The Golf Club News Post

More Info on The Golf Club

11:20 AM - January 28, 2014 by RaychelSnr

The developers at HB Studios have been answering questions on their forums about their newly announced Golf Simulation, The Golf Club, pretty regularly. Here are a few new details:

Can you hit a ball into the adjacent holes Fairway and play from there?
Yes, you can currently play from just about anywhere that isn't under water, Although this isn't finalized and OB may be added as they test more.

Will we be able to choose our clubs before a round? ie Can I drop a 5w and take an extra wedge for certain courses?
Not in the Beta, but it's on our list to add in the future

Will there be a preview hole flyover for every hole on the course?
Yeah, there is a skippable flyover on each hole, as well as a flyover of the entire course that shows when you've selected a course, before you start your round.

Will you be able to "Shape" your shot?
Yes, there are stance controls for open/close (and forward/back). To give a little more context to it. We have a system that allows the shaping of shots, adding spin etc. This is all set up pre-shot with the help of the Pre-Shot Ribbon, this is like an indicator from your caddie.

The more you sway from a normal shot the harder the shot is to pull of, and the more perfect your swing will have to be.

Can I design a course on PS4 and have my friend download it on their Xbox One?
From a technical point of view yes! The DNA of courses is stored on a server and the machine builds the course from that DNA.

Can we do Co-op course building?
Unfortunately this is not planned at this time. Its an interesting feature to consider though and something I will bring up on Monday but I don't think we'll have time to implement anything like this before the release of the game.

You can read more answers to questions on the HB Studios Forums.

Game: The Golf ClubReader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PC / PS4 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 7 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 BaselineBakes @ 01/28/14 09:06 PM

As soon as I heard about the course creator I immediately thought about designing courses close to my area or ones I've played on. Imagine this type of database it would be insane. I always like to check out a courses book or website to get a feel of the course before I go out and play it for the first time, how cool would it be just to play it virtually.

"Will there be any real, licensed courses available (Pebble Beach, Augusta, Sawgrass, etc)?
No, but with the course creator recreating them is a possibility. You can create any course layouts in the world, my dream is to have a Ultimate Guitar Tab like database of courses so that I could play a course online before playing it in real life on a Saturday. Imagine if you get invited to a new course by a friend, you could play it in the game before playing it in real life, to know the best route around the course."

# 2 ralphieboy11 @ 01/28/14 11:52 PM

I'm really excited about playing around with the course designer as well. Looks like it might be difficult to create the true experience of some of these real courses right off the bat. One of the designers mentioned on their forums that all of the layouts have mountains as a back drop at the moment. It would be sort of weird to see Augusta or Pebble with mountains in the background. They did mention they have more ideas for backdrops in the future.

# 3 jmaj315 @ 01/29/14 12:25 AM

Definitely making Eagle Eye and Hawk Hollow. √

That co-op course design would be pretty cool, but definitely not necessary in a launch or even second iteration i wouldn't think.

I'm actually very excited for this game because it seems like the Devs are genuinely listening to us. I only asked if you could play out of the wrong fairway like 2 or 3 days ago and its already being answered for everyone!

# 4 BBallcoach @ 01/29/14 12:48 AM

"Can I design a course on PS4 and have my friend download it on their Xbox One?
From a technical point of view yes! The DNA of courses is stored on a server and the machine builds the course from that DNA."

This is a game seller right here.

# 5 pietasterp @ 01/29/14 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBallcoach


	"Can I design a course on PS4 and have my friend download it on their Xbox One? From a technical point of view yes! The DNA of courses is stored on a server and the machine builds the course from that DNA." This is a game seller right here.

While it's an exciting possibility, note that they took pains to specify that "from a technical point of view..." it is posssible. Which is cool for sure, but the caveat is that contractual/licensing issues may prevent this from occurring after release. Which would suck....

# 6 ComfortablyLomb @ 01/30/14 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	Will you be able to "Shape" your shot? Yes, there are stance controls for open/close (and forward/back). To give a little more context to it. We have a system that allows the shaping of shots, adding spin etc. This is all set up pre-shot with the help of the Pre-Shot Ribbon, this is like an indicator from your caddie. The more you sway from a normal shot the harder the shot is to pull of, and the more perfect your swing will have to be.

