Drpinseeker wrote:While I understand your thinking that you want to make the game realistic, I would point out that we are not physically outdoors on a golf course. We are sitting in front of computers. On a golf course I’ve never experienced when it was breezy out, the wind picking up and dropping and switching directions as frequently as it does in this game. I’ve never experienced the golf ball hitting above the hole on a downslope with spin on the ball with soft greens and rolling back an inch and stopping, or the ball hitting before the pin in the same conditions with the same spin and spinning off the green. I’ve never experienced on the golf course in windy conditions the wind switching with the frequency it does on the game. I’ve never experienced on the golf course with firm and fast conditions a ball stopping in the middle of a downslope when it should have rolled another 30 yards to a flat spot in the fairway. I love this game and will play in these conditions if I have the time but what I’m trying to point out is...this is just a game and it has its quirks that aren’t realistic. It’s fun to play and try to figure these things out but if you don’t have the time to devote 2 or 3 hours to a tournament that has 4 wind rounds then you aren’t going to score well, unless your Dirk or Roy lol. I’ve made this request many times but I’ll ask again, if you like playing theses conditions and I do if I have the time, can’t we have them on pro and set amateur up without 4 wind rounds? Is it too difficult to do this? I’m not trying to be difficult I’m genuinely curious if this can be done? Have the PSLA pro tournament with 4 wind rounds and the same tournament in amateur 2 wind and 2 non wind? Or is that too much work?
First of all, I wish MasterMontgomery had left PLSA out of it. Like I said, I've only used GUSTY once in months. I've not used F(C)/F(C) (which means F/F for non-challenging) for months. I had it programmed for the US Open this week, but mark used M(C)/F(C). It is, after all, the US Open, know for speedy greens.
I disagree with...
"I’ve never experienced on the golf course in windy conditions the wind switching with the frequency it does on the game."
... On any courses I've played, while there's usually a prevailing wind, the trees and terrain often channel that wind in different directions during the course of a round.
The Arnold Palmer Course Designer (APCD) allows the author to set the maximum wind speed and the variance in that wind. Good designers study the IRL course location to see what the prevailing winds are. I do this and generally narrow up the variance to about 25% which does keep the winds steadier.
That being said, maybe in the dog days of August you might find a course somewhere with NO WIND for a portion of a round, but it's rare and far rarer than BREEZY. Desert and Island courses are notorious for WINDY conditions but I still don't use WINDY ever... even though it would be realistic.
So, for PLSA, I will continue to try to mimic the Pro Tour and I will make concessions to at least one round with NO WIND, never more than one round of GUSTY and WINDY never.
Regarding "Or is that too much work?" I'll say my main work is finding pin positions that are fair for conditions. For a new course, it takes me about 4 hours or more to feel comfortable that they're good. This past year, it was very time-consuming because I had to (re)do every course on the PLSA (they had been so unfair in the past especially for those playing challenging conditions). It will likely not take as much time this year... just a few schedule quirks or courses that I think are more suitable when the actual course is not available.