Scoring how?????

[Theauthor1997]

Ok this might be my experience showing....
But how are guys finishing -80 in tournaments when the putting is this challenging on this game???? Even in amatuer! what's the trick???

[pmgolf]

The guys shooting -80 are some of the best players in the game who choose to play Amateur because in the easiest conditions (including "no wind" and mulligans) they have found out that they can hole-out approach shots for eagles, and especially with mulligans, they can make multiple attempts for a hole-in-one. Of course it's a bogus claim, because it is called "Hole-in-1", but they are doing "hole-in-multiple-attempts". There is no honor in what they are doing - they're just messing-around - competing with each other to see how low they can go. They're not trying to win any of the regular tournaments.

Pete

[Theauthor1997]

would you recommend playing on a higher difficulty and just practice? For more realistic scores?

[Theauthor1997]

also how do i find the handicap tour in game? those have more realistic scores

[Jimbo]

My question is why any Linkster would waste their time playing in a tournament that has (for want of a more appropriate name) a bunch of "Ringers"?

Let the "Ringers" set up their own weekly tournament/category and leave the rest to us?

Fire away...

[PinHi]

Does that sound exciting - shooting 80 under par in a 72 hole tournament. Not to me -that`s more than a birdie every hole. This may be strong words to some -but that is not golf - that`s just trying to get the lowest score no matter how it is attained. Not for me for sure! I play golf - not the numbers game. That`s like a 35 to 18 hockey game. That would not be hockey. Just my opinion.

[GoBucks]

would you recommend playing on a higher difficulty and just practice? For more realistic scores?

I would recommend playing at the skill/difficulty level that you want. Forget about the leaders. Look for someone on the leader board that is scoring at the level that you typically score. Make that your target.

You're asking questions that every newbie asks. If you ask this same questions at LSPN.NET, you'll probably get more responses, You're handicap question has been answered there.

[MrT]

Ok this might be my experience showing....
But how are guys finishing -80 in tournaments when the putting is this challenging on this game???? Even in amatuer! what's the trick???

I hear you.
However, while you will never find me playing like that, this is something that happens in PRETTY MUCH ALL golf games that I have been involved at one time or another. Take World Golf Tour (WGT) likely the second best golf game out there after Links (aside perhaps, some specific products meant for PS or other devices, at least). Well the best player in the world has an average of around 47 per round!! we are talking -25!!! per round!!! But I would say that there are several top players with average of 54/55 i.e. -18 or -17.

How do they do that? Are they really that good? No! They are good, yes, but not that good.

My average in WGT is (was, more properly) around -11 and, occasionally, I managed to defeat them when I met them in a match. Note: occasionally, because they are indeed better than me and they have been playing for 10 years or something like that.

I could not understand how one can score that low considering that they need to play in incredibly challenging conditions to reach the level of Tour Champion which they all are. So, I finally became friend with one of them which I defeated but I asked before the game if I should bow in front of WGT royalties and, after a conversation, when I revealed that I was getting frustrated, he asked me: "Wait a minute... Are you trying to become a Champion by playing the regular courses?" My answer was "Yes, and frankly I do not think I will ever get there ..." and his reply left me speechless and confused: "You need to join a club, like mine, and then we set up courses with easy pins, not much wind, etc... Now I understand why you are so good, poor you! You were hoping to score -18 playing regular courses?! If you find a way let me know."

I never understood the need to take shortcuts. But, I assume that when one plays the same game for 10-20 years, he/she will be so bored either he/she finds a way to entertain him/hersel or that person will die of boredom or even jump off the roof.

Another golf game that was popular on phones, Golf King, was even worse: if you spent enough money you could get clubs that could hit 500 yards. It got so ridiculous that one time I overshot the green with the driver on a long Par 4! They sold balls with special effects that could stop on a dime even if you hit them with a driver. It was not unknown to spend even $1-200 dollars on some days to secure the top equipment or because one got so pissed that he was beaten by someone with equipment that was way superior than his.

