EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

2) My biggest ask is to make the swing stick harder to hit straight shots. I struggle to hit straight shots in 2K23. On this game I think in calm conditions I could hit close to 100 pit of 100 perfectly straight drives (not accounting for any RNG). I see the same on videos of people playing the game. It is just way, way too easy to hit it straight. I don't know if there is a technical reason it is like this (is it frame rate issue?) or simply design choice. If not a technical issue I just keep hoping they add a difficulty level. No need to change it for those who like it. Just add a level where is line is extremely thin or the stick has more polling pints or something so that you see fades/draws/hooks/slices. Make me fear #17 at Sawgrass. If no wind, every shot goes straight (unless RNG kicks in).

It really shocks me that people aren't screaming for this. When I check forums here or Reddit it seems like nobody seems to care they can hit every shot straight. I don't understand that. That isn't golf.

Interesting...I feel like I see more people complaining about the RNG because it causes their shots go in different directions for no apparent reason other than the fact that there's a "dispersion zone". To be fair, I don't spend much time at Reddit, so maybe there is more talk of it there.

I know I have moments where I'll hit a slightly off-tempo approach shot with a dead-straight swing plane, and the ball will be 20 yards offline and in the rough. This still happens to me, even when using my essentially maxed out character that has many gold-level shot types, and it happens in all kinds of wind speeds.

I think the issues I have with difficulty are the same as been discussed here quite a bit...rough isn't penal, and recovery shots (flops, specifically) around the green are too easy.

Like you said, even relatively small adjustments to rough penalties would instantly make this game more challenging.

[TheBrew101]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

Interesting...I feel like I see more people complaining about the RNG because it causes their shots go in different directions for no apparent reason other than the fact that there's a "dispersion zone". To be fair, I don't spend much time at Reddit, so maybe there is more talk of it there.

I know I have moments where I'll hit a slightly off-tempo approach shot with a dead-straight swing plane, and the ball will be 20 yards offline and in the rough. This still happens to me, even when using my essentially maxed out character that has many gold-level shot types, and it happens in all kinds of wind speeds.

I think the issues I have with difficulty are the same as been discussed here quite a bit...rough isn't penal, and recovery shots (flops, specifically) around the green are too easy.

Like you said, even relatively small adjustments to rough penalties would instantly make this game more challenging.

Yes, the RNG is frustring too. But are you saying you actually hit hooks and slices off the tee box unintentionally? Like you try to hit one straight but it hooks or slices based on your input (disregard rng, I'm talking ball hooked/sliced because your swing was off the line)?

For me, that doesn't happen. Even when I miss the line and see a squiggly swing I made, as long as the beginning and end were straight the ball goes straight.

I normally play on PS5 but decided to try it out again on my Series X since it is on Gamepass. I haven't played on there since my 10 hour trial. I load up my 74 overall character and play my 1st round at TPC Scottsdale and shoot 65. That is hardest swing setting on and swing meter off. The game is just too easy with swing stick.

I have settings with 3 click where I can get enjoyment (I just missed cut at US Open). But with swing stick it is just is too easy. Unless I get a RNG the ball goes where I want it to and it just comes down to if I make putts or not.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

Yes, the RNG us frustring too but I guess I can live with it. But are you saying you actually hit hooks and slices off the tee box unintentionally? Like you try to hit one straight but it hooks or slices based on your input (disregard rng, I'm talking ball hooked/sliced because your swing was off the line)?

For me, that doesn't happen. Even when I miss the line and see a squiggly swing I made, as long as the beginning and end were straight the ball goes straight.

I do get rare instances where my swing plane is off right or left at the top, and the ball does go in that direction if that is the case. But it's not a massive hook or slice like you see in 2K23, where if you miss badly on the swing plane or tempo, you're penalized pretty extremely with your line and also in distance and could end up with a duck hook or slice if you hit a very slow or very fast. I know I've hit 200 yard banana slices in that game with terrible tempo shots.

