MainzMan:
I've always been in favour of a ball retriever but when you think about it, how exactly would it work? Would every ball hit into water be retrievable? This would be very unrealistic. I agree that when you drop one in the Swilcan Burn it's kinda stupid you can't just fish it out again but where would the line be drawn?
And you have to offset this against the fact that no matter how heavy the rough you may go into is, you very rarely fail to find the ball again.
At the end of the day a lost ball equals another sale for WGT and that's the name of the game.
I agree with MM here, in theory a good idea, in practice in this game, it becomes too hard to implement. Perhaps there are a few holes this could be implemented, but overall, unless the ball trickles into a stream, it is not going to be retrievable anyway. And how would the program deem this? (and hey, we get a ball trickle into a bunker and still get a 40-50% lie lol).
The one area I have said in the past is "lost balls". Often when you hit the ball badly in real golf, especially on championship courses, the rough is unforgiving and you will lose your ball. Unlike pros with cameras and galleries watching, we just lose a ball and hopefully, have played a provisional just in case. But when searching you will often find a ball or two to soften the blow of your stroke and distance penalty.
And for those saying that you would find your ball, unlikely. On a course like St A's you might see your ball but will be in gorse - and unless you have a Kevlar suit - it is lost for all intents and purposes.
So I am in favour of getting a random ball (make and life) in lieu of the lost ball. In all fairness, I cannot recall I had the lost ball message, so will not cost WGT much.
The point of no avatar movement is not relevant IMO. If a retriever (or lost ball scenario)was used all it would need is a message on the screen - we do not need cartoon like animations. After all on a lost ball, you do not see your avatar walk up, search and then return to where the last shot was played.