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vem and game play questions

• cej0 255 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 2:14 AM

  If VEM is in play all of the time, how do people still score -19 on a round?  How can you compensate for the erratic tendencies of VEM?  You just need to be lucky, I guess?  I am not lucky most of the time.  I feel like I'm a pretty decent player.  But this VEM makes me look like a hack half the time.  How does one deal with that?  I've had those crazy rounds where it seemed like I just couldn't miss, even when I obviously did miss the shot I was trying to execute.  That's fun.  The good side of VEM.  But then there are the times where I execute the exact shot I was trying to do, and the result looks like I totally flubbed it.  That's not fun.  The tough side of VEM.  I can't see how anyone can score consistently low rounds when shots are so erratic, even from dings, as a product of VEM.  I don't hit the ding all the time, most times I off-ding on purpose, but when I do I expect a certain accuracy on the shot I was trying to hit.  How does everyone else deal with this?  

• donsprintr 2,063 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 3:07 AM

  Turn your cap around backwards, put a wooden tee behind your right ear, move all your change from your left front pocket to your right front pocket ...

  And just to be on the safe side, close one eye while you swing ... 

  Just kidding ... :-)

• ApexPC 3,164 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 7:15 AM

  cej0:

  If VEM is in play all of the time, how do people still score -19 on a round? 

  Many WGT players are just that good, and have the attitude and expectation that even with VEM they can still score.

  I'm not as good as those guys, but I rarely think about VEM and just try to maintain a positive, can do attitude. I certainly don't tell myself (self speak) that "VEM makes me look like a hack". Put another way - I refuse to use VEM as an excuse for, what is the vast majority of the time, my poor decisions and performance.

   

   

• Yiannis1970 3,333 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 7:46 AM

  cej0:

   I can't see how anyone can score consistently low rounds when shots are so erratic, even from dings, as a product of VEM.

   

  Easy answer:

  Putting.

   

  If ding is the primary concern of this game, knowledge and good read of the greens is the other half of the equation. The rest is...peanuts!!

   

  :)

   

• oneeyedjohn 9,588 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 8:10 AM

  donsprintr:

  Turn your cap around backwards, put a wooden tee behind your right ear, move all your change from your left front pocket to your right front pocket ...

  And just to be on the safe side, close one eye while you swing ... 

  Just kidding ... :-)

  Good advice there, I do it all the time .................

  ......................................................................................naturally

• cej0 255 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 12:29 PM

  I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to use VEM as an excuse for poor play.  I know when I'm playing badly and not executing the shots I'm trying to hit.  I'm talking about those times where I'm cruising through a round, 5 birdies in a row, and all of the sudden ding drives start slicing, off-ding approach shots start hooking in the opposite direction of what they should, that sort of thing.  When it seems you can do no right, even when you are hitting what, in other circumstances, would be proper shots.  Most of the time I don't think of VEM, but I'm starting to notice its effects more recently.  I'm talking about taking a ding shot that should fly at least 180 and only flies 160, that sort of thing.  The effect can be so drastic sometimes it's ridiculous.  I'm wondering how other people manage the effects since it is supposed to compound depending on how well you are playing.  I'm imagining it would take some creative course management.  Play to safe spots and trust your long distance putting since taking chances when you are doing very well will probably land you in trouble, even if you hit what should be a good shot if you weren't playing so well.  

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 1:26 PM

  cej0:

   I'm wondering how other people manage the effects since it is supposed to compound depending on how well you are playing.

  Look at it this way. When your 180 yard shot drops to 160 say the cuss words BUT forget it happened, you have a new shot in front of you. Get past the incidence and after the round is over, think about where you lost strokes, not the bad shots.

  cej0:

   I'm talking about those times where I'm cruising through a round, 5 birdies in a row, and all of the sudden ding drives start slicing, off-ding approach shots start hooking in the opposite direction of what they should, that sort of thing.

  Think back in that other conversation where Andyson talked about advanced course management where VEM concerned him. After 5 birdies you now know something has to change to keep up.

  Start by expecting it and maybe instead of dinging a shot, hit it on the upwind side of the ding. This gives you a better chance of a positive deviation.  Play to slightly miss the ding in your favor where you can get away with it. Aim half as much and miss to compensate, that sort of thinking. 

• TheAceFactor 2,147 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 2:21 PM

  Agree with your sound advise to this player Jim ,  yet once again very suprised to see no mention of spin.  When , where , how much , clubbing over with back , clubbing down with top , coming in flat ,  simply a magnitude of scenerios where one can improve their performance with spin alone.

   

  Which more than likely caused this IMO  --->   taking a ding shot that should fly at least 180 and only flies 160, that sort of thing. 

• cej0 255 Posts

  Sat, Jun 20 2015 3:09 PM

  Understood.  "Advanced course management" is something I do from time to time without thinking much about it, kind of on a whim, but is something I should try to incorporate more into my total game.  An example, aiming twice as far right as I would normally and off-ding left to fly with the wind and play a massive hook into the pin.  That sort of thing.  I don't do that often enough.  And then there's course positioning.  Sometimes I get hung up in hitting full shots toward greens that I can't make it to, leaving an awkward pitch, rather than laying back a bit to play a full 55 yd. wedge into the hole.  Sometimes it just comes together naturally, but it is something I need to improve upon and think about more. Thanks for the comments everyone.

• baysideboy72 14 Posts

  Sun, Jun 21 2015 10:41 AM

  I guess this week's disaster at the US Open is the prime example why,as good and as fun WGT is,it IS a computer game and not the real thing.I see how some have posted a 51 round here and congrats to them.But watching the rounds on the TV trying to figure how to improve MY scores,I realize that there is no comparison.Please don't take this as an insult guy,but the 51 at WGT was posted by a computer geek,nothing more,nothing less.And as someone who was for the most part of my adult life atheletic,even surfing Pipeline and Makaha in Hawaii,it is just not the same beast.So,enjoying this game as I do,and will continue to,realize that it is what it is,algorithms here and not the real life experiance.But I can assure you that the US Open will NEVER be played there again.