Video Game helps with PLAYERS preparation
By Ward Clayton, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
Bubba Watson remembers a day when THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was playing really easy. Very little wind, soft greens, holes cut in the middle of greens. The current leader in the FedExCup race was bombing 400-yard drives and making birdie-putt snakes. He was on fire.
"I think I shot in the low 50s -- 51 or 52," Watson said. "I've made a few holes in one on 17. But that's when it was set up easy."
Watson was talking about playing the Stadium Course from his couch, a common pastime for the noted technology junkie, via the EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA TOUR video game. This is the 20th year since the game debuted in 1992 as PGA TOUR Golf with TPC Sawgrass as the main course. This year, there are more than 25 courses on the game in either the X360/PS3 or Wii editions, including the celebrated debut of Augusta National and other iconic courses such as TPC Sawgrass, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews and Pinehurst and numerous other PGA TOUR venues.
During these two decades, the game has evolved from one with awkward graphics and robotic stick figure-like players into one of the most realistic video games on the market. Courses are mapped to the nth degree, the wind direction reflects the usual pattern for particular holes and caddies, broadcasters and current TOUR players are integrated into the animation with audio.
"It settles me down, relieves the stress," Watson said. "It's just fun to play. It does help you to remember the course and layout, remember where stuff is located. It's just like a yardage book. Plus when you put it on the hard mode, it's very realistic at Sawgrass. Seventeen is really realistic. "
Watson hopes that his success on video and three victories within the past 10 months at actual TOUR events will pay off on the Stadium Course this week. In four starts at THE PLAYERS, Watson has missed the cut three times and broken par just twice.
The world's familiarity with TPC Sawgrass can be attributed to THE PLAYERS broadcasts and also people around the world playing the video game for years.
EA Sports used a combination of ground-based, survey grade GPS mapping and aerial stereo photography to create a digital terrain model (DTM). Numerous control points are used as locators to accurately position the aerial photography. An art team is also sent to each course to take thousands of digital photographs that will be used as reference, texturing and color matching. The final result is data that is accurate to within 2 inches of the actual course.
When the Junior Players Championship began at TPC Sawgrass in 2008, the majority of the field hailed from far-flung locales and had never stepped foot on the Ponte Vedra Beach course, but the younger generation felt like they knew every hole by heart. The only learning curve was realizing the actual difficulty of the course where you can't scorch a drive 400 yards or make multiples eagles and aces.
That will hold true for many of the first-time PLAYERS participants this week. "Yes, I have played the game with my friends," said Italy's Matteo Manassero, at age 18 the youngest player in PLAYERS history. "But the game is very different than the actual course."
"I was walking down the first hole the first time -- driver and a 150-yard second shot," Keegan Bradley said. "I just thought, wow, in the video game, I was driving the green here."
Participants in the game include Woods, Ian Poulter, Zach Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim, Paul Casey, Jim Furyk, Camilo Villegas, Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, Watson and Edoardo and Francesco Molinari.
"When I played Augusta for the first time, I learned that seeing it on the game can teach you quite a bit about the course," said Rickie Fowler, who made his Masters debut in April. "When they made it (the video game), they wanted it to be done perfectly, and they did that. It's pretty crazy how close they got it to being like it is on the real course. The game helps you with your angles off the tees a bit, and it gives you an overhead view that is very helpful. And the breaks on the greens are pretty true. I liked the video game a lot, especially since I am in it. That is pretty cool."
The creation process for the licensed golfers used in the game involves multiple artists and disciplines. This begins with studio photography from multiple angles and lighting conditions that is handed off to digital sculptors. The individual golfer's facial expressions, clothing, shoes and golf clubs are also detailed. In some cases, golfers agreed to a motion capture session where the player wears a tight, black neoprene suit covered with reflective markers and is photographed with infra-red cameras. The process can take as long as three to four weeks before the end result for a single character in the game.
"It is fun to play," said Edoardo Molinari, a first-time participant. "It allowed me to see the course beforehand and get a feel for where the holes were. But then you have to play."
So don't bet on any scores in the 50s, at least in real life, this week.