But I think it all plays into EA PGA being a "pro golf simulator"...this game is not designed to mimic those kinds of bad shots at all. Even though pros do hit hosel rockets and shanks, the mechanics in EA don't even offer that kind of outcome. The game is made to make you feel like one of the best players on the planet, basically all the time.

I do see where adding those potential negative outcomes could make the game harder, but I think it also would go against what EA set out to do. And I'm not saying what they're going for is the right way to do it, but I think that's why the swing is the way it is.

[golfnut67]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

You guys are absolutely right about how easy it is to hit a straight shot, especially off the tee, but I certainly manage not to do that very often (PS5 swing stick).

Even if everyone hits 90% of their shots straight, for me at least, that doesn't translate into winning matches. I've talked about it before...it's all about the distances, and *doing the math*, especially on approach shots.

I can hit 90 percent of my drives over 300 yards right down the fairway, but because I just refuse to spend the time to carefully study (or memorize) the math involved in calculating the exact strength of swing, the wind, the spin, Finesse vs. Approach shot, etc, I lose 2/3 of my matches mainly on approach shots. Too short, too long, too much or not enough spin accounted for, etc.

I do think the putting in this game is pretty accurate and challenging, if you're "off" on a particular round with your tempo and aim, you can easily lose many holes by missing a putt by 6 inches. At least for me, it's ALL about that approach shot and setting up makable birdie looks.

Sand shots and close shots around the green should definitely be more challenging. And yes, the #1 issue by far with this game is the lack of penalty or punishment for hitting out of the rough, or even more ridiculously so, hitting out of thick weeds or brush that comes up to your chin, and still having a 97% lie and making a shot like it's right in the middle of the fairway.

How hard can it be to do what was mentioned above, and what I've said many times, to just do a macro adjustment across all courses that makes all rough/weeds areas at least 20% more punishing than they are now?

[Crazy Packers Fan]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

An ancient golf game, Mario Golf 64, gave you 80% from the rough, 70% from the bunker, and 60% from the deep rough. I don’t know why it’s 97% in this game from the heavy rough. If older games could get it right, this game should be able to punish you for missing the fairway.

[The Kid 24]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

I just still dont understand why items in the store or w/e rotate!!! Let us have access to EVERY piece of equipment in the game!!!

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

Played the daily free tournament on sim at Pinehust No. 2...love that course, and it's amazingly done in EA. The Ross turtle shell greens are tough.

And I know 2K also has the Payne Stewart statue at Pinehurst, but that game also forces you to play the course as it is for resort players (not the US Open layout), and yet tournament objects must always be on (you can play with the crowd off, but the stands remain in place).

EA PGA allows you to turn all that off and see how detailed they actually were with these amazing courses (2K doesn't have the plaque, either, if I remember right):



EDIT: here's 2K's for comparison's sake:

[scagwi]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

An ancient golf game, Mario Golf 64, gave you 80% from the rough, 70% from the bunker, and 60% from the deep rough. I don’t know why it’s 97% in this game from the heavy rough. If older games could get it right, this game should be able to punish you for missing the fairway.

Agreed

It honestly makes me think it's a conscious design decision by EA
Which....would be incredibly hard to understand honestly


But ...
The longer it goes unaddressed, the more it seems like it must be true.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

Agreed

It honestly makes me think it's a conscious design decision by EA

Which....would be incredibly hard to understand honestly


But ... the longer it goes unaddressed, the more it seems like it must be true.

I think all goes back to something they said in one of the lines written in their gameplay "deep dive" articles that came out pre-launch:

https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-pga-tour/news/ea-sports-pga-tour-gameplay-deep-dive

"When making EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, our ultimate goal is for you to feel like a major championship golfer every time you pick up the controller. This philosophy has informed every aspect of the game's design. From the distance and control of shots to courses with true-to-life physics and shot types sculpted for the pros, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR provides an experience like that of an in-real-life pro-golfer."

To me, the underlined parts of that mean they want you to be able to make shots that only the best of the best players in the world make, and this includes amazing recoveries out of knee-deep fescue and such.

