Golf

******************************************************************************* Golf for Virtual Boy FAQ by BHodges Version 1.1 Created 03/07/03 Updated 12/09/04 This document Copyright 2003-2004 by Brian Hodges. This FAQ is not to be posted without explicit permission by me. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. ******************************************************************************* Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Adjusting the Virtual Boy III. Automatic Pause IV. Getting Started V. Basic Gameplay and Controls VI. Advanced Strategies and Tips VII. Clubs VIII. Holes A. Hole 1 B. Hole 2 C. Hole 3 D. Hole 4 E. Hole 5 F. Hole 6 G. Hole 7 H. Hole 8 I. Hole 9 J. Hole 10 K. Hole 11 L. Hole 12 M. Hole 13 N. Hole 14 O. Hole 15 P. Hole 16 Q. Hole 17 R. Hole 18 IX. Passwords and Secrets A. Best Password B. HACKER X. My Best Records XI. Game Review XII. Version History XIII. Contact Information ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction This is a FAQ for the Virtual Boy game Golf. It contains a list of controls, strategies for each hole, and a mini-review. ******************************************************************************* II. Adjusting the Virtual Boy If you have never used a Virtual Boy before, here is how to adjust the screen. On the screen that says 'Virtual Boy' and has squares in the corners, turn the dial on top until you can see all four squares. Then use the sliding bar until the screen is in focus. ******************************************************************************* III. Automatic Pause If you turn this on, the game will automatically pause every 15 minutes. ******************************************************************************* IV. Getting Started On the Main Menu Screen, there are six items to choose from. Stroke Play After you select this option, the first thing you do is register your name. Either select one of the names listed or select NEW PLAYER to enter a name. In this mode, you just play golf by yourself. You can play all 18 holes or select which hole you will play. Tournament Play In this mode, after you register your name, you will compete in a golf tournament against 47 computer controlled opponents. You will play all 18 holes and the player with the lowest score wins. Individual Records First select the player whose records you want to view. The various records for that player will be displayed. Unfortunately, the game doesn't save your records, so you will lose them once you turn off the power. Continue This will let you continue the current game or enter a Stroke or Tournament Play password. You can only enter a password if you have not played since you turned on the power, otherwise you will automatically return to the game you were previously playing. Course Records This will display the rankings in the current tournament and the best scores for each hole. Unfortunately the game doesn't save these, so you will lose them once you turn off the power. Options Under Options you can change the depth, button configuration, toggle the autopause, or turn off the music. ******************************************************************************* V. Basic Gameplay and Controls Screen Explanation Here is the layout for the heads up display: Stroke Direction Lie Hole Number Map Yards to Pin Par Player's Name Distance from Tee to Green Wind Speed and Direction Selection Icons Grid Stroke This tells you which stroke you are on. Yards to Pin This tells you the distance the ball is from the pin. Player's Name This is your name. Wind Speed in Direction The arrow shows the direction the wind is going, the number is the speed. The higher the number the more it will affect the flight of your ball. Direction Shows which way the player is facing. The flag at the top indicates the pin. Lie This shows what the ball looks like on the ground. The types of lie are tee, fairway, cartpath, rough, bunker, and green. As you go down the list, the distance the ball goes will be reduced. There are three types of rough and bunker depending on how deep the ball is. The ball will go a shorter distance if more is covered up. On the green, the only club you are allowed to use is the putter. Hole Number This tells you which of the 18 holes you are currently on. Par This tells you the par for the course. Par is the number of strokes that it should take for a decent player to put the ball in the hole. Distance to Green This tells you the distance from the tee to the green. Map This is a birds eye view of the hole. You will be able to see trees, cart paths, water hazards, bunkers, the fairway, and the green on the map. When you are changing direction, a line will appear showing you how the ball will travel. When you hit the ball, it will show the exact path of the ball. Grid The grid on the ground shows the topography of the ground. Selection Icons Direction This lets you change the direction you are hitting the ball. Use left and right to change the direction. When you are done, press A. You will now be facing in that direction. If you are satisfied with it, press A again, if