GOLF+ - 2024 Forum Member Review

[Fongle]

56 minutes ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

For what it's worth, one of the things I noted with the Quest 2 early on was that it struggled to finish 18 holes, even with a full battery.  However, I found a relatively easy workaround for this, by finding a long (6') USB-C cord, and having it plugged in to a Macbook Power Brick (larger amperage).  While not IDEAL (ideal would be a small USB-C power bank in a back pocket with the cord running up my back to the headset, but that may be a future purchase), it still gets the job done, and I've found that as long as my back is to the cord/plug, it never really gets in the way. 

If you DO decide to go this route (or something similar), just make sure the brick you're plugged into has enough power to actually charge the Quest, as just plugging in to a small brick (think small iPhone or iPad sized plug) will still drain the battery life (though admittedly slower than without anything).

Hope this helps!

That might work okay for me, I've got a fairly decent battery pack that can do up to 65W, might get a right angle usb c cable and attach it with some velcro zip ties so it goes down my back without getting caught. Good idea!

[Fongle]

On 7/21/2024 at 6:56 AM, GregGarner said:

Quick update - today I learned two important things about me/this test.

In no way will I be using this for tournament prep! (at least not yet) 

I have definitely learnt this myself, at least while just using the Meta controller. Spent the last couple of days just playing GOLF+, and hadn't touched a real club in that time, including using my putting mat. After just 2 days of putting using a lightweight plastic controller, I'd decided to practice putting with my Scotty Squareback while the headset charged, and it felt like swinging a sledgehammer at the ball. it felt utterly bizzare, and massively heavy, when normally it feels like it weighs nothing. Took almost a hour of putting practice to get it feeling like normal again. Very, very strange sensation to say the least. 

Looks like my swing controller attachment should arrive in a couple of days now at least, so that should help alleviate the issue. 

[Josh Parker]

10 hours ago, Fongle said:

I have definitely learnt this myself, at least while just using the Meta controller. Spent the last couple of days just playing GOLF+, and hadn't touched a real club in that time, including using my putting mat. After just 2 days of putting using a lightweight plastic controller, I'd decided to practice putting with my Scotty Squareback while the headset charged, and it felt like swinging a sledgehammer at the ball. it felt utterly bizzare, and massively heavy, when normally it feels like it weighs nothing. Took almost a hour of putting practice to get it feeling like normal again. Very, very strange sensation to say the least. 

Looks like my swing controller attachment should arrive in a couple of days now at least, so that should help alleviate the issue. 

I was going to ask this question.  After using the controller for a bit of time, what, if any changes have you noticed when you go swing a real club?

[Coulter]

14 hours ago, Fongle said:

I have definitely learnt this myself, at least while just using the Meta controller. Spent the last couple of days just playing GOLF+, and hadn't touched a real club in that time, including using my putting mat. After just 2 days of putting using a lightweight plastic controller, I'd decided to practice putting with my Scotty Squareback while the headset charged, and it felt like swinging a sledgehammer at the ball. it felt utterly bizzare, and massively heavy, when normally it feels like it weighs nothing. Took almost a hour of putting practice to get it feeling like normal again. Very, very strange sensation to say the least. 

Looks like my swing controller attachment should arrive in a couple of days now at least, so that should help alleviate the issue. 

Did it throw you off so much that you weren’t making putts? 

[Fongle]

30 minutes ago, Coulter said:

Did it throw you off so much that you weren’t making putts? 

I was making putts, but the feel of the swing felt crazily different to normal, it was like my muscle memory had been recalibrated to expect a much lighter club. My workaround today has been zip-tying the Meta controller to my Scotty grip, and putting like that while using the practice mode in-game, fixed the issue for me 

Edited July 27 by Fongle

[Fongle]

14 hours ago, Josh Parker said:

I was going to ask this question.  After using the controller for a bit of time, what, if any changes have you noticed when you go swing a real club?

