WTH does this moving pin stick accomplish?

[TAGROCKET]

Moving the pin closer or farther away is driving me nuts, along with other things, but playing TW08 for years we never have a stick to move forward or back to allow for more or less power from the putter. If it is a uphill or downhill putt you just adjusted your swing softer or harder, but, in this game that doesn't work with consistency EVER!! 
   For me it's a compromise that absolutely makes my game trash most of the time. Is there a rule of thumb on how to use this moving pin? Thanks in advance.

[Snakeyes]

This guide was copy and pasted from the discussions forum on Steam. It was posted by the game developer. It made putting easier for me to understand. Hopefully it will help you.

Putting How-to
by HB Lorin

"Some tips for putting in The Golf Club:

The Yellow Marker

The yellow marker CAN effect the putt, but it doesn't always.

Here is what the yellow marker does:

Wherever you set the yellow marker, lets say at 45 feet, it tells the game that this is your intended distance. Now, lets imagine the backswing goes from 0 (putter not moving) all the way back to 100 (the putter at its furthest back). And let's say, for the purposes of this demonstration, that your putter's max distance on a flat, medium speed green is 90 feet. So to achieve 45 feet, you would need to pull the putter back to 50 in that 0-100 scale, right? Well, the yellow marker has told the computer that 50 is your intended power and it smooths the edges around that 50 mark by 1 or 2 on each side. So if you pull back to 48-52, you will get the same results.

This is done to account for the lack of pixel-perfect fidelity in the controls. That is how it can effect a putt.

Now, if you had the exact same scenario - you put the marker at 45 feet, but you only had a 9 foot putt, it would not effect the putt at all. This is because, using the previous set up, you would be pulling back to 10 in the 0-100 scale (10% of 90 = 9) and the smoothing effect of the marker distance would have no effect (because set at 45 feet, it would only effect putts around 50%).

The way the game is intended to be played is that you set the marker at the distance for which you want to aim, which should be about 2 feet past the hole on flat putts, and then adjusted from there for elevation as described in the Putting Power section below. These numbers are all for medium speed greens. You may have to adjust for slow or fast greens, which can be done by either changing your aim or by using less or more backswing.

All that being said, there are people who play perfectly well, and enjoy it, by moving the marker 100 feet out every time (marker doesn't effect the power at all) and also those who don't adjust the marker at all, they just leave it hole high. They have just learned to swing with slightly different parameters. There is no one way to do it.


And here is my advice on putting power:

Putting Power:

So here is what I posted in another thread about learning power and distance, see if it helps:

First, you will need to find a fixed point of reference to be able to consistently judge how far back to pull your club. I use the golfer's foot as a reference for how far back to pull. Some people use the club shaft (shown here[www.hb-studios.com]). Either way, you will need to find a fixed reference to learn how to pull it back consistently.

To determine power, the % of back-swing is a good place to start but, adjusting the marker for an aiming spot, the way you would do it in real golf, is also very important.

So, for a flat put, put the marker about 2 feet past the whole. For an uphill putt, put the marker 2-3 feet past the hole (I use 3 feet) plus about 1 foot for every 1 inch of elevation. For a downhill putt, leave the marker on the hole for 1 or 2 inches of decline, but for anything more than that, move in toward you, 1 foot for every 1 inch of decline beyond 2.

Once you have adjusted the marker, use the method where, if the putter represents 101 feet and your putt (distance to the marker) is 50 feet, pull back roughly 50%. Then you can adjust a smidge and use the golfer as a reference point (club head at the back of the feet, front of the feet, etc.).

If you use this method you should get the feel for it in no time.

Hopefully this helps."

[TAGROCKET]

Thanks Snake, I will look it over!!!!

[edi_vedder]

There are also a few quiet useful threads in this forum already.

Use the search function (in this sub-forum) and look for "putting" and/or "marker".

[TAGROCKET]

Thanks E V appreciated!

[BillySastard976]

I didn't use the marker to help me at all for the first few months of playing the game. I think in fact this is a good idea, as you have to learn to judge speed/elevation entirely yourself. Using the marker does help though - there are times when I think I've hit a putt just that bit too soft and the ball seems to get drawn in to the hole, due to the marker being set.