TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

[mexmarkjen]

I would to state that I am really enjoying TW10. Like most who post here at OS, I play stricly on the Tour Pro mode. I've been a Tiger buyer for years; get the game every year and this is without question the best edition thus far. The game is much more challenging and the putting improvements are teriffic. That said, I'd like to offer some constructive criticism for the developers to consider, not in any specific order -

1. Release the game in February or March so I have time to build my golfer legitimately so he can compete in the "1st major" in April. Why release the game in June when the golf season is half over? Right before the Open was cool, but my golfer had very little time to be built good enough to "play the pros"

2. You must find a way to engage me more so I don't constantly bypass the "lead-in" and hit the "A" button (360) all the time. I like the added stats of x amount of birdies, pars, etc, but I still find myself bypassing too much and hitting "a"

3. More expansive commentary; it's just too flat and boring.

4. More commentators on the course; like a real telecast

5. Commentary that builds as you play through tourney's, i.e. - it's the final round and I'm on the 14th tee and they mention I've made birdie, par, par in rounds 1-3. That sort of stuff.

6. Proper clothing for golfer and crowds - for goodness sakes, if it's raining, let's see some jackets and umbrellas! It adds to the experience and atmosphere

7. Nice upgrade w/ the crowds, but even more - have them build as the rounds progress in the tourney's - huge galleries on Sundays!

8. More randomness w/ pin placements - I don't believe round 1 should have all pins only be easy, and round 4 have all pins only be expert; let's see some variety no matter what round it is. And can there be up to six placements instead of four?

9. Get rid of those stupid animations of the Dante Culpepper arm roll, the horse ride, etc. - instead give us real golf animations for good shots/putts and real golf animations for the bad ones; get rid of the "throwing the club" garbage.

10. Absolutely NO CHIPPING when you are on the green. Yes, I know you can technically do it in the rules of golf, but it does not happen. Get rid of it.

11. No modifiers for clothes, balls, clubs, etc. I just don't see the point w/ this stuff.

12. Make it easier to change my golfers clothes; why can't I hit a bumper to go through shirt and pant options?

13. PGA Tour season - "live" weather is cool, but by the time we play the game, the "February" weather in Florida is picking up the "live" weather in June or July - why not give us the option to play in the weather that was really there when the tourney was played?

14. Please make it easier to unlock stuff; most of us don't have the time to play through everything; we just want to have a great season mode and great Xbox Live modes.

15. Friends leagues/seasons; etc - very similar to NCAA Online franchise and upcoming Madden Online franchise.

16. Better/more camera angles - especially for those who try to putt without the green grid.

17. PRESSURE - I'd like to see it be a bit more difficult (maybe your attributes go down (or up if you're a great pressure player)) when you have a drive, approach or putt on the back nine on Sunday vs the front nine on Thursday. Some sort of added pressure depending where you are in the tourney (and what your position is, if you're in contention, etc.)

18. What I would call, Landing Marker vs. Caddy Advice - We all know we can hit the B button and see exactly what we need to do for our shots. This is not realistic. Instead, what about "caddy advice" where they give you an idea as to where to aim and yardage to the front, middle, back, etc; instead of being able to exactly see where the best spot is to aim and land?

I like this game, a lot; I just think it's not quite there and it needs some polish to make it shine the way it really could.

Hit em long and straight; in the cyber world, and more importantly on the real course!

GT is Xcommish

[baa7]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

18. What I would call, Landing Marker vs. Caddy Advice - We all know we can hit the B button and see exactly what we need to do for our shots. This is not realistic. Instead, what about "caddy advice" where they give you an idea as to where to aim and yardage to the front, middle, back, etc; instead of being able to exactly see where the best spot is to aim and land?

Great list.

I don't use this feature ^ myself. Too arcade. I never use/bring up the target circle. I play the course several times and note where the doglegs/hazards are. Then I play the tourney entirely from the golfer's ground level persective. Which brings me to an important feature in the PC version that's missing in the console version -- a caddy book, to write those notes down in.

