Many fans were disappointed due to the lack of Golf in Switch Sports, but Nintendo eventually fixed that.
With golf being officially a part of Switch Sports, players get to experience again 21 holes that were present in the previous games of the franchise.
Although it is fun to play offline, the Survival Golf online mode is where this sport shines. That said, it can get pretty competitive.
If you want to do well online and play like a pro, check out our Switch Sport Golf tips for winning more often.
Golf Tips to Play Like a Pro
Switch Sports games are never super complicated. At least when compared to actual sports simulators, the Switch Sports versions are oversimplified for the sake of fun. After all, this is a party game.
Yet, when it comes to the sports in this title, golf might be one of the most complicated to get the hang of. It demands coordination, practice, and knowledge of the game’s rules.
You might be able to keep your wrist rigid when swinging, but knowing how much to compensate due to the wind is not something you will know how to do before playing the game a few times.
If you master the following tips, you will certainly be a much better Gold player in Switch Sport.
Reset Your Stance
When you are about to swing, make sure to find a comfortable position. The game suggests you point down and press the Up or X button.
Note that you don’t have to point straight down. You should be fine if you don’t point forward or upward.
I like to point to the ground diagonally because it feels more comfortable for me to swing that way.
Finding the most comfortable or effective position might take a while, but don’t worry too much about it. It’ll naturally come to you as you try to get your stroke right.
The important thing here is that you don’t have to stick to a single position, and you can change it every time you swing. But it is important that reset your stance before hitting the ball.
Once you find the position you’ll use to swing, go to a neutral position — between pulling back the golf club and the final position after a shot — and press either Up or X.
Test Your Swing Before Hitting the Ball
Nintendo has added a very cool feature in Switch Sports. You can swing your Joy-Con to see if your shot has the amount of strength that you want without hitting the ball.
The Switch will detect how hard you swing your controller to measure the strength used to hit the ball. The harder you swing, the further the ball goes.
However, putting too much strength might cause you to lose accuracy. On the other hand, not putting enough strength will prevent the ball from going as far as you need it to go.
This delicate balance is one of the things that make Switch Gold fun — in my honest opinion, at least.
For that reason, it is nice that the game allows you to swing and check for yourself if you are doing it correctly.
Once you are ready to do it for real, get in position, reset your stance, and swing again, but hold the trigger button while doing it.
Pay Attention to the Terrain
Mastering your golf shot is only one aspect of the game. There are other challenges besides learning how to put the correct amount of strength and speed in a stroke.
For instance, each course will present a different challenge that will force you to master swings of different strengths with different clubs.
This is where mastering your swing is important, but not the only thing you need. You will have to hit the ball correctly and also make sure that you know the best way to position it.
Trusting your skills to place the ball is absolutely necessary. If you don’t know if you can make a shot, perhaps go for a safer approach.
Either way, you need to know how to navigate the course so you can make the most out of each stroke. This is especially important when you are playing survival golf online.
Make sure to try to compensate for the wing with the available space for the ball to land without putting you in a hard position.
Choose wide green areas to make your ball fall on if you can’t make a hard shot.
Finally, go for three easier shots instead of two hard ones if you aren’t absolutely sure you can do it. One bad swing might put you behind in a way that you might not be able to recover from.
Compensate For the Wind
The wind is annoying at times, but it helps keep the game fresh and harder than other Switch Sports.
You know you wouldn’t need as many tips and tricks to win badminton games more often. This is why golf is a more interesting sport in this title.
That said, there ways you compensate for wind are not that different from the ways you compensate for the terrain.
For instance, a common option is making your ball fall on a large, safe area. That way, the land itself will compensate for the change in the ball’s trajectory made by the wind.
The other way to compensate for the wind is slightly moving the ball’s intended destination.
By moving the direction slightly to a position contrary to the wind, you might be able to compensate for the wind and make the ball get to where you want it to go.
Finally, you can swing your wring to make the ball move after landing. This is harder and not recommended unless you know exactly what you are doing. It can do the trick, depending on the context, but it is far from being easy to pull off.
Unfortunately, there’s no secret that will always allow you to compensate for the wing. It’s all about experience and knowing how much you have to change your ball’s trajectory to make up for this nuisance.
Position Your Joy-Con Correctly
You have to choose a position that allows you to swing the Joy-Con without running any risk of moving your wrists unintendedly.
Although there might be situations in which you will want to move your wrists, for a curve ball or something like that, most of the time, you will want the ball to move in a straight line and fall closer to the hole or inside of it.
There’s a trick that allows you to safely swing your Joy-Con without shaking your wrist. If you point your Joy-Con forward and slightly point it down, the game will allow you to reset your position.
From that position, slightly pointing your Joy-Con down, you can perform a shot by moving your hands to the right and then to the left without moving them upward or downward.
If you move too quickly, the stroke will be powerful, so no strength is lost by adopting this method.
By doing this, you can guarantee that your wrists won’t shake, and you won’t change the ball’s trajectory by unintentionally performing a curve ball or something like that.
Practice Makes it Perfect
It might not be something many players want to hear, but this is by far the best advice in most games.
There’s a surprisingly high skill ceiling in this sport when you compare it to soccer or tennis in Switch Sports.
Golf demands a lot of practice, nuanced thinking, precise physical motion, and possibly a bit of luck.
Although the novelty of the sports in this title wears off quickly — although this is a generalized Switch Sports issue — at least this one takes a little longer than usual to master.
This sport has a lot to offer. Players have a lot to learn in order to be good Switch Sports gold players. Getting good at this game includes knowing things like how to compensate for the wind, where to send your ball, and what clubs to use.
Knowing how to correctly calculate how many shots you will take to finish a course is not hard, but since the strength depends on a swing of the Joy-Con, there’s always the chance you won’t do it right.
That’s precisely what makes this game fun and enjoyable offline. Even the easiest moments and most favorable circumstances can cause an explosion of laughter among friends when one messes up an easy win.
Play Survival Golf Online
It will probably be hard at first. To some players, a competitive environment can even be stressful.
However, it is amidst competition that one thrives and learns how to improve.
Playing against others might grant you a number of opportunities. You will learn what others do and how they perform, which you can use to improve your own skills later on.
Survival Golf Online can also push you to be a bit more creative when finding solutions to the situations the game throws at you.
Survival Gold Online will grant you the confidence to try risky shots and will push you to be better.