Swinging an iron, wood or wedge has felt much the same, it's mostly been the different when using a putter that I've noticed. I think the difference there is that I've had to start swinging one handed with those clubs ingame while using the Meta controller, so there was no crossover between that and my regular swings. With the putting though, I could grip that with two hands and use a essentially the same technique as my normal putting stroke, and that then creates a weird crossover effect when switching back to an actual putter 

[Fongle]

@GolfSpy SAM Got it sorted now  

Right-angle USB C, with velcro cable ties holding it in place so it runs down my back correctly without getting caught. I have seen the headset straps with inbuilt battery packs and I might potentially look at one later on if this presents an issue, but between this and my portable battery pack I think this should be more than enough.

[mynerds]

Preface – Meta Quest 3 and Accessories (No Rating)

It is impossible to talk about the GOLF+ experience without mentioning the Meta Quest 3. I will keep my comments as concise as possible not only because there is a wealth of rich content about the Quest 3 itself, but also to keep testing focus on the GOLF+ experience as much as possible. Having said that, here are my key impressions for someone who may be looking at purchasing a Quest 3 specifically to play GOLF+.

• VR technology has advanced significantly, even from the launch of the then-revolutionary Oculus Rift. If you’re new to VR or haven’t tried the latest gear, you’re in for a real treat.
• The stock Quest 3 head strap is uncomfortable at best. More often than not, it is painful to use.
  
  I consider an aftermarket head strap a required purchase at this point. Big shoutout to the GOLF+ team for sending this head strap from KIWI to the testers knowing that it would be needed.
  
• I am shocked at how bad Meta’s initial use experience is. I’m not as qualified on this subject as @GregGarner, so I’ll just comment that I was wildly disappointed with how quickly they throw users into the deep end.
• You need a decent amount of space to make the most of the VR experience. I would recommend at least a 6' x 6' square. You CAN play from a largely stationary position, but one wrong move and you’re going to punch a wall.

I spent a significant amount of time familiarizing myself with the Quest 3’s capabilities and other apps before opening the GOLF+ app. I wanted to make sure that I was neither overly impressed with GOLF+ because of the Quest 3’s capabilities, nor frustrated with GOLF+ because of Quest 3 limitations. And what did I find?

First Impressions – GOLF+ (9/10)

 

“Woah.”

That’s my first impression. An audible “woah.” There are some moments when you know you’re looking at game-changing technology. GOLF+ really feels like it could introduce golf to a new audience. In many ways, it feels like it may only be scratching the surface of possibilities. Here are some highlights:

• The immersion created from the first-person point of view is incredible.
  As I mentioned before, I’m a long-time golfing gamer. The visual experience is typically third-person either overhead or pointing down the line of your intended shot. Standing over the ball and lining up your virtual shot like you would in real life immediately makes the game feel special.
• Out of the box, the game is accurate to my faults. This is probably one of the few areas where GOLF+ makes a claim that we can test - “Accurate physics models that make you feel like you’re really on the course.” I’d say this is mostly accurate with one minor and one major exception noted below. My bad hits in VR fly exactly as they would in real life.
• It’s not initially accurate to my actual distances, but I believe it’s possible to tune your clubs to match real-life performance. Quite frankly, I won’t decline the little ego boost that being able to drive 300+ yards provides at the moment.
• The gamified practice is fun and engaging.
  Time will tell if spending time practicing in VR helps or hinders my real-life game. If it helps, it will be easy to keep up with practice especially in the long offseason.
• Multiplayer is a great socialization experience. I played a few holes with @GolfSpy SAM this weekend on Pebble Beach (which is a wild sentence to write).
  Just like on the course, it’s great to bounce ideas off others and share in the ups and downs of your round. I could easily see MGS scheduling virtual events for members to play with each other, or a VR-only flight in the VCT.
• I love putting, but I am awful at reading greens.
  The game allows you to visually see slopes but also gives you the option to display detailed slope topography. I really like this feature and wonder if it will translate to better visual readings on the course.

The one low-light out of the box is the chipping experience. Of my entire game, I am most confident with my pitching and sand wedges. Where I can feel the difference between 10-, 25-, 50-, 75-, and 100-yard shots in real life, I get WILDLY different outcomes in GOLF+. In the practice range, I will try a 25-yard shot and occasionally flop it 10 yards or smash it for 50. I need to spend time tuning the sensitivity on my chips in the menu, but I’ll take away a point from the first impressions for the high variability here. Your mileage may vary!

