A previous beta of JNPG actually had fairways causing the golf ball to bounce like mad, on both Normal and Hard settings... which would have only simulated a once in a year Major conditions, all the time. It was a bit excessive.smokingrooves wrote:Hello Fellas,
Not to stir the pot but it wouldn't matter what conditions you use, the great strikers of the snap will always be at the top of the leader-board with any settings while harder conditions will effect us lesser snap kings the most.
I would agree the greens could have been hard being it a major but I was happy with the setup.
5 birdies and 6 bogies isn't anything to buy a round at the pub for but, it was consistent with my scoring.
Also your not going to get the big hops in the fairways in hard conditions because the grass is fairway grass and it takes out a bit of the hop. The greens are going to give you that big bounce being a shorter cut of grass which holds true IRL too.
We will have to deal with the wind as is since the calculations for the PP model aren't anywhere close to IRL. Strong breeze is close but anything more
is a bit unrealistic and at no fault of the moderators.
Cheers fellas and good luck out there.
randy
But now, the present Hard fairway setting is not even as hot as the old Normal fairways. So, it's altogether impossible to simulate these once per year conditions that you get at both Major Opens, respectively.
I don't recall greens causing the ball to hop moreso than fairways, in US Opens. Perhaps it's because longer shots are hit off the tee, into fairways, that will naturally bounce more. Or, perhaps the fairways just have more slope than greens, which accentuates the bounding.
I agree that the best players will always rise to the top; but that's clearly irrespective to how Major Championships are traditionally setup much tougher than the rest of the year's events. Although, tougher conditions typically identify only the most prepared players, in peak form.
Nevertheless, I think it's amazing watching the best players in the world struggle to break par. That really says something about how difficult the course and conditions are.
In many respects, Shinnecock Hills is just a cynical setup; particularly the pins that are elevated and have disparate sharp declines in every surrounding direction. I would go as far as to say that many greens seem a bit tricked up.
But, JNPG doesn't quite punish the player as much as they are being punished IRL, certainly not on Breezy wind, with any stimp. Higher stimp putts just travel further, and seemingly break a bit more, due to not having to hit putts with as much power, in order to get the ball to travel the same distance. Technically, the break is the same, it's just that when putts are hit more softly, the break is borne out more fully. But, I digress.
I would have set the fairways and greens to Hard at least 2 out of 4 rounds, and nothing under stimp 12, each round. Perhaps 12, 13, 13, 14; to indicate the gradual drying out of the greens. But the wind was the big miss, here. The wind could have easily been at least Strong Breeze in at least 2 rounds, perhaps with one Breezy, and one Windy round thrown in there. Again, the wind effect is accentuated on Shinnecock Hills, due to having no trees to tamp it down.
It's all good, either way. But, having fun does not seem to be what the USGA intends, when they setup the US Open. Whether I personally agree with tricking up a course is another thing... but, I don't think there's any question that it's precisely what the USGA have done, and continue to do, nonetheless.
As an aside, JNPG is missing the deep Fescue rough, that can oftentimes trap a golf ball, kind of like the effect of a plugged lie, in the sand. I wonder would DJ even be leading, much less under par, if a couple dozen other guys hadn't graciously helped him look for his lost golf ball, for a whole 10 minutes, on day one. I'm surprised he wasn't penalized for slow play. Although, I understand the sympathy for DJ being unfairly penalized in the past.
https://www.sbnation.com/2018/6/14/1746 ... iger-woods
Perhaps in JNPG 2, if there is one, they could just add the random plugged lie effect to fescue, as well, to simulate a ball that is well off the beaten path.
So, that's another thing to moderate for, when trying to make up for lost difficulty, between actual IRL trouble, and in game play, in which the rough is just a math calculation from getting on the green.
Then, you also have the Bumpy greens, which - while I personally don't agree with them, due to not being able to discern the imperfections - the greens at Shinnecock are clearly playing Bumpy, as well.
There are a number of reasons why the video golf game just cannot be setup quite as indicative of the reality of difficult US Open conditions. So, the least we can do is go to the extent that the game allows.
Ultimately, even if there was a community vote to set Major conditions, I'm not sure the prevailing vote would be to set it up as tough as it could be. So, my thoughts are really just one opinion.
