Shot Focus in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11

Hey Everyone,

My name is Anthony DiFazio and I am an Assistant Designer on the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise. I have been involved with the development of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR  for a couple of years now and I’m extremely excited with  the direction things are going. As we get closer to the launch of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11, I will be writing aricles about the features. Today we are lifting the cover off SHOT FOCUS.

In this article I am going to dive a little deeper into some of the new gameplay changes and overall enhancements we have made to Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11. It was an exciting development cycle this year and after listening to our community, we have been making some pretty significant changes.

The feature I am going to talk about today is the all new SHOT FOCUS system and how this is going to change the way you approach the course and your shot to shot selections.

Focus is what allows you to add that extra boost to the ball, increase the spin speed/direction, use your putt previews as well as increase your accuracy which is something I will get to shortly. Be careful with it though, as focus will deplete as you take advantage of that extra boost, or those multiple putt previews to save birdie. Once your focus is spent you will lose all of those abilities until it recharges. Focus will recharge on any shot where an “enhancement” was not used and will continue to do so over the course of your round. Next time you’re thinking of going for the green think of laying up and saving your focus and ensure a solid putt preview because you might not have it.

There are ways to still put some enhancements on your shot without losing any focus such as setting draw or fade as well as using the loft stick to add natural spin to the ball. However adding spin in the air and changing the spin direction will tap into your focus.

Another big enhancement is new target aiming circle which acts unlike it has in the past.

The new aiming circle is tied to one of the eleven new in-game attributes which you have complete control over on how you shape your golfer’s style of play. I will talk more about those in my next blog. The aiming circle is tied to your Balance attribute and with better balance the smaller this circle will get. The catch here is unlike previous years your ball will not land in the center of this circle; however it can land anywhere inside it. (Sorry to all you straight shooters using your Hori Controllers)

As you may have noticed in the above screen shot I have the ability to boost my accuracy. What this will do is shrink the size of circle allowing you to really zone in on your target. However taking advantage of this is going to tie back into your focus as you will notice by this screen shot.

In this screen shot I took the original aiming circle and increased the accuracy at the expense of almost a quarter of my focus. Combine that with a heavy boosted tee shot, addition of spin, and multiple putt previews you could lose your focus really fast. So pick and choose when you want to use it and use it strategically.

Focus is tiered based on your golfer’s level, so at first using the gameplay enhancements will not use up that much, however as you progress in your career and become a better golfer the cost of using focus will go up.

There are also items in the proshop that when equipped will offer up to 3% protection on the rate in which focus will drain. While 3% may not sound like a lot, over 18 holes playing your shots right will save you in the long run. The last thing you want to have happen is lead an online tournament only to reach the 18th green and be unable to preview that putt!

 Stay tuned for more updates….