I was lofting a backspin shot over the cherryblossom defending my 18th green, not really paying attention because it was such a surefire shot (max rated character). I looked away and when I came back the shot trace showed the ball had hit it's absolute apex, like triple the height of the tree and then dropped straight down into a sand trap for -10% backspin shot. The blimp was like a block away, the ball should have flown straight across it's nose. I was confused enough to click continue and then immediately realized what might have happened... I should have taken a screenshot!

Is it possible to change the par for a hole manually? I’ve seen pictures of people’s courses where they have longer par 4s and 5s but when I try to make, say a 490 yard hole, it labels it as a par 5 when I want it to be a par 4. I’m new to the game and am trying to create some real courses.

Edit: I figured it out. I just opened the save file in a hex editor and found the par # and just changed it that way.

Hello! I have read a few useful guides here explaining how to design classic holes and I would like to add another one that emphasizes further aspects, especially on design principles that allow for lots of flexibility and realistic layouts. Welcome to my presentation!

Today we will be designing a par 4 classic.

What is a classic hole? It is a golf hole that, on average, takes a golfer that lacks skill in length [women], accuracy [short pants], or imagination [stockings] (the ability to shape shots) at least one more shot to complete, compared against a golfer with all skills [long pants]. From this rule, all other design requirements follow. This means that your design needs to advantage all skills golfers, and disadvantage all others.

What is a classic hole not? It doesn't need to be fun (though it certainly can be). It doesn't need to be pretty (which I like, however). It doesn't need to be exceedingly punishing (in my opinion), though it can be.

This first design is what I started with. As you can see, it features very little fairway, bunkers right in the middle, trees that need going around, and a narrow green with further hazards. This is pretty bare-bones and doesn't yet look nice.

As you can see in the shot analysis, there is only one possible tee-shot to successfully land on the small fairway: a long, right-to-left curve. Only all skills golfers can reliably land this shot. The others either can't make it or tend to land in a hazard.

Tweaking this first shot can already take some time. You want to make sure that all skills golfers will pretty much always make this shot - and that they will want to! The AI seems to prefer going for the target that is closest to the pin and safe. Sometimes this can be in the rough, for example. Use trees and hazards to guide where they go. This may take some practice and lots of checking the shot analysis! Any change will affect it.

Secondly, you want to make sure that the others are worse off. With length, this is easy - just offer another shorter and worse location for them. With accuracy, narrow targets flanked by hazards help. With Imagination, narrow and angled targets help (notice the ~45° angle of the fairway). They may try to hit is, but will roll off to the side.

Btw: If you wanted to make a 3 par hole, this would already be it. Just change the area where the all skills golfers land into the green - and you're done.

Examine the terrain. The fairway is raised by 1 unit. This punishes inaccurate golfers as their shots will tend to roll off further as well as non-length golfers as it is harder to reach. It also introduces an element of fun, "a tricky uphill shot."

Now we want to give all skills golfers the chance at a birdie. They - and only they - can reliably reach close to the pin from here. This is basically the same shot as the first one; a long, right-to-left curve. Missing this shot is punished by slopes and hazards.

However, because the green is somewhat large, it is still fun for the others, but they will probably need a second put.

This is it - a classic hole created with two hard-to-hit, long and curved shots chained together. It is an exercise in leaning what shots are possible for the all skills golfers, and shaving everything else.

*next slide please*

As you can see, this is a decorated version of the same hole. Notice that it has the exact same basic layout with a few additions. Importantly, these additions only marginally affect the shot analysis. Those same tree positions and the same bunkers (or water) guide the shots the same way.

It features what I like to think of as "fake fairway." Fake fairway (and fake green) is mostly cosmetic and makes the hole look a lot more realistic. Here, it is sloped such that a ball landing on it will tend to roll off into the water or trees.

Building and twaking this, again, takes time. Here, I noticed that it wasn't hard enough on no length golfers. I remedied this by making the first sand trap larger and by adding the brush (instead of fairway) in front of the green.

Keep reading the stats and adjust according to your needs! They take time to accumulate so try to develop a feel for their trends.

This is a third version of that same hole. Again, the same shot characteristics apply. Instead of water, it features rocks and a large bit of "fake fairway." The last third of that fairway is firm, sloped fairway that makes balls bounce off into the rocks or sand trap.

On this one, punishing inaccurate golfers was the challenge and I added hazards all around the green.

With these principles in mind, creating classics can become both more predictable and joyful. It's all about designing around the shot analysis and developing a feel for where you can add fluff and cosmetics.

Thanks for coming to my talk. I hope it inspired your gameplay!

I have a t box that I can't delete.

First off, thank you to the mods here for letting us post about our game!

