Ea's swing mechanic
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 ...
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@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?)
@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.
@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.
Another thing to note, an overswing will feel worse on your longer clubs where rollout is more likely to add to your northern value, and an underwing will be worse for shorter clubs that spin back as you can significantly elongate your southern value.
@7AnimalMother wrote: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.
I feel I am pretty competent when it comes to breaking down numbers. I do take into account, wind, elevation, lie angle and the topography of the green when hitting a shot.
I have seen far too many times when I have hit a perfect shot, tempo and power wise to have the ball go 10 plus yards too far... or end up 10 plus yards short.
I am not saying it happens all the time, I am saying that you are not rewarded for every quality shot you make. I have hit many shots that were under powered that ended up next to the hole. In that case I was rewarded for a poor shot.
I have missed fairways with perfectly timed drives with a dead straight swing path, I have hit monster drives into a fairway with really poorly timed swings with a swing path that looks like a reverse "S".
When play EA I just hit the ball... go find the ball and makecmy next shot. The only time I feel in control is when pitching, chipping and putting (note I am playing with a 67 base character, and the dispersion is sizeable).
I just feel too many times the ball is landing beyond your math.
