WGT Pinhunters

 

Many times you are caught "between" clubs, and you have to choose which is more beneficial for a "miss." You won't "ding" the meter every time, and you need to think, "Do I want to come up short or long on a miss?" The other consideration is trying to make it so you hit anywhere between 95-100% on a full shot, ESPECIALLY with longer irons from the 8-iron to the 3-wood. Shots with shorter irons and wedges can take "partial" shots down to around 75% and still be accurate on a mishit. Shots that are around the 75% number to 90% on longer irons willPENALIZE you radically on a mishit, so the prudent thing to do is figure out how close to a "full" shot (95-100%) you can make with those clubs. Picking the right club is not the one that is always suggested by the "caddie" and I've fired many of them over the months, but I've realized many times when in rough or with goofy wind, the "caddie" errs on the side of caution. However, the calculations I gave you for the sine of the angles is solid, and the programmers HAD to use them to design the game to work properly and mirror real golf. Now, with the same math they used in the program, the distance is no longer a mystery...it's an exact number, and you will wow your friends and enemies with it. 

The "go for it" golf that people try to play on here costs them more strokes than they can imagine, and until you get a feel for wind, elevation, rough, and distance, "working" the ball is futile. Having said all that, just know that ultimately YOU are your own caddie, and making the decision to go with spin or no spin will affect the distance and "bite" of the ball. When you don't put spin on a long iron, it will fly a bit lower, be affected by the wind less, bounce less steeply, and roll farther. Sometimes, that's exactly what you want, but other times, you have to clear a bunker or rough near the green, and you have to fly the ball a bit farther to make it to the flag or just short of it. This will require either full spin or partial spin to counteract all the forces working on the ball and still hit a "full" shot to make the ball control much better. All shots are different, but you'll get a feel from practice. Use starter balls in practice so you don't "burn out" a good store-bought ball with "-2" (twice the wear for mulligans) on each practice shot. The only way to get good at controlling the ball with all the factors involved is to get really good at using starter balls, and THEN you will see how well the good ones respond. Plus, you should always note from course to course just how far your ball flies before it lands for each club on each shot. Eventually, you will get a feel for how far your ball is flying, and the numbers for each club will become almost automatic, ESPECIALLY ON THE LONG IRONS, WOODS, AND DRIVER. Knowing THOSE numbers will keep you out of a lot of trouble, and you will golf mostly from the fairways and hit your greens with greater accuracy. Your misses won't hurt as much..

Using different balls will affect your play. Personally, I use Callaway Hex Chrome 33's which have a distance factor of 3 and a spin factor of 3.5. . I have a few sleeves of Nikes that people gifted to me but I save them, since the distance, meter speeds, and spin rates are all much higher, and I have to actually WAIT for the meter to get to that certain point on my swing meter, and it throws my mental timing off when I hit a shot. PLUS, they are hideously expensive, and at 500-800 credits per sleeve, you drop more than $2 each time you lose one. That's not in my budget. A lot of the "big hitters" and "sharpies" use the Nikes, and because I understand how to work the ball. I KNOW most of the time on the first hole whether or not my opponent knows how to USE his clubs and balls properly by the type of shot he or she hits. THEN I determine how "safe" I have to play to beat them. Sure, I run up against some "razors" that have all the equipment and the talent and knowledge to work the ball, so I break my own rule and play "go for it" golf against them and let the chips fall where they may.

5. Putting full spin on a ball will need about 5% more impetus on your Shot Pal than figured,but I have included the specific percentage addition factors for each club in previous paragraphs. The spin actually throws the ball a bit higher and SHORTER, so you have to compensate for that. My 8-iron is rated at 140 yards, and my Callaway Hex Chrome 33's have a distance rating of 3, and this adds 3% to every shot I take with it, even down to the 60% range. So, I have to figure a full shot with the 140 club (8-iron) will go 144.2 yards, and I have to take that into account when I am shooting. If the shot calls for 139 yards, I may add the 5% of 139, thus making the shot 145.95 yards, and a full-spin shot may come up 2-4 yards short. Every ONE yard of misfigure usually translates to TWO yards difference when it lands on the green. this is something to seriously consider when shooting. However, if I am between yardages like that, sometimes putting half-spin or 3/4 spin on a shot will get it to go the correct distance, and a slight mishit either way just lands the ball a yard or two left or right. If you saw some of the "darts" I've been throwing, you would know how well I have learned to work the ball with the math I have provided. I used to load replays of shots each day but it is tedious now since I stick so many close to the hole ever day, but if you have nothing better to do, look at what the math does for me. Yes, some of the shots are older, but unless I make a double-eagle or hole in one, what's the point? LOL

