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The New GS Wind/Putting Calculator

• 11BC2 555 Posts

  Sat, Sep 17 2016 6:37 AM

  A calculator is a calculator is a calculator people.  I don't care if you're using an Excel based calculator, Kats, or a very basic windows/apple based accessory calculator.  They all help you do the math > quicker.   Calculators are good.  Use 'em.

  Even if I were to use quick Trig off the top of my head for say distance.  Say .259, .5, .707, .86, and .96.  So basically 2, 5, 7, 8, and 9.   I like to use around 65-66% Headwind and 38-39% tailwind.  I'd still need a very basic calculator to even do the following:

  Headwind = Yardage * (2+Wind/180), or around .066%.  Tailwind = Yardage / (Wind/-260), or around .0385%.  So a 200y shot with 12 mph 30degree Headwind would be 12*.86  = 10 + 2 = 12/180 = .0666.  200y * 1.0666 = 213.32.

  Now if you're a person who can actually do all the math for Sine/Cosine in your head in under 10seconds you are an exceptionally talented person.  It would take me  well over 2 or 3 minutes trying to do that crap in my head (and we're talking one shot man).  Hell, it would still take me 20-30 seconds using a traditional calculator.

  So for all the people making New, better, and improved calculators or spread sheets, PLEASE, even pretty please, keep up the good work.

   

• Vaibhav5viv 886 Posts

  Sun, Sep 18 2016 1:56 AM

  Solarflares:

  Problem was that I'd  learned a technique of combining aim and off-ding for approaches - purely to animate that Volvic , which responds so well to shifting wavefronts throughout the shot. With a straight headwind , I was also developing an ambidextrous style that would steer right and off-ding left - or the opposite.  Landing-control was now really encouraging , and I was coping with sloping greens much  better with that animated style.

  Kats calc was asking me to rely on dinging the shot , and to steer the shot for wind-allowance.  Aside from how accurate it is , I felt that I enjoyed the experimentation of what I'd been playing about with much more.  Also that the potential of the off-ding approaches was what 85% of greens required , with their wildly differing topography.

  I bought a 1,000 shot-pal and uninstalled Kats the same day I'd tried it.

  So that was really my answer to 11BC2 , in that I'd made a different connection from the one I was expecting - as a gamer.  I'd wanted to initially play with flair at the very least , but this wealth of knowledge available that I'd soaked-up  had  tempered that slightly in the search for accuracy and good results from a shot.   With the sustained experimentation into off-dinging - I'd felt a more organic process was happening , and that my play was developing into a unique-style. This suited my personality and warmed me to the experience of playing the game , rather than seeing it as an "enemy" or a threat to my sanity ( given the first whirlwind 59 days here) - I was rather communing with the course and greens , and it's a mental discussion I like and would wish to continue.

  With Kats - I simply wasn't having that discussion anymore.  I was reading the yards top right , looking at the clock-face , and checking the elevation - before typing this info in and getting the calculated power/aim. Move the cursor and take the shot.  

    So this was the main reason I've left it alone.    I've also studied ( oh no!) a little on the dynamics of shot-taking under differing conditions of duress. I watch myself very closely , and in the interests of timely mouse-manipulation - I was finding that the more pre-shot mouse activity there was , and the more I typed in the chat-box - the less settled I was when taking the shot.   lol        True enough for me though  -  So I tend to be very economical with that whilst my brain is racing away and the green is singing to me like a siren  , and it works better for me.

  "Purist" is a funny term for me , and I'm not sure I qualify.  But I guess I'm quite close to being one.    The "No Easy Street" ethos is your own tiers tees , no shot-aids , spreadsheets , or bits of paper , no calculators or slide-rules , no maps , no crib-sheets,  no blogs ,  no walkthroughs.  Certainly no code-modifying software or delayed-interval mouse-clicks - along with the acceptance of whatever the game throws at you as you strive to maintain a meaningful connection with it , the mental dialog , and your own spirit.

  Really summing up now - I'd say that I may have been very negative toward those that use these programs.  Yes they do give a distinct advantage , and on a flattish green they are 1yd-lethal with RSi2's if you can ding - and that's every shot!

  But it's best to leave it as - It's really not my thing , and I wish everyone luck in their quest.

  well said

• Swede56 128 Posts

  Sun, Sep 18 2016 11:34 AM

  Noticed that WGT introduced a new kind of competition...I think..never seen it b4.... It is a full round at Merion..15 sec is the time you have to plan and execute your stroke.......... I checked the leaderboard and wasn't surprised to see that the players at the top did between 58 and 62!!!!!

