Sobe Tip: Rain
Sobe Tip - Rain

Rain to Shine

SobetipsWhen the sky starts falling, the questions start coming. Rain in the GT world won’t require you to don your poncho but it does cause confusion in relation to distances. But it really comes down to one simple element – Carry.

Let me make this clear, the rain will NOT knock your ball from the sky any faster. But it WILL stop your ball from rolling as far once it lands.

For example, take a 2 iron. Its assigned distance is 225 yards. Typically, a shot with this club will fly in the air (carry) about 200 yards, then roll the remainder of the way to 225. If it were raining, a 2 iron would still land at 200 but it would come to a halt much quicker, say at 209.

Now, let’s look at a 9 iron. Its assigned distance is 100 yards. Typically, it will carry around 95 yards and roll the remaining 5. With such little roll involved, the rain has almost no effect on this particular club.

So, understanding how far a club will carry is the key. Keep in mind that any water on the greens will also limit your amount of roll and backspin.

Carry Distances (estimated using stock balls with no pull back, average thumb shot)

Driver:
3-wood:
5-wood:
2-iron:
3-iron:
4-iron:
5-iron:

279
264
237
200
178
164
146

6-iron:
7-iron:
8-iron:
9-iron:
PW:
SW:

138
129
118
95
78
59

 

Didyouknow

The top-down pointer (left image) adjusts for the rain, but it’s not exact and can be misleading in certain scenarios. To determine club selection use the the box that shows up in the bottom right-hand corner during play (right image). Compare the distance-to-the-pin which is under the club versus the clubs assigned distance which is highlighted in red.

Topdown
YTP

 

Sobe Question

I'm mid-teen's player, and I had a few questions about some of the things I've been noticing in the game.

  1. How is it possible to hit a 500+ yard drive?
  2. How is it possible to have 12 eagles in one round without being extremely lucky (i.e. chipping in from 150-200+ yards) every time you play?
  3. It seems that the '08 courses have an insane amount of 550+ yard par-4s with no short cuts. Am I missing something?

Thanks for your help.

- Matt Kurucz

Matt,

Those are some pretty good questions that, yes, seem impossible. But let me shed some light on them.

1. This likely was done by hitting a C-3 or A-1 with a large wind assisting. True, this still seems a little far but my guess is that this drive "ramped" off a hilly fairway that caused the ball to keep bouncing and rollling. I've hit drives close to 500 yards, so this is possible.

2. This likely was achieved in a game where the player had many holes that were reachable in one shot and he likely made a holeout or two from the fairway for Eagle. Not unrealistic at all. Just a great round.

3. It's hard to say without getting into particular holes but 550 is not essentially reachable. I can't give you a concrete yardage by any means but if a hole is playing up to 450, I'm looking at options to drive it or for a possible chip shot. Certain holes fly farther than others. Wind is major factor. A-1's and C-3's generally go farther than hitting straight. Make sure you tune into my 08 hole reviews for examples that could shed some light here.

- Sobe

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