New courses

[Ryan5508]

They really need some better game physics or quality control on the courses.

Teton pines
We had a shot land on top of the grass/weeds in the water. There was about 2-3 blades of grass at most holding the ball up like a tee.

Linfield National
Invisible trees in your path are annoying. We knew from the initial shot the ball was right in front of a tree. On the second shot there was no tree until you hit and the ball flies 180 degrees backwards.

Lots of glitches (looks like lightning) on 2 of the back 9 holes.

Broken Tree
Seems like someone who never played golf before decided to design the course. And only black and blue tees.

I also don't know if I am missing something but when the green grid is on. It is just white lines with no indication of the slope or speed?

[TorchRedRob]

Dude. That really stinks. I'd think they would have it better sorted for 3 large plus more $$ for each course.

On a semi-related note, I see that the SkyTrak crowd will now be paying double the cost for the privilege of playing sim golf. The yearly "sim-enabler" fee just went up from $100 to $200 (plus the cost of the sim software, of course).

Back to topic, I'm assuming Foresight will sort this stuff out over time? In the past, have they been decent at fixing bugs quickly as they come up?

[p3eps]

I played Broken Tree yesterday, and it was better than expected. Some very odd holes, and really difficult slopes. You'd have to be able to play the ball straight every shot to get a good score there.

I had a shot where I was obviously right up against the face of the bunker (from the minimap), but my view showed no sign of this. I hit a well struck 3 iron, and the ball leapt into the air and into the next bunker (10yards).
I took a mulligan and played a wedge - which worked fine. Kind of annoying that it looked like I had a notla lie, when I was really in a bunker.
I normally don't switch mulligans on, but since updating the FW on my GC2, it occasionally has random phantom shots - where it flashes when I'm placing my ball. I set FSX to one per hole just incase I get one of these.

You can switch on balls onto the green grid - which shows you roll / speed

[Ryan5508]

Where is this for the green grid? I switched everything on and off and only get solid white lines or no lines at all. No indication or roll or speed.

[p3eps]

It's a bit buggy too... you have to turn on the normal grid, and then the ball one above it. Sometimes you've got to press it on and off a few times. Once it's on, it stays on for the rest of the round.

[mmlincon]

We really need a way to do a quick view of the ball. Since the display is adjusted back from the distance to the ball you will run into these scenarios where you are in the lip of a bunker or behind a rock or tree and will have not idea until you hit. With the old GSA software I could hit the spacebar and it would backup and show you the ball so you would know. I'm pretty sure the aboutgolf sim I played had this as well. This is not unique to FSX though, I've had the same issue with TGC. You can backup with TGC, not easily IMO, but I don't know of a way to do this in FSX.

On another note.I like to play without the ball trace on but in FSX the ball disappears about 50 yards out. That is just silly. They need to make it more visible like E6 does.

I'm pretty disappointed with the course quality I have to admit. I was planning on purchasing like 10-15 course but I may only pick up a few. I'm not sure these free courses are a good idea from Foresight. They are not good. Broken Tree is pretty and maybe useful for some shot practice but as for playing its a bit of a joke. Willow Crest was actually ok, up there with Teton Pines.

I tried the E6 demo and I'm leaning towards it. It felt more like playing. I'm not sure what it is but just the image on screen looks more like I'm standing on a golf course. The putting isn't all that great though.

[p3eps]

I just played Willow Crest followed by Blue Bayou.

Willow Crest was pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but a few good holes. Quite open and enjoyable.

Once you you get past the first hole of Blue Bayou (which is ludicrous), then the rest of it isn't that bad. I didn't have any glitches, and found the rest of the holes playable. There were a few good par3's. I played the first hole as couple of par3's... as it seemed the only way to keep the ball in play! Landing the ball on small sections of grass that look like greens.
I wouldn't rush back and play it again though.