Ball contact issues (Oculus)

[Casimir]

I've been having ball contact issues since I got the game a couple months ago.

Now, I'm not sure if this is directly related to my sensor setup or not - currently, I have to play the game 90 degrees to the left of my sensor setup (I have 2 sensors, set up to the left and right of my monitor, but I have to turn and face 90 degrees to the left to play or the Oculus video wire gets in the way of my swings). But the issue has been consistent, and makes it really difficult to get consistent distances and ball striking consistency off the tee.

Whenever I drive off the tee, almost 90% of the time I get 0% Contact on the "Grade" page. When this happens, I generally still drive the ball about 230 to 245 yards. However, if I actually do get any Contact (which generally will only be about 10% - 15%), the distance drops dramatically - to only about 160 yards.

Off the fairway, whenever hitting fairway woods or irons my Contact is better - perhaps 50% of the time I'll get more than 0% Contact, but again - usually the higher Contact percentage the shorter the shot will be (on average).

Different clubs also have different issues where this is concerned.

For example, my 7 iron - if I get a solid hit with more than 50% Contact, I can hit that thing over 200 yards (!!!).

By contrast, my PW - if I get ANY Contact above 0% I can barely hit it beyond 40 yards (which makes approach shots VERY frustrating).

I've tried most of the suggestions on these forums related to club lengths, ensuring my sensor ground height is set correctly, etc., and these issues still persist. I'm not sure what else to try. As the club distances sort of "set" for you after you've hit them a few times I have to wonder if some of this is due to that... which makes me wish there was a way I could sort of zero out (or start fresh) my clubs and work through them again to get the carry distances more accurate.

Any suggestions would be great, as at this point I'm at a loss.


EDIT - In addition, I've noticed that sometimes the game ADDS strokes. I kept seeing scores that I felt were higher as I continued to play... now, I know I'm no Tiger Woods, but something started not adding up right. Yesterday I actually kept a tally of my shots, and on 3 separate holes it added an additional stroke. I can't account for why, as I didn't hit the ball accidentally at any point before striking the ball during a swing. Something else I'm dealing with.

[hb_CraigC]

Hey Casimir, this is a big list of issues. However, I'm quite certain that most, if not all, are being caused by loss of tracking. The fact that both of your sensors cannot see your controller throughout the entirety of your swing path, means your hit results will lack any sort of consistency.

You really need to be facing your sensors while you swing.

Regarding the displayed club distances, these are a calculated running average of the last 20-30 strokes (iirc) of that club. That means that if you continue to play, without tracking issues, your distances will right themselves over time.

Hopefully this helps you out!

Oh, and once you get your tracking set up sorted out, keep an eye out for the incorrect scores you mentioned. I'd be interested to hear if your still experiencing it.

[Casimir]

Hi CraigC -

Thanks for the response.

I did take some time again today to make sure that my height was set correctly - and I found it wasn't. The controller was about 3 inches above the ground in the tee box when I set it on the floor. So I went through the SteamVR process a few times until I got that set up just right. Although I'd done that before, apparently I didn't do the "floor test" and I do have to say that it made a difference - not a huge one, but a difference all the same.

The issue with the 90 degree facing is, like you say, big. There's just no way for me to swing facing my system without risking my video / Oculus connection wire getting caught. As such there's only a single sensor that really can capture the entirety of the swing. This is partly due to an issue where I currently live where I simply don't have enough floor space for a dedicated area setup.

We'll be moving soon into a location where I'll be able to though, and I'll be purchasing a 3rd sensor so I can set up a 360 degree sensor envelope, so hopefully that will alleviate the tracking issue.

As far as the "extra strokes" thing though, I really don't know what to make of that. All I can say is that - certainly because of the tracking issue - I do occasionally swing and completely miss the ball even though it seems like I shouldn't. When that happens I wonder if it counts that. And there's been a few times when I've been setting up the shot, holding the club up above the ball (by a couple of feet at least) and I'll suddenly get the shot replay deal (that you will get when you hold down the middle finger button), almost as if it thinks I touched the ball.

