. Where I do feel what you have noted about the swing path is true (hitting the two points). Distance control with the timing and how dispersion works I am not sure works as sold.I have seen too many shots not result in the expected distances based off the net power reading.I believe it does "work as sold", but I feel people maybe don't fully realize how many feet/yards are potentially in play, especially from longer distances.Let's do an example (with just guesses on some distances just to show the math.) Say I am 200 yards from the pin. 0 Elevation. 0 wind. Completely flat green. Tournament speeds. I am hitting a 7-iron with that just happens to have a max distance of exactly 200 yards. No height adjustment on the swing. We are hitting a standard approach.The dispersion circle of that club I'll estimate to have a radius of about 5 yards (could be less in actuality, but this makes the math easy). This means that from the center of the circle (the flag), the circle extends in 5 yards (15 feet) in all directions. That circle does not account for the effects that Wind, Elevation, rollout, or backspin have on the ball. If we execute a perfect swing on this club under the 0 wind/0 elevation environment, that means the ball will LAND within 15 feet of the pin in ANY direction. Under most tournament green conditions on this flat green, there is going to be say ~3-5 additional yards (9/15 feet) of rollout with this club. This means with a perfect shot aimed directly at the pin, if you get bad RNG, you could be up to 30 feet north of the pin after dispersion and roll. That would be your longest potential putt. If you get good RNG, it goes in the hole.Now, we all know that it's near impossible to get perfect/perfect. We now need to MOVE our dispersion circle to account for the imperfect shot. So let's say you have a slight overswing (.5%) and come through a bit fast (1.9%). That's 2.4% power. 2.4% of 200 is 4.8 yards, so we need to relocate the center of the dispersion circle 4.8 yards or 14.4 feet North of the Pin. We then need to move (if your toon is right handed) to the left to account for the fast tempo (slow would move right). 1.9% of 200 is 3.8 yards. We now need to take the center of that circle and move it 3.8 yards or 11.4 feet to the left. With this imperfect swing, the ball will land in that same 15 foot dispersion circle that is now located 14.4 feet north and 11.4 feet left of the pin. With good RNG, the pin is still in play, but with BAD rng you could be waaaay out. After rollout, if you get BAD RNG, you could be putting from as far as 44.4 feet north (14.4+15+ 15) or 26.4 (11.4 + 15) feet left. The max putting distance based on triangulation would be around 51.6 feet for such a shot.

I'll also add, that I believe moving from an EASY swing to a HARD swing is putting an additional modifier on all the percentages. Best guess is its somewhere in the 2-5% range.

@7AnimalMother wrote:I disagree. I do not find 2k consistent or repeatable at all. It's the main reason I don't play that game much anymore. I have both the PC and XBox X version of the game and I even made a macro on pc to see if I could get timing to be consistent. Even with my PC sending the swing inputs at EXACLTY the same cadence EVERY time, the 2k swing was jacked. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. I have just gone back to playing 2K23 after a 5 month hiatus. And though my timing is not what it was I am still consistently making good shots. Which I forgot... you can actually tell by the sound of the ball coming off the club. You hear the difference between a well struck ball vs one that has been mistimed.I would expect creating a macro should replicate the same shot. But did your marco take into consideration which club you are using? I'm wondering if each club has a slightly longer swing arc which might be affecting the timing. Something you wouldn't notice while playing because you are watching the animation of your character.I have always played on PS which has better polling, which from what I understand gives us a slight advantage.

Ea's swing mechanic | EA Forums

18 Replies

Pro8Balluk
2 years ago
I'm confused by the swing mechanic also
Recently spoke to a guy with thousands of wins in competitive play and very few losses and he's adamant that the swing isn't random if you hit the correct shot but he wouldn't tell me anymore
-Roasted513-
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
@Pro8Balluk "correct shot" thats bs. there is no "correct shot" you hit what you think is the "correct shot"
IrieGibbonz
2 years ago
That's something a lot of games are missing in the digital age: a proper manual/documentation.. there are exceptions of course, as always.

