EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

[mudtiger]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Made the cut at Phoenix...but dropped on the leaderboard.

Round 3, I struggle and bogey 4 and 5, birdie the 6th, and come back to bogey the 7th. Back 9 I birdie the par 3 12th. Everything else I par. Finish with a +1 on Saturday and drop back some more on the leaderboard.

I don't really have a chance to win, but if I can pull off a round like I had the first day, I can build some confidence for next week after getting cut the past 2 tournaments.

Getting the results I want at this point so I'm hoping this holds up for another couple tournaments....I struggle and get into trouble on a fair number of holes, 2 putt a lot of greens, and yet I can still find some holes where everything comes together and I land it...what is that? 8 or 9 feet? away and sink the birdie putt.

I'm close to saying all 0s except for 1 in putting and 1 in power (will maybe raise this to 2 to see if that changes much) are what I'm going to stick with.

[icicle22]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Just started my career in the Amateur rounds and I am crushing it on the leader board. I started at default AI 50 but after 2 rounds I was at -13 and the closest was minus -5 and it seemed to be staying like that. I increased the AI difficulty to 75 and it seemed about the same. I turned off some aids for me and I lost 2 strokes on the 3rd round but the AI didn't get any higher than -6.

So....is the amateur round just easy by default and will I see more competition out of the AI when I reach the pros? I uppped the AI to 85 for the final round which I hope to play today. I also read somewhere while I was googling this AI issue, that changing it during a tournament doesn't affect anything until after the tourney....is this accurate?

Thanks in advance. I am purposely not leveling up my player anymore as I do not want it to be become too easy and the more I play, the better I am actually getting as opposed to levelling up my player to make it arificially easier.

[jesusismyairbag]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Made the cut at Phoenix...but dropped on the leaderboard.

Round 3, I struggle and bogey 4 and 5, birdie the 6th, and come back to bogey the 7th. Back 9 I birdie the par 3 12th. Everything else I par. Finish with a +1 on Saturday and drop back some more on the leaderboard.

I don't really have a chance to win, but if I can pull off a round like I had the first day, I can build some confidence for next week after getting cut the past 2 tournaments.

Getting the results I want at this point so I'm hoping this holds up for another couple tournaments....I struggle and get into trouble on a fair number of holes, 2 putt a lot of greens, and yet I can still find some holes where everything comes together and I land it...what is that? 8 or 9 feet? away and sink the birdie putt.

I'm close to saying all 0s except for 1 in putting and 1 in power (will maybe raise this to 2 to see if that changes much) are what I'm going to stick with.

Mate you need to get better at the game, im 99 rated and go -20 on arcade every round (I went -82 at augusta after 4 rounds). Get good /s

No but seriously i'm thinking starting again, I might do 3 power and enough points for texas wedge. Great idea

[mudtiger]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Quick update...I raised power to 2 and left everything else as is. I'm no longer at the bottom of driving distance stats. AI is still at 75. I'm getting the results I want. I can win, but certainly cannot dominate week after week. Plenty of cuts.

Week 4 Scottsdale
1 Matsuyama - 14
T2 Hoge - 14
T7, ME -9

Week 5 Genesis Riviera
1 Schauffle -17
2 Zalatoris -14
T30 ME -1

Week 6 - did not play - added 1 to power for a total of 2 in power now.

Week 7 Bay Hill
1 Hubbard -12
T2 Cantlay -11
CUT Me

Week 8 The Players Champ
1 ME -15
T2 McCarthy -15
T3 Cantlay -13
After getting cut the previous week, I play out of my mind and win in a 3 hole playoff at Sawgrass.

Week 9 Brandon Dunes
1 Young -19
2 Im -17
T3 ME -16
Another great week where I was in the hunt the whole tournament.

Week 10 Chambers Bay WSH
1 Zalatoris -7
T2 Finau -7
T12 ME -1
Was struggling with some 15+MPH winds, felt great just finishing under. Seemed like everyone else in the field struggled too.

Week 11 Kiawah SC
1 Fitzpatrick -12
2 Kuchar - 8
CUT Me
After winning the players and getting 2 great results in the weeks after it, I couldn't hit greens or sink any putts. Worrying about the Masters for the following week I suppose.

Week 12 The Masters
1 Conners -16
2 McCarthy -9
CUT Me
I played well the first round staying only a couple over but then fell apart and was cut with something like a +9.

Week 13 Hilton Head
1 Im -17
2 Long -14
T66 Me +6
While the final score was bad, it felt great to not get cut.

