GURPS Golfing

Watched Rising Impact, an anime on Netflix about golfing recently and decided to stat out Golf.

Sports (Golf) is an Average DX based skill.

The goal is to hit a ball into the hole in as few shots as possible.

There are three main types of swings in golf, the Drive, Slice, and Putt respectively.

.Average driving distance is 200 to 224 yards.  (ST 10 or 11); 70% of amateur golfers hit 250 (ST 12 to ST 13), Average PGA distance in the 2020's is 300 yards (ST  15) with the longest drive in history 787 (ST 39!). Various factors, especially wind can make a big difference in distance.

So lets set Driving distance at ST*20

Putts dramatically fail outside of 10 feet. A golf hole is 4.25" in diameter (SM-7) with -1 to hit at 9 feet, so that works. Skill 12 would be 5 or less under 9 feet to hit the hole. But Aiming should apply for +3 and club quality for Acc 1 (fine clubs) or Acc 2 (Very Fine).

A professional could get the +4 routine task modifier for another +4 (newcomers might cave under pressure and not get that).

So we have target -7, Aiming bonus of +3 to +5, routine for +4 meaning against a skill 12 we get an effective skill of 12 to 14 depending on club quality.

That works out rather nicely!

 A slice is the ball curing towards the dominant hand due to a slight spin on the ball. Normally you do not want to slice, but sometimes you need to angle the shot to avoid a hazard on the course or angle it to work with the wind. Sounds more like adjusting to the situation so we will ignore this kind of stroke in favor of circumstantial penalties.

So what does this give us?

Sports (Golf) (A) DX

This is the skill to play a good golf game. Driving distance is ST*20 with a bonus to ST of +1 for Skill DX+1 or ST+2 for DX+2. Wind speed may add or subtract from a drive, each 2 MPH is 1 or 2 yards. The golf hole is -7 to hit, plus range penalties (p. B550), and additional penalties for terrain or wind may apply. Treat rough or sand as -1 to -4. Add wind speed to the range penalty when making drives with a crosswind. When driving (rather than putting) add +4 to hit the hex and use the Scatter rule (p. B414) to determine where the ball landed. When putting assume you miss the hole by 1 foot per margin of error.

Trained golfers may opt to use the Precision Aiming rules (GURPS Gun Fu, p. 12. or GURPS High Tech, p. 84)

Note that professional golfers will also invest in Games (Golf) (E) IQ for a through understanding of the rules.

Useful perks include Bank Shot, Bend the Bullet, and Deadeye from GURPS Gun Fu; and Eye for Distance (GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks).

A new perk also seems appropriate.

Read the Green

 Grants +1 skill and allows Time Spent modifiers (base time 1 turn) when making a putt.