How the elements are affecting your distance
By Deprecated: Function the_author_posts_link was called with an argument that is deprecated since version 2.1.0 with no alternative available. in /var/web/site/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6085 Golden Tee Fan • Category: Features, Golden Tee golf clubs, Hitting out of rough lies • • Leave a Comment (4)With the introduction of the dynamic distance indicator in Golden Tee Live 2010, players now get to see how differing conditions affect the distance of any particular shot. The amount of rain in combination with the lie of your ball triggers a formula that calculates the number you see on the distance marker with any specific club/ball combo. Sure, we all know that rain kills roll when the ball lands and that you can’t hit the ball as far out of a tough lie, but have you ever stopped to pay attention to all the situations that Golden Tee takes into account?
I’ve been working on this project for a while now, and it’s still got a ways to go, but I wanted to report my findings thus far. This attached file has a ton of information across many tabs, but I want to focus on how each specific lie/weather combo affects your distance.
The tab I’m most interested in completing right now is the “X22s-Gamer2s + Conditions” tab (now Flares and Trackers). These are the clubs and balls I’m currently using on each 2010 course, and so I’ve started recording the distance that shows on the distance marker with each club in that set. There are many situations I haven’t come across yet, as you can tell.
Now, if you pull just a specific club and a specific ball, like my 9-wood and the Gamer 2.0, here’s how the grid now looks (distances in blue are confirmed, while distances in black are best guesses):
| X22 9-wood + Gamer2s (now Flares + Trackers) |
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| Lie / Weather | Dry | Wet | Light Rain | Heavy Rain |
| Teebox | 195 | 192 | 188 | 182 |
| Fairway | 193 | 190 | 187 | 181 |
| First Cut/Shortcut Grass | 194 | 191 | 188 | 182 |
| Second Cut of Rough | 180 | 177 | 174 | 168 |
| Heavy Rough | 167 | 164 | 161 | 156 |
| Mud | 97 | 95 | 93 | 90 |
| Sand/Dust | 146 | 143 | 140 | 135 |
| Dirt | 137 | 134 | 131 | 127 |
Now if we order the possible conditions by distance, we end up with this grid:
| X22 9-wood + Gamer2s (now Flares + Trackers) |
Distance | % Decrease |
| Teebox + Dry | 195 | 0.00% |
| First Cut/Shortcut Grass + Dry | 194 | 0.51% |
| Fairway + Dry | 193 | 1.03% |
| Teebox + Wet | 192 | 1.54% |
| First Cut/Shortcut Grass + Wet | 191 | 2.05% |
| Fairway + Wet | 190 | 2.56% |
| Teebox + Light Rain | 188 | 3.59% |
| First Cut/Shortcut Grass + Light Rain | 188 | 3.59% |
| Fairway + Light Rain | 187 | 4.10% |
| Teebox + Heavy Rain | 182 | 6.67% |
| First Cut/Shortcut Grass + Heavy Rain | 182 | 6.67% |
| Fairway + Heavy Rain | 181 | 7.18% |
| Second Cut of Rough + Dry | 180 | 7.69% |
| Second Cut of Rough + Wet | 177 | 9.23% |
| Second Cut of Rough + Light Rain | 174 | 10.77% |
| Second Cut of Rough + Heavy Rain | 168 | 13.85% |
| Heavy Rough + Dry | 167 | 14.36% |
| Heavy Rough + Wet | 164 | 15.90% |
| Heavy Rough + Light Rain | 161 | 17.44% |
| Heavy Rough + Heavy Rain | 156 | 20.00% |
| Sand/Dust + Dry | 146 | 25.13% |
| Sand/Dust + Wet | 143 | 26.67% |
| Sand/Dust + Light Rain | 140 | 28.21% |
| Dirt + Dry | 137 | 29.74% |
| Sand/Dust + Heavy Rain | 135 | 30.77% |
| Dirt + Wet | 134 | 31.28% |
| Dirt + Light Rain | 131 | 32.82% |
| Dirt + Heavy Rain | 127 | 34.87% |
| Mud + Dry | 97 | 50.26% |
| Mud + Wet | 95 | 51.28% |
| Mud + Light Rain | 93 | 52.31% |
| Mud + Heavy Rain | 90 | 53.85% |
There are many things to note when looking at this data. The first thing that confused me is that you see a longer distance from the first cut (or “shortcut” grass that exists on several courses) than from the fairway! I asked around and found out that the ball is somewhat ‘teed up’ on the taller grass compared to the fairway, which gets the club under the ball better (also referred to as a ‘flier lie’) — so, that’s pretty cool that IT incorporated this aspect of golf into the game! You can see how mud cripples your distance, cutting it in half, while dirt, dust and sand cut off between a quarter and a third of your distance.
I never knew so many unique conditions on the course were measured so acutely! You don’t just have rain — you have wet, light rain, or heavy rain. And I’m sure I haven’t captured all the possible lies yet either (snow and ice aren’t included, for example, and neither is tall grass).
And if you think you can find just one number constant and use that as a factor in which to calculate the reduction in distance — think again. I tried, and the reduction factor differs per club! And if you think about it, it should, because of how each club is shaped and functions. So whatever formula the guys at IT are using to calculate distance given these conditions cannot be easily cracked!
Hopefully this article opens your eyes to the wonderful complexity of this game we all love. Let me know if you can help me fill in some of the gaps in my distance grids, and I’ll keep the attachment updated as I gather more data!