[AlanBer]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Mate you need to get better at the game, im 99 rated and go -20 on arcade every round (I went -82 at augusta after 4 rounds). Get good /s

No but seriously i'm thinking starting again, I might do 3 power and enough points for texas wedge. Great idea

This is the way my skill distribution looks. I'm pretty comfortable with it.

I play on sim difficulty, with normal putting. I am currently close to Level 48, with 8 skill points, ready to get two more, which will allow another point for power.

I'm playing on the PS5.

The rest I'm not touching. I think that driving becomes more difficult without any points used for driving accuracy or control.

After using 10 points for driving power, the remaining four points will be used for putting.

[mdgoalie37]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Makes me feel bad, I really suck at this game. I'll have a few decent holes then I go off the rails. I hit through the greens a lot. My approach shots are very poor, even when I'm on the green I'm often far away from the hole. I actually putt pretty well but I'm usually so far away from the bad approach shots that I just get the ball close on my first attempt then can sink the second putt.

Elevation seems to give me a problem, I'm currently playing an amateur event at Wolf Creek - that course is brutal with the elevation changes. I keep bouncing the ball off the mountains, sometimes I'm just not really sure what to do.

I haven't played a golf game since Tiger Woods 12 (I played that on my 360 up until about 2 years ago) and I don't play real golf so I probably just need reps.

[DarthRambo]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Makes me feel bad, I really suck at this game. I'll have a few decent holes then I go off the rails. I hit through the greens a lot. My approach shots are very poor, even when I'm on the green I'm often far away from the hole. I actually putt pretty well but I'm usually so far away from the bad approach shots that I just get the ball close on my first attempt then can sink the second putt.



Elevation seems to give me a problem, I'm currently playing an amateur event at Wolf Creek - that course is brutal with the elevation changes. I keep bouncing the ball off the mountains, sometimes I'm just not really sure what to do.



I haven't played a golf game since Tiger Woods 12 (I played that on my 360 up until about 2 years ago) and I don't play real golf so I probably just need reps.

There are good videos for tips online. Find one that explains elevation and wind.

The basic rules of thumb are:

1-10mph wind = 1yd
10mph+ wind = 1.5yds

For elevation every 3 feet = 1 yard. So 33ft elevation down the pin is basically playing 11 yards closer.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[mdgoalie37]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

There are good videos for tips online. Find one that explains elevation and wind.

The basic rules of thumb are:

1-10mph wind = 1yd
10mph+ wind = 1.5yds

For elevation every 3 feet = 1 yard. So 33ft elevation down the pin is basically playing 11 yards closer.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

I watched some videos after my post yesterday and then played last night. Huge difference. Played the first two rounds of an amateur event, +4 and then a -1. Best rounds so far, but missed the cut by 1 stroke. Then played the first round of the next event, at Sawgrass, and I'm at-4 after the first round, tied for first I believe. I did tune the scoring down to 30% as I figured amateurs won't score as well, I'll adjust that as needed.

I've added to my golfers attributes but have not done anything with he equipment. I'm a casual fan so I also needed to learn all of the different shots and how they work, specifically regarding spin. I'm getting there.

[mudtiger]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

I raised ai difficulty to 80. I wouldn't think I'd go any higher. Skills are still the same....2 in power and 1 in putting.

A few tips for using low skills like this...take the 3 wood off the tee sometimes....or a lot. It is a bit easier to keep in the fairway and I'll give up distance almost every time to stay in the fairway.

Don't swing for more than 100% on your shots, specially driving, unless you really need it. Might be my imagination but I feel like I hit more shots where I want them when I'm hitting the top of the swing close to perfect. If I'm over swinging, it could go anywhere.

I have shot shaping off cause I struggle with the diagonal swing, but still use draws and fades to keep my shot over the green and away from trouble.

Last, don't just grip it and rip it. Look at the caddy book and think about if you want to play safe or attack. Think about where to place the ball if you can't hit the green to set up a good angle and distance to the pin. Or just look for where you want to avoid and plan on at least missing away from that if you are going to miss.

Sometimes you just need to hit the center of the green even if the hole is 50 feet away from where you landed so you can avoid serious trouble.

Week 14 dns

Week 15 Evian France
1 Poston -18
T 68 +2

Week 16 quail hollow
1 Conners -12
T 25 -2

Week 17 Pebble beach
1 Horschel -15
T 29 -5

Week 18 pga champ Tulsa
1 Homa -11
T 77 +10

Week 19 liberty
1 Zalatoris -16
T17 -7

Week 20 sawgrass
1 cantlay -14
T2 -14 lost in a playoff to cantlay

Week 21 dns

Week 22 us open
1 Zalatoris -8
T43 +8

Week 23 tara it
1 -25
2 Homa -12
Nailed every putt and approach

Week 24 cliffs at lighthouse
1 Wise -23
T40 +14
Just one of those weekends where everything fell apart after making the cut.

