PGA Tour 2k21 putting tips

[hammers1man]

A little tip if you are struggling with shorter putts and midrange also. Click the left stick, this raises the putting camera slightly and gives you a better view of your backstroke, makes gauging required backstroke distance easier.

[polekatt/josia]

I tried that and it doesn't seem to help me much.      My biggest problem with putting is the dead zone between the ball and about 4 inches back where nothing registers.    If I try to hit it just a little bit, I have to hit it very quickly, as soon as the stick passes that deadzone, and my reflexes aren't quick enough to do that most of the time.    I either end up hitting it 2 inches, or 10 feet.        My natural thought process is to pull the stick back on a 3 foot putt to where its in that dead zone.  you don't have a dead zone in real life.  If I pull my putter back 4 inches and then tap the ball it actually moves.   In game, it don't register if I do that.

I hope I can get that worked out.  Because other than that I'm actually hitting the ball great.  I'm on the green now in regulation almost every hole, then I putt the ball close, then I take 3-4 putts to get it the last 10 feet.   LOL

[hammers1man]

Sept 2, 2020 13:13:23 GMT polekatt/josia said:

I tried that and it doesn't seem to help me much.      My biggest problem with putting is the dead zone between the ball and about 4 inches back where nothing registers.    If I try to hit it just a little bit, I have to hit it very quickly, as soon as the stick passes that deadzone, and my reflexes aren't quick enough to do that most of the time.    I either end up hitting it 2 inches, or 10 feet.        My natural thought process is to pull the stick back on a 3 foot putt to where its in that dead zone.  you don't have a dead zone in real life.  If I pull my putter back 4 inches and then tap the ball it actually moves.   In game, it don't register if I do that.

I hope I can get that worked out.  Because other than that I'm actually hitting the ball great.  I'm on the green now in regulation almost every hole, then I putt the ball close, then I take 3-4 putts to get it the last 10 feet.   LOL

It's your short putting so something is up there and I don't know what you mean by dead zone?

[hammers1man]

Slow backstroke to get your distance, doesn't matter how fast you push the stick forward.

[hammers1man]

I think I understand what you mean, sounds like the problem I have with the Nintendo Switch lite for short putts it doesn't seem to register the backstroke properly when I pull back slowly so I have to pull back quickly and slam it forward too quickly for short putts,. Have you tried another controller? sounds like it could be a controller problem to me. If I pull back my xbox one controller there is no dead zone it moves straight away, I can pull back as slowly as I like.

[polekatt/josia]

Sept 2, 2020 20:57:22 GMT hammers1man said:

I think I understand what you mean, sounds like the problem I have with the Nintendo Switch lite for short putts it doesn't seem to register the backstroke properly when I pull back slowly so I have to pull back quickly and slam it forward too quickly for short putts,. Have you tried another controller? sounds like it could be a controller problem to me. If I pull back my xbox one controller there is no dead zone it moves straight away, I can pull back as slowly as I like.

The deadzone on controllers is that little small area when you first start to move it, that doesn't register anything.  Its usually a very very small area.     Its a pretty common thing in games.   All controllers are different with age, and thats why its there.     But like, I have Dirt Rally 2.0.    It has built into the game settings menu, sliders to adjust your deadzone, because when you are steering your car, or hitting the brakes, it does make a difference, if your deadzone, the point your controller starts responding, is too much or too little.  So they ( and other controller games, like shooters)  will let you adjust that in your settings so it starts responding when you want it to, according to your taste.

HB does not have that feature.   On my controller, with my PC,  on the golfer animation, its about 3-4 inches, that the club has to go backwards before my controller registers.  So that is what is throwing me, if I try to watch the animation and putt.   On the animation, 3-4 inches is all you would want to go backwards for a 5 foot putt.   So I have to basically estimate where the controller is going to register, and then go backwards from that point for where I want.     Hope that makes sense!

And not going to change controllers, this one is a really nice Microsoft one that I had to get when I started playing TGC because my other one wouldn't pass API.  It works great and I love it on my racing games.  I'd be hard pressed to buy yet another controller when I have two now that work fine.

But while typing that, I did think of something I may try.  I may go into windows settings and see if I can adjust my deadzone or calibrate my controller globally, in Windows, and see if that changes anything.