not keep fine tuning until you get what you want. Club This is how you choose a club. Press left or right to cycle through the clubs, then press A to select one. The number on the left is the distance to the hole, the one on the right indicates the maximum distance the ball will go under perfect conditions. Stance Use this to fine tune the direction the ball will go. Use left and right to change your stance. The new ball flight direction will be shown in the middle of the screen. Shot There are two parts to your shot, power and impact. First you determine power. Use A to start the meter on the left. Use A to stop it, the higher the meter, the more power and distance the shot will have. The meter will keep going up and down until you stop it, so you can take your tim. Next you set the point of impact. A large golf ball will appear with a small dot moving on it. Press A to stop the dot and make your shot. If you hit the ball in the center, it will go straight. Hitting it on the left or right will cause the shot to curve. Hitting the ball on the top will make the shot travel low and hitting it on the bottom will make it go higher. The dot will go from top to bottom then bottom to top. If you don't stop the meter by the time the dot makes it to the top again, you will automatically take a bad swing. When you putt, you only have to use the shot meter, there is no point of impact meter. Menu The four items under menu are Score, Replay, Options, and Quit. Score Displays your current score. If you are playing tournament, it will show your current ranking out of 38. Replay Allows you to view a replay of your last shot. Options Brings up the options screen that you can access from the main menu. Quit This will display your password and allows you to stop playing. ******************************************************************************* VI. Advanced Strategies and Tips - Try to keep the ball on the fairway as much as possible. - Use the wind to your advantage. - The ideal point of impact is the 'E' in Nintendo. - Unlike in real golf, when you are trying to hit the ball out of a bunker you should still try to hit the ball in the center. ******************************************************************************* VII. Clubs Here is the club information provided in the instruction book. The distances listed are how far a ball will travel if hit in the center, at maximum power, with no wind, and the lie of the ball. ABBREVIATION NAME DISTANCE CATEGORY 1W Driver 270 yards Woods 3W Spoon 230 yards 4W Buffy 210 yards 2I 2 iron 200 yards Long irons 3I 3 iron 190 yards 4I 4 iron 180 yards Middle irons 5I 5 iron 170 yards 6I 6 iron 160 yards 7I 7 iron 150 yards Short irons 8I 8 iron 140 yards 9I 9 iron 120 yards PW Pitching wedge 110 yards Wedges SW Sand wedge 90 yards PT Putter 100 feet Putter As you go down this list, the ball will go less, but the power meter will move slower giving you more control over your shot. As a general rule, woods are used mainly on the tee, irons are used for hitting the ball from the rough, and the pitching wedge is used for short shots when you are near the green. The sand wedge is used exclusively to hit the ball from a bunker. The putter is the only club you are allowed to use when you are on the green. ******************************************************************************* VIII. Holes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Hole 1 Par: 4 Distance to green: 360 yards Hole 1 is pretty simple. There is a small bunker to the right of the center of the hole and two more in front of the green. These two are the only things you have to worry about on this hole. With your tee shot, try to get into the middle of the fairway as far as you can. With your second shot, try to get onto the green. Be sure not to come up short and land in a bunker or go too far and land in the rough. The green slopes to the east. Use your third shot to putt the ball into the cup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Hole 2 Par: 4 Distance to green: 335 yards Hole 2 is almost as simple as Hole 1 was. There is a road going across the hole diagonally. There is a small bunker left of center. The green is surrounded by bunkers. With your tee shot try, to hit the ball as far as you can, keeping the ball in the center of the fairway. Try to hit the green with your second shot. With a little luck, the ball may go in the cup for an eagle. More than likely you will have to make a putt. The green is kind of tricky. Pay close attention to the grid and adjust your shot accordingly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Hole 3 Par: 5 Distance to green: 470 yards This hole is a lot longer than the first two. The fairway curves to the left a bit. There is a bunker directly in front of the green. With your tee shot try to hit the fairway in the center of the curve. With your second shot, if you are daring you can try to use a wood to go for the green. Make sure you don't land in the bunker. If you want to play it safe, use an iron to put the ball on the fairway in front of the bunker, then take a short shot at the