Just like in high level real life golf there are now holes where you can be more aggressive and holes where you are happy to get away with a par. Scrambles and sand saves become essential, you are not hitting so many GIR any more. With the superfast greens you must rest your ball so that you are left with an uphill putt, and this means you must know how the green slopes and not necerssarily aim for the pin...
Besides the swing, which is still rather elementary compared to RL, I find the new setup extremely realistic, WGT has done a great job.
Who doesn't like it can still setup a practice round from the ladies tees and score -18 every time...
On the other hand it's true that there are Masters with the same equipment as mine teeing off 50 yards in front and competing in the same RGs. But I can improve my skill if I work on it, and if they improve too they will be soon moved to a more challenging tier and their advantage will be gone.
wsf01: I use the R9 driver and GI-S2 balls yet my driving average is only 258yards
I have the same driver and my average is 278. I used the GI 2D until now, just recently switched to the SD, because of the added spin tht's useful on Tournament greens. I wonder if that is the reason of the difference.
I know excellent players who stick to the 255 Rapture driver and are perfectly happy with it even in these conditions.