PC Golf: Things You May or May Not Know About Course Building (v0.1)

Mr. K

Terrarian
This is a collection of things I've tested, alongside Khaios's tutorial on golf in "Putt-raria!", all in one big post. Some of this stuff may surprise you, while some are rather obvious but are just here anyway for whatever reason.
I'm hoping everything in here is correct, and if something's missing or wrong, let me know so I can fix it.

Wind/rain cannot affect a golf ball's shot for whatever reason. Shocking I know, but I tested it quite recently with max settings and a putter and I felt absolutely no difference in trajectory.
If a golf cup isn't planted underground, a golf ball will more than likely hit off the side of that, so keep that in mind.
A golf cup can NOT be put in mid-air. However, you can put an Echo Block under one to make it appear that way.
Golf Cups can be used as ways to activate mechanics.
Golf Balls count as projectiles, so they can activate Teal Pressure Pads. This also counts for pressure pads that activate if "anything" that hits them can activate them too.
Conveyor Belts can move a golf ball, too.
If you don't allow scouting on your courses, or even if you do, giving your player a pair of Binoculars is generally a really good idea.
No matter what, if your course uses stuff like flowers and weeds and whatnot, make sure you limit the player's hook/any weapons in general. If they don't use god mode and no enemy spawns for whatever ungodly reason, the tiger summoning weapon is a good one to have around.
A mining helmet might be overall better to give than an Ultrabright Helmet, depending on how much aesthetic you put into lighting.

Regular grass and Hallowed grass can be mowed by a lawn mower, which when applied will help roll the golf ball further.
However, un-mowed grass will slow a golf ball down slightly, and the weeds that it grows will definitely slow it down more.

If you want your course to have a more organized look while retaining the properties of the latter, planting any kind of flower on mowed or unmowed grass will produce the same effect.
Flowers used to make dyes, flowers from the Fairy Boots, flowers from flower/plant seeds, Sunflowers, any of it will apply the same slow-down as a weed collection would. It also won't matter if the flower is in bloom or not.

That also means you can use Clay Pots as a way to make flowers elevated by one block, but have its flower still slow you down. The same also applies to Planter Boxes, which are the only "soft platforms" in the vanilla game that I could find.

Also, vines from dirt blocks placed above WILL slow down a golf ball too, as will placed Cobwebs and Orange Bloodroot.

Flowers used to make dyes can also be put on almost any block (however, Lime Kelp will need some water below it, but only to put it down), and Strange Plants can be a little deceptive in that the only pixel in which they slow anything down is one, and at the bottom. Orange Bloodroot hangs like vines/cobwebs, too.

Also, don't forget about grown Moss on stone blocks/gray bricks. These can be especially fun, as they can even be actuated with their brick and still affect a golf ball. However, you'll need to arrange the bricks so that there's more moss all together to slow the golf ball down more if you're doing that.

Matured Shiverthorn/other flowers on Ice Blocks perhaps give the biggest impact, especially if there's multiple of them.

Finally, potted flowers and trees will NOT slow golf balls down.

There's actually a pretty wide range of blocks that can all apply different effects.

Hard Blocks - stones, bricks, etc. If it makes a "hard" sound when you mine it, it probably counts as a hard block. They really help with making a golf ball roll and bounce, and are perhaps one of the safer options to land on. Echo Blocks and Conveyor Belts also count as these.
Soft Blocks - like pure dirt, or snow, or ash blocks. If it makes a "soft" sound when you mine it, and can be put in mid-air, chances are it's soft. These will slow a golf ball down even more so than grass with flowers.
Slime Block - regular, blue slime blocks. At least from my research, and I could be wrong, these are an in-between of "soft" and "very soft". As in, they'll limit rolling and bouncing quite a bit.
Very Soft Blocks - like sand, silt, or slush. If it can't stand on its own, chances are it's very soft. The classic sand pit in golf, these will slow a golf ball down a lot. You'll almost always need a wedge to get out of this. You can also make them stand on their own as ceilings via grown trees/loaded chests on top of them.
Bouncy Blocks - Silly Balloon Series and Pink Slime Blocks. As expected, golf balls will bounce off of these a lot more, with more speed returning more bounce.
Frozen Blocks - Ice Blocks and Frozen Slime Blocks. Blocks from Ice Rods also count. These will reduce a golf ball's traction, making it slide more on these blocks. However, watch out for planted Shiverthorn on ice blocks.
Sticky Blocks - Honey. Even worse than "very soft," these will stop a golf ball right in its tracks and WILL require a wedge.