I think I'll see if I can set up my area tonight so I can take a few swings directly in front of both sensors just to see the difference. I'll post the results.

[The Spirit of Jazz]

Originally posted by Casimir:

I've been having ball contact issues since I got the game a couple months ago.

Now, I'm not sure if this is directly related to my sensor setup or not - currently, I have to play the game 90 degrees to the left of my sensor setup (I have 2 sensors, set up to the left and right of my monitor, but I have to turn and face 90 degrees to the left to play or the Oculus video wire gets in the way of my swings). But the issue has been consistent, and makes it really difficult to get consistent distances and ball striking consistency off the tee.

Whenever I drive off the tee, almost 90% of the time I get 0% Contact on the "Grade" page. When this happens, I generally still drive the ball about 230 to 245 yards. However, if I actually do get any Contact (which generally will only be about 10% - 15%), the distance drops dramatically - to only about 160 yards.

Off the fairway, whenever hitting fairway woods or irons my Contact is better - perhaps 50% of the time I'll get more than 0% Contact, but again - usually the higher Contact percentage the shorter the shot will be (on average).

Different clubs also have different issues where this is concerned.

For example, my 7 iron - if I get a solid hit with more than 50% Contact, I can hit that thing over 200 yards (!!!).

By contrast, my PW - if I get ANY Contact above 0% I can barely hit it beyond 40 yards (which makes approach shots VERY frustrating).

I've tried most of the suggestions on these forums related to club lengths, ensuring my sensor ground height is set correctly, etc., and these issues still persist. I'm not sure what else to try. As the club distances sort of "set" for you after you've hit them a few times I have to wonder if some of this is due to that... which makes me wish there was a way I could sort of zero out (or start fresh) my clubs and work through them again to get the carry distances more accurate.

Any suggestions would be great, as at this point I'm at a loss.


EDIT - In addition, I've noticed that sometimes the game ADDS strokes. I kept seeing scores that I felt were higher as I continued to play... now, I know I'm no Tiger Woods, but something started not adding up right. Yesterday I actually kept a tally of my shots, and on 3 separate holes it added an additional stroke. I can't account for why, as I didn't hit the ball accidentally at any point before striking the ball during a swing. Something else I'm dealing with.

I'm having similar issues and I don't know if it's down to tracking. My iron distances are abysmal and I almost never manage more than 5% contact on 99% of my shots. Going to try to position a 3rd sensor where I know the touch controller will be tracked by at least 2 sensors all the time and 3 sensors 99% of the time to see if it helps.

[Casimir]

By all means post your results. I'm still having the same issues, and it's made playing the game frustrating enough that I don't play it as much as I used to. I did move into that new house, but I haven't been able to set up a 3rd sensor yet.

[roorooroo]

My irons and tee shots were really awful until i made sure the SteamVR floor settings were correct. I redid them a couple of times until i was happy they were correct. (2 sensors).

[The Spirit of Jazz]

How do you do the steam VR floor posittion? I've done it in oculus home and iit's spot on but when I'm in steam VR, my actual floor when I put the controller down is a good 6 inchees above the virtual floor. Also, the third sensor has helped and my shots are a lot more consistent, but Iron striking is still a hit and miss (hur hur) affair.

[Casimir]

The Steam VR floor positioning is separate from the Oculus Home setup and doesn't have any affect on it. You have to run through the Steam VR setup and adjust your height settings. It'll probably take you several attempts to get it just right - it took me about 4 tries before I had it pretty close to perfect (the controller setting right on the VR ground when I set it on my floor).

[The Spirit of Jazz]

I found the steam settings and ran through the setup a fewe times until I was happy with it. Iron shots are still difficult but I'm beginning to think it's just an artifact of the virtual nature of the game. I can't feel the club, or the ground, or tell if I've chunked it or topped it or thinned it. I think it's just me being crap but not realising it because of the lack of tactile feedback.

