# Player's Guide > This is a golf strategy game, not a swing simulator. The goal is to make Course Management thinking automatic: read the situation, recognize trouble, understand your ability, choose a useful target, and learn from the decision. A lucky result does not make a poor decision correct, and normal shot dispersion does not make a sound decision wrong. ## Part I — Learn to Play ### 5-Minute Quick Start You can begin a round with this simple routine: 1. Create or select an accurate Player Profile. 2. Read the Game Master before every shot. 3. Identify trouble and decide where a useful miss should be. 4. Select Club, Swing, Aim Mode, and Target. Check the automatic Shot Type or choose your own. 5. Open Caddie Choices when a second opinion would help. 6. Select Play shot. 7. Judge Decision Quality separately from the result. 8. Continue from the new lie. The game is not only asking, **“Did I hit a good shot?”** It is also asking, **“Did I make a good decision before I hit the shot?”** ### Quick 3-Hole Match Open **Game mode** in the header and select **3-hole match** for a short Player-vs-Game-Master contest. The game builds one Par 3, one Par 4, and one Par 5 from installed courses, in that order. Choose a tee, golfer profile, announcer setting, and audio levels, then select **Start challenge**. Select **18-hole match** from the same menu for a full-round contest, or **18-hole round** for solo play. You and the Game Master use the same physical golfer profile, but make separate decisions and receive independent simulated shot results. The official lead changes only after both sides finish the current hole. The progress ribbon shows each posted score and the match ends after the Par 5 with a concise result recap. Select **Play again** to generate a fresh challenge immediately with the same setup preferences, or **Exit** to return to the course you were playing. Signed-in players synchronize compact challenge records to their account; guest challenge history is not guaranteed after browser data is cleared. ### The Core Gameplay Loop > READ → THINK → PLAN → AIM → PLAY → REVIEW → LEARN - **READ:** Lie, stance, slope, distance, and elevation. - **THINK:** Hazards, trouble, preferred miss, and the next-shot position. - **PLAN:** Club, swing, and Shot Type. - **AIM:** Direction Target or Landing Target. - **PLAY:** Commit the shot. - **REVIEW:** Separate Decision Quality from Execution Quality. - **LEARN:** Decide what to repeat or change. ### Create an Accurate Player Profile Choose the built-in profile closest to your current ability, then select **Enter my statistics** or **Edit statistics** to create your personal profile. Enter: - Full-swing carry distance for each club - Accuracy percentage for each club - Putting make percentages from 3, 6, and 10 feet Profile accuracy matters. Club selection, shot dispersion, putting probability, and Caddie Choices use this information. Update it when your real golf changes. The profile uses your player name and follows your account to every device. The game never changes your permanent profile silently. ### Choose a Course, Tee, and Pin Select an installed course, then choose Blue, White, or Forward tee. The course book shows par, handicap, and tee yardage. Installed maps may include tee boxes, fairway, rough, greens, bunkers, water, trees, recovery areas, cart paths, streams, and out-of-bounds areas. The pin rotates to create different strategic situations. The map update date identifies the installed mapping version. Changing course during an unfinished simulator round asks for confirmation and saves the current round first. ### Read the Game Master The Game Master answers: **“What is happening right now?”** Read it before choosing a shot. Depending on the situation, it reports authoritative calculated facts such as: - Distance to the pin or cup - Current lie - Ball above, below, or level with your feet - Uphill, downhill, or nearly level slope - Expected sidehill movement - Tree blockage and recovery direction - Distance to a useful recovery target On desktop, Game Master voice can announce the result and next situation when Voice is enabled. ### Plan and Play a Simulator Shot For a normal shot: 1. Read the lie, distance, and trouble. 2. Choose an Aim Mode. 3. Select a club. 4. Set Swing manually for Direction Target, or let Landing Target calculate Auto Power. 5. Select **Aim at pin** or click/tap the map to fix a target. 6. Check the target distance, expected finish, and next shot being left. 7. Accept the automatic Shot Type or choose your own. 8. Record a Lie Adjustment when needed. 9. Add an optional coaching note if you want Review to remember your thinking. 