Vector Zero

If you are wanting offline and career mode then you should probably check back in 6 to 12 months. Computer AI opponents and career modes are planned but not yet implemented.

It's difficult to compare the two at this point because The Golf Club has a 12 month head start in terms of development and so, in terms of features, Perfect Golf is currently a long way behind. However, it PG has excellent potential and has received mostly positive reviews on Steam so far despite still being in a very basic form. In my opinion, Perfect Golf could be the best golf game on PC in a year's time. They both have good graphics and PG can run 1080P resolution with beautiful water effects. Currently the golfer animation is a bit weak and I think they need to work on making the ball impacting club and terrain more "solid" feeling (it's a bit floaty right now) but these are all things that are on the Dev's list. PG will also have a course editor called Course Forge which is supposed to be state of the art but it's not been released yet and so I cant comment on it further. One thing that is implemented right now though is the ball flight physics engine which, as far as I know, is the only truly dynamic, real time ball flight simulator in a golf game today. This means the ball flight is continuously recalculated as it's happening. In other words, the computer doesn't know exactly where the ball will land any more than you do once it has been hit.

So... replying to my own thread over a year later. Feels a bit strange, but it would appear that "Perfect Golf" has hit Steam and it's actually pretty darn good. http://store.steampowered.com/app/288140/ It's still in early access (priced at £15 or $20) so it's understandably rough around the edges and a bit buggy but it's shaping up nicely and is far closer to Links 2003 than TW in terms of style, ie a golf simulator. The team responsible are part of the Perfect Parallel company who provide much of the golf graphics seen on televised golf tournaments from the likes of Sky and so the visuals are pretty decent, although you'll need a proper gaming graphics card to play at the highest detail levels. They are a small group of independent programmers, many of whom have worked on the modern Links 2003 mods projects and they are headed up by an actual PGA professional. I would recommend it to anyone who liked Links 2003 back in the day. I particularly like their motionswing mechanism (mouse) which uses the ratio between backswing speed and downswing speed (ie tempo) as the main factor in determining how accurately you hit your shot, rather than just how straight you pull the mouse back and through as is the case in every other game but is easily exploitable via a table edge for example. It has about 6 courses available at the moment with online and local multiplayer options but weekly updates are adding more and more functionality and the finished game will have a career mode, customisable avatars etc. It takes a bit of getting used to and lots of practice, but I'm having a blast with it so far.

I reckon a main difference between a 20 handicap and a 15 handicap could be the number of melt-down holes. Think about your previous few rounds and try to figure out what caused the melt-downs. Is there a pattern? For example, I naturally draw the ball on a course where most of the OBs are on the left. Occasionally I hit a hook off the tee which, if done on one of these holes, causes a card-wrecker. I worked like crazy to reduce those hooks and my scores are now much better. Also, I try to play smart: If I'm not hitting the ball too well and I reach one of those "OB Left" holes, I leave the driver in the bag and hit a hybrid. 220yds for one is much better for my card than 260 yds for three.

My 60deg low bounce only comes out when it's off a fairway lie near the green and I have a hazard to get over but on those occasions I'm glad I have it. If there's no hazards to get over then it's a variable bump and run. Any sort of fluffy lie or rough to content with and it's normally the SW, since the high bounce generally results in more consistent contact.

I always chuckle at the thought of an irate golfer chasing a giant rodent down a fairway with a pitching wedge shouting, "give me back my ProV1 you little bastard!"

There's a small course in Bristish Columbia called Marmot Ridge where the local rule used to be that you got a free drop if a marmot steals your ball. Happens quite a lot apparently but it would make a great excuse.

Ah yes, the unmistakable sound of golf ball hitting wood. That reminds me of a time I saw a playing partner have to duck as it bounced straight back at his face.

An easy solution would be for me to aim directly at the guy in question which would mean I'm assured to miss.

Ah, now that's a better idea. Or you could just "accidently" step on his ball as you walk off, heavily.

You're right of course but we were only 14 when my friend did it and it was a lone player so no chance of hitting innocent parties. I wouldn't dream of acting in such a fashion now that I'm a responsibly 30 year old...

Another random thought; does anyone else get nervous when watching the crowds lining the tee box as a tour pro is getting ready to drive? I know these guys are pros but a shank off the toe isn't completely unheard of for them, right? I mean, one really ugly swing and someone is digging a golf ball out of their head.

I once had to apologise to about 30 people stood on the first tee after nearly wiping them out once. I was playing down the 18th par 5 of my local course where the 1st tee is only about 30 yards from the 18th green to one side. I was hitting my second shot with a hybrid into the sun and hit a great feeling shot that went straight at the green and then disappeared into the glare. Unfortunately it must have been turning over because I then catch sight of it hurtling straight towards the 1st tee and I didn't have time to shout. In hind-sight I should have shouted the instant I lost sight of it as a precaution, but you live and learn. Apparently it missed one of them by about a foot.

I'd add to this the golfers I see who stroll oblivious into my fairway when I'm just about to hit a drive because they are looking for their wayward shot from the adjacent hole. The temptation to hit anyway is overwhelming (but I don't because I'm an adult now, bah).