[Casimir]

I thought the same thing - that it might be possible for me also. The issue though is that no matter how I change the swing or approach the swing it rarely ever makes a difference. I don't think I've gotten more than a handful of ball contacts over 5% after playing a LOT of rounds. Certainly, the tracking is an issue, and the ability of the sensors to keep track of your entire swing is paramount, but even after making sure that's the case nothing has really changed (for me).

What's even more frustrating is that I can stand next to the ball with the Touch controller in just my right hand, place the club head a few inches behind the ball, and then just flick my wrist - and send the ball flying down the fairway. I did that with a 5 iron and shot it almost 200 yards.

I agree that the lack of tactile feedback is an issue. Without being able to actually see my hands and body, it's difficult to ensure my stance and aim is correct. Without the weight of a club in my hands it's hard to really "feel" the swing, and especially with the Touch, it's almost impossible to "grip" the controller correctly as one would a real golf club (though there are people who've come up with ways to get around this - http://imgur.com/a/z3j4y)

But even with that, I still think the tracking fails through the swing; for example, no matter how flat my swing plane is, 90% of my swings still show a sharp, drastic path change a foot behind the ball when I check the swing path - showing that I'm (allegedly) suddenly pulling in my swing just before impact. I KNOW I'm not doing that, and certainly not as drastically as the swing replay is showing. And oddly, when that happens, the ball is sent straight down the fairway to the left - not a hook, but straight, as if I was aiming it that way - when it should be slicing badly to the right instead.

Granted, I know this is a game and getting the nuances of ball contact and behavior off the face of the club can't be easy to program, but in this case the ball just doesn't behave as one would expect - at all.

As a point of note - I don't know if you've noticed this yet or not Jazz, but when the club does touch the ground you do get a slight vibration in the controller (if you're using a Oculus, that is... I don't know if it does it with the Vive controllers).

[The Spirit of Jazz]

Originally posted by Casimir:

I thought the same thing - that it might be possible for me also. The issue though is that no matter how I change the swing or approach the swing it rarely ever makes a difference. I don't think I've gotten more than a handful of ball contacts over 5% after playing a LOT of rounds. Certainly, the tracking is an issue, and the ability of the sensors to keep track of your entire swing is paramount, but even after making sure that's the case nothing has really changed (for me).

What's even more frustrating is that I can stand next to the ball with the Touch controller in just my right hand, place the club head a few inches behind the ball, and then just flick my wrist - and send the ball flying down the fairway. I did that with a 5 iron and shot it almost 200 yards.

I agree that the lack of tactile feedback is an issue. Without being able to actually see my hands and body, it's difficult to ensure my stance and aim is correct. Without the weight of a club in my hands it's hard to really "feel" the swing, and especially with the Touch, it's almost impossible to "grip" the controller correctly as one would a real golf club (though there are people who've come up with ways to get around this - http://imgur.com/a/z3j4y)

But even with that, I still think the tracking fails through the swing; for example, no matter how flat my swing plane is, 90% of my swings still show a sharp, drastic path change a foot behind the ball when I check the swing path - showing that I'm (allegedly) suddenly pulling in my swing just before impact. I KNOW I'm not doing that, and certainly not as drastically as the swing replay is showing. And oddly, when that happens, the ball is sent straight down the fairway to the left - not a hook, but straight, as if I was aiming it that way - when it should be slicing badly to the right instead.

Granted, I know this is a game and getting the nuances of ball contact and behavior off the face of the club can't be easy to program, but in this case the ball just doesn't behave as one would expect - at all.

As a point of note - I don't know if you've noticed this yet or not Jazz, but when the club does touch the ground you do get a slight vibration in the controller (if you're using a Oculus, that is... I don't know if it does it with the Vive controllers).

I have noticed the vibration, but in the instant of contact I can't tell if it's before I hit the ball, hence chunking it, or after contact as it should be. I'm assuming it's before when my full swing with a 5 iron goes 130 yards instead of around 170 as it would irl. I have noticed that moving the ball further back in my stance than I normally would sometimes helps with iron shots but that could be psychological. Need to experiment more I guess.