[cactusruss]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

10. Absolutely NO CHIPPING when you are on the green. Yes, I know you can technically do it in the rules of golf, but it does not happen. Get rid of it.

11. No modifiers for clothes, balls, clubs, etc. I just don't see the point w/ this stuff.

Why shouldn't you be allowed to chip when on the green? I have seen it done before on the PGA tour, on a odd shaped green where putting to the hole would be impossible. If it's not against the rules of golf, why would they take it out of the game?

And there should be modifiers for things like balls and clubs... since in real life there are balls that go further than others, and some that have more spin, ect. But yes, having a power boost because of the type of hat your wear is stupid.

[mexmarkjen]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

Why shouldn't you be allowed to chip when on the green? I have seen it done before on the PGA tour, on a odd shaped green where putting to the hole would be impossible. If it's not against the rules of golf, why would they take it out of the game?

And there should be modifiers for things like balls and clubs... since in real life there are balls that go further than others, and some that have more spin, ect. But yes, having a power boost because of the type of hat your wear is stupid.

Like I said, I know it's in the rules of golf, but it very rarely happens. Do you ever chip when you're on a real green? I know I don't; heck - when I learned the game from my Dad he probably would have kicked my @$$ if I took out a wedge on a green! The exploiters of this game use the chip to an unrealistic advantage; my belief is that it should be removed.

Clubs and balls; if the intent is to create a virtual "pro", your golfer is so good I don't think you should be able to modify by use of equipment and/or clothing. Instead, use the club tuner to "modify" your power, sweet spot, etc. That's enough in my opinion.

[mexmarkjen]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

Great list.

I don't use this feature ^ myself. Too arcade. I never use/bring up the target circle. I play the course several times and note where the doglegs/hazards are. Then I play the tourney entirely from the golfer's ground level persective. Which brings me to an important feature in the PC version that's missing in the console version -- a caddy book, to write those notes down in.

This is a great idea my friend; I will absolutely give this a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

[baa7]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

This is a great idea my friend; I will absolutely give this a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

You're welcome. It can also be important to note which tees require you to aim slightly left or right before swinging. Some tee shot landing areas aren't exactly dead center of the fairway. I usually play a round with no wind and mulligans on, so I can test straight tee shots to see how much fairway I have to work with on each hole.

[kerosene31]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

-Custom online tournaments

-Don't eliminate chipping, but just make it less accurate than putting. Chipping right now is so easy and putting is hard. Make chipping harder to hole out and problem solved. (Yes, you do need to be able to chip on bean shaped greens, etc)

-Remove player attributes completely. Make different player classes. For example: elite (all 12s), realistic PGA (capped at maybe 7), weekend hacker (capped at 4-5 maybe). Have tournaments with varying levels.

-Get rid of equipment boosts. Allow us to unlock more realistic equipment (better clubs like we have now, realistic golf balls, etc)

-Make the driver accuracy overall much lower. (not just for those who tweak their expert driver with little sweetspot). St Andrews should not be a birdie-fest, but it is because we never miss fairways

-Graphics upgrade - would be nice

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

Short game needs refinement:

It should be a little bit harder to be precise with pitch shots. More often than not the right move in golf is to get the ball on the ground as quickly as possible and roll it up to the hole. In TW it's easier to throw the ball up high and let it stick a few feet away. Or just flip between flop and pitch until you have the one that's closer.

Additionally, there should be an accuracy penalty when putting from the fringe. The reason that most pros grab an iron and chip when they're on the fringe is because it's anybody's guess exactly what the line will be when the ball rolls from the fringe and drops down slightly onto the green. It's not a wild change of direction but enough so that a lot of these guys seem to think they have a better chance of getting the ball to drop when chipping.

In TW I think the smart play is to grab a putter even though the game defaults to chipping mode. It just feels like chipping is under-valued to the point where it's under-utilized. This shouldn't be the case because being a good chipper is a very valuable skill.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

-Remove player attributes completely. Make different player classes. For example: elite (all 12s), realistic PGA (capped at maybe 7), weekend hacker (capped at 4-5 maybe). Have tournaments with varying levels.

