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Re: Swings and Shots in PGA Tour


@ELF014 wrote:
@7AnimalMotherI don't disagree with you that the game is easy. And dispite how bad the RNG is in this game, we can all shoot well under par.

I said in another post some time ago, who hasn't shot a sub 59 in this game. I've done it on the most difficult settings, including disabling all the aids (ie. swing meters, elevation difference etc..).

The point is people want to be rewarded for the good execution of shots. There are many times during play I will execute what I believe to be a good shot, only to see it land well outside the dispersion zone. Some these shots can't be explained as they move opposite the lie angle as well as the wind direction.

And when your dispersion for a drive exceeds the width of the fairway... well...

I am lobbying for tighter controls on your shot execution (meaning make it more difficult to hit a straight shot)... and tightening up some of the dispersion on some shot types (not all, some are reasonable, like chipping...).

In 2K I can feel when I have made a bad shot, I don't need to see the result. And I know where the ball will end up.

In this game I have no clue... the ball can end up just about anywhere.


I think stats bear out the fact that people ARE generally rewarded for executing good shots.  Sure -some- shots that are seemingly perfect don’t go exactly where you want them, but that just like real golf.  

When your dispersion circle is bigger than the fairway, you could always drop to a 3wood… Theres really no advantage to having a 60-70 yard approach as opposed to 100 yards…  your hitting the same club either way.  Or heck, just hit the driver and play from the rough.  It’s not like there’s much penalty for that in this game.

Whatever they do I hope they don’t implement something similar to  the 2k swing.  I hate 2ks downswing timing.. That’s one of the the worst mechanics I’ve ever played in a video game.  



7 Replies


  • @7AnimalMother wrote:

    @ELF014 wrote:
    @7AnimalMotherI don't disagree with you that the game is easy. And dispite how bad the RNG is in this game, we can all shoot well under par.

    I said in another post some time ago, who hasn't shot a sub 59 in this game. I've done it on the most difficult settings, including disabling all the aids (ie. swing meters, elevation difference etc..).

    The point is people want to be rewarded for the good execution of shots. There are many times during play I will execute what I believe to be a good shot, only to see it land well outside the dispersion zone. Some these shots can't be explained as they move opposite the lie angle as well as the wind direction.

    And when your dispersion for a drive exceeds the width of the fairway... well...

    I am lobbying for tighter controls on your shot execution (meaning make it more difficult to hit a straight shot)... and tightening up some of the dispersion on some shot types (not all, some are reasonable, like chipping...).

    In 2K I can feel when I have made a bad shot, I don't need to see the result. And I know where the ball will end up.

    In this game I have no clue... the ball can end up just about anywhere.


    I think stats bear out the fact that people ARE generally rewarded for executing good shots.  Sure -some- shots that are seemingly perfect don’t go exactly where you want them, but that just like real golf.  

    When your dispersion circle is bigger than the fairway, you could always drop to a 3wood… Theres really no advantage to having a 60-70 yard approach as opposed to 100 yards…  your hitting the same club either way.  Or heck, just hit the driver and play from the rough.  It’s not like there’s much penalty for that in this game.

    Whatever they do I hope they don’t implement something similar to  the 2k swing.  I hate 2ks downswing timing.. That’s one of the the worst mechanics I’ve ever played in a video game.  




    Maybe I'm just an old, cranky, retired golf pro. But I'm tired of this whole "pleasing everyone" concept. I used to play Links golf on my computer before consoles existed. It was the best golf simulation I can remember. If you want arcade golf, go buy Mario golf. But jeez... this is an incredible simulation of golf. That is what we want from technology, is it not? More realistic representation of things we cannot do in real life? For some of us it's too east, for some of us it's too hard. Some people make me laugh. They say the water is a magnet for a golf ball. Lol, how many people have said that in real life? This is a golf simulation. And my favorite in a very long time. Oh, and since it's necessary to say these days, that's just IMHO. 

  • 7AnimalMother's avatar
    7AnimalMother
    3 years ago

    Ahh Links.  I played that back in the day as well.

    hehe consoles did exist back then though.  Atari/Collecovision/Intellivision had all been out for years, and Genesis and SNES were around by the time of Links.  In fact, I’m pretty sure EA had their first pga tour game out  around the same time (they had several prior to Tiger branding).  Not sure who published it, but there was a great European PGA Tour game pre-Tiger that was one of my favorites!

