Creative Golf for foresight - Demo review

[Yongchai]

I haven't seen any in depth reviews of Creative Golf demo without digging through the threads so here's my version.

You can download the Creative golf demo from the following link (obtained from par2pro.com website)

https://www.hightail.com/download/UW...U1AzMWx4Tk1UQw

There's absolutely no reason why you should not download the demo yourself and form your own opinions (its free), but if you want to have a basic idea of what this software is about, i have broken down the review into pros/cons and what they can add. (Note: this is only the review of the demo, full version might have better/more functions)

Pros
-Good on-course graphics. Had good variety in the environment, trees would rustle in the wind, birds would fly, water would ripple. Pretty much what i expected and am satisfied.

-Good simulation of ball flight and roll. Gives total distance which ipad app lacks.

-Ability to click on mini-map to choose a distance to layup. They would also automatically shift your perspective to your target which is helpful. (Though i wish the closing of mini-map is also automatic after selecting target)

-Ability to hit left of target and ball will go left or shift perspective left and hit it 'straight' (relative to aim) so that ball goes left of target. Not sure what i was expecting here, but what they have works.

Cons
-lousy driving range. Haven't played around the range much as the course offers more flexibility, but from what i've played, the range is butt ugly and the options are incomprehensibly limited. They have fixed flag placement at weird yardages, so instead of the flag being straight ahead at the weird distance you select, they shift your perspective to where the have placed the corresponding flag either left or right, only the 351 yard pin is straight. They have taken the realism part of the driving range too seriously and they could do alot to improve it. I'm not sure about data collection, but it didn't seem to be there either. In regards to the range, the ipad app is a better alternative.

-Ball starts from the bottom. Not a big deal if you have a monitor set up in front of you, but weird if you have a projector setup and you hit the ball into the screen and see the ball start from the bottom.

-Chipping was a little hit and miss. Some chips i made which i was fairly certain would carry the rough, got stuck in the sim. I'm still not certain if the sim penalizes you when hitting from the rough/sand (ie. artificially reduces your ball speed, they really shouldn't do that)

-putting grid difficult to read. Would prefer a 'Tiger woods - pga tour 12' style with arrows, but as it is, it's simply not giving enough information to make a proper putt.

-ugly menu. If i were to judge this book by its cover into whether to make an expensive purchase, i would have given it a pass. (Lucky they have a demo) I guess they put the effort into where it matters most which is on-course, but i'm surprised they couldn't put in a little more polish for the UI.

Things they could add
-Center alignment aid. They have a menu setting which lets you calibrate your distance from the screen etc, but i wish they would have way to show help calibrate center. If ball started from impact point then you would know that your simulation setup is properly centered, but as it is, you are not exactly sure if the ball goes left, whether its because you are hitting left or your gc2/projector is misaligned.

-Separate monitor support. I have my projector set up as well as a separate monitor in front of me, but they show the same thing, it would be great if they could add support to show your ball stats on the separate monitor in front.

Overall i must say that Creative golf is really generous with what they are offering in the demo, i could think of many more ways they could have been restrictive (which i won't share here). But this demo can easily tide you over if you are waiting for the FSX to launch. For those on a budget, it could even conceivably keep you satisfied for months.

However, if you ask me if the demo has convinced me to buy the Creative sim version, i would say no. Course is good, but i also expect to spend alot of time on the range, and currently its simply not good enough. Ball starting from bottom is also enough to make me go looking either at FSX (pre-purchased) or the Performance software (both of which i have not tried).

[gotenks94]

Just check this out and it looks great, to bad this can't be used on the optishot. I wish we (optishot owners) had the freedom to choose what software we wanted to use. Just a thought.

[Jsgregg]

Really great review. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts. You really can't beat a free trial.

[Steven]

I agree that the standard driving range that comes with the software is not very good. They do have about 5 other driving ranges though buying them costs more. These other ranges are much better than the original one.
I am also pretty positive that the software does not penalize you for being in rough or sand. I wish it would reduce the distance of the shot based on whether you are in short rough, heavy rough, tall grass, etc. I believe this software was designed more for a casual, fun golf experience which is why it was not included. The games like Islands and demolition are also a lot of fun and a good way to practice.

[golferinmd]

From what I here the new FSX software will have skills challenge, close to the pin and longest drive. It MAY have some of the Creative fun items....

[noobie]

I just downloaded the demo but not having any luck syncing with my gc2a. I've tried connecting th gc2a via Bluetooth or the USB cable that it comes with but the demo doesn't display any of my shots. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? I have no trouble connecting to my iPad app.

[Yongchai]

You probably haven't installed the driver for the GC2.

http://www.foresightsports.com/en/su...vers-downloads

[Yongchai]

Update about the range.

I played around some more with it and noticed that you can change to different ranges and there's one that you can select where the yardage increments are 10 yards, so much better.

However the demo limits you to 3 shots so its better to just play a normal game, hit an approach shot to a yardage that you want to practice and click mulligan after every shot. Of course it helps if you have your computer setup nearby (i put my mouse/keyboard in front of me) and use the "setup option" to select the time unit for "display shot information" as "until i click" so that the mulligan button is handy.

[Steven]

I just downloaded the demo but not having any luck syncing with my gc2a. I've tried connecting th gc2a via Bluetooth or the USB cable that it comes with but the demo doesn't display any of my shots. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? I have no trouble connecting to my iPad app.

The Creative Golf software does not work using Bluetooth. I spent a lot of time messing with that until someone at Foresight, with the necessary knowledge, finally told me it was not designed for Bluetooth.

[Unkynd]

You probably haven't installed the driver for the GC2.

http://www.foresightsports.com/en/su...vers-downloads

Yongchai, thanks a ton for posting the original link and the link to the driver. This bit of software will hold me over until I can afford to buy the full software. +1 Karma for you!