1.Introduction
2.Controls
3.Menus
4.How to play
5.Holes
1.Introduction
Released in 1996 in Japan only, The Glory of St Andrews is the N64's first golf
game. It is a recreation of one of the world's oldest golf courses, often
considered the “Home of golf”. It is thus one of the few N64 games that takes
place in Scotland!
The course in the game is based on the “Old Course” at St Andrews, which was
established in 1552. The course has quite an amusing history. James the II of
Scotland banned the game in 1457, as he felt his men were playing too much golf
and not practising archery enough. In 1797 the Council of St Andrew's allowed
rabbit farming on the course, which resulted in 20 years of fights between
golfers and rabbit farmers.
The 10th hole is named after American Bobby Jones, who famously won the British
Amateur Championship here in 1930. Some railway sheds were originally built by
the course, they were eventually torn down. Without the sheds, the players found
it much easier to tee off on the notoriously difficult 17th hole. As this was
considered inauthentic, replica sheds were built. You can actually see this
sheds in game!
The title screen features the Swilcan Bridge, which is over 700 years old. Every
player walks over this bridge to reach the final 18th hole. This hole is named
after a local golfing legend, Tom Morris, who was born here in 1821. Morris
worked as a greenkeeper, clubmaker, ballmaker, golf instructor, and was one of
the first professional golfers. He designed many courses all over the U.K.
The par for the course is 72 strokes. The world record is currently 61, set by
Englishman Ross Fisher in 2017.
2.Controls
A button – Confirm
B button – Cancel
C buttons – Rotates and changes the camera mode
Start Button – Brings up the menu
R Trigger – Not used
L Trigger – Not used
Z Trigger – Confirm
3D Stick / D Pad – Move the cursor, controls the power of a shot
3.Menus
When starting the game, you may be show a message on the title screen. It states
that, if you wish to save any of your progress you need 79 pages free on your
controller pak.
Main Menu
Practice hole – Practise any of the 18 holes.
Game Start – Start the game using the options that you have selected
Mode Selection – Set the options for the game.
Mode Selection Screen
Stroke Play - play stroke by stoke (up to 4 players)
Match Play - play a match (up to 2 players)
Tournament - Tournament play (up to 2 players). Play 72 hole,four day tournament
against 40 other golfers. If you do not place high enough after the first two
days you will be knocked out. You also have to watch three other golfs play
their shots. I believe winning this mode causes the credits to play, but I
haven't been able to confirm that.
Training - Practice any hole on the course
Load Game – Load a previously saved game
Player – Edit your golfer
Options – Change game options
Player
Player Settings – change your golfers attributes
Name Settings – change your golfers name
Personal Achievements – your golfers specific achievements
Hole achievements – achievements made on specific holes
Best Shot reset – Reset your golfers best shot
Load Player Data – load data
Options
Music – On or Off (Turn it off!)
Sound Effects – On or Off
Sound Test – Play any of the sounds in the game
Screen Brightness – sets the screen brightness
Start Time – Sets the time of day that the game occurs
Weather – Sunny, rainy, cloudy
In game menus.
These are displayed if you press start during game.
Normal menu
More options (see below)
Tee position
Look at the Green
Display the topographic grid at your current location
Select a club
Select the direction of the shot
Play the shot
More Options menu
Normal Menu (see above)
Score Card
Best Shot
Screen Options
Ability Test
End the game
Screen options menu (see above)
Display the topographic grid – On, green only, off
Birds Eye camera – In front, behind, off
Put camera - front, behind, off
Camera work – Live style, off
Ball trail – during, after
Power meter – On, off
Strength – On, off
4.How to play
My first advice is to turn off the music in the option menu. It's horrendous.
There is only one irritating track, that repeats ad nauseam. The natural sound
effects in the game are far far more pleasant.
On your first shot you can select the position of the tee. After this you can
select the direction of your shot based on the blue arrow on the mini map. Then
you can select where on the ball, or ground, you which to hit. If you hit the
bottom part of the ball it will fly high but not very far and vice versa. When
in a bunker it is advisable to hit the ground rather than the ball sometimes.
After confirming the location where you wish the hit the ball you will move to
the stroke part of the shot. Pull back the 3D stick and release it to play the
stroke. The further you pull it back, the further your golfer will raise his
arms and thus the harder he will hit the ball. The accuracy of your shot is
determined by the size of the red circle that appears on the picture of your
ball when you release the 3D stick. The smaller the red circle is, the more
accurate your shot will be.
Basically, to make a good stroke, you want to hit the ball in the right place
(often the default middle position), with the right amount power (3D stick) and
with the right amount of accuracy (the smallest possible circle). If you
misjudge any of these, your ball will not fly far, or will bounce over the hole.
On the later courses the red circle will change size much faster, making it
harder to pull off accurate shots. I'm not sure what causes this, but it might
be related to the wind speed. In this case it is often better to release the
stick when the circle is big. By the time the game registers your shot, the
circle will have become smaller.
Avoid bunkers at all costs. If your ball becomes stuck in them, it can be
difficult to find a place where your golfer can play the ball, as he is not
allowed to collide with game objects. I imagine this can result in a softlock
where there is no possible place for your golfer to stand. I have also
experienced freezing after one of my balls collided and became embedded in a
bunker wall.
I believe winning tournament mode causes the credits to play. But as the game is
very difficult, this is not something I have been able to confirm.
5.Holes
1 The Burn – Par 4
2 The Dyke – Par 4
3 Cartgate out – Par 4
4 Ginger Beer – Par 4
5 Hole o'cross out - Par 5
6 Heathery out – Par 4
7 High hole out - Par 4
8 Short hole – Par 3
9 End hole – Par 4
10 Bobby Jones – Par 4
11 High hole in – Par 3
12 Heathery in – Par 4
13 Hole o'cross in - Par 4
14 Long hole – Par 5
15 Cartgate in – Par 4
16 Corner of the Dyke – Par 4
17 The road hole – Par 4
18 Tom Morris – Par 4