10. Select **Play shot**. The shot is not committed until you select Play shot. Moving the pointer only previews yardage; clicking or tapping fixes the marker. ### Aim Mode: Direction Target vs Landing Target Aim Mode tells the game what the map marker means. It is separate from Shot Type. | Feature | Direction Target | Landing Target | |---|---|---| | Marker represents | Starting direction | Intended first landing point | | Player controls | Direction and Swing power | Landing point and club | | Game calculates | Result from selected power | Required Auto Power | | Useful for | Driving, Lay up, Recovery, deliberate partial shots | Approach, Chip and run, short Bunker shots | | Main question | “Which direction and how hard?” | “Where do I want the ball to land?” | **Direction Target** sets the starting line. Your club and manual Swing percentage determine intended carry. **Landing Target** sets intended carry: the place where you want the ball to first touch down. Choose the marker and club; the game calculates continuous Auto Power from your profile carry, lie, and elevation. It then shows expected carry, normal rollout, and expected finish. Landing Target is available at any distance when the ball is off the green and a non-Putter club is selected. It does not guarantee that the ball will land on the marker. Normal player-profile dispersion still applies, so identical choices can produce different results. ### Choose a Shot Type Shot Type describes the golf decision you intend to play. Leave it on **Auto** to let the game use the lie, distance to pin, selected club, and target. Auto displays its current choice, such as **Approach — Auto**. You may override it when your strategy is different. - **Driving:** A long advancing shot, normally from the tee with Driver, wood, or hybrid. - **Lay up:** Stops short of the green or trouble to leave a preferred next distance. - **Approach:** Attacks or advances toward the green using normal full-flight carry and rollout. - **Chip and run:** A low greenside shot with a landing target no longer than 30 yards. - **Bunker shot:** An intentional shot from sand; short bunker shots can use the greenside landing model. - **Recovery:** Escapes trees or another restricted position before returning to normal play. - **Putting:** Rolls the ball from the green with the Putter. Shot Type does not replace Aim Mode. Decide whether the marker is a direction line or landing point, then accept Auto or choose your Shot Type. The game blocks combinations that do not fit the rules and explains what to select instead. ### Use Caddie Choices for a Second Opinion Caddie Choices answers: **“What are my reasonable strategic options?”** Imagine 175 yards to the green with water protecting the right side and your normal dispersion bringing that water into play: - **Aggressive:** Attack the green or pin for a stronger scoring opportunity while accepting more hazard exposure. - **Safe & Smart:** Choose a safer target or layup that reduces penalty risk and leaves a manageable next shot. Neither plan predicts the exact finish. The Caddie compares scoring opportunity, playable outcomes, remaining distance, dispersion, and hazard exposure using your Player Profile. When two genuinely different plans exist, the game can show Aggressive and Safe & Smart. If only one honest plan exists, it may show one instead of inventing a duplicate. Open the question-mark explanation to see the club, swing, target, expected finish, hazards, and risk/reward evidence. Selecting a choice prepares the shot but does not play it. Caddie Choices are recommendations, not commands. For the technical comparison, the strategy engine runs hundreds of paired outcomes through the same authoritative shot engine. Every candidate receives the same test conditions, allowing a fair comparison. AI may explain the evidence, but it does not invent or replace the calculated ranking. ### Putting Basics On the green, Putter pace uses a fine percentage because small changes matter. Select a target line, adjust pace, and play. The generated contour is a simulator exercise—not the physical green at the selected golf course. ### On-Course GPS Quick Start Use this short sequence on your phone during a real round. **At the Tee** Tee location → Select Club → Select Swing → Consider Caddie choices → Record strategy/target → Hit the real shot Tee location establishes the start and does not add a stroke. **At the Ball** Walk to the ball → Ball location → Verify/correct lie → Record Ball/Hill/Rough conditions → Select Club and Swing → Consider strategy → Hit Ball location completes the previous shot and adds that stroke. **On the Green** On Green → **+1 Putt** for every putt that stays out → **Holed Out** for the final putt Holed Out records the final stroke and completes the hole. ## Part II — Learn to Think Like a Golfer ### Course Management and the Preferred Miss Course Management means choosing a plan that fits the situation and your actual ability—not merely choosing the club that can travel farthest. Before selecting a club, ask: - Where is the major trouble? - Which miss still leaves a playable next shot? - What distance and angle do I want next? - Is safe advancement better than a low-percentage hero shot? - Is