Week 4: Travelers Championship

[andersnm]

This week, we play the Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.

The course was established in 1928 and was first Middletown Golf Club. 6 years later, the course changed hands to Edgewood Country Club.
The course was bought by the PGA Tour in the early 80's and was redesigned by Pete Dye and was reopened as TPC of Connecticut in 1984. Futher redesign was done by Bobby Weed in consultation with tour pros Howard Twitty and Roger Maltbie, and renamed the TPC at River Highlands in 1989.

 

[davec187]

RD 1 completed with a +3. Missed a bunch of makeable putts. Just couldn't get anything going with my putter,

[al]

[al]

[artvandelay]

Round 1 and quite please with my round.  -2 largely in part for this tee shot on the short par 4 on the back:



Don't worry folks, plenty of time for me to mess this up.  But under par on a USE round?  Priceless.

Onward!

[Deleted]

Oct 4, 2020 22:15:28 GMT artvandelay said:

Round 1 and quite please with my round.  -2 largely in part for this tee shot on the short par 4 on the back:



Don't worry folks, plenty of time for me to mess this up.  But under par on a USE round?  Priceless.

Onward!

Beautiful shot Art!

[paddyjk19]

Hi all, been offline for a few days as was golfing (and drinking lots) with the boys at the Belfry (Anders, if you have any questions about Brabazon for your work with Hans, ask now before I forget it!).

I saw there was lots of discussions going on about tempo, rules etc.
Before I tee off this week, is there any rule changes I need to know about or is it the same as the last time I pegged up? Still on Masters? Still playing tempo?

Thanks in advance!

[polekatt/josia]

The solution Josia: bring back the putter slowly as before. But when you reach the backswing length you want, you want to move the stick firmly forward into the plastic on the controller - I would not recommend rushing, because then the swingline can be all over the place, but firm and as fast as you feel comfortable. This is actually the way I do it in real life as well - moving the club forward firm and aggressive on putting. In real life, that keeps the effort more consistent, so the backswing length is the only factor for distance control. When I started playing this game, I found I took the careful slow backswing and also had a careful slow forward - no good. The key to good putting in this game, is to be slow on the backswing, and as fast and firm as comfortable forward on the movement of the stick.

andersnm  your advice from the other thread I pasted above is spot on.  It helped   A LOT.  thank you!!   Its still going to take quite a bit of getting used to though.    On 16 I tried the same putt 5 times before I ever got it to register, and by that time, of course, I hit it off center because I had been trying 5 times just to get it to work.

When it does work though, it works well using this method, I get both distance and control dead on.   

I was actually rocking a respectable score on round 1 until the aforementioned 16.   After that I got rattled and tripled both 17 and 18.  

[andersnm]

Oct 5, 2020 15:18:22 GMT polekatt/josia said:

The solution Josia: bring back the putter slowly as before. But when you reach the backswing length you want, you want to move the stick firmly forward into the plastic on the controller - I would not recommend rushing, because then the swingline can be all over the place, but firm and as fast as you feel comfortable. This is actually the way I do it in real life as well - moving the club forward firm and aggressive on putting. In real life, that keeps the effort more consistent, so the backswing length is the only factor for distance control. When I started playing this game, I found I took the careful slow backswing and also had a careful slow forward - no good. The key to good putting in this game, is to be slow on the backswing, and as fast and firm as comfortable forward on the movement of the stick.

andersnm   your advice from the other thread I pasted above is spot on.  It helped   A LOT.  thank you!!   Its still going to take quite a bit of getting used to though.    On 16 I tried the same putt 5 times before I ever got it to register, and by that time, of course, I hit it off center because I had been trying 5 times just to get it to work.

When it does work though, it works well using this method, I get both distance and control dead on.   

I was actually rocking a respectable score on round 1 until the aforementioned 16.   After that I got rattled and tripled both 17 and 18.  

I have started to practice on Legend swing difficulty again. And - for the first time in the game, I made sub-par on that difficulty (all else as we play here in USE) on Himmerland Garia just now. 1,67 putts per hole on that round was the key. Hope I can transfer that to the tournament this week.

