It’s been a few months now with the new
version. Not much has changed,
really. We lost a few golf courses. That was sad.
I await Torrey Pines with eager anticipation, but won’t hold my breath
for other courses. But we still have
golf courses where pin placements rarely, if ever, change. Another stable element of the game however,
is that we still get at least three camera changes on every shot. Camera changes that do more to obscure the
shot, than to illustrate it. As an
example, picture this: Oakmont Country
Club. Hole #4, a Par 5. Second shot.
Gonna need all the 3-wood I can get.
I take the shot. The ball soars
toward the green. The camera
changes. It’s a close-up of the
flagstick. The ball, still in
flight. Another camera change. It’s a close-up of the ground where the ball
lands. Another camera change. Next player. The shot? Lost.
Obscured by camera changes. This
is ubiquitous throughout the game, particularly on close-in shots, pitches, and
chip shots. The numerous camera views change
so rapidly one is left confused and bewildered where their shot ended up,
having to wait for the next player’s turn to locate their ball. Even putts have multiple camera changes. Why? Other close-ups include looking directly into
a bunker, looking up a slope at the sky, the inside of a bush, the avatar, among others. But my favourite, the avatar’s thumb. Looks like a skin condition.
Setting up, and joining a Stroke Play game has
become a test of patience, having taken upwards of 30-minutes just to establish
a threesome. Hundreds, if not at times,
well over a thousand players available to play head-to-head competitions, but
no one for Stroke Play? At game end, the
scorecard appears incomplete, and regularly provides the stats for the other
guy, not me. “Average distance to the
Pin”, a statistic found under Approach stats, is shown in “Yards”. An individual player’s statistics shows this in
“Feet”. Why the disparity? And, why such small print? Given that this hasn’t been remedied by now seems
to clearly suggest that game improvements are of low priority.
We enjoy spectacular images of storied golf courses,
where Legends have walked, obscured by, “WATCHING OPPONENT.” This is new.
This is obnoxious. And why am I still
the only one who gets informed whenever I remove or replace the flagstick? “FLAGSTICK REMOVED”! “FLAGSTICK REPLACED”! Do I not know that I just did this? That kind of short-term memory loss would
require long-term hospitalization.
These are my observations. There are others. Game improvements are overdue. It’s my hope that changes will come. But like I said earlier, I won’t hold my breath. Have courage!
Be brave! See you on the Links.
Dr. Carl G. L.
Boise, Idaho