With regards to the swing tempo, i am pretty certain the time it takes you to release from 12o'clock to center position is completely irrelevant. What matter is how long it takes you to reach 12o'clock, but i don't know exactly when the "timer" starts counting. I'm guessing the moment back pressure is released, but could be the moment the stick actively pushes through center as well.
ELF014
2 years ago
@Pro8Balluk wrote:
I'm confused by the swing mechanic also
Recently spoke to a guy with thousands of wins in competitive play and very few losses and he's adamant that the swing isn't random if you hit the correct shot but he wouldn't tell me anymore
Maybe... my issue is that when I want to hit specific yardage... say 165 which is my 9-iron. I hit what I feel is my perfect yardage... confirmed by my meter saying I have perfect distance. +0.0%. Yet the is woefully short or lands 10 yards further and rolls off the green.
There are also far too many times I underswing and it ends up perfect.
I just hit the ball now and ignore the results.
And yes I take into consideration, wind, difference in elevation... and my ball lie.
ScoutHunterKing
2 years ago
Am I right in assuming that poor timing affects shot dispersion? Because I've had perfectly straight swings stick wise that end up missing the fairway left or right presumably because of bad timing... But it seems to be more random as to which way the ball goes. Unlike 2k where a fast will hook the ball and slow will slice the ball.
ELF014
2 years ago
@ScoutHunterKing wrote:
Am I right in assuming that poor timing affects shot dispersion? Because I've had perfectly straight swings stick wise that end up missing the fairway left or right presumably because of bad timing... But it seems to be more random as to which way the ball goes. Unlike 2k where a fast will hook the ball and slow will slice the ball.
Interesting observation. I myself have yet to decipher any sort of pattern. I have hit with PERFECT/PERFECT timing and what appears to be a straight swing path and had the ball NOT go straight.
2K's mechanic is consistent and repeatable, consistent input will provide expected results, unlike EA.
Though I do believe 2K's mechanics would benefit from some tweaking, including a SMALL amout of dispersion to add some randomness to the game. EA seems to be using dispersion as a method to control difficulty, where 2K is based on percise shot execution.
With 2K I immediately know where the ball is going as in real life. It is rare for me to question what happened... with EA it happens so often, I am more surprised when I hit a perfectly straight shot.
Allan5858
2 years ago
Try putting from the heavy rough!!!!
7AnimalMother
2 years ago
@ELF014 wrote:
Has anyone other than myself wished that EA had somewhere documented exactly how their swing mechanic works?
Like what exactly constitutes a perfect swing tempo. And how that timing correlates with the swing stick.
Is it the time it takes for you to move the joystick to the 12 o'clock position on the downswing? Or is it the time it takes for the joystick to return to center after completing the swing?
I realized right away that the swing timing and underswing added together resulted in your power. And I assume the swing path was just that... though based on some of my poor swings I have questions about that too. Some of the worse swing shapes have been the straightest shots... where many dead straight swings have gone awry.
A definitive explanation of how this component of the game would have been appreciated. If it is something I have missed, would someone please direct me to the documentation.
What seems obvious isn't so obvious based off shot results in this game.
They had a developer/creator video on it maybe 2 weeks after launch, but certainly some documentation elsewhere (perhaps in the game itself in the form of a tutorial?) was in order.
Tempo and the resulting Fast/Slow from imperfect tempo is based on the total time from the start of the downswing to when the swing stick returns to the center. In other words, if you are using the traditional control, its the move up and then releasing the stick to where it come back back down to the center. You can further tune your gofer by changing the swing style in the identity. If you are consistently slow, change the swing tempo to faster, and vice versa.
Since I can't normally get perfect tempo, I have tuned my swing so that I am consistently slightly fast, and then just budget in a slight left to right movement on my aim. (Fast moves left to right, slow moves right to left for righties).
As far as swing path goes, I know in one EA video someone mentioned that shot shaping on tour mode only required your swing to hit the 2 points of the swing path accurately, the bottom and the top of the path. I have not seen any official info on this, but I believe this also to be true for ALL swings. As long as you hit the bottom and the top points, your path will be straight (even if you have some wierd loop in there... but hey.. this seems reasonable, right Jim Furyk?)
Get Better Tempo NOW in EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 - YouTube
ELF014
2 years ago
@7AnimalMother wrote:
@ELF014 wrote:
Has anyone other than myself wished that EA had somewhere documented exactly how their swing mechanic works?
Like what exactly constitutes a perfect swing tempo. And how that timing correlates with the swing stick.
Is it the time it takes for you to move the joystick to the 12 o'clock position on the downswing? Or is it the time it takes for the joystick to return to center after completing the swing?
I realized right away that the swing timing and underswing added together resulted in your power. And I assume the swing path was just that... though based on some of my poor swings I have questions about that too. Some of the worse swing shapes have been the straightest shots... where many dead straight swings have gone awry.
A definitive explanation of how this component of the game would have been appreciated. If it is something I have missed, would someone please direct me to the documentation.
What seems obvious isn't so obvious based off shot results in this game.
They had a developer/creator video on it maybe 2 weeks after launch, but certainly some documentation elsewhere (perhaps in the game itself in the form of a tutorial?) was in order.
Tempo and the resulting Fast/Slow from imperfect tempo is based on the total time from the start of the downswing to when the swing stick returns to the center. In other words, if you are using the traditional control, its the move up and then releasing the stick to where it come back back down to the center. You can further tune your gofer by changing the swing style in the identity. If you are consistently slow, change the swing tempo to faster, and vice versa.
Since I can't normally get perfect tempo, I have tuned my swing so that I am consistently slightly fast, and then just budget in a slight left to right movement on my aim. (Fast moves left to right, slow moves right to left for righties).
As far as swing path goes, I know in one EA video someone mentioned that shot shaping on tour mode only required your swing to hit the 2 points of the swing path accurately, the bottom and the top of the path. I have not seen any official info on this, but I believe this also to be true for ALL swings. As long as you hit the bottom and the top points, your path will be straight (even if you have some wierd loop in there... but hey.. this seems reasonable, right Jim Furyk?)
Get Better Tempo NOW in EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 - YouTube
I have seen all this information... and basically agree with your points. Including about just hitting the two points when making a swing.
Where I do feel what you have noted about the swing path is true (hitting the two points). Distance control with the timing and how dispersion works I am not sure works as sold.
I have seen too many shots not result in the expected distances based off the net power reading.
7AnimalMother
2 years ago
@ELF014 wrote:
2K's mechanic is consistent and repeatable, consistent input will provide expected results, unlike EA.
I disagree. I do not find 2k consistent or repeatable at all. It's the main reason I don't play that game much anymore. I have both the PC and XBox X version of the game and I even made a macro on pc to see if I could get timing to be consistent. Even with my PC sending the swing inputs at EXACLTY the same cadence EVERY time, the 2k swing was jacked.