INTRODUCTION Golf's Best was designed to be the most realistic computer golf game available. It is written for the Commodore 64/128 micro-computers. Features that were included to add realism are: Three views of each hole Overhead and side views of each hole Actuval wind as found on the course Player selected bag of clubs Hooks and slices Actual hills and valleys as found on the course as well as trees, bushes, water sand and buildings Medal and championship tees. From 1 to 4 can play (a foursome is the most fun). Each player enters his or her name and choses to use either medal or championship tees. The group may begin play on any hole and each player can quit at ant time. Order of play is determined by honors - the player with the lowest score on the preceding hole plays first. The name of the player is displayed at the bottom right of the screen, so each person in your group should enter a different name to avoid confusion. Golf's Best always shows you: Where the ball is How far you are from the pin What surface you are on What stroke you are about to hit Wind direction and speed Before you can hit your shot you must make the same decisions that you have to make on the golf course. What direction to hit the ball Which club to use How hard to swing Whether to hook or slice the ball You enter these decisions by selecting one character commands and keying in your choices. The letters which represent the commands are displayed in the main prompt. The main prompt appears like this: 999 YARDS FAIRWAY STROKE 5 C,F,D,S,R,L,Q,K,?: Each letter stands for a command: C - Club F - Force of Swing D - Direction L - Locate R - Range K - Show Commands Q - Quit ? - Instructions S - Style Numeric Keys: 1 - Stroke the ball 2 - Color pattern legend 3 - Sound control on/off toggle 4 - Scorecard 5 - Club Table 6 - Putter man on/off toggle 7 - Hole description on/off toggle 8 - Save a game in progress You do not have to enter every command before you hit your shot for example: If you see your ball on the screen, then you do not have to do a locate command. Many commands and prompts have default settings which allow you to skip them or pass through them quickly. A prompt default will appear under the flashing cursor after a prompt. And can be chosen by pressing RETURN. CLUB SELECTION If no club has been selected, then a small golf club is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Once you have selected a club, then the figure is replaced by the two letter name of the club you selected. To select a club, hit the 'C' key. You should see the prompt: Which Club: 0A Now simply type in the two letter name of the club you want or hit the RTN key to return to the main prompt. Clubs available include: 1-5.7 Woods = 1W, 2W, 3W, 4W, 5W, 7W 1-9 Irons = 1I, 2I, 3I, 4I, 5I, 6I, 7I, 8I, 9I Sand Wedge = SW Extra Wedge = EW Pitching Wedge = PW PUTTER = PT DIRECTION If you have not specifield a direction to shoot, a small clock is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Not setting a direction will allow the ball to go roughly toward the pin when hit. You can line up the shot yourself by using the 'D' command. A direction is entered by pointing the hour hand of a clock in the direction you want the ball to fly. Note that at 03:30 the hour hand is half way between three and four o'clock. Once you set the direction the clock at the bottom of the screen will be replaced by the time you entered. T o enter a direction, hit the 'D' key. You should see the prompt: Enter direction: 00:00 Some sample direction are: UP = 00:00 (or 12:00) RIGHT = 03:00 DOWN = 06:00 LEFT = 09:00 After you enter a direction, a line will appear showing the direction on the screen. At the bottom of the screen, you will see a cross-section of the hills valleys on the course in the direction that you choose to shoot. The cross-section is exaggerated to provide a better idea of the details of the terrain. You can line up a shot as many times as you like. FORCE OF STROKE For irons and woods, you can hit full, three-quarters, half or quarter swings. For wedges and the putter, you enter the force as the number of feet you are trying to hit the ball (assuming no wind and a level green). The current value of force is displayed either as golf figure or the force number you entered. To enter a force, hit the 'F' key. If you have selected a wood or iron, you should see the prompt: Full, three-quarters, half, or quarter: Answer it with either F, T, H, or Q. If you have selected a wedge or putter, you should see the prompt: Enter Force: Answer it by typing the force in feet that you want the ball to travel and then hitting RETURN. Remember, because of wind, terrain and playing surface, the ball may travel a different distance than the one you chose. You must take these factors into account when setting your force. WIND AND TERRAIN Wind on the course is displayed by an arrow at the bottom of the screen which points in the direction in which the wind is blowing - and that your ball will tend to blow. The larget the wind arrow, the harder the wind is blowing. Be careful, St Andrews is a very windy course. The terrain on the course can be seen by using the direction command as described above. But for a better idea of the slope of the green, an arrow appears at the bottom of the screen next to the word 'SLOPE'. This arrow points to the lowest part of the green from where your ball is sitting. RANGE The ranmge feature can be used to find how far your ball will travel on the screen. This is useful because the scale on the screen will vary as you move closer to the pin. To enter a range, press the 'R' key. Depending on how close you are, you should see one of these prompts: Enter range in yards? or Enter range in feet? These allow you to make more precise measurements as you move closer to the green. STROKE THE BALL Hit the '1' key to start the ball on its way toward the hole. Once the ball is hit. You can see a side view of its flight at the bottom of the screen. LOCATE BALL Sometimes even a flickering ball can be lost. Hitting the 'L' key will cause a black + to be displayed on the screen. The ball is located where the black + crosses. QUIT GAME A player can quit by hitting the 'Q' key. This has to be confirmed in case you hit 'Q' accidentally. All other players can continue the game. COLOR PATTERN LEGEND Hit the '2' key to display a legend of what all the colors on the screen represent. SOUND CONTROL TOGGLE Hitting '3' key turns the sound off, and you can see sound stop coming out of the little speaker at the bottom of the screen. Hitting the '3' key again turns the sound back on. DISPLAY SCORECARD Hit the '4' key to display complete scorecard for all members of your group. CLUB DISTANCE TABLES Hit the '5' key to display complete information on the distances that each club will hit the ball. The clubs which you have chosen for this round will be highlighted. PUTTER MAN TOGGLE Hit the '6' key to turn the little animated putter off so that the game may move faster. Hit the '6' to turn the putter back on. HOLE DESCRIPTION TOGGLE Hit the '7' key to stop displaying the hole description before each hole. Hit the '7' key to start displating the description again. You are also given a chance to turn the description off at the beginning of the game after you answer the "Starting Hole" prompt. SAVING AND LOADING GAMES Hit the '8' key to enter into the save a game command. You will be prompted to insert the disk on which to save the game. You then are prompted to reinsert your Golf's Best disk to continue your game. Option at the beginning of Golf's Best allows you to load a saved game in the same manner you saved a game. IMPORTANT: In order to save you current game you must have an unprotected, formatted disk ready. The game will be saved under the name "GAMEINFO". Make sure no other game has been saved on the same disk as the game will not save. HOLE SELECTION Golf's Best allows you to select the first hole on which you want to play at the "Starting Hole" prompt. At the end of each hole after the scoreboard is displayed, Golf's Best allows you to play any hole, including a hole that has already been played. If you select hole 19 you will enter the clubhouse and your round will be over. Have a good round!!!!