BARE - Base Assist Realism Events
I've just been out on the course as nature intended. Completely bare. The feeling of freedom was exhilarating. No bizarre writing in the air drilling unwanted messages in to my porridge-like brain. Confusing me, deluding me. Away with you.
I have continued to pursue realism or simulation in golf games since Club Verisimiltude over at Tiger Woods Online. After my short-lived tenure at NAP I turned my interest to delving deeper into the possibilities of our current game version.
Almost immediately everything became clear when I revisited "Ctrl - Alt - U". I had used CAU while filming tutorials. The action turns off all HUD on screen. All HUD. All that remains is the aiming pole. I had considered CAU as a means to strip away the data that assists our game in that pursuit of verisimiltude. The drawbacks were obvious and I dismissed it until now.
The main drawbacks were not knowing the club you were holding and the distances. The other drawbacks may not be drawbacks at all. I'll explain.
BARE
I'll go through the components of the HUD and weigh up the impact of having each one disappear. I'll then show you the ways I overcome that lack of info.
THE FIRST TEE
Before you turn off the HUD you will stand on the first tee and have all the info available. This is necessary to know the wind direction. Once you CAU you will have to make an estimation of the wind direction for each shot on each subsequent hole. There's a simple trick that lets you estimate the wind direction for each shot.
As soon as you have checked the wind you hit Ctrl/Alt/U and never touch it again for the full round (with exceptions).
Now this is the interesting part. Once you have CAUed you induce a form of self-discipline or more precisely, you help yourself to become self-disciplined. You will have no icons to click so you won't be able to pull up the flag viewer for instance. It's a whole new world.
HOLE INFO
At the top left of the HUD is the course name, hole number, par and yardage. It's gone for the whole round. The course you know but you can get lost trying to remember which hole you are on. I would suggest printing out a card. They give you a card in real life so that's what I do in BARE. The card gives you the Par plus yardage and you could add any other info you like. So the first info at top left is not needed.
NAME, SCORE, DISTANCE, ELEVATION.
Well you know your own name but multiplayer might be hard to work out who's up. Shirt colors? No probs. I write my score down on my hard card and it really does take you out of the cyber world. I've had to think back to each shot on a hole to work out my score. I like the hands-on effect of writing down the score. I might get some little stubby pencils. Which shot number you are playing becomes pretty obvious. The sign of a good player is one who knows his score.
Now for Distance to the hole and Elevation. These are a couple of things you will get hot and bothered about not having. Your instinct after playing JNPG is to glance up at the distance and elevation. I still glance up a lot even though there's nothing there. Let's consider our options IRL.
The distance from the tee is on your card. For par threes that's all you need. As for the rest of the holes this is how it works. The caddy gives you a club.
OK. You don't know the club but you can get a fair idea through experience, through middle-scrolling through the clubs (reasonable solution), or just by looking at the club. So your caddy tells you to play with this club. My experience tells me some things. Swing easy on hard firmness. Club up in the short rough. Club up by two in thick rough. Etc. What I have found is that the caddy makes a fair call and I use a bit of instinct, a bit of local knowledge and maybe a hunch. Dumb luck helps. A chart for a hole could really reduce the guesswork as well but generally I was happy with his choice. With some practical exceptions.
Elevation is something that is a lot less important than you might think. If the shot is emphatically up or down you will know which one it is. Lesser elevation changes won't make a lot of difference to club selection. If you know the course you will be aware of the heights. After a few BARE rounds the accuracy of the HUD elevation info is overkill to me.
WIND
Have you worked out the trick yet? This method works well in the early morning or late afternoon. It would get a bit tricky around midday (I think). On the first tee you have the HUD open and you check the wind direction. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West so you can work out which quarter the wind is blowing from by your shadow. That pretty well holds true through the round (if you've got a shadow). In my fantasy world every day is clear and it's always a beautiful morning. Just me and my shadow.
THE RIGHT SIDE ICONS
COG
You won't need to touch the cog if you are organised. Out.
