pdb1:
If that's the case . Maybe it's lack of know how ?
In a roundabout way... Know-how costs money in game dev, no way around that. I have no idea who is working on the game, I'm only going by what I'm seeing and those things speak pretty loudly that the general working model is to maintain the status quo.
Keeping player and game options to a minimum, because by introducing new mechanics they break VEM or they would operate outside of it. VEM is part of the game's system so if you're going to now have a feature for say moving your character's stance or open and close the club face, those have to be part of the system or they're working outside it with no interference. That's IF it can even be incorporated.
Honestly I would have chosen to create a new game, new assets and proper coding, using basic physics engines for various aspects of the game, just enough to keep it challenging without being able to use simple calculations for pinpoints accuracy resulting in unrealistic scoring. Keep the appearance of the current game, courses and layout and of course they already have the revenue model in place so not like that's going to go away.