This was the best advice I received and I want to thank those that suggested it. However, and this is meant to the developer, I consider this a work around, the chip shot should work as it does in real life, at least be much closer than it is here. I remember a time I was tempted to go against the physics. We were doing Jack 4 and we couldn't get the ball to go into the hole properly on short putts. It was driving me and the client's producer crazy, finally I told the programmer to just put the ball in the hole, "Dennis ... this is just a game." Luckily he didn't pay any attention to this bad advice. He was committed to the physics and believed that there was something going on that needed fixing. The next day he came into my office and exclaimed, "I solved the problem!"
"What did you do?" I asked.
"I put the golf hole down an inch into the ground, instead of having it flush with ground. Now the ball goes in like it should."
I called the client's producer and told him we'd solved the problem, he was a scratch golfer. After I told him there was silence on the other end of the line. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing on your end. ... I sitting here feeling very guilty ... I forgot to tell you that the top of the hole was to be placed and inch below ground level." We both laughed.
I can tell you this the physics for Jack Nicklaus 4, 5, and 6 were the best golf physics in the world. We actually had top golf experts looking at our physics. However, the best games can never beat out the best marketed games and I was impossible for the Jack Nicklaus games to beat Microsoft and Tiger Woods.
By the way, the course designer was the best commercial designer ever developed also. You should have seen some of the courses that players sent us. Many of them equaled what we were able to produce in house. The saying build and they will come ... and surprise you!" is very true.