Overall, I’m impressed and excited to continue with the test!

[mynerds]

Played a Quick 9 last night and was sent to Wolf Creek. Holy smokes, that course is unique! My lucky shot of the night was this ball that stopped 2 inches away from rolling down a 30 foot cliff into the water.

I ended 2 under with and eagle, two birdies and two bogeys:

I was able to stream this round in discord to some friends and one found it mildly nauseating to watch. I’m waiting for approval from YouTube to be able to go Live, but just an FYI that this game may not stream well for those susceptible to motion sickness.

[Fongle]

10 minutes ago, mynerds said:

I was able to stream this round in discord to some friends and one found it mildly nauseating to watch. I’m waiting for approval from YouTube to be able to go Live, but just an FYI that this game may not stream well for those susceptible to motion sickness.

I've been testing the Oculus Client running the game off my desktop connected via cable to the headset, and it's both much smoother, and should be much easier to figure out streaming. I'll try get a live stream happening this weekend. In other news, my golf club attachment should finally arrive tomorrow, so I can finally try the game out as a proper VR golf sim

[GOLF PLUS VR]

42 minutes ago, Fongle said:

I've been testing the Oculus Client running the game off my desktop connected via cable to the headset, and it's both much smoother, and should be much easier to figure out streaming. I'll try get a live stream happening this weekend. In other news, my golf club attachment should finally arrive tomorrow, so I can finally try the game out as a proper VR golf sim

FYI there's an option in the camera settings for stabilization. For streaming purposes, I would typically suggest applying that! The video quality will suffer a little, but it does help from a motion standpoint. If I'm just recording highlights, I turn the stabilization off and just stabilize it in post, but for streaming purposes it's best to have that on.

[JFish350]

This is awesome, I didn't know this was an option with a Meta Quest 2. I am absolutely getting this. For those times when I can't get out for whatever reason.  

[mynerds]

On 7/27/2024 at 4:56 AM, Josh Parker said:

I was going to ask this question.  After using the controller for a bit of time, what, if any changes have you noticed when you go swing a real club?

On 7/27/2024 at 8:11 AM, Coulter said:

Did it throw you off so much that you weren’t making putts? 

On 7/27/2024 at 8:37 AM, Fongle said:

I was making putts, but the feel of the swing felt crazily different to normal

Welp, I'm sad to report that I had my worst round of the year today at the course where I hit my previous best score last month. I lost several balls, had at least a half dozen mulligans (the course was incredibly backed up anyways) and made many 10 yard walks of shank shame.

I've been exclusively using the controller with the club attachment which does have weight to it. Even so, my shot was completely off today. Almost everything was topped or off the heel. I was able to recover a bit with my wedges at the end of the round to at least make some face contact but my aim was atrocious as well.

As for the putter, my armlock mallet felt like swinging a boat anchor into a brick. I might switch to my blade for a few rounds to see if there's any better consistency there. The one upside - my distance control is noticeably better. The jury is still out if my green reading has changed for the better or worse.

I've been using the "Amateur" setting but I'll switch to "Pro" to see if I can punish poor game form and get me back into playing shape.

[Coulter]

34 minutes ago, mynerds said:

Welp, I'm sad to report that I had my worst round of the year today at the course where I hit my previous best score last month. I lost several balls, had at least a half dozen mulligans (the course was incredibly backed up anyways) and made many 10 yard walks of shank shame.

I've been exclusively using the controller with the club attachment which does have weight to it. Even so, my shot was completely off today. Almost everything was topped or off the heel. I was able to recover a bit with my wedges at the end of the round to at least make some face contact but my aim was atrocious as well.

As for the putter, my armlock mallet felt like swinging a boat anchor into a brick. I might switch to my blade for a few rounds to see if there's any better consistency there. The one upside - my distance control is noticeably better. The jury is still out if my green reading has changed for the better or worse.

I've been using the "Amateur" setting but I'll switch to "Pro" to see if I can punish poor game form and get me back into playing shape.

Hopefully it was just a fluke.. how often are you using golf+? How often are you practicing vs how often you practiced before the review period began? 
Also is it fun enough that a pretty much in interested wife might play?