Rule of thumb for spin and no-spin shots is ADD 5% to your final calculation when using full spin, and allow for about 5% bounce and roll with no spin. Those numbers should get you hitting balls close to the pin and making more birdies. Also, when hitting shots with store-bought balls, you have to consider the distance rating and SUBTRACT that many percent from your final shot. I know that my 4-iron of 200 yards will go 206 with my Hex Chrome 33's because their distance rating is 3% more, so when I want to hit a shot of 195 yards, I have to divide 195 by 200, which is 97.5%, and then subtract 3% on the meter down to 94.5%, and it usually produces a perfect shot. I don't like to go below 95% most of the time on a shot, but sometimes the conditions dictate that I do. On shots like that, I either put a small bit of spin and hope I've made my calculations as accurately as possible. I made it easy for myself by making a macro and micro-putting chart, and on that chart on the side, I have the full distances of EACH of my clubs paired with my Hex Chromes written in the margin and it's quite easy to divide by THOSE new numbers instead of guessing. For the most part, THE MORE YOU GUESS, THE WORSE THE RESULT if you mishit. Don't do that to yourself now that you are armed with accurate math.

6. AIMING   Once you have figured all the distance, spin, wind, and bounce and roll, you'll be able to create different types of shots for different situations and the only thing left is aiming and dinging the meter. Most of the time, one of the "looks" from the green approach or behind the green will have a blue line that you will line up with a little white dot between your figure and the ball. If you look VERY closely, you will see it on all drives and fairway shots from the reverse angle. Lining up the blue line with that white dot will be accurate for a safe shot most of the timeand many times be the EXACT compensation you need to make the perfect shot. I've discovered that they give you all the tools to figure out each shot perfectly, and once in a while, it's half or double the amount of aim OR on the wrong side of the hole when figuring indicated wind push, but for the most part, it's quite accurate for the "safe" shot to the right part of the green or fairway. The same is true on putting when you aim. ALWAYS look at the aimer from both angles, and you'll find that it's usually the average of the two looks or the exact aim from one look if you feather a putt, and the exact aim when you ram a putt. (more on aiming putts later) Sometimes it's the addition of both, so you have to judge for yourself when the camera angle isn't right.

7. DINGING THE METER   Most of the time you WON'T ding the meter, and it's a matter of timing. Sometimes, your timing is just off on certain days, and to compensate, you have to either go with what you are given, either early or late, but I have a method I use on my laptop that works fairly well. I have a touch-pad, so I have no mouse, and I have to not only hit the meter right, I have to hit the touch-pad with the right pressure to make the club connect with the ball, unlike a mouse. I found from using a mouse at a few friend's houses, the click is just shy of the actual spot on the meter, but for my laptop, I have to anticipate from as far away as the 50% mark on my swing meter. There are times when I am late, so I focus on a spot around the 52-53% mark on the meter to compensate. The same thing is true when I am "early" on the meter. For ME, THAT WORKS. Whatever you do to help your timing be sharp in a round, make it a habit, and you'll be at or around the "ding" most of the time. Do your best to ding the meter, and see if the math isn't right on the money just about every time. When you don't figure a shot right, it's usually the wind calculationand aiming that are the culprits. Of course, if you mishit, that will do things to your ball you may not want. An "early" hit will produce a lower shot that rolls a bit farther than you want, and a "late" shot will go a bit higher, softer, and shorter except on a drive when you are riding the wind from that side. Sometimes a purposeful slight mishit is more desirable than a perfect "ding." The nice part about the math is that it will have some "forgiveness" built in, and you won't be on edge when you wind up the meter to hit. Your good timing will take over and you will be more confident of a given shot even though you have mishit it slightly. You'll get lucky most of the time using those tips and that math. When I switched to the Hex Chromes from starter balls, I had a week of total confusion until I realized the spin, distance and meter speed factors were at play. Once you get a feel for that, you'll be throwing some serious "darts" and you'll be amazed. It took time to work it out, but I'm used to different distances and spins of balls, and when I go to pick out a sleeve to play with, I make sure I know what type of shots I want to hit at different courses.  I've beaten every  course regularly on 9 and 18-hole formats, and no green speed, wind, or distance scares me anymore. Try this information on your clubs and balls and see if I'm all wet or not.