Ultimate Golf! Beginner’s Guide: 13 Tips, Tricks & Strategies for Winning More Matches

Aside from the Dude Perfect series, Miniclip is known for producing a wide range of casual-but-not-quite sports games for iOS and Android gamers, such as Basketball Stars and Bowling King. If golf is more up your alley than those other sports we mentioned, we suggest checking out one of their more recent titles, Ultimate Golf!

The game comes with several real-life golf courses, multiplayer matches that take place in real time, and a wide range of collectible clubs and balls that you can use to improve your game. Naturally, you’ll also need to perfect your swinging and putting technique before anything else if you want to come out on top of those head-to-head matches, tournaments, and special events.

While it’s true that Ultimate Golf! is a fairly casual game, at least in comparison to story-based titles such as Birdie Crush, it is also a game that boasts stunning graphics, tons of game modes and features, and realistic physics that go far beyond your standard PvP sports game. It’s one of those “easy to play, hard to master” titles, but with far more depth, and that means you probably won’t pick it up overnight.

But we’re here to help make that learning curve much more manageable, so if you want to win more consistently regardless of the mode you choose to focus on, we suggest checking out this Ultimate Golf! beginner’s guide, which features 13 tips, tricks and strategies that cover all the modes and all the key features of the game.

1. The Basics Of Ultimate Golf!

In a way, it can be said that Ultimate Golf! is an off-brand version of Golf Clash, with very similar mechanics and gameplay. There are some subtle differences, but at the end of the day, you might not need much practice if you’ve played the latter game before. As you’ll see in the tutorial stages, everything starts out with a quick run-through of how to swing your golf club and how to putt. When swinging your club, simply tap-and-hold on the ball, then drag your finger backward in such a way that the ball fits perfectly in the circle below.

Once you’ve stabilized your aim, keep an eye on the movement of the power meter — you want to let go of your finger in such a way that the needle is as close as possible to the center. If you let go at just the right time and the needle is at the center, then that’s an Ultimate Shot, which means you’re swinging with optimum power and increasing your chances of getting as close to the hole as possible.

If you miss the center by a bar or two, then that’s a Great Shot, which isn’t bad at all but isn’t perfect either. Fail to land anywhere at the center and you may be in trouble, though since this is the tutorial stage, you don’t need to worry about missing badly just yet.

After getting to swing your club once, you will then be taught how to putt, which is, for the benefit of those who aren’t too familiar with the jargon, to gently shoot the ball into the hole with your putter (i.e. one of the many types of club you can use in the game), provided the ball is in the green and in putting distance. You will again have to tap-and-hold on the ball and drag your finger backward, but instead of a power meter, you will see a path headed toward the hole appear on your screen.

Make sure this path actually ends up at the hole, and once you do, let go of your finger when the moving arrow is centered. If the arrow ends up at the left or the right, then that’s where the ball is going to travel, thus resulting in a missed putt attempt. This could be a very crucial mistake when you’re actually playing against human opponents.

Once you’ve learned how to swing and how to putt, you will be pitted against another player in Head-to-Head mode, though as far as we know, this is an AI-controlled player who won’t be very hard to beat, considering you are still in the tutorial stage. Don’t be confused by the buttons on the lower right corner of the screen that say “Swing!”, for instance — this does not introduce a new mechanic at all!

Just tap on that button to be taken to the course, and swing your club like you normally would. (There is something else on this screen that’s far more important, and that’s the placement of the pin — we shall discuss that a couple of tips from now.)

As is the case in all games you will be playing after the tutorial, your goal is to put the ball in the hole in as few attempts possible. You can get an eagle if you end up two strokes under par, which is sinking the shot in two fewer attempts than expected, and a birdie if you’re one strike under par — this is what you’ll typically want to aim for in your first few games.

Conversely, you’ll want to avoid getting a bogey or worse — a bogey is golfing terminology for ending up one stroke over par, a double bogey means you’re two strokes over par, and so on! If both players take the same number of shots in order to get the ball in the hole, you’ll need to play a tiebreaker round, where the player who’s closest to the pinned location wins the game.

As you’ll find out after that tutorial match, you will earn coins and trophies for winning a game against someone else in Head-to-Head mode, though if you lose, you will be docked some trophies, typically fewer than the ones you can earn after winning a game. You will also lose the buy-in fee you paid to enter that H2H match.

For the first tour, that’s 100 coins, so if you win the match, you win 200 coins, and if you lose, then you lose 100. These trophies determine which tour you will be playing in by default — higher tours mean more trophies, but also mean tougher opponents, so be guided accordingly when challenging other players in Head-to-Head play!

