PGA European Tour


Dust those golf clubs off and play a shoot-out over the last three holes of the K-Club course in Eire in this sampler from Electronic Arts.

We've also reproduced below a set of hints and tips to let you get the most from the game. You might like to print them out to refer to while you try to master the art of chipping, putting and looking cool while slicing out of bounds..........


PGA TOUR 96 Online Player's Guide



Presented by EA Publications, creators of EA SPORTS Player’s Guide books

This online Player's Guide is excerpted from the full PGA TOUR 96 Player's Guide that is available now. If you find these tips helpful, look for the book at your local software retailer or order direct from Electronic Arts.

From the development of the game to the best strategy for blasting out of a sand trap, the Player’s Guide puts vital information from EA SPORTS insiders at your fingertips. In addition, the PGA TOUR 96 Player’s Guide offers a comprehensive look at golf to provide you with an in-depth understanding of the sport’s rich past as well as its present.

  • 200 pages of the PGA TOUR info you need to lower your scores gameplay tips, hints, and tricks.
  • Hitting strategies for each hole on the courses.
  • Pictures and diagrams with step-by-step instructions.
  • Complete player bios for PGA TOUR 96 pros.
  • An inside look at the development of PGA TOUR 96.
  • Includes strategy for the Spanish Bay™ add-on course disk.
  • Playing PGA TOUR 96 without the Player’s Guide is like playing golf without your favorite putter!

    Last updated: 12 April, 1996

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • THE SWING METER
  • OFF THE TEE
  • CLUB SELECTION
  • BACKSPIN
  • NERVES OF STEEL

  • THE SWING METER

    You need to understand the Swing meter before you can make accurate shots consistently. When you start your swing, a dark blue Power bar begins traveling up the Swing arc. When you stop your backswing, the Power bar leaves a mark to indicate where it stopped and begins traveling back down the Swing arc. The farther up the arc the Power bar moves, the greater distance you can get on your shot.

  • With the Caddie option set to DISTANCE or LIE, a white band at or near the top of the Swing arc marks the distance required to reach your target. Beyond the band is a red area which indicates the “Overswing” area. On shots where you’re too far away to reach the green, you might want to venture into the overswing area to increase your distance, but on shots aimed at the pin you should always choose a club that can get you there without overswing.
  • The center of the white or yellow band at the bottom of the Swing arc indicates a hit with no hook or slice on the ball. You want to stop your downswing in the center of that band. The Power bar leaves a mark where the club makes contact with the ball.
  • If the mark appears to the right of the band, the ball will slice to the right. If the mark appears to the left, the ball will hook to the left. The further the mark is from the center, the more the ball will hook or slice.
  • BOTTOM LINE: LEARN HOW TO USE THE SWING METER. YOU CAN PLAY A DECENT ROUND OF GOLF, IF YOU JUST HIT THE BALL STRAIGHT.

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    OFF THE TEE

    Like the great pros themselves, you should strive for consistency and good placement off the tee. If you hit like a gorilla but can’t control the ball, more often than not you’ll find yourself in trouble on your second shots. It’s a good idea on the course and in the game to hit the ball clean and stay on the fairway; you can waste two strokes hacking out of the woods instead of coming up nice and well placed for your second shot.

  • Keep in mind that the great courses are all designed to penalize risky shots that turn out badly.
  • Watch the aerial fly-bys to get a view of the entire hole; you can do some advance club selection planning then.
  • Listen to the tips the pros give you on each hole; they have already learned the rule that it is better to be 20 yards short and in the fairway than to be in the rough (or worse).
  • Many players choke on the tee shots, and if you’re one of those who find themselves topping the ball when driving, or always hooking into that water hazard you know you have to avoid, try to limit your preoccupation with your second shot. Others are so eager to finish the hole on their drive, (they can envision themselves already 4 under for the round at the first tee) that they have to force themselves to play the drive just like any other shot, but with better conditions.