[GregGarner]

On 7/26/2024 at 6:56 PM, Fongle said:

Looks like my swing controller attachment should arrive in a couple of days now at least, so that should help alleviate the issue. 

Even with the attachment, the weighting is still off, FWIW. I honestly didn't notice it while in the headset, I suppose mostly because you're not trying to 'feel' the clubhead in a virtual swing where every strike is a solid strike. But as soon as I picked up a real club, it felt like the heaviest thing I'd ever tried to swing and made the 300g Stack System seem like a feather!

[GregGarner]

On 7/28/2024 at 4:11 AM, Fongle said:

@GolfSpy SAM Got it sorted now  

Right-angle USB C, with velcro cable ties holding it in place so it runs down my back correctly without getting caught. I have seen the headset straps with inbuilt battery packs and I might potentially look at one later on if this presents an issue, but between this and my portable battery pack I think this should be more than enough.

This is sick and WAY more savvy than my initial attempt at extending gameplay time... I have an extra-long Macbook charger that I tried to plug in while playing. TL;DR, as a right handed player, I DO NOT RECOMMEND anything more than a chip while a long cable is dangling from your temple.

I'll spare you the full story, but basically I'm just glad that my laptop charger still works and there doesn't appear to be any damage to the headset...

[Fongle]

My Golf Club Grip Accessory has finally arrived! Very quick to set up and select in the game, which apparently auto adjusts everything to match this particular model.  

I must say, after being so excited to finally get it, I was a little disappointed in my initial experience with it, I'd gone from hitting fairly repeatable fades and draws to suddenly hitting massive banana slices. I'd sort of remedied this by trying to massively close the face down through the swing, especially with woods and long irons, but it's still a work in progress. I think the issue is potentially the camera having issues tracking it as it accelerates through the swing, and it's reading it as massively open through impact when it flicks around. I've watched a couple of replays, and just before/at impact, the face and club bounces around like crazy, on one swing it even read it as facing the other way entirely and essentially shot backwards through my legs into the water.

I've been slowly dialling the clubs in for the last couple of hours, and a mix of slower swing speeds with more swing assist, draw biased spin, and a push bias is mostly getting there. Shorter clubs are generally better, more of an aggressive fade from about the 6 iron and up, to a tight little butter-cut with the lob wedge. 

Aside from those teething issues, it's definitely a better golf experience holding a golf grip again, and I think once it's dialled in (and I've added some weight to it), it's going to be fantastic.

Also had a try of some multiplayer features, played a very casual 4-man just before jumping on to write this, and it was a great experience. Mics seemed to be on for everyone, everyone was friendly, and the experience was very seamless, didn't seem to be any lag or delay for anyone's shots, being able to turn around and watch someone else hit in worked exactly like it would in real life, and overall was just really good. Had 1 guy drop out as his kid started crying, and one guy left after a few bad holes, and I ended up finishing my round with another Aussie, an older gentleman from Melbourne that I just managed to edge out by a single stroke on the last hole.

 

[Fongle]

@mynerds @GregGarner

Was looking around for options to increase the swing weight for the golf grip, and found this online, sold under a few names and from various places, but it's a 120 gram (4.23oz) swing weight that fits around the shaft with rubber inside and velcro to tighten. I picked one up from Aliexpress for $2, but it looks like it's available from Amazon in the US. Will see if that helps with the odd sensation of swinging a weightless club, and if need be I might unscrew the grip and hotglue in some fishing sinkers to get it to be about the same weight as my 7 iron.

 

Now we've got the full game experience unlocked, would love to sort out a time to play a round as well

[mynerds]

@Fongle @GregGarner @GolfSpy SAM And anyone else with Golf+, I can probably make a round work Friday after 1pm central, or can coordinate something this weekend. Let me know if anyone has a specific time slot that works and lets get something on the books.

[Fongle]

I can probably make something work around 4pm Central on Friday, it's 7am Saturday my time, but I'll be up around then. 

Otherwise I'm fairly free on anywhere from about 3pm AEST Saturday, anywhere til about midnight Sunday. 