By Ward Clayton, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
Bubba Watson remembers a day when THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was playing really easy. Very little wind, soft greens, holes cut in the middle of greens. The current leader in the FedExCup race was bombing 400-yard drives and making birdie-putt snakes. He was on fire.
"I think I shot in the low 50s -- 51 or 52," Watson said. "I've made a few holes in one on 17. But that's when it was set up easy."
Watson was talking about playing the Stadium Course from his couch, a common pastime for the noted technology junkie, via the EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA TOUR video game. This is the 20th year since the game debuted in 1992 as PGA TOUR Golf with TPC Sawgrass as the main course. This year, there are more than 25 courses on the game in either the X360/PS3 or Wii editions, including the celebrated debut of Augusta National and other iconic courses such as TPC Sawgrass, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews and Pinehurst and numerous other PGA TOUR venues.
During these two decades, the game has evolved from one with awkward graphics and robotic stick figure-like players into one of the most realistic video games on the market. Courses are mapped to the nth degree, the wind direction reflects the usual pattern for particular holes and caddies, broadcasters and current TOUR players are integrated into the animation with audio.
"It settles me down, relieves the stress," Watson said. "It's just fun to play. It does help you to remember the course and layout, remember where stuff is located. It's just like a yardage book. Plus when you put it on the hard mode, it's very realistic at Sawgrass. Seventeen is really realistic. "
Watson hopes that his success on video and three victories within the past 10 months at actual TOUR events will pay off on the Stadium Course this week. In four starts at THE PLAYERS, Watson has missed the cut three times and broken par just twice.
The world's familiarity with TPC Sawgrass can be attributed to THE PLAYERS broadcasts and also people around the world playing the video game for years.
EA Sports used a combination of ground-based, survey grade GPS mapping and aerial stereo photography to create a digital terrain model (DTM). Numerous control points are used as locators to accurately position the aerial photography. An art team is also sent to each course to take thousands of digital photographs that will be used as reference, texturing and color matching. The final result is data that is accurate to within 2 inches of the actual course.
When the Junior Players Championship began at TPC Sawgrass in 2008, the majority of the field hailed from far-flung locales and had never stepped foot on the Ponte Vedra Beach course, but the younger generation felt like they knew every hole by heart. The only learning curve was realizing the actual difficulty of the course where you can't scorch a drive 400 yards or make multiples eagles and aces.
That will hold true for many of the first-time PLAYERS participants this week. "Yes, I have played the game with my friends," said Italy's Matteo Manassero, at age 18 the youngest player in PLAYERS history. "But the game is very different than the actual course."
"I was walking down the first hole the first time -- driver and a 150-yard second shot," Keegan Bradley said. "I just thought, wow, in the video game, I was driving the green here."
Participants in the game include Woods, Ian Poulter, Zach Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim, Paul Casey, Jim Furyk, Camilo Villegas, Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer, Watson and Edoardo and Francesco Molinari.
"When I played Augusta for the first time, I learned that seeing it on the game can teach you quite a bit about the course," said Rickie Fowler, who made his Masters debut in April. "When they made it (the video game), they wanted it to be done perfectly, and they did that. It's pretty crazy how close they got it to being like it is on the real course. The game helps you with your angles off the tees a bit, and it gives you an overhead view that is very helpful. And the breaks on the greens are pretty true. I liked the video game a lot, especially since I am in it. That is pretty cool."
The creation process for the licensed golfers used in the game involves multiple artists and disciplines. This begins with studio photography from multiple angles and lighting conditions that is handed off to digital sculptors. The individual golfer's facial expressions, clothing, shoes and golf clubs are also detailed. In some cases, golfers agreed to a motion capture session where the player wears a tight, black neoprene suit covered with reflective markers and is photographed with infra-red cameras. The process can take as long as three to four weeks before the end result for a single character in the game.
"It is fun to play," said Edoardo Molinari, a first-time participant. "It allowed me to see the course beforehand and get a feel for where the holes were. But then you have to play."
So don't bet on any scores in the 50s, at least in real life, this week.