[Deleted]

First Round in. Solid start thru the first 3 holes. A few wayward approach shots left me difficult up and downs for par and gave that hard work back. Still cannot complain to make the turn on this tough course at Even. Didn't capitalize on some birdies opportunities as they just missed. Gave another back on the driveable par 4 15th. Have to commit to that tee shot. The controlled fade aimed at the left bunker on 17 split the fairway and hit my wedge close to make birdie. Found the rough on the last, approach shot went past the hole leaving a delicate putt down the hill. Hits the edge and still rolls 10 feet past. Made the putt coming back for par to steady the ship and finish the First Round at E. I'll take it after such an up and down round to start. Off to the practice green to work on that pitch shot and putting for the next round.

[zzfr33b1rdzz]

Don't know how much more I can take with this.  I get the whole SIM deal, but it's just not turning into any fun for me putting up +20 per round scores.

Thought I was getting better as I am right around +2 to +5 on TST, but for some reason USE is always much worse for some reason.  I can take the occasional high score, but every round is just getting plain ridiculous.  I end up speed golfing just to get it over with - which as I said, not fun..

We'll see, I give it a few more weeks, but if I drop off the boards, you'll know why..

[Tuffguts]

+1, -1, +2, Ev = +2 total
-2 after 3 holes in Rd 1 and then it went haywire from there. Moments of the ol' USE brilliance in amongst a 4 putt, crap pitches and flops, arse about tempo and some pretty decent putting at times.
I will not winge further as I know we are all dealing with the tempo rubbish.......but sheesh!!

[hammers1man]

Oct 6, 2020 5:30:23 GMT zzfr33b1rdzz said:

Don't know how much more I can take with this.  I get the whole SIM deal, but it's just not turning into any fun for me putting up +20 per round scores.

Thought I was getting better as I am right around +2 to +5 on TST, but for some reason USE is always much worse for some reason.  I can take the occasional high score, but every round is just getting plain ridiculous.  I end up speed golfing just to get it over with - which as I said, not fun..

We'll see, I give it a few more weeks, but if I drop off the boards, you'll know why..

Is it the partial pitch you are struggling with Jeff? You can pull back the left stick a bit if the backswing is too fast to slow it down to make it easier to guage the backswing.
Not a huge difference from TST apart from not using splash outside of bunkers.
We have had a tough start to season 3 with all 3 courses quite difficult.

[andersnm]

Oct 5, 2020 10:39:36 GMT paddyjk19 said:

Hi all, been offline for a few days as was golfing (and drinking lots) with the boys at the Belfry (Anders, if you have any questions about Brabazon for your work with Hans, ask now before I forget it!).

I saw there was lots of discussions going on about tempo, rules etc.
Before I tee off this week, is there any rule changes I need to know about or is it the same as the last time I pegged up? Still on Masters? Still playing tempo?

Thanks in advance!

I am not doing anything on the Brabazon - that is Han. Me and Han will collab on PGA Catalunya.

No rule change etc for USE.

[jeff]

Oct 6, 2020 15:37:45 GMT hammers1man said:

Oct 6, 2020 5:30:23 GMT zzfr33b1rdzz said:

Don't know how much more I can take with this.  I get the whole SIM deal, but it's just not turning into any fun for me putting up +20 per round scores.

Thought I was getting better as I am right around +2 to +5 on TST, but for some reason USE is always much worse for some reason.  I can take the occasional high score, but every round is just getting plain ridiculous.  I end up speed golfing just to get it over with - which as I said, not fun..

We'll see, I give it a few more weeks, but if I drop off the boards, you'll know why..

Is it the partial pitch you are struggling with Jeff? You can pull back the left stick a bit if the backswing is too fast to slow it down to make it easier to guage the backswing.
Not a huge difference from TST apart from not using splash outside of bunkers.
We have had a tough start to season 3 with all 3 courses quite difficult.

TST still allows follow cam and ghost balls and marker. All very helpful if you know how to use them just so. There’s a reason USE bans them, besides the obvious increase in immersion. For the record, I don’t have any problem with players using those aids, I just prefer the USE way.

And zzfr33b1rdzz, I think Paul is right. I dipped my toe in the TST waters, and our USE courses are quite hard compared to theirs.

EDIT: In all my TST rounds I play USE rules anyway, so I suck when I play there as well. Just not as bad as here. Freebird is on to something: I definitely feel less pressure over there which does increase the fun just a bit. I stress out in USE like I was getting a damn paycheck at the end of the tournament! 😀