Not sure if you guys had played much on Novice mode, but it's a bit, uh, overly easy. I was using the media function to watch the Olympic golf in game (amazing feature btw) while playing Kapalua from the back tees with pro greens, and somehow set the 3rd best score of all time. Great ego boost, but I don't think I'm quite that good haha

[mynerds]

3 hours ago, Fongle said:

I can probably make something work around 4pm Central on Friday, it's 7am Saturday my time, but I'll be up around then. 

Otherwise I'm fairly free on anywhere from about 3pm AEST Saturday, anywhere til about midnight Sunday. 

Not sure if you guys had played much on Novice mode, but it's a bit, uh, overly easy. I was using the media function to watch the Olympic golf in game (amazing feature btw) while playing Kapalua from the back tees with pro greens, and somehow set the 3rd best score of all time. Great ego boost, but I don't think I'm quite that good haha

I'll look for you on Friday for sure, possibly Saturday morning (my time) depending on how the rugrat sleeps. I'll also be giving Kapalua on Novice Mode a try. For science.

To update the audience here, @GOLF PLUS VR granted some extra goodies to the tester accounts for testing club customization and the suite of courses. A few observations on club customization:

• Club customization appears to be mostly* cosmetic. Every additional club has the same distances, except the options for Driver, 3W, and 5W are listed as 5 yards longer than their base Callaway Epic Speed MAX equivalents:
  
  All like-for-like irons and wedges are identical as far as I can see. @GOLF PLUS VR is this intentional with the D/3W/5W?
• I prefer the matte over glossy look to my woods in real life, and that preference carries over to VR as well. Another subtle but appreciated QOL feature.
• There is a strange flashing visual when using the colored sand wedges:
  I suspect it's a combination of lighting and the club texture, but I found it made the clubs distracting to use, especially the copper wedge which ends up reflecting a deep blue.:
  I'd love to see an update to the texture to make the club more matte like the default black lob wedge.

Lastly, we now have access to select any hole from any of the available courses in GOLF+. It was an easy choice for me as to which hole on which course would be my first stop:

"They're going to go nuts when he hits this thing."

[GOLF PLUS VR]

To answer @mynerds question regarding the equipment, yes it is intentional that all of the equipment be purely cosmetic rather than performance. We want to have has many of the OEMs in the game as possible, and trying to attribute some clubs to be different than others might deter manufacturers from wanting to work with us.

On a different note, the testers have probably seen so this is for the larger audience - but today we released a new Multiplayer mode within the game where groups can now play Scramble games together. Scramble teams can be 2, 3 or 4 players and you can play 2v2, 2v1 or 3v1 matches! You can read more about it HERE.

This has been far and away the most requested feature from our community over the last 12+ months, and has been in the works for awhile. From an engineering standpoint, it's actually incredibly complicated to development, so we're really pumped to finally get this out!

@mynerds @Fongle @GregGarner @GolfSpy SAM let me know if you guys want to hop in a Scramble game!

[GolfSpy SAM]

6 minutes ago, GOLF PLUS VR said:

To answer @mynerds question regarding the equipment, yes it is intentional that all of the equipment be purely cosmetic rather than performance. We want to have has many of the OEMs in the game as possible, and trying to attribute some clubs to be different than others might deter manufacturers from wanting to work with us.

On a different note, the testers have probably seen so this is for the larger audience - but today we released a new Multiplayer mode within the game where groups can now play Scramble games together. Scramble teams can be 2, 3 or 4 players and you can play 2v2, 2v1 or 3v1 matches! You can read more about it HERE.

This has been far and away the most requested feature from our community over the last 12+ months, and has been in the works for awhile. From an engineering standpoint, it's actually incredibly complicated to development, so we're really pumped to finally get this out!

@mynerds @Fongle @GregGarner @GolfSpy SAM let me know if you guys want to hop in a Scramble game!

Oh my GOD this is amazing.  Guys - what say you?

  For what it's worth, I played the front 9 of Sweeten's Cove today - GOOD GOD it's fun! Big fairways, really sneaky pin placements, double-greens, multiple drivable par-4s (especially with the ego-boosting 300+ drives I've been "gifted" with...might need to change my settings to be SLIGHTLY more realistic, lol).  