  • ELF014's avatar
    ELF014
    3 years ago

    @hibbadyskibbadyI'm am old enough to remember buying EA's first golf game back in 1990. I still have Links 2000 sitting in my bookcase, and somewhere there are a boatload of 3.5 floppies that contain addon courses. Heck I remember playing golf on my Mattel Intellivison.

    My point is golf is about risk/reward on top of course management. If you want to risk hitting a driver you should be rewarded for executing a good shot and not punished because the game decides the dispersion of a driver should be the size of Ohio.

    I am on record as being a supporter of having some dispersion in the game, but not to the point where it overrides the skill required to play the game and bringing too much luck into play.

    And as mention just IMHO.

    But it is pretty obvious, and I think we all agree this game lacks the elements of SIM, and aligns much more closely with MARIO Golf without the cute characters.

  • @ELF014 I guess this is where we agree to disagree. I give people the benefit of the doubt, and don't bash em online. But as a golfer, this game is more realistic than anything I've played in a long time. Someone mentioned it's a course management simulation, and golf shots are too easy to actually execute. It reminds me of Madden. People say they want their stick skills to dictate what happens. There's another part of football people don't understand... play calling. The "chess match" that goes on for 60 minutes. Maybe EA rewards you for calling the right play, in this case, the right shot type. Maybe that's good, maybe that's bad, but you know what it does? It "SIMULATES" real life experiences. 

  • ELF014's avatar
    ELF014
    3 years ago

    @hibbadyskibbady wrote:

    @ELF014 I guess this is where we agree to disagree. I give people the benefit of the doubt, and don't bash em online. But as a golfer, this game is more realistic than anything I've played in a long time. Someone mentioned it's a course management simulation, and golf shots are too easy to actually execute. It reminds me of Madden. People say they want their stick skills to dictate what happens. There's another part of football people don't understand... play calling. The "chess match" that goes on for 60 minutes. Maybe EA rewards you for calling the right play, in this case, the right shot type. Maybe that's good, maybe that's bad, but you know what it does? It "SIMULATES" real life experiences. 


    I see where you are coming from and am fully onboard IF we are leaving everything up to the game. I can see being a coach on the sideline sending in plays in MADDEN where I have no direct input.

    I could say the same thing about this game, if I just picked a club and location letting my AI hit the ball. But that's not the case... the game is actually using my actions to execute the shot.

    So I agree, being the civilized people we are we will just have to respectfully disagree. Though I do agree with some of your thoughts.

  • ELF014's avatar
    ELF014
    3 years ago
    @7AnimalMother I don't have an issue with 2K's swing mechanics. In fact I like them, it offers another layer of skill on top of just the swing path... and it is something 2K allows you to disable.

    Don't get me wrong, I don't think thd 2K swing is perfect. The swing speed is far too fast not allowing to comfortably hit partial shots. And the swing timing for a fullswing shouldn't be the same as for a pitch or chip shot.

    So yes, though I like that 2K did something to up the difficulty I don't think the execution of what they did is perfect.

    But once you get a feel for everything, you can feel what you did wrong the minute the club hits the ball.

    EA's swing mechanics are not sensitive enough for the swing path, nor do I believe it is consistent. I have made perfect swings that went wayward... and some really awful swings that went dead straight.

    The EA swing has always felt inconsistent to me, currently my tee shot is just something to start the hole. For me shot making doesn't really happen until I'm in the scoring zone in this game.
  • PalomaMarvel24's avatar
    PalomaMarvel24
    Seasoned Ace
    3 years ago

    @hibbadyskibbady wrote:

    @ELF014 I guess this is where we agree to disagree. I give people the benefit of the doubt, and don't bash em online. But as a golfer, this game is more realistic than anything I've played in a long time. Someone mentioned it's a course management simulation, and golf shots are too easy to actually execute. It reminds me of Madden. People say they want their stick skills to dictate what happens. There's another part of football people don't understand... play calling. The "chess match" that goes on for 60 minutes. Maybe EA rewards you for calling the right play, in this case, the right shot type. Maybe that's good, maybe that's bad, but you know what it does? It "SIMULATES" real life experiences. 


    @hibbadyskibbady  Thank you for giving people the benefit of the doubt. I am not as much of an avid golf fan as I am a football fan. That is why I don’t read wind and lie effects and shot types that well.

    As for Madden, I could answer that choosing the right play is rewarded. In some cases if you choose the wrong play and read the defense’s motion to blitz, you can still make an audible and change the play. I have my set audible plays in case I choose the wrong play. In the defensive side,  choosing the wrong play could give a worse outcome if the opponent is doing a no huddle offense. I look at the playbook and I experiment which play works for a particular situation.

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