green. The green is more or less level, so you should be able to hit the cup with one putt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Hole 4 Par: 4 Distance to green: 380 yards Hole 4 has a water hazard, but it is off to the left so unless you really hook your shot, you don't have to worry about it. There is a bunker near the center of the fairway that you need to avoid. There are four more bunkers directly in front of the green that can cause some problems. Start off like you usually do by trying to get your tee shot to go as far as possible. Try to go slightly to the left so you avoid the bunker. With your second shot you should try to get on the green. Make sure you have enough power to bypass the bunkers, but not so much that you will miss the green and go into the rough. The green here is relatively flat so it shouldn't give you any trouble. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Hole 5 Par: 3 Distance to green: 185 yards Hole 5 is a par 3 hole. Par 3 holes are shorter than usual and are the ones where it is possible to get a hole-in-one. There is a large water hazard to your left. The green is guarded by three bunkers. The idea here is to try to hit the hole from the tee. This is kind of difficult and even if you manage to line up the shot correctly, the ball will usually bounce off the pin. Your tee shot should at least hit the green. The green here has a steep slope so putting can be tricky. With practice, you should be able to get a birdie on this hole every time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Hole 6 Par: 4 Distance to green: 355 yards The fairway here is very narrow. There are also the customary bunkers around the green. Try to make your tee shot as straight as possible, it won't take much in either direction to put the ball in the trees. On your second shot try to hit the green, make sure you have enough power, you don't want to land in a bunker. The green has a bit of an even slope, but it shouldn't be too difficult to sink a putt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. Hole 7 Par: 3 Distance to green: 145 yards This is a par 3 hole. This is the shortest hole in the game. There are three bunkers in front of the green and a dense wood behind it. Try to get your tee shot as close to the pin as you can. The green is slightly uneven so be careful when putting. You should be able to birdie this on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Hole 8 Par: 4 Distance to green: 410 yards Hole 8 is fairly simple. There is a bunker to the right of the center of the fairway and two more on either side of the green. There is also a water hazard behind the green, but it is too far back to concern you. You should be able to hit the green in two shots. The green has only a slight slope and shouldn't cause you any problems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Hole 9 Par: 5 Distance to green: 465 yards Hole 9 is the first tricky hole. There is a water hazard on the left and a dense wood on the right. There is a road going across the fairway near the top as well as two small bunkers. Make your tee shot travel northwest. On your second shot, you will more than likely have trees between you and the green. Use a club that goes a little farther than the one recommended (e.g. if the default one is a 2 Iron, use the 3 Wood) and line up your shot with the green. Then take your shot as usual, except this time stop the impact point near the bottome of the ball. This will cause the ball to go higher than usual, allowing you to clear the trees, but the ball will go a shorter distance. The green here is tricky, so be careful with your putts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. Hole 10 Par: 4 Distance to green: 420 yards The two things you have to worry about on this hole are the narrow fairway and the bunker to the left of the green. You should be able to get on the green with just two shots. The green can be a problem so watch your putts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K. Hole 11 Par: 4 Distance to green: 345 yards Here we have another tricky hole. There is a large water hazard to the left of the narrow fairway. There are two bunkers to the right of the green. Be careful with your tee shot. The fairway slopes in the direction of the lake, so you can easily lose the ball and a stroke if you aren't careful. The green has a gradual slope towards the lake, but it shouldn't give you too much trouble. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- L. Hole 12 Par: 4 Distance to green: 340 yards There isn't too much to this hole. There is a water hazard to the left that shouldn't give you any trouble. There is a large bunker in front of the green, but you should be able to avoid it. The fairway itself is actually kind of hilly. You shouldn't have any trouble with your tee shot. You should be able to get the ball on the green with your second shot, just be sure to have enough distance to go over the bunker. The green has a steep slope towards the south, so you may have to put more power into your putts than usual. