Jace's guide to EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 for rookie and/or blind players...
Alright so, you want to get in on this golf game right because this idiot called Jace said it was accessible on some audiogame forum, huh. You went and got a copy and don't know what to do? That is what this guide is gona help you with.
This is going to be split into several sections, but let's be clear about something...
This game is hard, and you will suck both as a player and a created golfer, at first and probably for a good few hours. This is the sort of game that is easy to learn, hard to master and you will agonize over missed putts and leaving that second shot just short so now you can't get to the green at the tenth in two shots instead of three...kind of deals. In other words. This game is once you understand it, a lot of fun and there is a lot of relaxing joy in being out on a course and smacking golf balls around.
Let's get started with this guide. Ctrl+F or equivalent to find the section you want...
1. What you need
A Copy of the game
The ability to OCR screens either via a capture card or something like Seeing AI/BeMyEyes or equivalents
A system to play the game on
An active internet connection. YOu can play offline but it will nag you every two seconds. Online also is designed around your created golfer as well and tracks your progress and all that good stufff. No there's no PGA Ultimate Team (yet at least....and the best gear does not automatically mean you win every round))
The patience and time to learn golf and not get frustrated when things get you down. ANd as said up there, it will happen. Golf, both the real sport and virtual one, is both frustrating and amazing often in the same round. You miss an easy putt then land it two inches from the hole on your nextt tee shot, kind of deal.
2. Accessibility 101
Right. The game is I'd say mostly accessible, and very much doable
What do I mean by mostly accessible? About 80% of the screens read, with the same TTS ad Madden. This is good, and bad
Good that it reads
Bad that it reads evrything. FOr example..
Career underscore event underscore today for your currrent career event.
What is not read is text on the screen, however once again, you can snag a screenshot. The text does not change, and on the course the commentators clue you in on how far you are from the hole, and the game auto aims you roughly at the green.
The HUD just, I feel, gets in the way, and the crowd let you know how good or bad your shot is, with the cheering as you fire a drive down the fairway replaced by the groans of a gallery of spectators as that lovely shot skitters into the sand bunker. Conversely, the cheering and roars of approval as you land that shot from 150 yards out almost in the hole is great.
More info can be found here, and there are a lot of accessibility options: https://www.ea.com/able/resources/ea-sp … essibility
Even though that says PC accessibility, it is the same across console and PC.
3. Let's get to actually playing the game...
Okay so, once you fire up the game, turn on menu narration. For the rest of this I'll assume you have it turned on. You should be able to turn it on from either the initial menu or by pressing lB/L1 and then L2/LT and toggling it on, it is the third option in the list if you are enabling it from the main menu.
Now, once at the main menu after creating your virtual golfer, Golfer McGenericperson (No do not use that name...just....no. Use whatever name you like), get used to tabbing around and checking the various menus. Don't bother with the store yet, We will get to that later. Instead, take a look at your golfer's tab. You can change up their bio and change up what is in the bag of golf ball hitting sticks you carry around, you can changew up your caddy's appearence and your golfer's appearence. Mine is the redhead that can bomb drives 300 yards and can't putt from anything past half a foot out. With a caddy who looks like Frankenstein after a five day bender in Medellin, or something like that.
Okay so. YOu created your golfer, gave 'em a fancy name and now want to know how to hammer the ball down the fairway and into the hole? Hold up a moment. Let's tweak some settings to make it easier on you because this game is tough out of the box.
So. Go back to the main menu a moment, back out of whatever tab you are in...and get ready to change up your settings. This will make it easier.
1. On the gameplay menu, change swing and putting difficulty to easy
2. On your golfer tab, go into Identity then Swing Type and change the tempo to slower or slowest for when you are just starting out
3. THe game doesn't have a tutorial, instead it has coaching challenges. Run through these at your own pace. Or you can skip them for now if you want to get out onto the course
4. Enable fast play under visual settings. This cuts down on announcer chatter and speeds up the game a lot, and I mean a looooot.
5. Use 3 click if you want to, that is entirely up to you, I use the swing stick because it's what I prefer but I am not going to insist you use the swing stick if you don't want to.
Go ahead and hit quick play. Pick any course except Augusta, that one may be first in the list but it is brutal. I won't tell you what courses are easy or not since I find some courses a lot easier that you, dear reader, may struggle with and vice versa. I hate Par 3 holes, you may take to them like a duck at Amen Corner (That is holes 11-12-13 at Augusta by the way)
4. I'm on a course, what now?
Alright, Generic McGolfer....time to hit that ball after the intro and commentators quit talking. You will either learn to love or loathe those guys..
So, the fine art of hitting a ball with a bit of metal or wood attached to another bit of metal with a rubber grip while wearing gloves and an Argyle sweater and a funny hat and some spiked shoes.
So. To get ready to swing, you press X on a Playstation pad or A on an Xbox pad and you will hear a sound, the crowd will quiet down, which is awful nice and respectful of them. This is another cue to know you are over the ball and ready to hit it.