My ambition in Links is to play games that are as realistic as possible. And that applies to the scores. A -10 should be an exceptionally good game. A -15 could be the achievement of a lifetime. I like to be around -4 or -5 when I play well. And I do not mind to get punished or humbled when I play like sh*t. But I have never played any video game for more than 2-3 years. So, if 20 years from now I am still here, I could tell you something else.

Right now will never play an Ocean course with less than Gusty winds. If I play St. Andrews I expect to play with high winds as it is often the case in real life. But, again, 20 years from now, if I am still around (in all senses), ask me again for I could be feeling different about the game.

Right now, the only thing of Links that leaves me unsatisfied is that too many holes on greens are not suitable to play in something like F/Fc or even higher to reproduce the speeds of PGA golf. Fairways are too kind as well.

[Kunkleman]

You guys are not giving due credit to Roy Higgi and a few others who do play in regular tournaments and don't miss many shots. I have played against some of these guys and they give you a lesson.

[MrT]

You guys are not giving due credit to Roy Higgi and a few others who do play in regular tournaments and don't miss many shots. I have played against some of these guys and they give you a lesson.

I think that the issue in the original question was a bit different. While there are definitely a few players who are exceptional, I think that the issue raised was the surprise that one can play four rounds and score -80! Clearly that is possible in a game (I myself in basic conditions can score -14 and -15 and I have been playing less than 2 years), but not in real life (thankfully) and I think that was what impressed and surprised the author of the original question/thread.

The fact is that, as long as the hole placements are playable, even increasing the levels of difficulty, one can eventually improve a lot by learning where to hit and where not to hit. To my surprise, once 7 or 8, maybe 9 months, ago I switched to Champion level, I thought I would have never repeated my records as a Pro. Well I am almost there and now I play in M/Fc or F/Fc and not Mc/Mc like before. So, practice in a game can translate in very low scores.

Personally, my biggest question to myself is: will I be playing this game 20 years from now (assuming that the new GPU and CPU will not make it impossible)? The answer is simply no. I am in my 50's but I am already starting to get bored of golf games. And Links is nothing short of amazing. I have not played a single game on Links for over 1 month now. Just a few practice rounds. Hence I have two reactions:

1) I am amazed that some players can actually play for 20 years and not feel bored. I get bored even teaching the same class in college twice in a row. I am already sort of bored in Links after less than 2 years, it were not that the almost non stop supply of new courses keeps me hooked to the game.

2) I am disappointed that it is possible to score that low because it makes the game very much arcade and not really simulation. But, truth be told, that happens in all golf games I tried so far. In WGT, for instance, I am actually scoring even lower than in Links and that was the most boring ever as they only have probably 10 courses, 10 full courses I mean. I made it to Tour Masters in 38 days. But I had to play so many games that at the end I felt exhausted and bored to death.

3) Links' biggest problem where realism is truly lacking are fairways. 1) Bounces are too short; 2) It is rare that a ball well hit ends up in the rough. When I play in WGT, even balls that landed in the middle of the fairways can take bounces and end up in the roughs, even nasty stuff... And here St. Andrews comes to mind. Also, in Links, only a few courses are truly penalizing players for getting in sand or, worse, roughs. In WGT, when I end up in what they call "fescue" and the ball lie is the bad one... I basically need two shots to get out of there

It is a game, I guess we all agree on that, but everyone feels and lives it in his or her own way.

One credit I give to Links and that seems obvious, but once one plays golf online he realizes it is not, is that in Links we cannot buy better balls and better clubs. We all play with the same equipment. That is not to be taken for granted for most games I know, besides Links that is, do allow to trade real money for better equipment. Really Links should receive the Nobel Prize for Videogaming if it existed! So many great people have managed to keep the game alive and thriving. We are a bit oldish (pardon, vintage), true, but still...