The Golf Club: Early Access Impressions

[DaveMN]

I've been enjoying the user-generated courses and have dabbled a bit with creating my own (Lofty Pines v1). Some aspects of gameplay need tweaks, but it's an early access, and is still a lot of fun to play at this stage.

Here's one tip I read on the official forum that's helped with the putting. Move the aiming stick back on uphill putts and forward on downhill. For example, if the hole is 5 ft away and 3 inches uphill, move the marker back to 8 ft, then left/right accordingly. Then use the right putting stroke that feels right. Using this technique, I'm lagging better and reducing the number of putts that go 20 ft past the hole and off the green! Maybe this was obvious to other folks, but it wasn't for me.

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by kamackeris76

onlooker.....what are your opinions on this title ?? i assume you have played the beta?? i know you were big on TW so i would really love to hear your opinion. are my concerns about difficulty justified??? i am so looking forward to this i can just get by with only sharing with the xbox community....would love to get involved with an online tour too !!

I’m trying to avoid forming a half-baked opinion on the game, but right now, the only phase of the game that is pretty close to snuff is the putting. It’s too easy to hit the ball straight, control your distance with the pre shot loft, draw, and fade setup, and the pitching game is like a game from another universe, one in which you can become superhuman and put as much backspin on a short pitch shot as you want… even from rough. In fact, the pitching game is so precise and easy to dial in that it renders most chip and flop/explosion shots null & void. You can impose house rules on yourself and not use them, but if you’re trying to compete with ghost or live balls, you’ll see that you are severely handicapping yourself.

I couldn’t recommend this game right now to anyone who wasn’t an experimenter and fully understood that they’re getting a fairly raw product. OTOH, I think it is on its way to being a much better game, as the designers are making some changes in the right direction based on feedback. I think they are a little bit overly paranoid about making the game too difficult and they’re going to have to look at the numbers people are posting and realize that it's not too difficult. They’re really got to get a realistic pitching game going for this game to have a chance. I’m enjoying toying around with it and seeing the courses people are creating, but it’s not something I’d play more than an hour and a half in its current state.

[RD_Rabin]

Microsoft have always been very anti-cross platform gameplay. They usually insist games use their servers, which is why games like FFXIV refuse to release on their consoles.

Hope they're not sticking their oar into TGC too and messing it up.

Jus' sayin..

[rolltide1017]

Quote: Originally Posted by OnlookerDelay

I’m trying to avoid forming a half-baked opinion on the game, but right now, the only phase of the game that is pretty close to snuff is the putting. It’s too easy to hit the ball straight, control your distance with the pre shot loft, draw, and fade setup, and the pitching game is like a game from another universe, one in which you can become superhuman and put as much backspin on a short pitch shot as you want… even from rough. In fact, the pitching game is so precise and easy to dial in that it renders most chip and flop/explosion shots null & void. You can impose house rules on yourself and not use them, but if you’re trying to complete with ghost of live balls, you’ll see that you are severely handicapping yourself. I couldn’t recommend this game right now to anyone who wasn’t an experimenter and fully understood that they’re getting a fairly raw product. OTOH, I think it is on its way to being a much better game, as the designers are making some changes in the right direction based on feedback. I think they are a little bit overly paranoid about making the game too easy and they’re going to have to look at the numbers people are posting and realize that’s not too difficult. They’re really got to get a realistic pitching game going for this game to have a chance. I’m enjoying toying around with it and seeing the courses people are creating, but it’s not something I’d play more than an hour and a half in its current state.

I trust your opinion, our opinions on the TW series were always pretty close, and this is not what I wanted to hear. I feared it was turning out this way based on the user videos I've watched, almost everything is a straight shot.

[allstardad]

Excuse my ignorance but how does one get to play the early access beta version?

[Bamafan3723]

Quote: Originally Posted by allstardad

Excuse my ignorance but how does one get to play the early access beta version?

Purchase it off Steam.

[allstardad]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bamafan3723

Purchase it off Steam.

Thank you