Character skill is the #1 problem with this game at the moment IMO. Yes, it's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 but it would be nice to not being awesome at every facet of the game. There's only one player like that on the planet (and I'd argue he's nothing special with a driver in his hands).

Caps would be something but I'd prefer player classes. Having to choose between excelling at short game, distance, long iron play, wedges, putting. Make players choose two stengths and two weaknesses for their character. There could be a ton of variation that way. EA seems to avoid things like this though and it's really a shame. Making gamers make decisions is simply the way to go but EA loves to spoon feed the way their games are played.

-Get rid of equipment boosts. Allow us to unlock more realistic equipment (better clubs like we have now, realistic golf balls, etc)

If the boosts are kept they should be VERY minor. I'd love them if the benefit they gave was counteracted by a negative of some sort but that's not how it's done. +1 distance should be countered by -1 accuracy. Stuff like that.

-Make the driver accuracy overall much lower. (not just for those who tweak their expert driver with little sweetspot). St Andrews should not be a birdie-fest, but it is because we never miss fairways

The problem I'm having at the moment is the driver doesn't spray enough on good swings. I feel like Tiger out there. Either it's dead down the heart of the fairway or WAY off. There's no middle ground. Perfect or awful.

[baa7]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

The problem I'm having at the moment is the driver doesn't spray enough on good swings. I feel like Tiger out there. Either it's dead down the heart of the fairway or WAY off. There's no middle ground. Perfect or awful.

Expert driver, sweetspot at 14 or lower should do the trick.

[baa7]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

It should be a little bit harder to be precise with pitch shots.

Expert wedges, sweetspot at 0. Not perfect, but much less accurate.

[Zalf]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

-Biggest change needed is shots landing randomly within the target circle instead of the same exact spot every time. Taking landing views away is ok but you still start off with your golfer aimed directly at the flag for the center of the fairway. It doesn't take much to adjust from there. But with random landing spots if the flag is 5 yards from the water and your target circle is 15 yards wide you have to make a choice to go for the pin or play it safe just like the pros. Do a way with the laser targeting precision shots.

-Yes there are some pro's who have chipped on the green but it is 1 in every 10,000 shots on the green. Random landing actually fixes this too. If you have a 5 foot target circle for chips or pitches then you can chip or pitch whenever you want to but I will putt because it is more accurate, just like the pros.

[dave374]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

Customizability is huge for me.

I want to create my own tournaments.

A slider for my cpu opponents.

Weather to affect my cpu opponents, it only affects me ... which is annoying.

The current announcers to be electrocuted like Mike Vick's dogs, save for the hole preview guy. He's fine.

Skill caps - I like the poster's idea of 4-5 for duffers, 7 for regular, 12 for elite.

No equipment boosts ... or at least the option to turn them off.

No courses locked! This is just an annoying cash grab. I paid for the 16 or so courses, let me have them from day one.

DLC course integration into my offline career.

A customizable offline career. Let me set up my own tourneys, give me the ability to rename tourneys (Major UK Championship?).

For the love of God, lighten up on the rain. It's a cute feature - the first 1,000 times. Then it just gets annoying.

[gbx34]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

I kinda wish they would just get rid of the shot target zoom and adapt some kind of first person zoom. I guess it is just me getting tired of seeing that, the circle is before the bunker well now if i just move the circle past the banker i can now clear it.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: TW10 is really good, not quite great, constructive criticism and suggestions here

+1 on rain overkill. At this point if I had an option to completely disable rain, I would in a second. These guys don't play in downpours, that I'm aware. Let alone downpours with 20mph winds. I sure as hell wouldn't be voluntarily playing in those conditions LOL. I've played in a surprise downpour before in a company tourney, hilarity ensued as it was a hilly course near Seattle. The guys were swinging and then slipping and sliding on the fairways, golf carts sliding out of control...it was hilarious. We soldiered on thru two more holes and called the tournament (me and my partner were on 13 I think).

Man, it was like the priest in Caddyshack sequence. Good times.