Water - Shallow water will definitely slow a golf ball down, though it's also impacted depending on the block too. Get that wedge. If the water is too deep, get the golf whistle.
Lava - For whatever reason, it isn't as bad as water in general, but still will burn those without equipment/god mode.
Honey - get the golf whistle. even shallow honey will stop you right in your tracks

Platforms can act as a one-way door for golf balls -- they can come through one, but not through the other. Or... is that always the case?
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That's right, if set up like this, a golf ball can escape a platform from the top. There probably isn't much real use in this, though.
Also, if a platform is shaped like stairs, they can even hit and bounce off the stair end.

However, platforms aren't the only, well, platforms you can use. Certain furniture can also be used as platforms:
Tables
Work Benches
Pianos
Dressers
Crates
Tinkerer's Workshop
Anvils
Fireplace
Bars (such as Silver Bars, gold bars, etc)
and once again, Planter Boxes


ALL platforms count as "hard blocks," no matter what they belong to. So, even Honey and Frozen platforms/furniture count as hard.
The only exception to this, however, is the Planter Box, which counts as a soft platform. However, as it grows flowers even without a seed, make sure to freeze time if you don't want a flower there for whatever reason.

Once again, vines from dirt blocks placed above will slow down a golf ball, as will placed Cobwebs and Orange Bloodroot. These are the ONLY hanging objects that can slow down a golf ball.
Boulders/Rolling Cacti at rest count as hard blocks that really aren't even sloped. When in motion, however, they'll pass right through a golf ball.
Since Bubble blocks can separate liquids but can also be passed though, you could use them to separate liquids but create an even more interesting pit for a golf ball.
Antlion Eggs can also slow down a golf ball. This is unique in the sense that, if you wanted to remove a slow-down hazard, you could have your player activate a switch that activates a boulder/rolling cacti or something.

Golf Balls cannot:
Interact with enemies
Interact with portals
Interact with minecart tracks
Be affected by anything hanging that's not vines/cobwebs/orange bloodroot/actuated moss
Be affected by wind/rain
Be affected by moving Boulders/Rolling Cacti

And that should wrap it up for everything that can affect a golfing course. I hope you learned a thing or two. Let me know if there's something I've missed or if I'm wrong about something.
Future goals are to make gifs that can show off comparisons, and maybe even make a short video guide as opposed to a forum guide. Though I'm sure someone else will pick up on that way before I get to it.
Wanna test all this for yourself? Check the relevant post.

Relevant Post
The Golf Testing Map
 
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forgot to do this earlier, but post reserved for if the OP gets so many updates that it needs a separate post
 
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cheers dude, really good summary, the only thing I would add is that you can roll golfballs over the pressure plate that's triggered by anything stepping on it (I forgot which one that was, the red one maybe?).

was fiddling around with golf a couple of days ago and tried that pressure plate.

cheers
 
cheers dude, really good summary, the only thing I would add is that you can roll golfballs over the pressure plate that's triggered by anything stepping on it (I forgot which one that was, the red one maybe?).

was fiddling around with golf a couple of days ago and tried that pressure plate.

cheers
thanks, i guess i can see where that'd have some fun uses, maybe

Anyways, I discovered a couple more things, some of them a bit more obvious some not-so-obvious, and I went ahead and put them in the OP in their proper spots, but I'll post a summary of the new stuff I found that could impact golf here:
-Very soft materials that can't stand on their own CAN still be used as ceilings, with a catch. You'll need to put either loaded chests or grow full trees/cacti on top. The trees/cacti take 1 block while chests take 2. You could use this in underground golfing courses to be a bit of a jerk.
-Moss. On stone blocks/gray bricks, grown moss counts as flowers and will slow a golf ball down. However, moss can actually be actuated with their parent block too, but makes more of an effect if the blocks are spread out in a way that more moss can grow in empty spaces. That means you could have sudden stops in the air, again, if you wanna be a jerk.
-Bubbles. They separate liquids, but can be passed through. I think you can see where I'm going with this.
-Plants used to make dyes. These can actually be placed on almost any block with the exception of Lime Kelp. Strange Plants can be a little deceptive in that the only pixel in which they slow anything down is one, and at the bottom.
-Orange Bloodroot. It's one of the few hanging items that can slow down a golf ball.
-I forgot the Tinkerer's Workshop/Anvil/Fireplace counts as a furniture-platform too.

Minor Discovery 7/18/2020
not exactly related to golf but sort of is. Lime Kelp can technically be placed anywhere as long as there's water there, and even then you can remove water afterwards and it'll still be there
 
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with the new update dropping, it seems i might've missed one other thing that slows golf balls down
the antlion eggs, at least when crafted, will slow balls down too
also, put in a slight PSA about the importance of keeping your flowers/moss safe and mining helmets > ultrabright helmets in "obvious stuff"
finally, the bee hives do NOT slow down golf balls from what i've tested
 
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