Fingers crossed the a "normal" shot is not a straight shot (though I fear it will be since the devs are indicating they want equal footing for all players). Professionals do not hit the ball straight. I'm not saying they try to Bubba Watson every ball but many of them basically rely on a draw or a fade (to their advantage and disadvantage at times depending on the way particular holes/courses play). Some bend the ball more than others but none of them are trying to hit the ball straight with any regularity. Only Mario Golf, Hot Shots, and the most recent Tiger Woods games have gotten this right, as best I can remember. It's a shame since one of the difficulties of course management is fitting natural shot shape to different holes.

# 7 MERACE @ 01/30/14 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComfortablyLomb


	Fingers crossed the a "normal" shot is not a straight shot (though I fear it will be since the devs are indicating they want equal footing for all players). Professionals do not hit the ball straight. I'm not saying they try to Bubba Watson every ball but many of them basically rely on a draw or a fade (to their advantage and disadvantage at times depending on the way particular holes/courses play). Some bend the ball more than others but none of them are trying to hit the ball straight with any regularity. Only Mario Golf, Hot Shots, and the most recent Tiger Woods games have gotten this right, as best I can remember. It's a shame since one of the difficulties of course management is fitting natural shot shape to different holes.

The developers stated that you will be able to "shape" your shot the way the pros do by adjusting your stance. I never liked the way it was done in TW14 with the diagonal swing. For me, it seemed too unnatural and contrived.

-MERACE

# 8 DivotMaker @ 01/30/14 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComfortablyLomb


	Fingers crossed the a "normal" shot is not a straight shot (though I fear it will be since the devs are indicating they want equal footing for all players). Professionals do not hit the ball straight. I'm not saying they try to Bubba Watson every ball but many of them basically rely on a draw or a fade (to their advantage and disadvantage at times depending on the way particular holes/courses play). Some bend the ball more than others but none of them are trying to hit the ball straight with any regularity. Only Mario Golf, Hot Shots, and the most recent Tiger Woods games have gotten this right, as best I can remember. It's a shame since one of the difficulties of course management is fitting natural shot shape to different holes.

Trying to emulate the swing path of a IRL Golf swing on a 1/2 inch analog stick of a gamepad is not an easy thing to do and may be very unnatural for many users to pull off. The only way IMO to emulate an actual swing is by utilizing the Move and Kinect assuming the newest versions of these are far better than the previous ones. You WILL be able to shape your shots using stance and ball placement.

# 9 ComfortablyLomb @ 02/03/14 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MERACE


	The developers stated that you will be able to "shape" your shot the way the pros do by adjusting your stance. I never liked the way it was done in TW14 with the diagonal swing. For me, it seemed too unnatural and contrived. -MERACE

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivotMaker


	Trying to emulate the swing path of a IRL Golf swing on a 1/2 inch analog stick of a gamepad is not an easy thing to do and may be very unnatural for many users to pull off. The only way IMO to emulate an actual swing is by utilizing the Move and Kinect assuming the newest versions of these are far better than the previous ones. You WILL be able to shape your shots using stance and ball placement.

Forgive my inability to communicate effectively (in part because terminology is far from definite) but these posts misunderstood my point and are not addressing what I was talking about.

I am talking about ball flight itself--from pre-shot resting spot of the ball to where the ball strikes the ground upon landing. I am not talking about swing mechanics, whether they be click-based or mouse/stick-based, or shot shaping options. What I am saying is there should be no such thing as a straight shot because golfers do not attempt to hit straight shots. As in, there should be mandatory draw or fade to every shot because every shot inherently draws or fades (unless, essentially, a shot is a mistake).

The ability to add draw or fade via shot shaping options assumes some sort of baseline shot shot, which I hope is not straight. Swing mechanics are irrelevant to this discussion IMO, as are the ability to alter shot shape via pre-shot setup. This is fundamental, and something which most golf games have gotten wrong.

# 10 Gerg04 @ 02/04/14 09:15 AM

All of these Masters commercials popping up on ESPN has my yearly golf itch needing a scratch; as it normally does this time of year.

I seriously can't wait for this to drop :thumbup:

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