TIPS AND TRICKS OF THE TRADE
These tips and tricks will level the playing field among your fellow cyber-golfers! Hopefully we will get many contributions to this page from some of the top PGATOURPRO players! Any help I can get boyz would be appreciated! lol , EMAIL your tip or trick using the link on the homepage. Please state whether you would like credit for the tip! Well it's been 2 months now and very few tips have been submitted so, I guess I will share everything I know or try to. Hope these tips help your game.
The Swing: Just as in real golf you need to develop a "swing" that consistently delivers the desired effect. One of confidence and accuracy. The best way to do this is to hit all of your wood and iron shots with an identical swing.(hitting the sames lines on the swing meter every time) To accomplish this discipline practice offline and experiment with your swing until you hit the green line consistently. Once you hit the "LINE" just about every time you have found YOUR "natural" swing. The swing image you see is my "swing"! Notice I barely hit the red zone. This way I get consistant distance with little risk. Since I found my swing my average has dropped to 60 strokes per 18 holes. Not bad huh? The point is consistency = accuracy! Good Luck!
The Drive: The tee shot! It is obviously very important to hit the fairway at all costs! Even on the par 5's I still use the above picture of the swing. Rarely do I hit full power because the risks are not worth it. This lesson was taught to me by ACE(FL) and Mean Machine. Driving accuracy is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than driving distance! So don't kill your drives off the tee. Use your natural swing then throw the dart on your second shot!
The Putt: Drive for show , putt for dough! I use the "rotate view" to square the angle up at the pin. Thats under settings. Once I have a straight view to the pin I drag the aiming flag back and forth and carefully watch to "see" the breaks. The main Tip I can share with you is: On downhill putts you must hit the ball late or early on purpose! Yes hitting the putts late or early on purpose!! So if the putt breaks from left to right you hit early. If it breaks right to left you hit late. This takes practice try it offline in mulligan mode. The idea is to have the ball hold the line you aimed by working the ball against the break. On uphill putts the ball doesn't break as much as downhill putts and must hit these straight unless the break is severe.
The Chip: If you don't have a lob wedge in your bag, get one! The trick to chipping is aim about 3 to 5 yards short of the pin and hit the power meter at 75%. This usually gives you 100% of the desired distance. Example: your faced with a 12 yard chip and the Lob wedge gives you 12 yards. Don't hit the ball @ 100% on the meter hit it one line short or 75%.
The Sand Shot: Oh if we only knew! All I know about the sand shot is hitting the ball straight is mandatory! Once again a Lob wedge helps alot. The basic sand shot is usually 20 yards. I get pretty consistant results hitting the 25% line on the power meter for a 20 yard shot using the lob wedge.. Very difficult to hit the 25% line but practice makes perfect. Oh yea, pay attention to the lie angle more than the wind. If you lie on an angle it will jump out in that direction more than the wind will push it! The sand shot more than 30 + yards requires a different approach. Let's say ur 100 yards out in a fairway bunker. The basic shot would be to aim 200 yds (4 iron) and hit it just under 100%. The basic formula is: double the yardage with the club and hit just under 100%. Another example: 80 yds from the pin...use the 160 club (7 iron).....110 yards from pin .....use the 220 club(2 iron)
The Rough: No picnic landing in the rough however there is an easy shot that delivers good consistant results. The 1 iron with full loft (shift,down arrow) will average 160 to 170 yards everytime safely! If closer than that just subtract yardage as you downsize club.Example: 1 iron full loft= 170 yards so..3 iron full loft= 150 yards etc. One very important side note....if you have no chance of making the green because you are too far out, make sure that the yellow aiming line in the overhead view "sees" nothing but fairway. Line up the shot using the "overhead" view to the left making sure the yellow line clears and/or avoids any hazards. This will consistantly put you back in the fairway! If you are close enough to the green to make it allow for plenty of roll out of the rough.
Targeting: Perhaps the most important aspect of the game! Targeting the distance you want the shot to travel using YOUR swing will put you within 10 feet or less of the pin everytime on the second or third shot! Thus the term "throwing darts". With my "swing" in neutral conditions I aim the targeting arrow 10 yards short of the pin. With headwind I aim right at the pin. With tailwind I aim 15 to 25 yards short of the pin. With practice you can begin throwing darts at the pin everytime! How you aim! First "lock" in the club that seems appropiate. You do this by hitting "alt L" or clicking on the clubs in lower right hand corner with mouse, then select a club and "enter" or click on the desired club. Then stretch the club out to the maximum length. If it is a little short of where you want to hit, put a little draw on it. If it is a little long put a little fade on it. This way you can aim correctly on every shot with any club.
Loft, Draw and Fade. For those that don't know using the Shift key combined with the Arrow keys gives you Loft, Draw and Fade.