MAP
Ah the ol' overhead map. I'm wondering how many of you guys take a yardage book out on course? Don't mention GPS or some other mechanical yardage device. Quelle Horreur! But to be realistic a Pro or Tour Pro would always have some form of guide. We are talking about a professional golfer who has to be successful to be able to compete. I like to play my golf at a more casual level now and that means I can discard a yardage book or map and still enjoy my golf. It goes without saying that a BARE golfer would never use the F2 or F3 keys so aiming becomes somewhat problematical but, then again, not much more of a problem than real life. The caddy will point you in a specific direction anyway. A large percentage of your round will be with a clear visual to your landing area so your judgements are reasonably accurate most of the time. Out.
FLYBY
Begone. No-one is able to fly over a hole like that. Out.
SCORECARD
Done.
LEADERBOARD
Never look at the leaderboard. (Pro advice)
GRID
You....GET OUT!
FLAG IN OR OUT
Set this on the first tee.
HOLE DIRECTION FLAG
Not having this one threw me a bit at times. A wayward shot was a curse (and should be). But wait a minute. You've got legs. Just hit F5 and walk out of the woods until you see something to give you your bearings. The dude will not always be facing in the direction of the hole so it pays to be aware of your surroundings. No need for that button. Out of here.
CLUB, SWING TYPE AND STANCE SELECTION
Now things become a bit more impractical but never to a point where you can't play a shot without some sort of control. I've discussed the club selection. BARE could be subtitled 'Trust Your Caddy'. He doesn't do a bad job but ultimately it's your decision. A bad choice or a bad decision only helps to eradicate those shots in the future.
The other thing you will miss and this is something that had me dismiss CAU in the first place. You won't be able to change between the swing type options. This is one of the few times when you have to open the HUD. The caddy will give you the right swing or at least a swing type that can get the job done most of the time apart from the Chip Shot. Sometimes you can be given the Chip when you have to carry a bunker. There might be a way to get the ball on the green with a chip but you won't have the loft option for a start. So in this case you open the HUD and change the swing and close it without looking at anything else.
The Shot Shaper isn't there. You have maintained the discipline of never opening the HUD again. Now this is cool. Without the Shot Shaper you will still be able to use the alternative to fade or draw a shot. Changing the swing path or altering the downswing speed can be used individually or in conjunction to move the ball as much as you should ever need. It's an art just like any fashioned shot in real life.
There is no alternative to lofting up or down but there are ways to get the ball up or down which follow the laws of JNPG physics.
LIE, CLUB, SWING TYPE
The only data left is in the lower right. It shows the lie, the club chosen, whether it a Carry distance or Roll-out distance and swing type. The only thing you'll really miss is the lie info. I make a guess about the penalty. Far off the fairway club up more, Close to fairway club up less. No problems there. Your result won't be inch perfect but how many times have you put the ball in the shadow of the flag stick from 180 yards out and in the rough?
BARE THOUGHTS
There is a psychological change in how you approach your round and playing JNPG. The sense of release and freedom is palpable. You are thrown in the deep end with only your wits. Slowly but surely your judgement becomes honed and more acute. It hasn't taken me many rounds to start to feel at ease making decisions (and living with the consequences). It's amazing in that you begin to realise that you will make a better decision next time you have what looks like a 50 yard pitch and you put it in the bunker. It is certainly a great motivation to get back out there and play another round.
One of the beautiful things about CUA is that you will persevere through your round and not be distracted by all the data and options and temptations - like replays - and your perceptions become heightened by necessity. As I said at the start when there are no icons on the screen your self-disclipline is easier to maintain and then you become attuned to the golf course.
I played Ballyneal twice in my first two BARE rounds. I've been doing quite a bit of practice there before BARE so I had a bit of local knowledge. I shot an 88 then an 80 completely bare. I went over to Medinah and shot 103 in my first round. I'm playing without any putting aids of course and had 37 putts or something. I went in the water a couple of times as well. But the lessons I learned from that round - distances, clubs etc. - helped me to an 85 for the second round.
I'm excited about BARE. I'm loving discovering the little tricks to eliminate tough areas and lack of info. I'll post more tips as they arise.
Regards
Ted Ball
Club Verisimilitude
