TGC 2019 question regarding recommended clubs

[Joe M]

I’ve been playing TGC for 3 weeks now and I’m confused about the club recommendation. First off, I’m a 12.5 handicap and not a long ball hitter. A decent drive for me is about 230. I can hit my 3 wood 200 and my 5 hybrid about 185. A good 7 iron for me is 145-150. There are times I will start a round and the hole is a 420 yard par 4. I go to tee up and in the upper right corner it is telling me to use a 5 wood. I can do that but then it makes it a 3 shot hole to the green and I’m starting out before I even hit a tee shot going for a bogey. There are times I’m 150 yards to the green and it is telling me to use a 9 iron which on a good day is a 130 yard club? There were a few courses I played that had very long par 4s and did not recommend a long club on tee off. Now I understand there might be trouble like water or another hazard but this seems to happen often. I usually play courses that are the highest rated and the program says they are hard? If anyone could shed some light I would appreciate it? Thanks

[Wizard of Coz]

You don't listen to club recommendations. You play your game.

[3on3putt]

The recommendations are just based on a "standard" 7-iron or 3-wood or whatever. For approach shots, just pay attention to the yardage to the pin and hit whatever club you need to get there. From the tee, you can hit X or Z to change clubs up or down to get an idea of how far it is to a certain spot based on their standards. But you're still hitting whatever club you want.

[Fhacker]

I believe those are carry overs from the video game, no relation to real life golfers. The one time u need to change it is when u want to putt from off the green. Make sure putter is selected

[sirish19]

Another important point to note on club recommendations is that, not only are they based on those standard "averages", but they are also based on those averages in relation to the waypoint of the hole. For example, when I design courses, I normally put the waypoint at around 300 yards from the tips. If I hit a drive of 200 yards, the direction and club recommendation is going to have me going for that 200-yard marker so it may be recommending a lob wedge to get me to the waypoint rather than my 3-wood going for the green.

This also has an impact in the opposite direction as well. Sometimes, in order to get the yardages in the course to match up with the scorecard, you may have to put the waypoint off of the fairway. This is why sometimes you see a 7-iron recommended off the tee rather than a driver.

As others have said, don't worry about the games club recommendation and go with your knowledge of your own game. That's the best part of owning a simulator, getting to know your real yardages.