  • Try a different club, or limit your concentration to the Swing Meter, disregarding the other factors, such as wind, ball lie (you’re on the tee, don’t worry about it), or the draw/fade meter. As your skill and confidence improve, you’ll be able to shoot for distance and placement.
  • Once you’ve mastered the drive and are feeling pretty confident, then try boosting your power level.


    EA TIP
    Try this trick: Use the PRO difficulty when teeing off. In PRO mode the meter goes quicker and is harder to hit perfect, but the distance is MUCH longer than in either other mode. Once you get to the approach shot to the green, switch the mode over to NOVICE which goes MUCH slower and is easier to hit perfectly straight. Here distance is not an issue, whereas accuracy is. Use the skill level modes to your advantage.

    BOTTOM LINE: SHORT AND STRAIGHT GETS YOU TO THE GREEN MUCH QUICKER THAN LONG AND OUT OF BOUNDS.

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    CLUB SELECTION

    Throughout the Player’s Guide, you will find tips on club selection as they apply to a specific situation (i.e., playing out of a sand trap). However, below you’ll find some general tips for club selection. When you’re playing a round, your caddie will give you the club he thinks is appropriate for the shot, but the final choice is always yours. When considering distance potential, remember to take into account ball lie, wind, and backspin potential. Below is a chart recording distance potential for the clubs. Remember, this is a general chart and can change according to skill level and ability.

    DISTANCE POTENTIAL

    Club Type Range (Yards)
    Driver 260
    2 Wood 248
    3 Wood 236
    4 Wood 224
    5 Wood 212
    1 Iron 227
    2 Iron 215
    3 Iron 203
    4 Iron 191
    5 Iron 179
    6 Iron 167
    7 Iron 155
    8 Iron 143
    9 Iron 131
    Pitching Wedge 119
    Sand Wedge 100
    Putter *

    Tips on Club Selection

  • If you find yourself in amongst a group of tall trees, try and punch your ball underneath the tree branches with a fairway-wood or long-iron to get back onto the fairway or green.
  • By the same token, if you find yourself behind some tall objects (for instance, trees), try and lift your shot over the obstacle with a short-iron or wedge.
  • Choosing clubs: you may want to pick-up all of the wedges and leave your 1 and 2 irons at home. This gives you more flexibility when you get close to the green.
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    BACKSPIN

    The ability to control the ball with backspin is one of the skills that separates the pros from the rest of us. Still, it’s never too late to learn, and if you want to stay alive on the TOUR, it’s a necessity. So take a lesson in hitting with backspin.

    When aiming for the green, you’ll want to account for the amount of roll or backspin on the ball. Backspin takes effect after the first bounce. The ball hits the green, bounces forward, then grabs on the second bounce and rolls backward.

    If you hit the green with a wood from far away, the ball will rocket off the putting surface into the rough or hazards beyond. If you hit the green with a medium or long-iron, there’s a chance the ball will stop on the green after the first bounce if the green is large enough.

    Backspin works great when approaching a green, or on a par 3 hole. You cannot spin the ball with woods, in real life or the game. Even high irons are tough to spin; normally we only consider it when using a 5-iron or lower. It is especially effective on small, tight greens where the landing area is not very large and you need some way to slow the ball upon landing.

  • Backspin is not effective from the rough because the grass gets in the way of the clubhead and causes erratic control problems.
  • Backspin works great on a short "punch" shot.
  • You need to use discretion when attempting spin under heavy wind conditions.
  • Under windy conditions try a higher club and hit the ball lower and roll-it-up to the pin to avoid the wind "grabbing" the ball or knocking it down short. One last note on spin is its effect on distance—be sure to use an extra club when applying a lot of spin, as the ball can typically spin backwards 15 feet or more.

    BOTTOM LINE: YOU CAN PLAY A DECENT ROUND OF GOLF WITHOUT USING BACKSPIN, BUT IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE AGAINST THE PROS AND WIN, LEARN TO USE IT.

