The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Month

[rheller]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

I've seen very little about this game, so forgive me if this is obvious one way or the other. Does anyone know how realistic the course designer is? Would I be able to make reasonable simulations of my local courses? I could see myself spending many hours designing my home course if that was the case.

It is possible. I have played a reasonable Augusta. It wasn't exact (greens, placement of some bunkers, ect.), but it was a good attempt. IMO, it's difficult to recreate courses (maybe this is by design), but it is easy to make unique courses from scratch.

[ManiacMatt1782]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

That's a standard issue with it, but creating courses is slow paced and should have no problem using rear pad if R2/L2 is needed. I just didn't know if the compatibility is there to use remote play.

i thought everything booted, but it was a question of funtionality. I have only used remote play a couple times. So I was unaware if games refused to boot in remote play

[jrider99]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

OK, some impressions from my first round. I'll post these here, but if they belong somewhere else, feel free to move them ...

- I can't get the speed right on putts. At all. I did better on the back nine, but that was only after several three and (ugh) four putts because I just couldn't consistently hit the ball with the pace I wanted. There's a definite learning curve.

- I really like how intuitive it is to use draw/fade to shape your shots. I was playing on one of the easy courses and played a perfect shot up into the wind that allowed me to reach a par-5 in two. I still bogeyed -- like I said, I haven't got the hang of putting -- but knowing I could put the ball where I wanted and be rewarded for hitting a good shot was a nice change.

- I like the minimalist approach to presentation. There's no commentary, no flashy overlays, no absurd celebrations from my avatar when he buries a putt. It feels much more like the classic golf sims I grew up playing on PC. And this is a very good thing.

- The graphics didn't blow me away -- there seemed to be a bit of screen tearing (I think that's the best way to describe it) -- but this could have also been a product of playing a round at 2 a.m. after having stared at a computer monitor for the previous 8 hours. I'm fixing to play another round in a few with fresh eyes, so we'll see if that helps. The frame rate was steady, though, and the courses themselves look great.

- I should also note that the first time I tried to play a round, the game wouldn't let me progress past the first tee. It didn't freeze, per se, as I could access all the menus and what not, but I couldn't move the aim cursor or swing my club. I had to restart the round and when I did, everything was smooth from that point on.

- All in all I really liked my first experience with The Golf Club. I didn't fool around with the course creator and the game's servers were down, so I couldn't try playing on a user-created course. Hopefully things come online later today and I can try that. But from a pure golf standpoint, it was just what I was hoping for.

[greenegt]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Thanks for the impressions jrider99. I hope there's a day one patch in the works to clear up the few issues. Sounds like a lot of fun, though. Can't freaking wait to download this game!

[bcruise]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

OK, some impressions from my first round. I'll post these here, but if they belong somewhere else, feel free to move them ...

- I can't get the speed right on putts. At all. I did better on the back nine, but that was only after several three and (ugh) four putts because I just couldn't consistently hit the ball with the pace I wanted. There's a definite learning curve.

- I really like how intuitive it is to use draw/fade to shape your shots. I was playing on one of the easy courses and played a perfect shot up into the wind that allowed me to reach a par-5 in two. I still bogeyed -- like I said, I haven't got the hang of putting -- but knowing I could put the ball where I wanted and be rewarded for hitting a good shot was a nice change.

- I like the minimalist approach to presentation. There's no commentary, no flashy overlays, no absurd celebrations from my avatar when he buries a putt. It feels much more like the classic golf sims I grew up playing on PC. And this is a very good thing.

- The graphics didn't blow me away -- there seemed to be a bit of screen tearing (I think that's the best way to describe it) -- but this could have also been a product of playing a round at 2 a.m. after having stared at a computer monitor for the previous 8 hours. I'm fixing to play another round in a few with fresh eyes, so we'll see if that helps. The frame rate was steady, though, and the courses themselves look great.

- I should also note that the first time I tried to play a round, the game wouldn't let me progress past the first tee. It didn't freeze, per se, as I could access all the menus and what not, but I couldn't move the aim cursor or swing my club. I had to restart the round and when I did, everything was smooth from that point on.

- All in all I really liked my first experience with The Golf Club. I didn't fool around with the course creator and the game's servers were down, so I couldn't try playing on a user-created course. Hopefully things come online later today and I can try that. But from a pure golf standpoint, it was just what I was hoping for.

Nice review, sounds a lot like what I've been playing for the past couple months.

For the screen tearing, try enabling Vertical Sync from inside the game. It should bring the screen tearing under control. I mentioned a while back that I had struggled with this game's framerate throughout Early Access, but really it was probably just the tearing that I was having issues with. I can pull a pretty steady 30-40 FPS with that option now, which is plenty playable - and it doesn't bother me so much now that they've said 60 FPS wasn't their goal.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Nice review, sounds a lot like what I've been playing for the past couple months.

For the screen tearing, try enabling Vertical Sync from inside the game. It should bring the screen tearing under control. I mentioned a while back that I had struggled with this game's framerate throughout Early Access, but really it was probably just the tearing that I was having issues with. I can pull a pretty steady 30-40 FPS with that option now, which is plenty playable - and it doesn't bother me so much now that they've said 60 FPS wasn't their goal.