  Just a great, GREAT track.  

[Fongle]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

Oh my GOD this is amazing.  Guys - what say you?

  For what it's worth, I played the front 9 of Sweeten's Cove today - GOOD GOD it's fun! Big fairways, really sneaky pin placements, double-greens, multiple drivable par-4s (especially with the ego-boosting 300+ drives I've been "gifted" with...might need to change my settings to be SLIGHTLY more realistic, lol).  

  Just a great, GREAT track.  

Very, very keen to play a scramble, sounds like a ton of fun. Time to set a course record?

[mynerds]

11 hours ago, Fongle said:

Not sure if you guys had played much on Novice mode, but it's a bit, uh, overly easy. I was using the media function to watch the Olympic golf in game (amazing feature btw) while playing Kapalua from the back tees with pro greens, and somehow set the 3rd best score of all time. Great ego boost, but I don't think I'm quite that good haha

I just tried this course with your settings.

1) Novice is way too forgiving for anyone who plays golf.

2) You still hit a great round! Here’s mine (just below you).

@GregGarner @GolfSpy SAM Give this course a try: Kapalua, Novice, Back Tees, Hard Pins, Moderate Wind, Pro greens.

[GregGarner]

23 hours ago, mynerds said:

@Fongle @GregGarner @GolfSpy SAM And anyone else with Golf+, I can probably make a round work Friday after 1pm central, or can coordinate something this weekend. Let me know if anyone has a specific time slot that works and lets get something on the books.

I have the final match of my club's Match Play tournament on Saturday, so, uh... I'm just going to be honest and say that I'm a touch hesitant to play on VR right before that, given my previous experience trying to switch directly from VR to IRL

BUT I'd love to play on Sunday if anyone is available; preference for afternoon Eastern (US) time, but I can try to be flexible

[GregGarner]

2 hours ago, mynerds said:

@GolfSpy SAM Give this course a try: Kapalua, Novice, Back Tees, Hard Pins, Moderate Wind, Pro greens.

Will definitely have to try! I've played around some with the different settings, but I guess that answers one of my questions: how in the world are some people scoring SO low??? I think I saw -17 on Pinehurst No. 2. When I played from the back tees, I felt like I played pretty well (except for a dumb double on 6) and didn't break par.

I'd love to see the scoreboards segmented by settings or at least some kind of grouping/standardization. Otherwise, it's just kinda meaningless and/or more akin to CyberTiger.

Also, so stoked to have Butler Pitch and Putt. I lived in Austin for a couple years, so it was great to check out this gem again. It's probably a good thing you can't smell in the VR headset though

[JFish350]

I tried buying this game on my Meta quest 2 and my card declined it. Pretty sure it's the CC company thinking its not me trying to buy it. Odd though as it is the card I have with them and bought other games with. maybe that's a good thing since I am not supposed to be swinging a club for another 4-6 weeks. 

Also looking for the club attachment. 

[mynerds]

My 75 year old mother is visiting this week, and I was able to get her set up in practice mode. I don't think she would have been able to navigate the room setup or Meta apps on her own but she took to the game immediately once it was set up for her. I started her in the putting practice mode on easy and she holed a few before saying "all right I wanna really hit something!" I switched her to the driver and after a few slow swings, she was laughing and hitting 150-200 yard stingers. No issue with balance, and the headset fit fine over her glasses.

She's usually not quick to take to tech gadgets, but I think she started having fun immediately. Very fun to see GOLF+ appeal to someone I wouldn't have expected to!

[Fongle]

Completed an important test today, is GOLF+ a good experience while unwell? 

Currently, answer is no. Had a friends kids birthday Saturday morning, there was (what seemed like) a million snotty kids running around and I've woken up today feeling decidedly awful. 

The original Golf Grip accessory finally arrived today, the DeadEye VR, and it feels about twice as heavy as the AMVR grip, so I thought I'd try it out quickly, and got 6 holes in before retiring. VR and dizziness are not good good combinations, do not recommend. 

Hope everyone else has had a better weekend, and hopefully we can get a contest happening soon! 

Edited August 4 by Fongle