Ooooh, do tell

Perhaps both, but the same could be said for the impatient sod who teed off early to make his point.

Nice! I'm willing to let someone off if we're well out of "normal" driving distance since I figure they just caught a flukey smash but while we're still waiting for the green to clear for our approach shots is another matter. I occasionally drive a 300 yard par 4 at my course which is also blind, so I make a habit of shouting "fore" if it feels like I've caught it well. A few of the older guys get a bit funny about balls shooting past them when they're getting ready to putt.

If your friend didn't shout "fore!" then I'd say the Ray Lewis smash was asked for

We had an impatient guy land his drive about 5 ft from us once after spending an hour giving us dirty looks and my playing partner promptly hit the ball straight back to him! For the record, we were right on top of the group ahead at the time.

A few weeks ago I went along to the weekend morning roll up and about 20 of us were standing next to the tee waiting for the groups ahead to clear. One of our party was taking practice swings towards the group (something I hate seeing) and caught the ground, sending dirt and debris into the face of the guy standing next to me. Fortunately he was turned slightly to one side so it hit him in the side of the head rather than in the eyes but it still could have been nasty. Another time, I saw an out of control motorized trolley smack one of my party square in the nether regions. Admittedly that was quite funny and he was fine after a few minutes but it must have hurt. So, from the comic to the downright scary, what's the most dangerous behaviour you've seen while on a golf course?

Played at a course in Tampa Bay, Florida many years ago when an alligator strolled across the fairway. Needless to say we were not attempting to retrieve our balls from the water that day.

I have to admit that this would make me a bit uneasy too but the guy is a pro so I say stick with it for now.

perhaps downhill, with wind behind and a baked fairway. But seriously, 190 yards is going to be a nuked 5 iron or a very solid 4 iron for me. Yes, I've played with golfers like that too. Guys I have been outdriving all day will go reaching for their 7 iron while I've got a 5 iron in my hand. What's the point of owning 14 clubs if you're going to ignore 3 of them entirely?

Over the years I've changed what feels like hundreds of things in my swing in order to home in on something approximating consistency and I'm still working on it. Below are the main points I have distilled my swing into and I'd be interested to hear how they compare to other forums users (I am right-handed): Grip I try to keep my grip as loose as possible, Varden style. My right thumb points straight down the shaft. Stance I favour a narrower stance, generally with my feet no wider the shoulder width apart for irons and perhaps fractionally wider for the driver. My experiments with wider stances did not go well and left me feeling very restricted during the swing. My right foot I try to keep square, the left foot is flexed out slightly. Ball Position Irons are generally out of the middle of my stance, driver I set up in line with the left in-step as per the classic advice. Posture I try to keep my backside out but I don't worry too much about keeping my spine straight since it frankly hurts to do it over a long period of time. I suspect that posture is something that starts to go as I get near the end of a round and tiredness sets in. Backswing - Wrists I like to cock the wrists early and ensure the clubhead always stays in front of the hands on the takeway. Backswing - Arms I keep my right elbow tucked in as long as possible on the backswing. I'm unsure exactly why but this tends to produce straighter shots. I suspect this may be creating a more optimal swing plane but I would be interested to hear others' thoughts. Backswing - Hips I rotate my hips a fair amount on my backswing since I find a lack of rotation often results in a sliced shot, although I do worry sometimes that I am overdoing it somewhat. My belt buckle may have rotate over 45 degrees by the top of the backswing. Downswing - Start This is quite key for me since it seems to be the area that causes the biggest problems if I get wrong. Generally I like to start my downswing with a slight outward turn of the left foot which causes my hip to bump/slide slightly to the left before the arms start their downward journey. Downswing - Hips Contrary to some advice I have been given over the years, I do not attempt to rotate my hips any more than they naturally do as a consequence of my arms swinging through. Downswing - Arms I normally try to get the right elbow back in as fast as possible and get my hands "deep" into the lowest part of my swing. Downswing - Wrists I try to keep my wrists cocked as long as I can but I honestly could not tell you at what point they hinge. Finish Ideally I will be on balance with my belt buckle facing the target, weight fully on my left foot but sometimes I will find myself having to take a step forward. When that happens it's normally because I have tried to hit the ball too hard or because my stance was fractionally too narrow.

Wow, 40 pages on this and still counting. We really are all obsessed with measuring our junk, aren't we? Personally I haven't really tried to work out what my average drive is because I don't need to. All I know is that I tend to hit my drives further than most other golfers I've played with (although sadly, not always as straight) and am generally taking no more than an 8 iron on par 4 approach shots which will fly about 150 yards on a still summer day. I recall a section in Harvey Penick's "Little Red Golf Book" which always stuck with me that went something along these lines (forgive me for mis-quoting, it's been a while): "The average club golfer will go back to the bar and tell everyone how he managed to hit the green with a 7 iron from 200 yards and expect everyone to gasp and feel his muscles. Whereas the professional doesn't care what club is in his hands, as long as the ball is on the green."