2. You Can Only Hold Four Mystery Bags At Once

The prize bags you can receive for winning a game in Ultimate Golf! are called Mystery Bags, and depending on how rare they are, they may take anywhere from a few hours to several before they get unlocked. Much like in other sports games with a similar system for prize redemption, you can only hold four Mystery Bags and unlock one of them at a time. That means if you keep on playing after your four Mystery Bag slots are all filled up, any prizes you win will be forfeited — unless you’ve got enough cash to instantly open the bag.

That said, you have the option to skip the wait time by paying cash, but since that’s the game’s premium currency, it would be far better to wait it out in most cases. (The exception, of course, would be if you’re flush with cash and can afford to part ways with some of it in order to expedite the unlocking process.)

Another thing you need to remember about opening Mystery Bags in Ultimate Golf! is that you need to manually unlock them. It’s not as simple as beating an opponent and winning a bag, with the game setting up the unlocking process the moment the bag is placed in one of your slots. You would need to manually tap on the bag and choose to unlock it — this is a common mistake for new players, but just to reiterate what we said earlier, those Mystery Bags aren’t going to open themselves!

What’s in these Mystery Bags anyway? The contents may vary depending on which tour you win them in, or the rarity of the bag. However, you will typically end up with some coins, cash, and Season Points, though you may also end up with some cards, which could allow you to unlock new clubs or upgrade the ones you already have! You may also end up with some special balls aside from the basic one you have, though we shall be discussing this later on in the guide and, just to keep your expectations realistic, it won’t be very often when you end up with a new ball after opening a Mystery Bag.

3. Setting The Pin Properly Could Turn The Tide, Especially In H2H Games

Earlier, we mentioned that you shouldn’t get thrown off by the “Swing!” button that appears on the bottom right during Head to Head games. What you should be paying much closer attention to here is the pin, which is the center part of the white circle where the light blue line comes to an end. You can choose to leave it as is and simply swing away — that shouldn’t be much of an issue in the first few tours. But when you’re competing against more experienced opponents with dozens, or even hundreds of trophies, setting the pin at the right spot could make a world of difference.

Take note that an Ultimate or Great Shot will always be relative to where the pin is placed — if you don’t pin your target properly, even the most “ultimate” of Ultimate Shots won’t help you gain an advantage over your opponent. Pinning it strategically, however, could be the difference-maker you need to defeat the other player and avoid those nail-biting tiebreakers.

If possible, it’s best to set the pin as close as possible to the hole, which is designated by a blue flag. The default pin location, as suggested by the game, is usually the safest spot, but if you have the potential to get the ball even farther, then go for it. You will also need to take certain factors into account, such as the speed and direction of the wind.

In our example, the wind is blowing 1.6 mph to the left, which means if you’re trying to set the pin as closely as possible to the hole, you may want to set it a bit to the right, so as to take the potential impact of the wind into account. You’ve also got to consider the nearby terrain, because obviously, it is a very bad idea to set the pin close to a sand trap or to the water!

4. Take Your Time, But Don’t Take Too Long!

When the time comes for you to challenge other human players in Ultimate Golf!, that’s when it becomes important to time the release of your finger properly so that you can make an Ultimate Shot when swinging, and later on, putt the ball so that it gets to the hole in one attempt. It’s not a good idea to rush things, though if the nerves get to you, then making a rushed swing or putt would be inevitable.

That means it’s best to take your time and make absolutely sure you’re as close to the center as possible when releasing your finger, but you also don’t want to linger too long while looking at the meters for swinging and putting. The former is more difficult than the latter when it comes to timing your release so that it comes when the needle (or indicator) is right in the middle of the meter.

But take note that you don’t need to hit an Ultimate Shot all the time — a Great Shot should do the trick in most cases, and even if your swing results in an Ultimate Shot, there’s a possibility it won’t be enough if you’re matched against a much tougher opponent.

What happens if you take too long to swing or putt? First, the game will notify you that time is running out, and when it runs out, that already counts as an attempt/stroke, and that could put you at a serious disadvantage against your opponent. So with that in mind, feel free to take your time when swinging and putting, but don’t dwell on it so much — it may take some time to get used to, but you should eventually master the art of the perfect swing and/or putt.

5. Be Careful Not To Use Too Much Or Too Little Power When Putting

On the surface, putting looks very easy. You’re only a few feet away from the hole, so all you need to do is to essentially tap it, making sure that your aim is as centered as possible and that you are using just the right amount of power when putting. However, it’s the latter part that could prove tricky for many players; releasing your finger once the indicator is at the middle is easier than it is when swinging, but the tough part is making sure your putt doesn’t fall too flat or too sharp due to a lack of — or excess — power.

