Skills Discussion Page

LENGTH - The Tricky Skill

Length is much more tricky than imagination. Two factors that enter into this is the fact you have players possessing both Length & Imagination and Length & Accuracy. In order to accomplish a full 1 point in length, you need to reward the long hitters as well as penalize the short hitters....

Length also seems to by dynamic - in other words, players get longer throughout the game due to driving range improvements. The exception being that player who DO NOT possess length are static; their lack of length continues throughout the game.

Penalizing short hitters is cut & dried. Using the shot analysis tool off the tee, find the yellow landing spaces and penalize them by placing a hazard or a terrain barrier that does not allow them to crest the hill. This will also reward the long hitter. Put firm fairway on the backside and get an extra boost for the power hitters.

But herein lies the rub. If the firm fairway allows the short hitters to reach the green in two, then you have accomplished nothing. In order to truly analyze the hole you need to do another shot analysis from the landing area of the short hitters tee shot. From there make sure they have to hit a third shot in a par 4 to reach the green or a 4th shot in a par 5, etc. By doing this you assure they are unlikely to get a birdie on that hole. You can accomplish this with a hazard or use of terrain.

The trick is to allow the long hitters to air it out off the tee and yet, make sure the short hitters dont get enough benefits to make up the distance on their second shot. Finding a way to allow a long hitter to reach a par 5 in two with two good shots as well as a short hitter has to reach in four is sure way to be on your way to a "classic" par 5 hole.

On a select number of par 4's I like to find a way thru elevation and firm fairway to allow the long guys drive the green with a perfect shot. This is not only a good way to award length, but it is still likely to be a fun hole for all involved. Hard to believe, but driveable par fours hardly ever result in "breather" holes, because a well shaped, long, accurate drive is needed. All the requisites of a classic hole.

Your key in getting a good length rating is comparing the Women (Accuracy & Imagination) golfers to your Short Sleeved Long Pants Golfers (All Skills) - Monitor them while playing and adjust accordingly so that the all-skill golfers consistently shoot 1 less shot per completion of the hole.....

Accuracy - The Unpredictable Skill

Accuracy or lack thereof is the hardest attribute to predict. Players who lack accuracy, posses length & imagination. So, not only are they always long hitters, they can draw & fade the ball. This creates a problem when you try to force a draw/fade off the tee, these players will use that skill to get around the obstacle and they will clear the length obstacles you may provide. So, really, they provide the type of shot you are trying to create for the players who have all three skills. But they are not accurate and hence not predictable. They will try the draw/fade and be successful at it. Sometimes they will hit it correctly and sometimes they will "overcook" the draw/fade and sometimes "undercook" the draw/fade.

This makes it hard to decide who to penalize this player. If you use terrain, you may actually penalize a player who hits a good shot using all three skills. The best way off the tee is to place hazards around the landing area on either side of the fairway. This allows a good shot to find the fairway & if the inaccurate player overcooks or undercook the draw/fade shot he will end up in the hazard.

Water - The single best way to penalize inaccurate shots are water. The simplest reason is that water cost one shot, whereas a sand trap, gorse, etc allows some sort of recovery (and maybe even a holed shot) and a putt to make par. It is nearly impossible to accomplish par when drowning a golf ball. I think you will notice any hole with water accomplishes high accuracy ratings.

Your key in Accuracy is comparing the Short Sleeve & Shorts golfers (Length & Imagination) with your Short Sleeve & Pants (All Skill) golfers....Monitor them while playing and adjust accordingly so that the all-skill golfers consistently shoot 1 less shot per completion of the hole.....

Imagination - Tips & Tricks

Contrary to belief, this is the EASIEST rating to quantify & achieve. ALL non-imaginative golfers are predictable. The shot analysis tool doesnt lie. You can play with various ways to frustrate these guys and increase your imagination ratings. As Sid has said, All imaginative golfers can fade, draw & hit the high backspin shot - this makes this very easy using the shot analysis tool.....