Week 25 teeth of the dog
1 Young -21
T 11 -12

So I'm 5th in the points race. 3 wins and 6 top 10s in 22 events. Made every cut since the masters in wk 12.

Overall I'm happy with the results. Plenty of bad shots, plenty of good ones, and generally putting for the dough. If I play smart and putt well, I'm generally in it.

Makes me feel bad, I really suck at this game. I'll have a few decent holes then I go off the rails. I hit through the greens a lot. My approach shots are very poor, even when I'm on the green I'm often far away from the hole. I actually putt pretty well but I'm usually so far away from the bad approach shots that I just get the ball close on my first attempt then can sink the second putt.

Elevation seems to give me a problem, I'm currently playing an amateur event at Wolf Creek - that course is brutal with the elevation changes. I keep bouncing the ball off the mountains, sometimes I'm just not really sure what to do.

I haven't played a golf game since Tiger Woods 12 (I played that on my 360 up until about 2 years ago) and I don't play real golf so I probably just need reps.

[mudtiger]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Another tip just in case as it took me weeks before it dawned on me.

Putting distance. You know the total distance of the putt, so when you look at the graph of the putt with the white/green/red line, see where the flag is and estimate how much up or down it is. If downhill, you look at the left side to see how much higher the ball is. If uphill, you look at where the flag is compared to the starting line on the left at the bottom. I estimate in about 10% increments. Then use that to figure out how much to add or subtract from the putt.

Example: Putt line is red and goes up about 50% to the flag. Putt length is 23 feet. So 50% of 23 is 12.5. Add that to the 23 feet. Since it is uphill, I round up 13 to put the putting aim marker at 36 feet. Since it is uphill, I generally add a little extra umph and would tack on another 1-3 feet depending of if the graph line continues up after the hole, drops, or stays level.

Another: Downhill putt line is green and goes down about 20%. Putt length is 33 feet. So 10% of 33 is 3.3, double that to get 20% and you'll have 6.6. It is downhill so I usually round that down so I take less off the total putt. So 6 feet. 33 minus 6 is 27. So putt distance is roughly 27 feet. Downhill is tricky because you really have to see if the hill continues down after the hole. If it does, stick to something close to your estimate. If it is level or goes back up, then you could add some to it.

This isn't perfect, but it will get close on the distance if you can estimate decently. The better distance you dial in, the less lip outs you'll see.....though sometimes blasting it is still the answer if you can hit the cetner of the cup.

[icicle22]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

So I started my career about 3 weeks ago and my golfer is rated around 72. I went into my first amateurs' event at Banff Spring. 4 rounds and I was at -17 after 2 rounds. AI was at default so increased them to 90. I also put all settings for user to hardest for putting and driving. I used the 3 click system.

I only did mildly worse. I think I ended up at -24 for the tournament and everything felt easy, even when I turned off all putting assists on the final round too. It felt, too easy.

So I resigned myself to not upgrading my golfer at all since I did not want it to get any easier than this.

Fast forward and I am now qualified and playing in the masters. I start out the first round and "bam!" it feels completely different. I am driving ok but my approach shots are all over the place. I'm overshooting the green, undershooting it, landing on the green and rolling off constantly. It's nuts! Is Augusta just this incredibly hard? After Day 1 I am at +3.

Day 2, I decide to turn the putting assists back on, and while it helped me get close, I was still missing most putts a little left or a little right. I only picked up 2 strokes and finished day 2 at +1. The leader was -17 for reference.

For Day 3, I decide to change putting to "easy" to see if I can make some of these putts. But all it seemed to do was change the speed of the putting meter. It was slower, but I was still missing putts all over the place, not because I was missing the meter, but because I guess my aim was off even using the putt path that shows me where to putt!. I finished Day 3 at +2.

Day 4 was a wreck. I had 2 holes where I hit the water hazard and my putting was crap again so I couldn't save par and ended the tourney at +8.

So what's the deal? I'm not unhappy this game is challenging, but it's damn near impossible for me at the moment and I cannot find anything to make it a little easier. Changing difficulty only makes the meter move slower, which is not my problem. I need the window for my aiming to be a little forgiving since I clearly can't read the putting grid very well yet.