accepting bogey protecting against a much worse score? A preferred miss is not planning to hit a bad shot. It is choosing a target so normal dispersion is more likely to leave the ball in a useful place. ### Decision Quality vs Execution Quality The game grades what you knew and chose before the random result separately from how the simulated shot finished. **Good Decision, Poor Result** Water is on the right. You choose a suitable club and a safe target left of the water. Normal dispersion sends the ball into rough. - Decision Quality: Good - Execution/Outcome: Poor - Lesson: One unfavorable result does not make the safe strategy wrong. **Poor Decision, Lucky Result** A safer route exists, but you attempt a low-percentage hero shot over a major hazard. The random result happens to finish on the green. - Decision Quality: Poor - Outcome: Excellent - Lesson: A lucky result does not convert a poor Course Management decision into a good one. ### Landing Target and the Rule of 12 For an Approach longer than 30 yards, Landing Target uses normal full-flight physics and the club's normal rollout. For Chip and run or a short Bunker shot with a landing target of 30 yards or less, the greenside model can use Rule of 12 guidance. The Rule of 12 is an explainable starting point; lie, dispersion, slope, rollout, and hazards can change the final recommendation. **Example: LAND → ROLL → FINISH** - Ball to landing point: 5 yards - Landing point to cup: 15 yards - Total ball-to-cup distance: 20 yards The objective is not necessarily to carry the ball all 20 yards. Place Landing Target 5 yards away, then consider a club whose expected release fits the remaining 15 yards. One club may fly lower and roll farther; another may carry farther and stop sooner. Changing clubs recalculates Auto Power while the landing marker stays fixed. Chip and run cannot use a landing target longer than 30 yards. Choose Approach for a longer shot. ### Recovery Strategy Mapped geometry—not AI wording—determines whether the ball is in fairway, rough, bunker, water, trees, or out of bounds. In trees, the Game Master reports whether the pin line is blocked and may place a gold **PUNCH** target inside the mapped safe fairway interval. It gives target distance, direction, and available margin. The marker is guidance, not an automatic shot. Select it, then choose a Recovery club and swing that fit the canopy and available room. Tree restrictions do not apply from a mapped tee box. Water, out of bounds, and unplayable situations use authoritative penalty and relief rules. ### Three Different Sources of Help **Game Master — “What is happening right now?”** Reports authoritative calculated facts: distance, lie, slope, ball position, tree blockage, recovery direction, and relevant shot conditions. **Caddie Choices — “What are my reasonable strategic options?”** Compares Aggressive and Safe & Smart plans, including club, swing, target, and risk/reward evidence. These are recommendations. **AI Caddie — “What can I learn from what happened?”** Explains verified shot facts, recognizes good decisions, identifies improvement opportunities, and teaches strategy concepts. AI Caddie is separate from authoritative shot calculation. The game remains playable and scoreable when AI is unavailable. ### Review and Player Learning Review can show the hole situation, recorded decision, Decision Quality versus Execution Quality, lie recognition, adjustment credit, preferred miss, hazard evidence, one useful improvement, and replay. Player Learning summarizes verified patterns only after enough reliable completed-round evidence exists. It does not treat one lucky or unlucky simulated result as a permanent tendency. ### What GPS Knows vs What You Know > GPS tells the game where you are. You tell the game what the ball actually looks like from where you are standing. The system can estimate position and mapped surface from GPS, course geometry, and calibrated course data. Confirm or correct what you can see: - Fairway, Rough, Bunker, or Recovery - Ball Above Feet, Ball Below Feet, or Level - Uphill, Downhill, or Level - Rough severity - Club used - Swing used GPS cannot reliably see the physical lie, grass depth, stance, or slope from coordinates alone. ### How This Game Can Make You a Better Golfer The game is designed to help you practice transferable thinking: - Recognize trouble before selecting a club. - Choose a preferred miss. - Plan backward from the desired next shot. - Understand personal dispersion. - Recognize when safe advancement is better than a hero shot. - Accept bogey when it protects against a much worse score. - Choose useful landing points around the green. - Separate good decisions from lucky outcomes. - Learn real club tendencies from accumulated GPS evidence. - Make Course Management thinking automatic. The simulator does not prove that real-world performance improved. It provides a structured place to practice decisions; real GPS evidence