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- M. Hole 13 Par: 3 Distance to green: 150 yards This is a tricky par 3. The fairway here is very small. The green has trees on three sides and a bunker on the other. There is a road going across diagonally. Try to hit the right side of the green with your tee shot. Be wary of the large bunker on that side of the green. The green itself is hilly and it may take a couple of putts to put the ball in the cup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- N. Hole 14 Par: 5 Distance to green: 540 yards This is a really difficult hole. The first thing you will notice is that the fairway is divided in two. There is a large water hazard to the left. There is a large bunker to the right of the bottom fairway. There is another bunker next to the green. Try to land your tee shot near the top of the bottom fairway. Use the 1 Wood again on the second shot. Unless there is a strong wind at your back, it will take you a third stroke to reach the green. You should be very close by this point. Use your Pitching Wedge to reach the green. Line up your shot so that it has a good chance of hitting the cup, if you are lucky it may go in for an eagle. The green itself isn't anything to worry about. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- O. Hole 15 Par: 4 Distance to green: 375 yards Here there is a large rough separating the tee from the fairway. There is a bunker below the green. There is a road going horizontally across the hole directly below the fairway. This hole isn't as difficult as it first appears to be. You should easily be able to make the fairway on your tee shot. The second shot should land you on the green. The green has a slope towards the north. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- P. Hole 16 Par: 3 Distance to green: 160 yards This is the last par 3. You will notice that the tee is at a much higher elevation than the green. There are four bunkers behind the green. The green isn't that difficult to hit with your tee shot. Making your putt will be the hardest part of this hole. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. Hole 17 Par: 5 Distance to green: 455 yards This is the last par 5 hole. This hole is littered with bunkers and there is a tree growing in the middle of the fairway. It will take you three strokes to reach the green. Make sure to avoid the bunkers on the way to the green. The green itself shouldn't give you any trouble. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R. Hole 18 Par: 4 Distance to green: 340 yards This is it, the final hole! There are six bunkers here, three surrounding the green and three more next to the road going diagonally across the hole. You want your tee shot to come up just short of the road. Try to hit the green with your second shot. This is a little tricky due the the strategic positioning of the bunkers. The green is fairly simple. ******************************************************************************* IX. Passwords and Secrets "When you play golf, even with other people, you are really just playing against yourself, so when you cheat in golf, you are only cheating yourself." - My grandfather If you still feel like cheating, read on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Best Password 63276482317 This is the best password I have. It will start you out on the 18th hole of the tournament at 17 under par and with an 11 stroke lead. This will practically guarantee you a victory. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. HACKER You may have heard that if you name your golfer HACKER, the ball will go an extra 150 yards when you hit it. This cheat doesn't work. ******************************************************************************* X. My Best Records I won the tournament with a score of 17 under par. Longest Drive 271 yards Longest Putt 25 feet Nearest to Pin 3 feet Longest Chip 19 yards ******************************************************************************* XI. Game Review This is a nice golf game. T&E Soft really knew how to make Virtual Boy games. The controls are different from most golf games, but they aren't too bad once you get used to them. I would definitely recommend buying this one. Pros - Pretty good graphics. - The holes are well designed. - You can play stroke play or in a tournament. - Passwords save your progress. Cons - No two player mode. - Hitting the ball is kind of tricky. - There is only one 18-hole golf course. - The game doesn't save your records. ******************************************************************************* XII. Version History 1.0 03/07/03 Created FAQ 1.1 12/09/04 Added some more legal stuff to the header. Expanded the Table of Contents and section labels. Made some formatting changes. ******************************************************************************* XIII. Contact Information You can contact me at Bhodges080@aol.com I would appreciate hearing what you thought of this guide and any thoughts you have for improving it. Be sure to let me know if I have missed anything. ******************************************************************************* End