How to play with the GBC patch


Before you start you must realise that this is not going to be anywhere as easy as the pre-patch play! It will be far more challenging though, at least in my experience. And sometimes, thankfully, less frustrating, particularly on the greens. No longer will you have to bump and run your puts of 50’ or more, and try to guess how much you should add to the distance... If you have lined up your put properly and hit it with the appropriate strength, you will be able to get it to the hole even from 100’ with your putter.

The biggest change you will see however will be on the swing meter. First of all: forget about power driving, at least for the time being. And I’m not talking about the very fast meter, just the fast meter, which I believe most good players use now and will in all probability continue to use. The change in tempo on the down swing now makes hitting the sweet spot with any consistency very difficult. Not impossible, just difficult, as it should be. Previously it was almost ridiculously easy, and I had played many competitive rounds power driving all the way from the 1st to the 18th tee. Consequently, to me at least, par became a disappointing result on most holes. Well, that’s all in the past now...

Rule No 1:
Power driving is out!


What the alteration of tempo on the swing meter did is change the whole game, at the same time making it far more realistic. Playing with the patch I might now go for the power shot maybe once or twice in the entire round, only when the situation warrants such calculated risk. Most of the time I’m more than happy with the drive of 280 yds or so, as I would be if I played on a real course. And I’m quite satisfied when I score in the mid to high 60’s, while previously I was always looking to beating 60 and sometimes succeeding. To give you an example of an adjustment we will have to make to our scoring expectations, I have played recently two rounds under identical conditions on my upcoming course, Abbot’s Bridge. On this fairly difficult layout, which I know as the back of my hand, I had scored a 61 (-11) without the patch. I then struggled to a 71 playing with the patch. As I had one really bad hole (an eight) I had decided to give it another go and came up with a 67, and that without recording a single bogie! It looks as though the patched game will play about half a dozen strokes harder, and we better get used to that.

I don’t mind that a bit, in fact I’m pleased about it, particularly as a designer. We can all now design courses without adding the extra hazards 300 yds away from the tee to make power driving more difficult. If someone can unleash a 300+ drive, then good luck to him because he has earned his reward! BTW, I really appreciate it that the makers of the game went back to the old way of employing the perfect swing (for those who perhaps are not aware of this feature, it is the F12 key and it only works in the practice mode). It now gives you the distance you achieve with the perfectly hit shot at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, not with the power drive as it was in the original version. It is now, once again, a useful tool for playtesting newly designed courses.

Rule No 2:
Learn not to overswing!


If you want to begin scoring well with the patch, from the word go you will have to use an entirely different approach and employ a new strategy. The first hurdle you will have to negotiate is learning to consistently hit the spot at 12 o’clock, which is going to be the key to your success. I find that I have a tendency to overswing slightly, even after days of playing with the patch. I counteract by gluing my eyes to an imaginary spot slightly below the top of the swing, at about 11.30 ºclock, just before I start swinging. This I find quite helpful, as even if I stop the backswing below the top it usually only results in a loss of some distance and not in a wild hook or a slice, which is often the consequence of overswinging.

When you have mastered this fundamental part of the game, you can concentrate on hitting the sweet spot at the bottom of the swing. That too appears to be a bit harder, but not overly difficult, at least with the fast meter. It just requires practice and more practice, to get the timing right. The very fast meter on the other hand has been toned down a tad. It is still extremely challenging and I can’t see myself using it in tournament play. I perceive it as the GBC Mount Everest, to be claimed just because it’s there!

Rule No 3 :
Use the Fast Meter!


The above rule is for those who want to do well in tournament play. I realise that there are players who will find even the fast meter too hard, not everyone is blessed with the eye-hand coordination that the top players possess. But without the fast meter you would be conceding too many skill points to be really competitive. Presently I use the following allocation of skill points:

Driving: 20 Approach: 20 Bunkers: 1 Around greens: 19 Putting: 20

It might look a bit odd that I give myself so little on bunker play, but it works for me. I have found that the low skill points allocation here particularly affects you on mistimed bunker shots. Practice bunker shots as much as you can, this is where you can squirrel away quite a few points to be used in other areas. When you become confident of hitting on or near the sweet point, you can get away with the low skill level here. On bunker shots of up to about 70’ try to make the ball land about 8 - 10’ short of the pin. Thankfully the patch has largely eliminated those frightful plugged lies, though you might still get one occasionally. Unless hitting a plucked ball from close to the pin I usually switch to the full swing mode. When faced with any longer bunker shot of about 70’ or more, I always switch to the full swing with lob wedge. If the shot arrow indicates that I would be hitting too far past the pin, I pick a spot on the swing meter below the top and try to stop the backswing there. It’s hard, but it can be achieved with a bit of practice. However, even if you overhit the shot a bit, you would probably still be better off than if you leave it way short, which is likely to happen when you use the half swing.

Rule No 4:
Give yourself a minimum skill points on bunker play and practice bunker shots!


For club selection and wind play, refer to my tutorial on this page. Much of what I have said there still appears valid. With one notable difference. If you move the shot arrow by manipulating the keyboard arrows, it now moves in much smaller increments. 1 ½ clicks now account for approximately 1 mph of wind, thus for 20 mph wind from the right you compensate by about 30 clicks on the right arrow. Early on it might be better to count the number of clicks, later you will probably be able to just estimate how far the ball is going to move, pick a spot to aim for and move the arrow there. However, never forget to check the wind gauge again just before you are ready to hit the ball, it can fluctuate quite significantly. A sudden change of 5 mph could mean that you end up in the bunker instead of next to the hole!

Rule No 5:
Always check your lie!