remains separately identified. ### Real On-Course Evidence and Your Profile Phone GPS records total travel between ball locations, not airborne carry. The game estimates carry as 90% of measured travel when evaluating eligible shots. That measurement can include roll, GPS error, and movement between fixes. Only normal full swings finishing within 20% of the club's established distance contribute to the observed carry average. Eligible mishits can count against on-course accuracy without entering the carry average. Poor GPS fixes, recovery shots, severe lies, putts, and partial swings are excluded. The profile editor shows attempts, successful shots, rounds, and confidence. After at least three successful shots, **Use values** can copy observed values into editable fields. You must review and select **Save profile**; evidence never changes your profile silently. Simulator-generated distances are not evidence of real club distance. ## Part III — Reference ### Account, Sign-In, and Synchronization Create an account with player name, email, and password. Confirm your email if requested. Use the same account on computer and phone. An unfinished simulator round saves automatically. Another device can restore the course, hole, score, ball position, and Player Profile. Use **Forgot password?** on the sign-in screen when needed. The Account menu provides Player Profile, completed simulator Round History, On-course replays, Player Learning, Top 10, Feedback Center, and Sign out. ### Simulator and On Course Live **Simulator** is the strategy game. You select club, swing, Aim Mode, target, Shot Type, and adjustment; the authoritative engine produces a probabilistic result. Simulator shots count toward score, Course Management review, and simulator history. Normal randomness uses the Player Profile, club, lie, and shot conditions. Recorded seed information supports replay and debugging; it does not make separate attempts produce the same result. **On Course Live** is a read-only view of the latest synchronized GPS round for the selected course. It can show the tee, numbered shot lines, latest ball position, lie, pin distance, GPS accuracy, strokes, latest strategy, and update time. It refreshes from the server approximately every five seconds. **Refresh** returns to the newest GPS activity; Previous and Next inspect other holes. On Course Live never adds GPS shots to the simulator, changes simulator score, or treats GPS travel as simulated carry. ### Structured Shot Controls and Adjustments Use Aim Mode, the map target, and Shot Type instead of relying on a sentence to change the actual setup. The optional message is a coaching note only. Lie Adjustment choices are None, Aim left, and Aim right. When left or right is selected, choose the offset in yards. For putting, select the cup or an offset from it. A correct adjustment can temporarily improve effective accuracy for that shot, subject to a cap. It never changes permanent profile accuracy. ### Mobile Shot Controls The movable phone panel contains: 1. Shot Plan 2. Game Master 3. Club and Power 4. Caddie Choices 5. Adjustment and Play Use the up/down controls to move between sections. **Move** docks the panel at the top or bottom. Moving the panel never moves a selected target. ### Shot Result, Animation, and Replay Shot Result appears immediately without waiting for AI. It reports finish, remaining distance, and position left or right of the intended pin line. A result such as “42 yards left” describes geometry; it does not by itself prove slice, hook, pull, or push. Full shots show separate carry and roll. Putting shows a slower contour-aware roll. The final position always comes from the authoritative result, not an animation frame. Open Review and use **Replay every shot** or **Replay this shot**. Replay adds no stroke. **Reset & replay Hole** and **Reset hole** ask for confirmation before removing hole progress. ### Simulator Putting and Green Reading The putting green is generated by the game. It is **not a replica, scan, or survey of the physical course green**. Use it to practice a repeatable process, not to choose a real-world putting line. When the simulated ball reaches the green, the game opens a close putting view. **Enlarge Green** provides Top view, 3D view, zoom from 1× to 5×, Ball-to-pin view, quarter-turn rotation, and Close enlarged view. You can select a target in Top or 3D view. **Caddie Read** demonstrates a starting line and pace window for the generated contour shown on screen. It is not a promise that the putt will be holed. The ball follows that same displayed contour. Long putts become less precise from 15 feet onward; downhill and heavily breaking putts receive additional dispersion. A putt finishing within two feet is a gimme. Practice reading high and low areas, choosing a start line, matching pace to break, and leaving a simpler next putt. On a physical course, read the real green, grain, moisture, speed, and cup yourself. ### Detailed GPS Operation GPS Mode is intended for a calibrated installed course on a phone. **Page preview** can show Tee setup, Shot page, Green page, or Hole Review without requesting location or changing the round. Return to **Current round** before recording play. Before starting: 1. Sign in to the same account used by the game. 2. Select the course you are physically playing. 