346 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
346 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
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Links Golf (PC) Docs
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- From The Skeleton -
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To start Links enter the command Links. This will give show you some nice
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graphics and play music for you to enjoy. If you tire of this at a later time
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you can always start the game by entering the command Golf. This will bypass
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the song and dance routine and take you directly to game start up.
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After all this you are at what I would call the main menu. It includes
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boxes all of which are described below.
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Start Box = Starts up the game.
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Practice = Takes you to the practice area.
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Resume = Resumes a previously saved game.
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Players = The saved player configuration selector/editor.
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Info = View and/or change system configuration.
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Exit = Quit the game.
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Start = Start The game.
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Selecting the Start Box........
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The first thing you will have to do is select a course to play. Links
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currently comes with only one course so you will have to play Torrey Pines
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South. Once you select it,it will become highlighted. You will then need to
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click on OK to continue to the next screen.
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This screen will ask you to select players. You have three options here.
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Either select a player, use the default player or add a player Adding a player
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will be covered later).
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When you select either a player or the default player you will be taken to
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a new screen. On this screen you can change several things by clicking the
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appropriate box. You can select to play the front 9, back 9 holes or 18
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holes. You can select the level you would like to play at Pro, Amateur or
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Beginner. If you play at the beginner level an automatic caddy will select
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clubs for you throughout the game. Lastly you can select your tee off point
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Black, Blue White or Red. Red is the Women's Tee, White is the Men's Tee,
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Blue is the Pro Tees and Black is the Tournament Level Tees. After everything
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looks good click on OK. The game will load and show you some info about the
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course. Then you will be taken to the first Tee.
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On The First Tee......
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Top Box = Clicking on this shows you the top view of where you are at.
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The blinking white dot is your ball.
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Drop Box = This is the box to click on if you feel you are in an
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unplayable lie situation. This will automatically be invoked if you hit
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out of bounds or in to a hazard. The next box you see will give you
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several options.
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Hit from this = hit from the spot the computer has automatically
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selected for you.
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Select = Select the spot yourself. You can move your ball to a
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point you feel is good. The computer will not let you select an
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illegal spot. For example one that is closer to the hole.
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Back up 50 = This will back you up 50 feet from the current spot
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you are at.
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Cancel = You can cancel this operation if you decide to invoke it
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However if you are in water for example you will have to drop
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your ball at an acceptable spot before you will be able to
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continue.
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Remember!!! When you drop a stroke is added to your score!!!!
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Options Box = Allows several system options.
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Quit Game = Quits the current game.
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Save Game = Allows saving of the current game. You will have to
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specify a name for the game to be saved under. The name will
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appear in the options box when you select Resume from the main
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menu.
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Exit = This will take you back to the swing screen.
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Sound Toggles = these allow you to toggle the various sound
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options on and off. Note that if even if a sound option is
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toggled on it still may not work. This is do to lack of system
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memory. If you have this symptom you will need to free up more
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memory to use the particular sound feature.
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Drawing Detail = Allows you to toggle the drawing complexities
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of the images at close, medium and far ranges. The Max, Med
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and Min options are toggled . Max obviously will take more
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time than Min but will not look as detailed.
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Lie Box = Shows the lie of your ball. Fairway, Rough, Water or Sand.
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Setup Box = Tailoring your shot....
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Clicking setup brings you to another box which shows your feet
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and club ball/club position. Clicking on the various arrows
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will allow you to do many things.
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You can move the ball up or back in your stance. Moving it up
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causes it to fly higher but not as far. It will also get up in
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the air faster ( good for clearing bushes and things). Moving
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the ball back seems to lessen the effect of wind on your ball.
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It also keeps it down in case you wish to try and go under a
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tree. However, placing the ball to far back will cause you to
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drive it into the ground and it will go nowhere.
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Stance.. You can open or close your stance. The effects of
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this will be just as they are on a real golf course. Opening
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you stance causes the ball to fly from left to right. Closing
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the stance causes a right to left motion on the ball.
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Swing Plane... You may also modify the plane of your swing.
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Out to in causes a left to right ball flight. In to out
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causes the opposite.
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Club Face ... You can open or close the clubface. Opening it
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causes left to right ball flight. Closing it causes the
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opposite.
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Cancel....cancels the operation including all changes you have
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made.
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Continue.... Continues to the swing screen. You can now take
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your shot using the setup you have created.
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NOTE... We now come to a point which I feel is a bad design move in
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the game. After you take your shot the new setup remains in effect.
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You must go back in to setup and return things to normal. For example..
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if you needed to get over a tree in a hurry and moved the ball up in
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your stance it would stay that way. On the next tee you might pop
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the ball up a mile in the air with your driver and get no distance.
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Then you will remember that you changed the setup. Fortunately you can
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always take a mulligan,return the setup to normal and shoot over again.
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D,S,F Box.... This will draw , fade or hit your ball straight. You
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should experiment with this at the driving range to see
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exactly how much of a predefined draw or fade you will
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get. You can accomplish the same effect but with
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greater detail in the setup box.
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Grid Box.... This turns on a grid which shows hills and slopes that
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you are on or that are in front of you. This is most
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useful when putting or approaching the green. This is
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the only way you can read breaks when putting.
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Club Box.... Clicking on the right arrow increments your club selection
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up. The left increments it down. The clubs go up and down
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according to what is in your bag. Remember you selected
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these clubs when you added yourself as a Links Player.
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1 + 2 Boxes... These will be described later since it is a rather
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lengthy explanation.
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Address box..... Allows a practice swing at any time.