No one seems to have worked out yet exactly how to compensate for those sidehill lies that we often get, and I doubt that anyone will! Some people have criticised this, personally I don’t mind it, I simply see it as another challenge. There are some rules that should be followed. The first one is, don’t rely entirely on what the little circular indicator on the screen tells you about your lie. He’s a liar! More often than not he will be putting wool into your eyes, telling you that your ball is on a level ground, when it’s a downright fib. Just ignore him altogether and get instead into the habit of hitting the “g” key each time you line up the shot to bring up the grid. This thing alone will probably save you several shots in the course of one round. For aesthetic reasons I take the grid off again when I have the information about the ball’s lie.

Rule No 6:
Compensate for the sidehill lies!


The hardest thing is to pick up how much one should compensate for those sidehill lies. It certainly has happened to you pretty early, while you were feeling your way with GBC. The ball supposedly lied on a level ground, you had hit it perfectly, but it moved away in a wide arc to end up somewhere in the rough instead on the green. There must have been a slope that was not significant enough to indicate a sidehill lie, nevertheless severe enough to affect the ball’s flight. The most affected seem to be the long iron or fairway wood shots. Actually, any slope at all seems to have at least some influence on such shots. If I have to hit a 2 iron and see on the grid that there is a gentle to medium slope, I will compensate for it by about 5 - 10 clicks on the keyboard arrow. I then add or subtract the estimated wind influence, thus a medium slope from left to right with the wind of approximately 7 mph from the right of the screen just about cancel each other out, leaving you with a straight shot.

On shots with fairway wood or long iron, where a sidehill lie is indicated, you should compensate by at least 20 clicks. When you get nearer the green the effect of slope seems to gradually lessen. Pitches from within about 50 yds do not appear to be affected at all. The jury’s still out on this one...

Rule No 7:
You can be the king of short game!


Getting up and down from within about 30 yds is much easier in GBC than it was with JN5. If you give yourself enough skill points in this area, the game automatically decides where you should land your chip so that it stops rolling somewhere near the hole. Of course, this only applies to shots with no significant breaks or elevation. You have to allow for these factors, as well as for the wind. Generally, I would compensate with one click on the up arrow when I’m hitting to the pin that’s about 12” - 18” higher than the ball’s lie. Also with one click when I’m hitting into the wind of about 10 mph. If the ball lies above the hole, or you are hitting with the wind, just do the reverse. All this, of course, providing that the ball is going to land on the putting surface. When the shot arrow indicates that the ball is going to land just short of the green I would either add an extra click or play a little with the shot’s trajectory to make the ball land on the green or at least the fringe. Of course, sometimes all you can do is to pick a spot, hit it and pray, just like in real golf.

Adjusting the trajectory is another way of fine tuning your chip. You can do it either with the F2 (the lowest possible trajectory) or F4 (the highest trajectory) keys, or by holding the Shift and clicking on the up or down arrow, to make it move in smaller increments. Naturally, if you hit the ball on the higher trajectory it will be influenced more by the wind. For normal chips of about 50’ distance you will usually need to click once for a side-wind of about 10 mph, with the longer chips or a higher trajectory you might need two clicks. Needless to say that the slope of the green is another important factor, so I recommend putting on the grid to see how the ball is likely to behave when it begins to roll, especially around the pin. Go to the reverse view if the grid doesn’t reach to the hole and you are not certain what it looks like there. The appearances can easily deceive you.

Rule No 8:
Put on the putting grid!


Colour grading is a useful help when reading the slopes on greens, but I still prefer to use the grid as well to get more accurate reading. Putting is now much like it was in JN5, so what I have said in my tutorial on play in JN5 is basically still valid. Here is my formula for calculating the distance of puts:

Short flat puts up to about 3’ - no adjustment needed, but I still add one foot of distance, just to be sure.

Longer flat puts: the distance to hole + 2 feet Example: 20’ to the hole: 20’ + 2’ = 22’.

Uphill puts: for every inch of elevation, an extra foot of length, up to 6’. Example: 20’ to the hole, 5” elevation: 20 + 2 + 5 = 27’

Uphill puts with higher elevation: add approx. 2/3 of the number of inches. Example: 20’ to the hole, 15” elevation: 20’ + 2’ + 10’ = 32’ or 45’ to the hole with 3’ elevation: 45’ + 2’ + 24’ = 71’.

Rule No 9:
Don’t take the above for a Gospel!


A lot depends on the slope’s profile. If it’s flat first and rises nearer the hole, I would add a little more. If it rises early, then flattens nearer the hole, take a couple of feet off the above calculation, or otherwise you might run too far past the hole. The game can be a bit whimsical as far as putting goes. Even with the patch I’ve had puts of ten feet rising by one inch stopping just short when given three extra feet of distance, or rolling ten feet past on a slight downhill path.

Downhill puts run a little less in GBC with the patch than they did in JN5, but quite a bit more than they did before the patch came out. I usually take away about half the number of inches, but it again depends on the profile of the slope. If the slope begins near the place you are putting from and the green flattens nearer the hole, you will have to hit the ball harder. In that case I might only take off a foot or two off a 10” slope. If the ball has to run over a flat part first and then downhill, I would take off more, perhaps, 7-8 feet.

Lastly, some advice on how to read the sidehill puts. Largely, it’s a combination of feel and experience. A put of that awkward length of six feet will travel over three squares of the putting grid. If otherwise flat, I would set the length to 8 feet. I look at the squares the ball will have to cross, for each dent on the square the ball has to roll over I move the arrow by one click. Look further to the side from where the green slopes. If the slope appears to be more severe, 3 clicks probably would not do. In such case I will add a click or two, I might even double the number of clicks to 6. Some puts might need even more, 8 or 10 clicks. On longer puts with double or multiple breaks you try to balance it as much as you can, bearing in mind that the slope near the hole, when the ball is slowing down, will affect movement of the ball more.

Rule No 10:
Hit them well!