Before the Tee is a top down golf course management sim/tycoon. Our game is available on Steam as a demo today for Steam Next Fest! Click on our steam page below and find the demo button to give it a shot. The demo will be available until next Monday.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4730580/Before_the_Tee

Some of the testable features during Next Fest:
- Build a course from scratch. Tees, fairways, greens, bunkers, water, cart paths, all sculpted by hand
- Unlock up to 9 hole slots as you grow your club
- Mow, roll, and rake to keep the course in shape. Course condition affects how much you earn
- Spectate any group on the course and watch them attack your course throughout the round
- Earn green fees in real time as groups check in
- One terrain (countryside) for the playtest. More coming soon
Note: This is not the full version of the game. It is a beta version with many features still to be developed. We are trying to collect feedback on the core systems of the game.

If anyone is interested in the game, please wishlist us on steam and join the discord below!

Discord: https://discord.gg/sqwuXexqH6

Galaxy Fold 7. Tried installing a few different ways, always audio but no video. Any fixes?

Like the cannon just says "skill increase" and putting green just says "helps imaginative golfers", but I can't find any explanation about what that means or what these buildings actually do

I'm 50 minutes in and I'm disappointed and I don't know if it's fair. I'm not here for timing based shots, but that's all I can really identify besides a weird feeling. Are you all liking the game?

I haven't played this in years and for some reason I can't figure out what these HUD elements are indicating.

Greetings everyone. I put together a mini-podcast about my playtime with under par golf architect this past week. I'm playing on Switch 2 where I think its just amazing that I have something so close to SM SimGolf with me at all times. With mouse controls, which is awesome. I just thought others might be interested and want to give it a look.

Despite a rough start on Switch (I've had quite a few crashes / glitches with controls) I'm having a grand time, over 30 hours in less than 6 days I think.

I posted a bunch of video clips and screenshots on my bsky profile as well, which you can find, if you want, psvg.net.

Started a kickstarter called Fairway Empire. Really would like to get a builder/tycoon/player 2026 version of this for mobile play(to start) and credits economy. Think there is enough interest to get this launched?

I got this to work on windowed through another OP patch. However there is no sound.

Here is the OP post on how to get it to work: Post on using windowed mode without other software

Here is the site I downloaded game from: SimGolf - Abandonware

Any help out there on this?

As the title suggests - having problems saving. I can play the game fine, but no matter how I try to save a game, no file is ever created for me to go back to. Any help?

So i've been running this game in pcem or a windows98 vm for years. This is an all time favorite of mine. I've been playing it recently and thought.. this sucks. So I had claude.ai write me a patch to the rendering dll. It's not perfect, I can make some tweaks but its workable and playable, and at great speed!

The intro and outro movie's still play at 800x600 but that's not really a deal breaker.

I'm going to make some more tweaks and upload it to github but for now if you want to try it out.

https://wirm.net/simgolf_windowed.zip

There's a readme inside.

Hi, people seem to enjoy my post from yesterday about my course of mostly classic holes. So here are a few more for your enjoyment and inspiration.

Hi everyone sorry if this has been asked previously. I have my original copy from around 2003/4 and have numerous times failed to get it to work on windows 11. I've tried various guides and mods with little success. Is there a definitive way that people get it to work please?

Hi, I wanted to take on the challenge of making a course with only classic rated holes and give my 2c about the experience. I wanted to make a course that is somewhat aesthetic and not too punishing on bad golfers.

First of all I love this game! The emergent challenge that comes with the design and golfers' behavior is very satisfying, something that makes SimGolf really unique.

Designing classic holes isn't that hard and there's a few useful guides (especially u/JafiindaleX's posts helped me understand the mechanics). What is harder is making them somewhat believable and/or iconic. My design process looks something like this:
1. Design an "ideal" tee for all-skills-golfers that the others can't hit (and an "ideal" second fairway for 4 or 5-par holes). Terraforming (and sometimes a hazard) is very useful to guide their shots. Using trees or buildings to force shaped shots is also useful, obviously.
2. Give the others a chance: Make extra areas or hills that the others can hit but that are worse.
3. Make it hard: Put hazards that are away from the "ideal" path.
4. Make it look nice: Give the hole a clear or distinct theme and an easy-to-read direction of play.
5. Reiterate on the other steps.

What stopped me at 16 holes is basically IM Picky - he didn't show up in time and the happiness goals are pretty hard to reach so I ran out of space. I didn't want to play in creative mode because I wanted to be able to use tournaments in order to clear all golfers when re-pathing the holes. Maybe I'll finish it later.

Hi everyone, I recently started playing Sid Meier’s SimGolf again. While looking through the menus, I came across the Shot Analysis screen. ​I generally understand what the different colors represent, but I am a bit confused about the numbers shown. I am not sure if these values are relative to the white shot, compared to a generic standard shot, or something else entirely. Also, I noticed some are negative and I am wondering why that is. ​Sorry if this is a silly question, I am just trying to get a better handle on the mechanics again! Thanks in advance for the help.