Game Tips

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

BGibbons — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:32:26 GMT

their update on the greens is crap...putts only make it half way now,what else they gonna fix that isnt broke......and fix the damn meter,losin alot of money on balls bought by stray shots.

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

banjopicker — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:53:37 GMT

thanx for the tips..as many have said---putting on here is the most frustrating thing. so thanx--cant wait to try them out....banjopicker

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

kmcox — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:28:54 GMT

Thanks for all the info.....now maybe I'll have a chance at getting less than 3 on the green...LOL

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

AlaCowboy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:04:11 GMT

PugsAce wrote the following post at 11-19-2009 5:54 AM:

What may be happening when your putts come up short, is a misunderstanding of the slope of the green along the path of the putt. I think it has been mentioned earlier, but bears repeating, that the "slope arrows" ( v and ^ indicators) show the overall difference relative to the height of the spot where the golfer's feet are placed.

I copied only part of your excellent reply and putting instruction.

I too click the "zoom" and trace the aiming tool from the ball to the hole. We must also do this to note the left/right slope of the green along the path of the ball to adjust the target point as well as the speed. Then we can see the little dip or hump that will send the ball in a crazy direction if we don't "read" it.

Putting from the back of Kiawah #9 green is an example. Or the slope from left or right and below the hole on BPB #15. Even a 3 ft putt can be an adventure there.

Looking at the left/right slope in the landing area of a chip/pitch/lob from off the green will tell you how the ball will break once it starts rolling toward the hole. I'm still learning but I get my recovery shots close enough now to salvage par more often than not.

Hope this will help someone out there. Sometimes I wish we could discuss these things with playing partners during a game.

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

YankeeJim — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:48:51 GMT

Well said, Pug. When I line up a putt in reverse view I like to hold the aimer down so you see the ball path. Without moving the aimer, just hold it down, study the line. Multiple break putts become a little clearer and the break is easier to see.

A lot of times you will see the speed of the dots change as they get to your line indicating your lie might be flatter then it looks and the break isn't as strong. Pay attention to the color of the line-it can and does change along the line. GL

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

PugsAce — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:54:13 GMT

bigreece:

The only tip that needs to be given is to the programmer-there are so many glitches in this game, putting is sssssooooo inconsistent: aim, slope, speed are a joke and strictly a guessing game. One example, on BPB while putting downhill from 27 feet, came up short and the next shot was uphill? Not very realistic, to say the least.

Drive for show and putt with a rabbits foot!

Putting IS a guessing game. Especially the longer ones. I've found the game's putting element to be very realistic. But if you'd like to look at it more scientifically... more analytically... you can, but some effort and knowledge of the lie is required.

For example, let's look at a putt that could easily be misread and that could easily come up short...

I am faced with a 20ft putt that shows v3in in the display while the aiming tool is placed at the cup. If I determine that I need enough power taken away from my level 20ft putt to adjust for this reduction of 3 inches of drop, I could be wrong. I must first "survey" the putt's path with the targeting tool to determine the true rises (^) and drops (v) along that path.

Even though the target display initially shows v3in, the green along the path of the putt may rise to ^1in or ^2in or more. It might also show v1in or v2in which would also indicate a rise along the putt's path, because v1in and v2in is higher than v3in. These changes along the path must be accounted for to determine my true adjustment in power.

Back to the 20ft example... I survey the path of my putt and find that, indeed, there are rises and drops along it... in fact, with the aiming tool placed 3 feet before the cup, I see v4in displayed in the aiming tool. So now I know that, for the last 3 feet of the putt, the ball will actually be rolling uphill. Knowing this, I realize that I need to account for it, and add enough to overcome this last inch of rise. If I didn't take the time to check it, the putt could easily have come up short, leaving an uphill putt.

I hope this makes sense to you (bigreese) and others, and not just to me. If further explanation is needed, just ask, and I'll be happy to try to make it clearer.

Good Luck. ;^)

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

bigreece — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:38:32 GMT

The only tip that needs to be given is to the programmer-there are so many glitches in this game, putting is sssssooooo inconsistent: aim, slope, speed are a joke and strictly a guessing game. One example, on BPB while putting downhill from 27 feet, came up short and the next shot was uphill? Not very realistic, to say the least.

Drive for show and putt with a rabbits foot!

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

Lariz — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:08:26 GMT

This is so helpful! Thanks!

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

StimpiSteve — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:01:31 GMT

That was a great tutorial. It explained all the problems I, as a new player winging it as I go along, have been experiencing. My game should get much better if I can knock out those 4putts.

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

martyorca — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:48:09 GMT

This is a helpful tutorial. I have noticed on the tournament mode v. regular stroke play mode, that even with good calculations and hitting the bar, the ball lips out regularly (esp. when putting for birdie) Then when I put for bogey or par, I can purposely missed the bar to the extreme,and the ball goes in! (with way too much power) WTF.

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

PugsAce — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:30:11 GMT

Doublemochaman:

Eh, I think you gotta be like Tiger... give those longer putts a run and then make 99.5% of all putts, 5 feet or less, coming back.

I am! I am! Let's see... from my stats, I add my "One Putt %"(run-up) to my "Two Putt %"(coming back) and I get... >93%! Yay! ... right? :)

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

Doublemochaman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:12:02 GMT

Eh, I think you gotta be like Tiger... give those longer putts a run and then make 99.5% of all putts, 5 feet or less, coming back.

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

PugsAce — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:39:36 GMT

nivlac:

Hopefully it had something to do with the mid-month release and it'll work itself out starting tomorrow.

Yesterday, I played the WK45BPB unlimited stroke play. Indicator said "Fast" and the green was indeed faster than "Standard", so it must be fixed now.

As far as the "break" of a putt on this "Fast" green goes... I think my putting style may have something to do with the differences that some have expressed. When I'm within 6ft or so, of a putt with "extreme" break, I tend to "putt through the break" (as was mentioned above by nivlac). This effectively decreases the amount of break in the actual path of the ball, but if missed, will certainly carry it past the hole more than 2-3 ft. In a post above, I mentioned that my missed putts were usually 1-2ft long. I was thinking of my putts on the "Standard Speed" greens. A miss is longer coming back on the "Fast" greens. Sorry for that mis-info. I'll attempt an edit in that post.

Other times when I'm lagging a putt close from outside 20ft, the lag putt seems to start out on a straighter line with the green being fast, but when it slows as it reaches the cup, it definitely breaks more than at the slower, standard green speed.

So... maintaining the speed of a putt on the fast greens is very important, to eliminate this "late break" near the cup (if indeed, there is break present). That's what makes these faster greens so dangerous... if the cup is missed, using the necessary "oomph" to get it there through any late break, there will surely be a longer putt coming back.

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

Elestee — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:41:04 GMT

Very, very well done. This should help me a lot. But I have a problem figuring out when blue turns to black, and vice-versa. Maybe they could use whiteor yellow instead of blue. Anyway, thanks for the great info.

Re: Putting Tip: Distance Control

nivlac — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:55:13 GMT

So far it's been consistent with one speed down. If it says fast, it's standard. When it said very fast last week it was just fast.

Hopefully it had something to do with the mid-month release and it'll work itself out starting tomorrow.

Also, if you haven't seen the FAQ on Green Speeds there's some new info. Who's ready for championship speed on BP #15?