EA Sports Outlines PGA TOUR Updates, Fixes and Our Suggestions

After nine years of hiatus, EA Sports finally released their golf simulation game PGA TOUR last week. While there has been a mixed reaction from the fans, the game has been quite outstanding, being the closest to real-life golf. Since the release, the development team has been paying close attention to community feedback. Now, EA Sports has given a more in-depth look at the directions they are taking with EA Sports PGA Tour by publishing a list of improvements & fixes they have planned in the coming days.

 

This list is not exhaustive of everything planned for future updates, but many of the issues listed below are being worked on as a direct result of community feedback.

3-Click Swing

As requested by the community, this long-standing feature from golf video games will return in an upcoming patch. EA Sports will provide previews and updates on this new feature in the coming weeks, so subscribe to our channels!

Updates to Putting Grids

Discussions and posts have illustrated situations where the putting grid bead lines are perpendicular to the break. This has been discovered during testing, and a solution will be included in the next update.

An upcoming visual update will also make it so the green grid disappears after a putt is made. This was a highly-requested piece of community feedback, and after experimenting with grid fading, we can confirm that it improves immersion.

Online Game Formats

During the active service time, EA Sports will release new versions of the formats used for online games. They will provide more information on these game types soon. The developers have asked for our suggestions to bring more online options.

Camera Angle and Zoom Issues

As certain camera angles can obscure the gameplay, EA Sports will implement fixes to address the problem in upcoming patches. They are also trying to figure out how to improve the pre-shot zoom camera, emphasizing making it easier to read greens without the help of a putting grid.

Career Mode Options

One-round tournaments were available in earlier pre-release builds but had to be removed because they caused problems with commentary, quests, statistics, and other issues discovered during testing. The developers have taken note of our desire for Career Mode modes beyond Quick Play and Full Rounds and are looking into ways to make that a reality.

Cup Physics

Based on our feedback during the Early Access and launch, the cup's graphical representation more closely matches its physical size. When the ball should have lipped into the cup, it instead appeared to roll over the edge. An update is planned to include this correction.

Fast Play

There has been a wide range of feedback from the community regarding the regularity with which golfer reactions are shown after a shot and other presentational elements. As a countermeasure, EA Sports planned to add a "Fast Play" presentation package to let players toggle between the standard presentation and a faster-paced presentation that skips cinematics like player reactions. They will roll out this new presentation choice in a future update.

Putt Meter and Button Hints

Many players have asked for the ability to turn off shot guides and visual feedback for a more realistic simulation experience. In response to this suggestion, EA Sports will introduce two new options—"Putt Meter" and "Button Hints"—to give even more control. The "Putt Meter" option hides the putt meter on the ground and the "Button Hints" option hides the on-screen prompts for the various controls.

Online Matchmaking

Some players have had trouble using online matchmaking to find opponents and participate in fuller sessions. Multiple changes have been made to our matchmaking algorithms and our selection of matchmaking modes to better group players together and ensure fuller matches. The developers are working to improve matchmaking by investigating all possibilities and making data-driven decisions.

 

Updates already implemented based on community feedback:

The Day 0 patch has been replaced by the final pre-launch update, in which we implemented several changes. Removing text pop-ups and Hole Out VFX over the hole was a major change in response to player feedback. You can now choose whether or not to show this text.

In addition, EA Sports have implemented four new formats, one for each type of gameplay, into private matches so that you can set the difficulty for your team.

Here is a current list of available hotfixes:

- The issue preventing players from receiving their tournament prizes.

- Issues in Career Mode that were causing crashes for some players when continuing a playoff series.

- The game no longer crashes on certain monitors and TVs that support Dolby Vision HDR, as this was a compatibility issue.

- The crash that could occur when rapidly switching between menu tabs with tooltips enabled has been fixed.
 

 

This has been a great start for the EA SPORTS PGA TOUR so far, and after all these improvements and updates, the game will surely attract a larger segment of golf fans. Since we love golf so much, we too, have listed a few suggestions for the game that could make a big difference.

- Currently, there is an option for private match with friends but no option to Create Tournaments, and being able to do that will be a good addition to the game. A group of friends or colleagues creating and competing in a tournament of their own can make things more fun.

- More customization when creating a golfer. Currently, the customization options are limited to a few details only. Since the career mode requires a lengthy amount of time, especially if you have the Round Types set to Full, it'd be nice to play with a more likable character.

- A further or more straightforward explanation for many settings. There are options such as AI Scoring Difficulty, which has an explanation but doesn't clarify the outcome or show the impact if this setting has been changed.

- Stores have plenty of new items, and they are expensive, which is fine. But there's no explanation for whether buying these items makes any difference to the play or it's only for the visuals. The same goes for the Specs items available at the store. They show some stats but not the number of improvements it adds to your current setup.

- When playing with AI Pairing or Challenges against an AI golfer, there's no option to see their shot types or club selection. This could add a significant amount of knowledge or work as an excellent tutorial for those who aren't familiar with or doesn't know what shot type or club to select in certain terrain condition.
 

That’s all for now. We hope to play the game more and in the coming days, share as much feedback as possible to improve the game for future releases.
 

Azfar Rayan (@AzfarRayan)
Editor, NoobFeed