TREES - using trees near the tee, fairways & greens will force fades, draws & backspin shot. I make big greens (three and four tiles) but tuck the pin behind a tree and you have these guys scrambling. Same with the tee, one well placed tree will force a draw/fade. One tip I use on a map is to find a close pre-built structure (land bridge, statue etc) and tuck the pin behind it, this allows an eye-pleasing big green. It also awards imagination and increases the fun and scenic rating of the hole all in one.

Sand Traps - If you decide not to use trees, see where the green line falls and place a trap or two and elevation changes to have the balls landing in the fairway fall into the trap.

Water - Water penalizes a non-backspin shot when the green is close to water. I make big greens - three tiles with a bailout on the side. Make the bailout green slope to the water and you have snookered the non-imaginative golfers into thiking they have a safe haven, the ball comes in hot and rolls of the side or back into the water. Whereas the flat part of the green with the pin allows the backspin shot to hold, also any draw/fade shot will counteract the slope - awarding the imaginative golfer.....Here is a diagram

wwww
wwgw
wpgw
wwww

you can see p= pin and the g section appeals to the non imaginative golfer, as well as the non accurate golfer. In this scenario you award both accuracy & imagination while constructing an appealing and realistic looking green......This is a surefire realistic looking CLASSIC par 3.

Elevation - Elevation changes are one of the best ways to penalize imagination and they are FREE!!!! You can see by the trap & water examples, elevation plays a factor in them. Work elevation on every hole, it really is one of the best ways to boost your ratings. I have found it to be the single most useful tool in the game. It can be used to award/penalize every attribute in the game.....

Your key in Accuracy is comparing the Knickers golfers (Length & Accuracy) with your Short Sleeve & Pants (All Skill) golfers....Monitor them while playing and adjust accordingly so that the all-skill golfers consistently shoot 1 less shot per completion of the hole.....

About Golfer Abilities by Sid Meier

Improving the skill ratings of your holes is really one of the most subtle and interesting parts of the game. The shot analysis function really helps a lot here. I've discovered a few techniques that seem to help improve a hole's skill ratings.
The three skill ratings that you get for your holes (length, accuracy, and imagination) are the same skills that your golfers may or may not have. What the game does is compare the average score of players who have the length skill against the players who don't have the length skill - this determines the length skill rating of a hole. To make it easy, imagine all the players with the length skill scored a 4 and all the players without the skill scored a 5, the length skill rating of the hole would be 1.00
So how do I improve the length skill rating? Well I've noticed that players without the length skill hit the ball about 150-180 yards and players with the length skill hit it 200 yards or more if I have a driving range ; so if I add a little hill to my hole across the fairway about 150 or so yards from the tee my short hitters will hit on the upslope and their balls will stop. My longer hitters will get the ball past the crest of the hill and roll down the hill for extra distance. If I'm feeling really sneaky, I'll use some Firm Fairway on the backside of the hill to get extra roll!
The accuracy skill works the same way: comparing the scores of the accurate golfers vs. the golfers without the accuracy skill. Surrounding your green with water is the classic way to reward the accurate golf shot, and it seems to work quite well in SimGolf. Just don't make it too hard or your members get real upset.
The imagination rating is the really tricky one. Golfers with the imagination skill are able to "shape" their shots: curve them right-to-left or left-to-right, as well as hit the high backspin shot. No imagination golfers can only hit it straight. So a hole that rewards imagination will usually have a curved fairway that requires a hook or a draw shot. The green may be protected by a hazard in front, requiring the player to use the high backspin shot to hold the green. Of course, once you start combining a bunch of these features in one hole, things get really interesting.
BTW you can tell which skills the golfers have by how they are dressed (at least until you start customizing them). The guys in shorts have the length and imagination skills; the women have the imagination and accuracy skills, the portly guys in knickers have length and accuracy, and the long pants-short sleeve guys have all three skills.
A real challenge in SimGolf is to design a "Classic" hole, which is a hole that has all three skill ratings (length, accuracy, and imagination) of 1.00 or greater.