  I won't  ask you or myself how it's possible, but i can ashore you , they dont use calculaters

  or other technical solutions, because there is no time for that..

  I can do those scores in a practice round..with unlimited mulligans....maybe... but i'm not sure my patince will last that long

  Tommy

   

   

• 11BC2 555 Posts

  Mon, Sep 19 2016 1:51 PM

  Solarflares:

  I can instantly recognise that this calculation is for full backspin.

  The equation has nothing to do with spin.  It only provides a distance.  You can hit a 5i with full topspin if that gives you 213y in this particular case or a 3i with full b/s. 

  Both Headwind and Tailwind calculations simply give 66% head and 38% tail adjusted distances.  You have to decide how you get that distance.

• 11BC2 555 Posts

  Tue, Sep 20 2016 11:57 PM

  We'll have to agree to disagree man.  I'm reading your post but it doesn't register nor make sense to me in the slightest.  Once again, the equation I gave before is nothing more than a yardage tool.  It has nothing to do with dings, off dings, trimming, etc.  No clue where you're even coming from here.

  The game is all about doing calculations in your head or from an excel calculator, traditional calculator, or Sgt Bilko, Kats, etc.  You have to find out how far you need to hit the ball.  The rest of the stuff like how much spin, roll out, ding/off ding, adding-subtracting, visualizing roll out, break upon landing, etc, is done in your head.

  The calculators do just that, calculate a distance.  It's entirely up to the individual to use their experience and imagination to achieve that distance.  And to address the new "shot display".  That's is completely useless imo.  The %'s and spin mappings are millions of miles apart from my own personal mappings.  I immediately disabled it.  The important thing is using a mapping which works for you.

  And I'm not sure why you keep relating to a calculator telling you where to aim and then simply ding.  I can do the same exact math on a traditional calculator and get the same exact thing Kats tells me.  Difference?  The calculator is much quicker.

  And Dinging is not required at all.  It's actually over stated imho.  I made a video many many weeks ago showcasing the viability of Off dinging.  I deliberately missed the Ding on every single shot (literally).  Zero Dings and I shot birdie on every single hole (6 weeks old video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90IDfZkWJQg

  Calculators don't tell you how much off dinging will throw the ball, how much roll out you'll get, or how much distance you need to adjust for (more loss for more Off Ding).  This goes for any shot, especially short game from rough, etc.  So once again, calculators do nothing more than get you to a yardage.  The way you go about achieving that yardage is what makes the player good, bad, average, elite, etc. 

  In the end what matters most is that you have FUN.  Part of the fun for me is fine tuning my mappings and yardages in an attempt to improve my "approach and chipping stats" as well as my "putting stats".  Imho quality stats are a direct correlation to how well someone actually knows how to play the game (minus Red Tee Bandits of course). 

  Talk and theory craft are one of the most enjoyable parts of many games (SC2 comes to mind) but in the end I'm also striving to improve my game with sound technique, course knowledge (spin, distance, release, all the fine nuances), and overall game mechanics. 

  To all those using any type of calculator (this includes basic windows) keep it up!  And I hope those people who might be making new golfing tools and aids don't get discouraged by some of the post here.  Imho you are doing a great service and keep up the great work!

  Cheers.  Sean.

• MainzMan 9,586 Posts

  Wed, Sep 21 2016 6:39 AM

  oneeyedjohn:

  If the wind is from the left I aim a bit more left, if the wind is against I hit it a bit harder, and vice versa.

  Works for me.

  Thank you John, wise words indeed.

  I've nothing against anyone using all the calculations they want, each to their own but I do shake my head at some of the lengths some will go to in order to ensure the mythical perfect shot.  Play a 4 iron, 12.45 yards right of the flag, use 17/50 back spin and hit it with 92.65% power.

  Yeah, right. 

  When you swing a real golf club you can't tell your arms to swing the club with a  certain amount of power, you hit what feels right, same with wind allowance.  That's how I played in real life and it's how I play here.  The day I enter numbers into a spreadsheet before taking a shot will be the day you can, probably very happily, shoot me.

  Rant that wasn't supposed to be a rant over.  I wanted to say each to their own but, in all honesty, I can't. 

  This is supposed to be golf, not theoretical physics.