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    NERVES OF STEEL

    TIPS ON PUTTING

    Drive for show, and putt for dough! Ask most players of both real golf and PGA TOUR 96 and you’ll find they all fall apart when they step on the green. They can drive, use their irons, chip for birdie, pitch like a pro and play from the sand, but get them on a putting green and they crumble quicker than ancient Twinkies. What you need is confidence and practice. Below are some tips to help you gain the first—the second is up to you.

  • First, always check your lie and your ball’s position relative to the cup.
  • If you are above the pin, you can count on gravity to give you some extra help; judge your force and distance accordingly.
  • If the ball is below the pin you are going to need to hit it a little harder or you are bound to stop short of your mark.
  • If you are on the fringe, you need to hit harder to get through the rough. With plenty of practice, the strength of your putt becomes second nature.
  • SEGA USERS: If putting is your Achilles heel, use the Practice Putting game mode to try out all the greens on all the courses before playing a Tournament.
  • Reading the Breaks on the Green

    Reading the breaks of a green poses one of the greatest problems for consistent putting. All of the platforms described in this play guide have the option of using a putting grid when on the green. The grid provides critical information on the contours of the green. Used in conjunction with the InstaView (PC users only) and the commentary provided by voice or text, it's virtually like walking the green. Some rules of thumb you can use for adjusting your Bull’s-Eye or aiming cursor while using the grid:

  • When the lines that form the grid are unbroken, the green is as flat as a day-old soda. In this instance you need only putt the ball with the proper strength, and hit the ball square (right in the middle of the contact band) to sink it.
  • When the lines on the grid are broken downward to the left, the green slopes to the left. The more breaks in the lines, the steeper the grade. I usually move the Bull’s-Eye or Aiming cursor right the same amount of times as there are breaks. For example, if you count 7 breaks between you and pin, press the Control Pad/D-Pad right 7 times (for PlayStation, 3DO, and Sega users); or press the right arrow 7 times.
    Follow the same principle for right sloping greens.
  • Use the grid to get more of a "feel" for the break of the green. In real golf, the grain of the grass on the green usually grows TOWARDS large bodies of water, so the green will break that direction. You can usually assume the ball will break towards the large water masses, and aim accordingly.
  • Always putt a little stronger than the distance to insure you have enough "juice" on the putt to get it there. Be cautious of the ball lie, above or below the cup, to determine if the distance should be altered.
  • As in real golf, if you are going to miss a putt, be sure you are BELOW the cup, so your next shot will be straight uphill. Uphill putts are the easiest to make.
  • More Tips on Putting

    A tip on long putts we use when playing real golf is to draw an imaginary 4 foot "ring" around the hole and try to simply get inside this ring rather than the actual hole itself—this way you are sure to make a two-putt instead of blowing it with a three-putt or worse. Try it out on PGA TOUR 96.

  • The breaks in the green effect the ball more as the ball slows down. This means that it’s more important to compensate for the breaks around the cup than for those directly in front of the ball.
  • When compensating for a drastic break, keep in mind that the ball will be traveling farther to the cup since it’s not following a straight path between two points. In such a case, make sure you add a little distance to your putt.
  • You may want to give your putts a little more power than your caddie advises. He doesn’t always take into account the speed of the green.
  • Particularly on short putts, it’s generally a good idea to hit the ball too hard rather than too soft. Don’t try to cozy in your short putts.
  • Remember, the pros spend years learning to read the greens—you won’t be an expert overnight. Practice, practice, practice!!
  • Fringe Putting

    If you land on the fringe, or apron, PGA TOUR 96 assumes you want to putt, and always selects your putter. Sometimes the hole is too far away, and you may elect to chip or pitch to the green. Try a chip with an 8-iron for the best results.

    BOTTOM LINE: PUTTING CONSUMES SOME 43% OF THE STROKES FOR BETTER PLAYERS, THEREBY SERVING AS A GREAT EQUALIZER BETWEEN POWER AND FINESSE PLAYERS. MASTER THE PUTT AND YOU’LL BE A CHAMP ON ANY GREEN.

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