The Golf Club Closed Beta Impressions (Q&A Inside)

[TheBleedingRed21]

Honestly for a golf game to get the true toughness of it (as much as a video game can)

The removal of the arrow that shows where the ball will land needs to go

They could have a driving range where you can set up your swing and get the distances on your swings so you know that a 7 iron, you hit it say 160-170 yards..

There could be a direction arrow right in front of the ball that shows where you are aiming but no arrow to show where it lands down the hole. Therefore, you have to do like real life and estimate where it will land and adjust accordingly.

The whole arrow showing where it lands decreases the difficulty tremendously IMO.

[Helldogg18]

I'm tickled to death for finally a real golf simulation game to be released...but what's the deal with not being able to set or adjust the green speeds?!? Seems like that would be a no brainier and easy to do...

[bluengold34_OS]

I agree with both of the post above - it would be nice to be able to adjust green speeds and remove the arrow - but as I stated earlier we have no access to settings. The final build may offer both of these options, but until then, it's all just speculation.

[rolltide1017]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheBleedingRed21

They could have a driving range where you can set up your swing and get the distances on your swings so you know that a 7 iron, you hit it say 160-170 yards...

I like your idea about the arrow but not the idea above. I want the game to be as difficult as possible, a true sim experience but, I don't want to have to keep a yardage book next to me on the couch. If I wanted to do that much work, I'd grab my real clubs and head to the real course. I want a sim experience but not an exact replica of real life, otherwise I'd get so frustrated and not play a round for months, just like I do in real life.

[TheBleedingRed21]

Quote: Originally Posted by rolltide1017

I like your idea about the arrow but not the idea above. I want the game to be as difficult as possible, a true sim experience but, I don't want to have to keep a yardage book next to me on the couch. If I wanted to do that much work, I'd grab my real clubs and head to the real course. I want a sim experience but not an exact replica of real life, otherwise I'd get so frustrated and not play a round for months, just like I do in real life.

It's unrealistic to have a driving range to do a setup and know your yardage? Never said it would be in a log book. Memorization. I know I do this in real life.

If you don't, no idea how you ever use the right club.

[the_future420]

I would be fine with the game telling me what the range on any one of my specific clubs was, along with yardage to the hole. Let me figure out everything else on my own. I think that would be the best balance between being a video game and offering a sim experience

[rolltide1017]

That's my point, I don't want it exactly like real life, it is still a video game. I don't want to have to memorize my yardages in a video game, sorry that's just how I feel. If I have to constantly hit the range and practice in a video game, and memorize my yardages, I mind as well go play the real thing. Plus, once memorized what is the difference in having them displayed on the screen or in your head; in both instances you know how far you are going to hit the ball and there would then be no difference in difficulty. It would only be more difficult for people who suck at memorizing which really isn't making the gameplay itself more challenging.

It's also not realistic to have a play call screen in Madden, should that be taken away and you have to memorize all the plays? Maybe they should remove the scouting features in MLB The Show and force you to actually do your own scouting. My point is, you can have a very good sim experience and still have features that aren't completely realistic, like displaying your distances.

Showing distances, IMO, is not why past golf games have ended up being so easy for most people. One big factor for why previous games become so easy IMO, is that the courses never play true to there real life counterparts; mainly because you can level your character up so much that the hazards never come into play.

The Golf Club doesn't have attributes to build, everyone is going to be the same. This means we can design courses that place hazards right in the path of everyone's ball and they'll always be that way. A well placed bunker right were your normal tee shot will land will cause everyone to have to decide to either club down or swing harder and risk hitting the bunker. We've never had this in a console golf game because eventually your created character is so good that the hazards become just pretty scenery.

I think this is going to make a huge difference in The Golf Club. This means we can have very simple courses that are meant to see how low you can score and other courses that will challenge you on every single shot. This is real life golf in a nut shell IMO. I believe that most of the difficulty of the sport comes from the course itself. Most anyone can learn to hit a golf ball and, with practice, can learn to hit it consistently straight. The challenge then comes from what the course throws at you, how does it force you to do more then just hit it straight.

The local course I play most isn't real challenging and I can post a pretty good score, for me, when I play it. I played a round last year on a course in Birmingham that I had never played before and had one of the worst rounds I have had in a long time. I didn't suddenly forget how to play, that course just threw me challenges that I wasn't use to facing. This is potentially what The Golf Club is going to offer and it is one of the reason I'm so excited for this game.

This is all just my opinion, please don't take it personally. I just don't think showing you club distance has been a major reason for why past golf games are easy. Now, I completely agree with what you said about the aiming line.

[DirtyJerz32]

Quote: Originally Posted by the_future420

I would be fine with the game telling me what the range on any one of my specific clubs was, along with yardage to the hole. Let me figure out everything else on my own. I think that would be the best balance between being a video game and offering a sim experience

I would be cool with this. Put the yardage with club so I can pick what club I want to use.

Example... I'm hitting a shot and I know it's 180 yards to the pin and 170 yards to the green. Selecting a 5 iron it would show (160 - 185) or I can select a 4 iron (170 - 195) and depending on wind/weather/lie/ball placement I can use either.