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Rotate and Redraw Box.... Allows you to rotate your view left or
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right and then redraw the screen.
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Aiming..... You aim with the cursor arrow on your screen. Hold
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the right mouse button and a red and white stick will
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pop up. Move it to where you want to aim taking wind
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in to account. In the lower right hand corner of the
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scenery window you will see the distance you have to
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that marker. If you let go that is where your aim is
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set. The left button will keep this stick on for your
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convenience.
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Putting..... Putting works in the same aiming way as described
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above. Turn on the grid to see the contour of the
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green.
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Now you can take your shot!!!!!
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You do this by clicking the right mouse button once to start
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your backswing , again to stop your backswing and once more to
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control fade or slice. Hitting it right on the line will put
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it right down the fairway. Early will cause a hook and loss of
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distance. Late will cause a slice and loss of distance.
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1st click.... Starts Backswing.
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2nd click.... Stops Backswing
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3rd click ... Determines straightness of shot.
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If you fail to click a second time you will overswing and duff
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the ball. The 12 o'clock position is maximum normal swing and
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will give you the best distance and control combination.
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Once you go over the 12 o'clock position the third click becomes
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more critical and missing the 6 o'clock line will become more
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critical because the hook and slice effect will be magnified.
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I only overswing when I am trying to reach the corner of a
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dogleg or when going for a par 5 in two. Remember it is a
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gamble to overswing!!!
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After Shot Window...
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After taking a shot the after shot window will pop up. This
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allows several choices described below.
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Instant Replay = You can watch a forward or reverse angle
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replay of your shot by clicking on the forward or reverse box.
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Mulligan Box = Allows you to take your shot over with no
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penalty. The mulligans are totaled up on your
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scorecard. You can disable the mulligan feature
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by clicking outside of this box. The mulligan box
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will turn red to reflect that it is off. You
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can re-enable the option by clicking outside the
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box again.
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Stats..... This box will also give you some information on
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your last shot. How far it flew in the air, how
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far it rolled and how far you are from the pin.
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Continue Box = Continue to your next shot.
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Scorecard..... After sinking your put you will be shown a scorecard.
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Boxes here allow you to view the front or back nine
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card or to continue. Select continue to proceed to the
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next hole.
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Hazards.... If you hit your ball in to a hazard the hazard box will
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pop up. You basically have two choices here.
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Rehit = Rehit your shot and take a one stroke penalty.
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Drop = This will invoke the drop routine that was
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explained above.
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1 + 2 Boxes... The 1 + 2 boxes are a powerful tool when playing links.
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These are basically two custom shots per club.
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Pressing the one box will tell Links that you want to
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set up a custom shot for the currently selected club.
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After highlighting the 1 box and selecting the club go
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to the setup menu. From here you can make all
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adjustments to your stance, clubface, swing plane etc..
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These settings will then be saved as custom shot 1 for
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the selected club. You may have two custom shots
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per club. I find that you must keep extensive notes on
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what each club and custom shot can do for you. Otherwise
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it is tough to remember what you designed a custom shot
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for. Notes such as 3 wood out of the rough can be very
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helpful.
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That is basically how to play the game. Below starts the section
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on options.
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Main Menu Options
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Resume Box = Clicking this presents you with a list of your saved
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Links games. Select a game and click OK to resume a
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saved game. All parameters such as score and player
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options are saved.
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Players = Your facility to build player profiles.
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You start by typing in your name or the name of a
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player to add. Then pick your tee off points and the
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level you want this player to play Links at.You then
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need to pick your clubs. You simply click to select
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or deselect them. Remember you can only take 13 with
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you because the 14th is your putter.
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Info Box = Shows sound and memory set ups. You can toggle
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expanded and extended memory on and off from here.
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Using additional memory dramatically increases the
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performance of screen redraws. I have only tested
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QEMM ( Quarter Deck Expanded Memory Manager) and
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the Microsoft Windows 3.0 drivers. Both work fine
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and speed up the game.
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You can also pick what type of sound board you have
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from here.
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Practice Box = Takes you to the practice area for Driving or
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chipping and putting.
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Upon opening this window you must first select a
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player. This gives you the proper bag of clubs.
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You can also add a player as described above. If
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finished click OK. You then decide if you want to
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chip and putt or practice driving.
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Driving... You are taken to a driving range. You
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aim and swing in the same manner described above.
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The colored barriers represent 50 yd. increments.
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Notice the practice greens you can shoot at.
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After each shot the status window will show
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you how well you did.
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This is also a good place to change your setups
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and see the results. The setup box will work in the
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same way as the one described above.
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Chip & Putt... The chip area will allow you to
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place your ball and then to practice chipping
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from that position. You also have a move to last
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ball option which will basically allow you to
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finish the hole out. Remember you can place your
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ball anywhere so watch and try different setups.
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Practice those bunker shots too.
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Exit = Leave the game and return to DOS.
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Notes.... The game seems to have a flaw in this example. If you
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200 yds or so away from your target it is hard to determine what you
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are hitting in to. If for example the green is guarded by a slope
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you may hit into the slope and not get a lot of roll. This is known
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as a bad kick. I have found no way to zoom in or look at a close up
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of approach areas. You can see this only by doing an instant reverse
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angle replay. If you have to drive in to a tight landing area this
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also becomes a problem.
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Despite the few shortcomings of Links I find it to be a
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very good and complete golf game. Unless you are really on your
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game you will find it hard to break par.
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Though one course ( Torrey Pines ) is the only one available
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the folks at Access promise more are on the way.
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven
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& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699
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The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK
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The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674
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Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560
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"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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