So.to actually swing, either...
1. Pull down on the swing stick and hold it, this is due to a delay with the animation vs when you start pulling the stick, then move it forward and back to the middle. The speed of this determines how good or badd your shot is. Ideally you want a straight back/straight forward swing
2. If using 3 click, hit the X or A buttons depending on what system you are on, to start the meter, if you hit the very top you get a sound, and then hit X again for accuracy.
Either way you will hit the ball. Sweet, now time to do this again until it's in the hole!
Don't worry for now about what clubs to use or what shot type or where to aim. The game points you at the flag by default and right now you don't have any skill points spent to unlock fancy shots. You are working with the weakest clubs and most basic shots, and that is perfectly good to get you started.
Oh no, you are in the rough/sand?
Alright, you need to do a powerful shot to get out of this.
Oh no you hit a tree? Welcome to golf, trees love golf balls. Much like lawn chairs are offerings to storms, golf balls are offerings to trees. I have during my play time have had entirely too many golf balls and hopeful shots end up stopped by trees. I have hit the same tree on four seperate shots trying to get around it.
I'm on the fairway, what now?
Okay now. same again. If you hit the ball too hard, don't worry. You are getting used to things. This is not the career mode where every shot is vital. You are doing a quick play round after all with just you, this guide, and the course. Hey good work, you got on the green, grats!
I'm on the green, what now?
Now you start putting, which is one of the trickiest bits of the game. Your aim is to put the ball in the hole. Sounds easy in theory. In atuality, it isn't. Putting is hard. Even the pros struggle with it and they are world class players, you will suck at it a lot. You will absolutely suck at putting until one day, you get the hang of it. There are challenges you can do to help with it or just get out there and hit more greens
Hey wait, I got kicked off the hole, what's up with that?
You reached the stroke limit, which is fine in quick play. I've done the same thing and flunked shots. No shame in it, at all.
5. Career Mode and you, Generic McGolferperson
Okay so, this is the meat of the game, and I am okay at it. The idea is you start out either by picking the wrong choice to go straight to the PGA tour, or do the smart thing and one of the options for ameteur tourneys, you play through that and gradually get better as you learn the game. Then you move on up to the PGA Tour.
You have events that play out in a set schedule.
Some pointers
1. Play the ameteur tours, they will help hugely.
2. Do not be afraid to cheat in a sense. If you are on a tour event you can save it at the first tee before you take a shot or mid hole before you finish the hole, and go quick play at that exact course and hone your skills
6. Skills Points and You
Okay so, you may have gained a few levels and got skill points. How do you spend them?
You go to the golfer tab and inside that, skills
You have several main skills with sub skills
Each besides power has three sub skills
Accuracy, Control and Recovery, which unlock fancy shot types
My advice to start out would be to put points into accuracy and control for driving, approach and short game, and then if you got the points left over, move putting up to 3. Or put putting at 3 and then spread the rest of the points around the skills mentioned above. Putting 3 is generally recommended and the other skills will help you with landing your shots more accurately which will help you out in the long run.
I got more skill points, what do I put them in?
Here is my build as of the time of writing. This can usually land shots on the green, somewhere relatively near the hole. I have holed out a few times and that surprised me. This is my build but not the best out there, but it's a general idea of how I build my golfer
Power: 6
Driving Accuracy: 8
Driving Control: 5
Driving Recovery: 0
Approach Accuracy: 9
Approach Control: 8
Approach Recovery: 0
Short Game Accuracy: 9
Short Game Control: 8
Short Game Recovery: 0
Putting: 3
BUt why no recovery? Because being in the rough is barely, as of patch 12, a problem. You can shoot it right out of there. Sand is the same, full power and whack it as far as you can. It does work
7. THe store
Right. let's get this common newbie trap out of the way
Clubs are cosmetic only. Specs are the things that boost your clubs.
So go ahead, get the starter bundle, it's 1800 coins at the time of writing, and go and attach all the specs to your clubs in your bag. Don't worry about a legendary this or pro golfer that just now. Just know the very best stuff you get from winning the majors and tourneys in career mode, but I'd argue outside of spedcs,. all the cosmetic items are majorly hot garbage. AH golf and its fashion rules...i
Right, you got to the end of the guide. Now go on, get out on the virtual course and keep at it. It will click and you will want to get that score down, a triple bogey into a double bogey into a bogey into a par, and then you are chasing birdies and eagles the whole round and angry when you screw up a shot and know that short of sinking a 35 foot putt you are resigned to a bogey or worse on the scorecard. Welcome, friend, to the world of golf. It'll get its claws into you and never let go
That's all I got. The game is tough, but rewarding and fun. The best advice I can offer up is to keep playing, and you will naturally improve as you learn what you can and can't do. You probably won't get a hole in one on a Par 3 or hole out on a Par 4 from 190 yards out just starting out, but you will get to the point where you can fire it down the fairway every time for 300 yards and then know what shot you need and can work out how much power you need for the upcoming shot.