[hammers1man]

I used to have a problem on TGC2 of holding the controller stick a tiny fraction back without realising which caused a very slow downswing. I did notice myself still doing it on TGC2019 but would correct myself.
I honestly don't even notice a dead zone when putting in this game as I keep my eyes on the screen pull back the putter and hit it when I see the right backswing amount, no timing is needed just an eye for backstroke distance. The trick to putting is a slow backstroke and a fast forward stroke, now there also a trick to hitting straight putts for me. Mine is to imagine I am hitting at 1 o clock, feels like I am pushing the putt but if I push forward at what I feel is 12 o clock it's a pulled putt, this was killing me and was resulting in 3 or 4 putts from short distances . I very rarely leave putts 7 to 1 foot short since I switched to full cam also, before I was miss judging how much of a backstroke I was taking because of the lower view.

[polekatt/josia]

Sept 3, 2020 8:14:35 GMT hammers1man said:

I used to have a problem on TGC2 of holding the controller stick a tiny fraction back without realising which caused a very slow downswing. I did notice myself still doing it on TGC2019 but would correct myself.
I honestly don't even notice a dead zone when putting in this game as I keep my eyes on the screen pull back the putter and hit it when I see the right backswing amount, no timing is needed just an eye for backstroke distance. The trick to putting is a slow backstroke and a fast forward stroke, now there also a trick to hitting straight putts for me. Mine is to imagine I am hitting at 1 o clock, feels like I am pushing the putt but if I push forward at what I feel is 12 o clock it's a pulled putt, this was killing me and was resulting in 3 or 4 putts from short distances . I very rarely leave putts 7 to 1 foot short since I switched to full cam also, before I was miss judging how much of a backstroke I was taking because of the lower view.

I played 2 rounds last night, and was trying different things with putting and did horrid.   But that is what practice is for, right!

The deadzone thing I am talking about,  might be all in my mind.  I am not ashamed to admit that.   I'm actually hoping it is, and that putting will come to me just with a lot of practice.   The pulled putt, straight putt thing you mention is happening to me also, just exactly like that!!    I have to imagine that I'm hitting from 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock to make it go straight.  If I hit what I imagine is straight up and down, then the ball goes left.  

The other thing that is killing me on those short putts is the distance.   Its not gauging the distance mentally, its knowing where to stop the backswing and start forward on the stick.   Not sure if that makes sense or not.   Its like,  mentally I know where I want to hit, but physically, my hand is not doing what my brain wants yet.   I either hit too hard, or what is the most frustrating thing, and happens way more than anything else, is that I do this weird little twitch of my thumb, and it releases the putter to go forward, but since its more like a little twitch than an actual swing,  it only registers as a 15% power and the ball simply goes a few inches and stops.

Its almost like my brain is hesitating, and my thumb stops with it just long enough to mess up the putt.    I know I "can" do it correctly, because part of the times I absolutely nail it.    I'm hoping it all comes with more practice.

What do you mean by full cam?    Are you talking about changing the view by clicking through the views on the left stick?  Or are you talking about where you press the left trigger and it gives you a different view?

[hammers1man]

You need to concentrate on hitting the stick forward hard. It's a mental thing, you can't pull the putter back too slowly and you can't push it forward too hard in this game.
The full putting camera is the slightly raise one. It gives you a good view of your putter head in relation to the ball so it is easier to gauge your distance of your putting stroke, even more so on short putts. It is no good for reading putts but you press Y for that.
I will post up a video for you later of me putting on the practise green from under 10 foot to help give you an idea of the backstroke distance for these putts.

[hammers1man]

Also use auto mulligan on the practice green if you miss a short putt. Get a feel for hitting it right.

[polekatt/josia]

Hey I wanted to say thanks for this tip!

I have been trying it with the raised camera, and once you start getting used to it, it does help.   Yesterday, that light finally seemed to come on for me.

[hammers1man]

Sept 8, 2020 16:23:23 GMT polekatt/josia said:

Hey I wanted to say thanks for this tip!

I have been trying it with the raised camera, and once you start getting used to it, it does help.   Yesterday, that light finally seemed to come on for me.

Glad you are getting the feel for it

[polekatt/josia]

Yeah, where I say it didn't help in my first post was just me not giving it enough of a chance to get a feel for it.

Most of what I thought was that deadzone problem, of the putter not moving, is actually because I couldn't 'see' it moving, at that low angle.

I apologize, I digress!