The Three Modes of SimGolf
Golf Mode
Practice Mode
Walk Mode
Looking Around and Walking Around (with the Movement Control)
Golf Mode
Golf Mode is where you play golf. It is probably the mode you'll be in most of the time. The only place where you can play a scored game is in Golf Mode. In this mode, the image you see in the Game Window is from the perspective of a camera placed behind the golfer. When you use the Movement Control in Golf Mode, you are shifting the camera, not the golfer.
Enter Golf Mode by clicking on PLAY GOLF from the SimGolf Main Menu. Whenever you are in Golf Mode, you may switch to the other modes and back again.
If you do not see an animation in the top-right corner of the Game Window, this means you are in Golf Mode.
Practice Mode
This icon appears when you're in Practice Mode.
There are actually two different Practice Modes. Practice Mode acts very much like Golf Mode; however, the shots you take are not scored. As in Golf Mode, the image you see in the Game Window is from the perspective of a camera placed behind the golfer. The Movement Control shifts the camera angle to a limited degree.
The first way to enter Practice Mode is to click on PRACTICE from the SimGolf Main Menu. This puts you in full Practice Mode where you can swing and reposition yourself anywhere on the golf course.
If you are in the middle of an actual game (in Golf Mode) you can enter a limited practice mode by clicking on the "G" in the Mode Indicator on the Swing Indicator. You'll be able to take as many practice swings as you like, but you cannot reposition the golfer. To return to your game, click on the animated ball and club in the top-right corner of the Game Window.
Walk Mode
This icon appears when you're in Walk Mode.
The golf courses that you received with the SimGolf software are real courses from around the country, courses designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. If you've ever played on these courses, you'll recognize their features. And just like on the real courses, SimGolf lets you look around and even walk around on the courses you're playing on. What a difference from older computer golf games where you were stuck where the software drew you.
Walk Mode frees you from the "tether" of the golf ball and lets you roam around the course. You must be in Walk Mode to move away from the golf ball. And even though itÆs called Walk Mode, you can do more than walk. You can ascend straight up into the sky and look down. Use the arrow keys or the Movement Control to steer.
And remember, in Walk Mode, you're seeing through the eyes of the onscreen golfer. So when you're in Walk Mode, you'll never see the golfer. (There are no mirrors on the golf course.) But you will see a pair of fashionable white golf shoes up in the right-hand corner of the screen. These shoes were made for walkin'. You'll also see a minature version of the Swing Indicator down in the lower corner. Click on either the shoes or the tiny Swing Indicator and you'll return to Golf Mode.