This surprises me even more as when I initially started playing the game, I found quickly that I could putt successfully far too easily. Then I increased the difficulty and it was harder but not impossible which felt right. Then, during the masters it was impossibly difficult and when I went back to easy, it still was too hard!!! What the heck happened? Is Augusta just "that" hard?

Thanks for any input.

[DabCity]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

The career is kinda wonky this way. First, that AI setting is just the score totals you will have to beat. Adjust that if you think the AI scores are too high or low.

I was in the same boat as you, but you will improve. I couldn't even qualify for the tour, let alone the Masters. I was having trouble making the cut on Tour with shot-shaping off. But I just kept grinding. The XP goes a long way in improving your shots.

But the real game changer are the specs for your clubs that you win in challenges or tourneys, or you can buy them in the store with gold. When you apply those, your consistency will improve a ton. I just won a tourney in my second season, and my putting is good enough I'm going to increase the difficulty, but still use the path for awhile. But my OVR is 87 now. While playing better, I still completely blow holes and struggle with elevation when it is more than 15 ft.

Also, the challenges are a great way to not just earn specs and stuff, it's also a great way to practice without the stress of a tournament. You just repeat until you get it. Then you have that skill. Personally, I've not played a ton of challenges, but now that XP is taking so long to level up (I'm at level 41) that I'm now messing around with them more. I'm playing 4 rounds, so that is usually a bit less than 20K a round, and that nets you just 2 points to apply.

Up to this point, I feel like this has helped me with the game a ton. I don't think leveling up too fast helps you as much as feeling the differences as you concentrate on areas of your game. Also, when your attributes change, your aim changes, and doing this gradually has been easier for me.

But until I got into the 80's, I felt like I was fighting the game a ton. But that fight probably helped me overall.

[DabCity]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

This is the way my skill distribution looks. I'm pretty comfortable with it.

I play on sim difficulty, with normal putting. I am currently close to Level 48, with 8 skill points, ready to get two more, which will allow another point for power.

I'm playing on the PS5.

The rest I'm not touching. Driving becomes more difficult without any points used for driving accuracy or control.

After using 10 points for driving power, the remaining four points will be used for putting.

I've taken the opposite approach, as I've hardly touched power and instead poured everything into the approach and short game. But I did get an epic ball spec for power, which adds power to everything.

[icicle22]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

How do actually gain XP at any kind of rate? I played the Masters (all 4 rounds) and when I was done hadn't gained any XP or Money. I have like 2570 and in the store everything is like 5000 and up. I thought I'd get something from competing in the Masters and making it all 4 days. Nothing. Then I played a few 19 hole stroke courses and gained some XP and leveled up but got nothing that allowed me to go in and upgrade any aspect of my game.

I have since set the game to "pro" setting and accept all the setting that come with it. I played the first round of the US Open that just released (it was next on my schedule apparently), and I finished at -4 with the leader being -6. So that is a good start. I then played some coach challenges and earned the first "reward" that has the 10 on it. Previously it looked like that would get me some xp and unload some new gold bags or something.

But when I went to upgrade my golfer, I had 0 green 0 yellow and still 2570 points/dollars? Is this explained better somewhere? Early on I was getting 3-4 XP frequently and was able to upgrade my player after just a few rounds of golf.

To be clear, I understand that as your golfer improves, you need more of the yellow thingies to upgrade a skill area even by 1. But to upgrade my drive it requires 4-5. But I am not even earning 1 of these after playing in the masters. Is this right? Call me confused! thanks.

[icicle22]

Re: EA PGA Tour 23 Searching for difficulty

Well I practiced and practiced. Watched videos, learned all kinds of new things about adjusting shots for wind and elevation and tricks to use different clubs to avoid the wind and such. Played some individual rounds of 9 and using these tricks went -4 to -5 on several front nines.

Same exact settings, I start the US open and I am able to finish round 1 being -3. Yay. Round 2....everything goes caput. I am doing everything the same, calculating my shots, measuring the wind and adjusting accordingly. Nothing is working now. Shots are going in directions that I cannot understand. I lost 2 strokes on the front 9. Then the back 9 I bogied or double bogied 7 out of 9. Drives were ok. every approach shot and putt behaved erratically. I know I wasn't screwing it up "that" much. I didn;t make the cut. Went form -3 to +6 or something.

I am starting to get the feeling that some things are out of your control and I remember a lot of people on here complaining early on that there was too much "randomness". I am putting the game away for a while. I need a break. If I wanted to be this frustrated I'd play real golf!