Take for example, everyone's favorite shot type - the Hack. It lives up to its name in multiple ways...not only do you hack it out of the rough, but I feel it's a way to "hack" the game and be able to get basically a 100% lie in most rough. Completely silly, but this does seem to be the way they want it - make it easy for players to hit shots that "major champions" can hit every single time, in any conditions and in any part of the course.

The RNG then works as the game's "challenge"...it's like EA seems to have said... "Since pros don't hit every single green and every single fairway, let's add a dispersion zone where shots might end up, This way, they'll need to use all of those shot types we added to the game!"

It's not organic in any way, but the whole package builds up to gameplay that makes you perform like a World No. 1 pretty much out of the box.

As we've all said, they need to change the lie penalties a bit no matter what. But the way it currently is seems to fit their mission statement - that players should feel like major championship-caliber players on every shot.

[scagwi]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

the way it currently is seems to fit their mission statement - that players should feel like major championship-caliber players on every shot.

...and yet..."Major Championship-Caliber Players" absolutely want to hit fairways as it makes a material difference to how they shoot and score


Not really true in this game


It needs a tweak, even to fit their mission statement

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

...and yet..."Major Championship-Caliber Players" absolutely want to hit fairways as it makes a material difference to how they shoot and score


Not really true in this game


It needs a tweak, even to fit their mission statement

Everyone here seems to be in agreement that we'd like to see it tweaked. And they even did tweak heavy rough lie ranges at St Andrews in one of the patches: https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-p...atch-notes-9-0

It's the part of the game I'd like updated the most, too. It's pretty silly having 90-plus percent lies in the deep stuff.

I am not sure why they haven't done more, other than - apparently - this is what they built this game to be. Comments about rough being too easy started to come out right after launch, as I recall. The fact they tweaked them at one course shows they are not unaware of the feelings toward the rough lie ranges.

I guess all I am saying is that they did spell it out pre-launch that this was a game designed to make you feel that you're at the top levels of pro golf straight from the start. And the fact that rough basically has little to no impact in most cases seems to play into that philosophy - leaving all of us wishing they'd add a bit more penalty for off-line shots.

[scagwi]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

It's the part of the game I'd like updated the most, too. It's pretty silly having 90-plus percent lies in the deep stuff.

On that we can surely agree Beach, no question

[bigkev]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

I wish they would make lie and effect of ball landing in bunkers differently as it feels all the same. But then again, since they tweak the pick shot, no 2 ball hits feels the same and goes anywhere in that circle. Path means nothing with those shots.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

I wish they would make lie and effect of ball landing in bunkers differently as it feels all the same. But then again, since they tweak the pick shot, no 2 ball hits feels the same and goes anywhere in that circle. Path means nothing with those shots.

Agreed!

I was just thinking that I don't believe that EA has plugged, fried-egg lies in the game, either. I know in 2K, I occasionally get a 20-30% plugged lie in sand. In EA, the ball is always sitting on top of the bunker with a clean lie.

[TheBrew101]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour New Update File 4/2 ver. 1.000.020

My counter would be that PGA players don't play this way. The PGA Tour average for fairways hit is 58.34%. Greens in regulation PGA tour average is 66.63%. They advertised shotlink data so I'm sure they are aware of these stats.

I would guess most who play this game on the hardest level with swing stick will far exceed those numbers.

Maybe it is my personal bias that is the issue. I don't want to feel like I'm going to win every tournament (it is hard to win golf tournaments). I will say that in looking up some stats, maybe being towards the top every week isn't as bad as I thought. So in researching this post, I may just need to change my perspective. It is still hard but I was surprised what I found. In 2023 Scottie Scheffler played 23 events and finishes 17 in top 10. Rory played 18 with 13 top 10. In

This is much higher % than I thought. This is the best of the best but maybe that is how I need to approach this game. Instead of Bryan Harmon I need to think of my golfer as prime Tiger (who in 2000 was top 10 in 17 out of 20 events).

So while I still think the game needs to add a level of difficulty, I will admit that if the goal is to make you feel like a prime Tiger, prime Rory, etc., maybe it isn't that far off. I would not have guessed the top golfers had that high a % of top 10 finishes I'm a season.