3. Open the correct hole. 4. Select GPS. 5. Allow precise browser location. At the white tee, select **Tee location**. It establishes the start and adds no stroke. Before hitting, select your club and quarter, half, three-quarter, or full Swing. Caddie choices can record an Aggressive or Safe & Smart plan. GPS Mode records the decision; it does not swing or simulate the real shot. At the next ball, select **Ball location**. This completes the previous shot, records the ending GPS position, and adds one stroke. Repeat at each location. Correct the estimated lie when necessary with Fairway, Rough, Bunker, or Recovery. Record Ball as TBD, Level, Above feet, or Below feet; Hill as TBD, Level, Uphill, or Downhill; and Rough as TBD, Light, Mild, or Deep. Practical defaults are Level ball, Level hill, and Light rough when the system cannot determine them. Correct anything that does not match the physical lie. On reaching the green, select **On Green**. Select **+1 Putt** for each putt that stays out, then **Holed Out** for the final putt. Holed Out adds that stroke, completes the hole, and opens the next hole. **Hole review** lists shots, club, distance, GIR, putts, and score. You can correct a missing or incorrect club and Swing. **Undo last** reverses a mistaken location, putt, or completion. ### GPS Saving and Synchronization Every GPS action saves to the phone first, then synchronizes a versioned copy to the signed-in account. The header can report Saved on phone, Syncing, Synced, Offline, or Server unavailable. If disconnected, continue recording; the phone copy remains usable and synchronization retries later. An older phone copy cannot overwrite a newer server revision. Leaving GPS Mode opens On Course Live. On another signed-in device, select the same course and On Course Live. GPS records and simulator records remain separate. Open **Player account → On-course replays** for synchronized GPS rounds. Replay separates Result, Decision, and Outcome vs target. Older shots without a target show **Target not recorded** rather than receiving an invented comparison. ### Scorecard, Round Card, and Review The Scorecard uses a circle for birdie, double circle for eagle or better, square for bogey, filled square for double bogey or worse, and a plain score for par. The compact Round Card provides hole navigation and progress. On mobile, select the current-hole control to open it. **Save round file** and **Load round file** provide optional portable backup. Account synchronization is the normal cross-device method. A round file contains the profile, score, current position, and replayable simulator history. Review focuses on holes with useful learning evidence instead of filling the report with routine holes. ### Round History, Player Learning, and Top 10 Round History stores completed simulator rounds. Player Learning waits for enough reliable evidence before presenting a trend. Simulated approach distances are not treated as measured proof of real-world performance. Top 10 uses each player's best completed Course Management score; lower stroke score breaks a tie. Course Management is the ranking measure because the game rewards thinking rather than one favorable random outcome. ### Feedback Center Open **Account → Feedback Center** without changing the shot being planned. Send a 1–5 star rating or a private Bug, Suggestion, Feature request, Course or map, AI Caddie, or Other message. A screenshot is optional. The game includes useful context such as course, hole, mode, lie, screen size, and browser, but not exact GPS coordinates. **My feedback** shows status and private developer replies. ### Important System Boundaries - Simulator outcomes are not real-world evidence. - GPS travel distance is not automatically airborne carry. - Simulator putting contours do not represent the physical course green. - AI does not determine authoritative shot results or replace deterministic scoring. - Caddie Choices are recommendations. - Landing Target represents intended carry, not guaranteed landing position. - Observed evidence never changes the Player Profile silently. - GPS and simulator records remain logically separate. ## The Golf-Domain Habit Before judging a shot, ask: 1. Did I read the condition correctly? 2. Did my club, swing, and target fit that condition? 3. Did I account for the safest useful miss? 4. Did I understand the next shot I was leaving? 5. Was the outcome caused by my decision, normal dispersion, or both? 6. What should I repeat or change next time? > When that thought process becomes natural, the game has done its job.