Game is golf sim every one agrees - pretty hard to dispute that one.
IRL as said earlier top players can hit a penny piece at 190 yards (or close to) for fun all day. A half decent player I knew had a round with Nick faldo once, and he was keeping up with his drives. Then came a long par 5, and Nick actually hit the ball....freekin miles past. Those guys are playing a different game to what most imagine. Same as any sport watch the local park and the ball can go anywhere in lower levels. Watch elite level and that ball is on a penny from extreme distances........Takes years and some have it to bring out and some not.
Now also IRL NIKE like us all to believe that their top of the range gear (same a Tiger uses) will improve our game. That's why we all go out and pay top dollar for NIKE best of when last years Taylormade would do just fine. Ok an over simplification but get the point.
In this game if your scores suck when compared to most with similar gear it's time to look at your game, not the gear. Not saying any one was complaining of that, just teh way it works.
This game attempts to sim major competition. There even the pros hit the odd flyer (adrenaline or whatever) etc. Similar to that the top players here don't whinge (for long lol) they get on with it, and on average turn in great scores. Simple stuff?
Out of interest (as referred to above somewhere) WGTNiv did sum it up eloquently as to how this game sims it as per below. I could not find teh actual thread but I copied it, and to teh best of my knowledge it's an exact copy still:
QUOTE
WGTniv:
Forgiveness shifts
the precision circle left or right (and usually short) depending on how much
you mishit and what the forgiveness rating of the club is. Clubs with
lesser forgiveness ratings shift the circle left/right more on mishits.
This is why (especially on low precision clubs) you can mishit slightly
right of the mark and have the ball go left instead. Mishitting right
shifts the circle to the right, but part of the circle is still
"leftover" on the left side of the flag, so it has the potential to
land there.
WGTniv:
The game is pretty
simple. Precision controls your accuracy. Imagine it's like a
circle that surrounds the flagstick when you aim at it. The size of that
circle is related to the precision rating. The higher the rating the
smaller the circle. Your ball can land anywhere in the circle on a dinged
shot (left or right, long or short). It will ALWAYS land in the circle on
a ding shot, though sometimes it may land in the center of the circle and
sometimes it may land on the very outer edge or anywhere in between those two
points. When it lands on the outer edge this is what you guys have come
to know as "the beast". Was the shot pre-programmed? Does it
know you're standing on the 17th hole at Kiawah? No, it's just
unfortunate timing. The result you see is the logical spread dictated by
the precision rating of the club over 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 shots taken on the
site. No matter how big or small the sample it'samazingly consistent
because it is after all only a simple mathematical formula. The shot data
is spread out amongst all users, so there will be times when you run into a lot
of "edge cases" (aka deviations, aka outside edge of the precision
circle) and times where you seemingly can't miss the center (even when you
mishit). This is the ebb and flow of the game and it's always been there.
In the short term you will have "bad" days and "good"
days. In the long term (providing they are using the same clubs) any one
player will see the same amount of "edge cases" or
"deviations" that the rest of the players do.
UNQUOTE
It's not perfect but it is extremely good. I really think looking at singular shots is the wrong way to go when talking overall scores (what most really mean when they talk shots). Overall scores will get lower the better your stats get, and the top players have the best stats...............
Please note my comments concern only overall game play for those looking to get to a point where they feel ready for things like RGs and the like / aspiring to L/TL.......................