It does - turned it on last night(XBox One version) and it did help quite a bit.

[jrider99]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Thanks guys, I'll definitely enable the Vertical Sync and see what happens.

Played a couple more rounds this morning and did much better with my putting stroke. It's still not completely dialed in, but at least now I think I understand what I'm doing wrong as far as distance is concerned. Reading the greens is still a challenge, though, which is a good thing. And the step up from an easy course to a hard one is substantial, as least it was for me.

I really hope they get their servers online soon because all I can do right now is play single rounds because the game needs to be online to access the tour and tournament modes.

Hey bluengold34_OS, have you been able to get online or is it just me?

[kehlis]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Are you going to do a review Bob? Really interested to hear more about gameplay and difficulty of longer shots.

Always hated how easy it was to hit straight shots in TW.

[Gerg04]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Eh..unless you guy's are raving about this I'm kinda over it. Spring would have been perfect with the golf season starting and lack of titles (ps4 particularly). There's just too many game's coming out now.

That said I hope they do good and continue making adjustments and create a quality product. I'd definitely be in for the second installment or whatever may be available spring time next year.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Are you going to do a review Bob? Really interested to hear more about gameplay and difficulty of longer shots.

Always hated how easy it was to hit straight shots in TW.

I am Sir - Will have it up early on the 19th. I will jut say this for now - hitting the ball straight down the middle is more of a challenge than it was on the PC version, but still not that difficult. I did find myself hitting it into the 2nd or 3rd cut 2-3 times a round. Here is a hint - the difficulty of the course will play more of a factor into hitting the ball into the fairway, than the actual swing mechanics itself, and that is the way HBS has always intended it to be.

[bcruise]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Are you going to do a review Bob? Really interested to hear more about gameplay and difficulty of longer shots.

Always hated how easy it was to hit straight shots in TW.

It's pretty easy to hit straight shots in this if you're trying to. Most of the challenge in this game is going to come from course design and forcing players to hit something other than straight shots IMO.

Was referring to the PC version btw - I can't play it on a console.

Edit: Ha, good to see me and Blue are on the same page about this.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Thanks guys, I'll definitely enable the Vertical Sync and see what happens.

Played a couple more rounds this morning and did much better with my putting stroke. It's still not completely dialed in, but at least now I think I understand what I'm doing wrong as far as distance is concerned. Reading the greens is still a challenge, though, which is a good thing. And the step up from an easy course to a hard one is substantial, as least it was for me.

I really hope they get their servers online soon because all I can do right now is play single rounds because the game needs to be online to access the tour and tournament modes.

Hey bluengold34_OS, have you been able to get online or is it just me?

Not yet - in the email from HBS, Derick stated that the MP portion being enabled is now up to MS. Could be today, might be Monday??

[Flightwhite24]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

I am Sir - Will have it up early on the 19th. I will jut say this for now - hitting the ball straight down the middle is more of a challenge than it was on the PC version, but still not that difficult. I did find myself hitting it into the 2nd or 3rd cut 2-3 times a round. Here is a hint - the difficulty of the course will play more of a factor into hitting the ball into the fairway, than the actual swing mechanics itself, and that is the way HBS has always intended it to be.

Curious Bob as to what type of scores you are shooting? Is it more challenging than TW14? Thanks

[jrider99]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Not yet - in the email from HBS, Derick stated that the MP portion being enabled is now up to MS. Could be today, might be Monday??

Thanks man. That's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something on my end.

[mebby]

Re: The Golf Club Arrives on Xbox One & PC on August 19th $34.99, PS4 Later This Mont

Thanks guys, I'll definitely enable the Vertical Sync and see what happens.

Played a couple more rounds this morning and did much better with my putting stroke. It's still not completely dialed in, but at least now I think I understand what I'm doing wrong as far as distance is concerned. Reading the greens is still a challenge, though, which is a good thing. And the step up from an easy course to a hard one is substantial, as least it was for me.

I really hope they get their servers online soon because all I can do right now is play single rounds because the game needs to be online to access the tour and tournament modes.

Hey bluengold34_OS, have you been able to get online or is it just me?

Thanks for the early impressions - sounds like good stuff so far.

As for putting... based on my experience with the early release on the PC, I also struggled quite a bit at first with putting. I'm just now starting to get the hang of it but the first thing I realized is that you're gonna need to move the aiming marker to the right distance to get the sort of stroke you want.

For instance, if you want to use a shorter backswing but still have the ball travel further then you'll want to move the aiming marker further away from the golfer. This, to me, is most noticeable on tap-in putts. I can't tell you have many 2 inchers I left short in my first few rounds.

One disclaimer though... the PC I'm playing this on isn't the beefiest gaming machine so I'm not getting great frame rates. I don't know how much this is coming into play as far as swing timing goes. I do find it very difficult to achieve anything less than 100% power on my non-putter strokes and I'm pretty certain that is due to low frame rates...