Gepetto1958: my avatar does not appear and I have spots on the screen that prevent me from seeing the fairway and the green
A screen shot may be helpful to see what you are experiencng. Other than an issue with your PC itself, such as graphics driver as Scott mentioned, or maybe some type of graphics quality setting being set too low? maybe try turning OFF the "Shadows" function in the game settings. I know some people have required turning that off to get better video quality in regards to jumpy meters so maybe that may help???