From Tiger Woods 2001 through 2006, I had the game mathematically mastered and would bet as high as anyone could stand (or what I could stand, for that matter). My record was -28 in a single round with the hardest settings, except "windy" instead of "gale force" and almost never did worse than -23/round.
I tried to hole-out from every approach shot, and did pretty often as I got "the heart beat" on almost 100% of my shots and whenever I didn't, I spun the ball in the hole anyways because I could instantly calculate the spin angle.
There was a small group of guys that I knew of other than myself who knew the same info and it always came down to hole-outs from the fairway.
When I saw that guys were scoring as low as -30/round in that Golden Tee video, there's a lot less skill involved than you would think and a TON more knowledge. Meaning, you aim with the shot "arrow" and have static wind. It's mostly just hard work just to get the baseline of the game algorithm and learn the constants that affect ball flight. Once you know that, I'd guarantee these top guys almost NEVER drop below -24 or so
Wind: Golf games always have static wind. Meaning, they always say something like "15mph >>>>> this direction." Once you know how the win affects your ball: feet/yards left, right, long or short, you can imagine/see a grid and make exact offsets/adjustments.
Note: Games that incorporate dynamic wind eliminate this move.
Elevation: As with wind, once you figure out how elevation affects your ball based on shot distance, it's a constant and should be memorized. Once you know this and pair it with the wind adjustment, it's absolutely devastating.
Swing: I knew every part of the Tiger swing and what the % was. If I had to swing at a %, I could with tremendous accuracy. I'm sure the players had the GT swing down as well so there are no "in-between shots."
EA learned that some players reverse-engineered their playing model and have since incorporated random elements into the game. For example, they now have a "shot circle" that basically shows approximately where the ball will land, and it can statistically land anywhere in that circle, based on the lie and club selection. This put a huge, huge damper on hole-outs from fairways, %-wise. Since it's impossible to hit exact spots on approach shots, it's also a lot tougher to get stay within 5' or so from the pin, where before putting was NEVER an issue because you were always throw-in distance from the hole.
The hardest golf games, without a doubt, are the latest Tiger Woods (using IR scanners) and World Gold Tour (
http://www.wgt.com) that uses reflex-timing.
Games that use hand controllers (PS3/PS4/XBOX/Golden Tee Ball) are FAR too easy to "monkey-thumb" and guarantee perfectly straight shots every time. Full disclosure, I don't play Golden Tee often at all and don't play well, but that doesn't mean I don't know that it's an easy game to break-down. In conclusion, video games are a real "sport" to play at the highest levels and there are pro tours / events / tournaments that pay way more money than pool tournaments.
Just look-up Fatal1ty (Johnathan Wendell) to get an idea of what can be made. Trust me when I say that he's a good example of a highly intelligent guy who "breaks down" games and learns the constants and eliminates the variables. Guys who WIN these mega-money events are not playing the same game (so to speak) than you are. They already know the outcome and the only aspect of chance is whether or not others know the exact same thing.
Edit:
Check out the attached Excel file that someone sent me for WGT a year or two back. I haven't played WGT in some time because my job and side projects have dominated my time, but at one time I was breaking down the game because you can win cash/prizes/vacations. For those interested, you'll see that the decimal places go into the ten-thousandths for exactness. At one time, this was prob accurate, but I'm sure they've changed their constants since this was made.
My point is when you reverse-engineer a game, you can absolutely DOMINATE others and score whatever you want. Guys were even writing special apps that sent a mouse click command when particular pixel definitions changed, which 100% guaranteed a straight hit no matter what. You cannot compete at these games unless you do the same, unfortunately. Over time, these games will incorporate variables such as moisture / humidity and barometric pressure which will make them impossible to break-down.
