4 replies to this topic

[grumpter]

Short version: Is there a way to set the stimp (autoexec.cfg file) lower than the minimum of 8 currently available in-game?

 

The reason I am asking is because the speed of putts in my setup are much quicker than those at the same stimp in real life. I am guessing this is a product of whatever surface a person is putting on in their setup. As an extreme example (with the game set to the same stimp) If I would putt on a concrete floor with a slight down slope I would think I would see much different putting distances than if I was using shag carpet on a slight upgrade.

 

For now I have found a remnant piece of medium plush carpet to try out with the Simulator but that is not a very elegant solution as it would require constant swapping in and out. I am thinking the carpet is going to be too slow and I will be in a Goldilocks hunt. I could get a putting mat and move the SkyTrak but then I am in the same situation where I need to constantly shuffle things around. Seems like it would be much better, from my perspective, if there was a way to adjust the speed through the software.

[shimonko]

There is no way, but I agree there should be no way.

The game's environment is the golf course here rather than your sim room. Only ball launch conditions are important - then the game takes over. The ball on the screen is important, not the real ball, and you'll be losing immersion into the game if you try to convert on course putt distances to sim room putt distances. 
 

[grumpter]

I was going to lead with the two paragraphs at the bottom of this post but I think this one sums it up well.

 

Does it sound reasonable that each simulator user would need up to 7 (stimp 8 through 14) different putting surfaces to duplicate real world results of the in game settings? If they set the game to a 10 stimp meter it should be able to play like a 10 stimp no matter the surface (within reason) they are using to putt.

 

And since the board won't let me paste the text of the original first two paragraphs.... ugh.

 

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[SFR]

I actually have a platform that I hit off of and the main reason for this is a short throw projector that sits in front of the hitting area.  So when I putt, the ball falls off the overhang platform over top of the projector.  So in a matter of a foot after the contact, the ball hits the main floor and rolls where ever.  So as far as the speed of turf to hit from, that is really no effect as the ball is picked up on the GC2 within about 4 or so inches of movement.  So no matter how slow of a surface I putt on it would really make no change in the initial ball speed and if it did it would be such a low fraction of effect.  Bigger effect is how smooth that putt rolls and if it jumps or wobbles off line in that first few inches of travel.

 

Bottom line is if you putt a ball about 4.2 mph (stimp speed), it would be hard to see or feel a change in putter (club) speed whether you putt on glass or low pile carpet.  The ball speed is set so fast from the first movement of the ball that chances are it is still slightly in the air as the GC2 sets its initial speed and line.  If you can hit the ball at that 4.2 mph or very close to that, you will see in game on a flat green the ball rolls to the stimp speed in feet.  So 8 feet on 8 stimp and 14 feet on 14 stimp.  I personally have never worried about my putt area and what real stimp that turf was but rather how straight the ball would roll.  

 

On a side note one thing that would be a helpful test is if there was someone that had a real putting green and a real cup to putt to and a turf stimp speed that could be set the same in the game and do some test putts to see the speed a ball will still drop in the cup before it jumps over compared to what is in the game and also compare edges of the cup where lip outs would occur.  I like where things are now but just wondering how close to real that it is.  Possibly a hole cut in turf may react slightly different than would a real green cup cut into grass and dirt where the ball would tend to bounce off of.

 

Another test that would be helpful too is if the 4.2 mph ball speed rolls accurate to the stimp speed does it still roll accurate then if you are able to putt to longer length like 12 or more feet.  Even if you are not sure how to calculate this if you could preform the test and then just tell us the stimp of putting green and then the ball speed to the 2nd decimal that was needed to roll the different distances even if they were measured in inches.  This would be interesting info to have.  I don't have enough sim space to have a putting area of more than 4 feet.

[grumpter]

SFR, I can only hope you are right about the putting surface not making a difference. That would seem to me to be ideal and maybe what Shimonko was trying to communicate to me. When I next have the chance I will try to test it out. I tried tonight on some medium residential carpet versus office industrial carpet but the simulator hardware had a tough time reading off of the industrial carpet. Not sure why and didn't have a lot of time to troubleshoot it.

 

Let's consider for a moment you are right that it doesn't much matter the speed of the surface you are putting on. In real life I have played courses with posted stimpmeter readings of 10.5, 11 and 11.5 and have definitely played some courses that were even faster but did not have a posted stimpmeter reading. I have not tried the simulator with Perfect Golf at those Stimp speeds as most of my life I have played average public courses at a much slower speed. In my experience I don't ever recall seeing a course under 10 ever post a reading. I also do not carry around a stimpmeter to test courses so I can only guess what an 8 on the Stimpmeter plays like versus the courses that had posted stimp readings (and that assumes they were not inflating their numbers when posting which wouldn't surprise me but who knows).

 

Here is what I do know. Perfect Golf at a Stimp of 8 seems to be faster than many public golf courses I have played. That's just based on my personal experience and I can freely admit that could be wrong. However, if you search for Wiki Stimpmeter they reference an article from 2001 that indicates the USGA had a recommended stimp of 4.5 feet as slow, 6.5 feet as medium and 8.5 as fast based on reading from  'courses all around the country'. I'm pretty sure speeds on many private clubs and higher end public clubs have increased since then as players seem to be obsessed with faster greens. However, it would seem to indicate a minimum of 8 on the stimp meter in Perfect Golf is not nearly low enough to replicate some, likely many, courses.