Ideally, you want to pull your finger back in such a way that the path doesn’t go too far beyond the hole, but doesn’t fall short of it either. If the path extends too far, not even releasing your finger once the arrow hits the middle would be enough to guarantee that the ball goes into the hole. Most of the time, it may cross the side of the hole but ultimately miss, and there may even be some times when the ball would actually go into the hole, only to bounce out because you put too much momentum into your putt! (The wind could also play a factor in those instances where the ball goes in but bounces back out.) That can be very frustrating, especially if the shot looks like a total gimme from just a few feet away.

On the other hand, having barely too short a path to the hole will have you falling a few inches or a couple of feet short in most cases, though if it’s any consolation, the chances of the ball ending up further away from the hole after a miss are very, very slim. It’s still a mistake you’ll want to avoid making, and the best way to avoid it is to make sure you’re creating a path to the hole that’s just right in terms of its length — not too long and not too short.

6. Go Down To The Lower Tours If You’re On A Losing Streak!

Unfortunately, Ultimate Golf! does not come with a no-stakes practice mode where you can practice your swinging and putting technique without having to worry about losing your entry fee or getting docked some trophies after a tense tiebreaker with a human opponent. But if you’re having some difficulty winning matches against other players in your current Head-to-Head tour, one good way of regrouping is to move back down to a lower tour and see if you can recapture your form against less formidable, less experienced opponents.

Granted, there’s always a chance you may be paired against another player who’s “slumming it” in these lower tours for one reason or another, but with a lower entry fee and fewer trophies at stakes, that should reduce the pressure and could potentially help you bounce back after a rough patch.

If all else fails, however, it’s always a good idea to stop playing for at least a couple hours or so!  Momentarily leaving the game after a brutal string of defeats could help clear your mind and regain your focus, so don’t pressure yourself too much if those bogeys are becoming far more common than birdies.

7. Claim Your Free Bags And Pin Bags

Aside from the Mystery Bags you can earn after winning games in Head-to-Head, you can also redeem Free Bags, which become available every four hours. The contents of the Free Bags may vary, but will usually be similar to what you can receive in the Mystery Bags. You will get some coins and some cash (emphasis on some), but instead of Season Points, it will be far more common for you to receive cards that allow you to unlock new clubs or upgrade existing ones.

As you’ll find out later in this guide, you’ll need those higher-end clubs as you progress from one tour to the next and face more formidable opponents, so you should definitely open free bags when they’re available.

Considering how free bags are available every four hours, it’s possible for most players to open four a day, or maybe five if you’re having a particularly sleepless night. We advise you to turn on notifications so that even if you’re not playing the game actively, you will be informed if there’s a free bag to be opened. You may not get too much currency, but as it always does in these games, it should keep adding up over time as long as you open free bags on a regular basis.

In addition to Free Bags, you can also open a Pin Bag for every 12 Head-to-Head matches you win or tie. These contain coins, cash, club cards, and balls, so this is a good way to add to your currency stash and golfing equipment, as well as a way to encourage you to keep playing in order to improve your chances of winning more games/matches regardless of the mode!

8. Complete More Missions To Earn Season Points And Cash

Next to the Free Bag button, you will see a button that allows you to view your missions, which are basic tasks that you can complete organically while playing more games in Ultimate Golf! These include Daily Missions, which cover certain tasks that should be completed within the same day in Eastern time — for example, you may be asked to complete in a Tournament round, reach the white ring in Big Shot mode, or simply win a certain number of Head-to-Head games.

Weekly Missions are similar, except that you have one whole week to complete them — these may cover winning a certain number of games in a given mode, or earning coins in Head-to-Head, Tournament, or whatnot. Finally, you’ve got your Seasonal Missions, which cover the entire month, or season of play in Ultimate Golf!

The numbers you may need to reach will be much higher, and there’s typically just one Seasonal Mission you need to complete — for April, you need to score 35 birdies in any mode, and for that, you can earn 300 Season Points and 100 cash — that is quite a lot, but if you just downloaded the game a few days ago, then don’t fret, because a new month is about to start, allowing you to get cracking on the next Seasonal Mission from day one!

For the other missions, you’ll usually get a few dozen Season Points and about 1, 2, or 3 cash, depending on whether it’s a Daily or Weekly Mission. But where do these Season Points come into play and what’s in it for you if you accumulate enough of them?

9. Level Up Within The Season And Earn Some Attractive Rewards

Regarding the Season Points we were referring to in the last tip and briefly mentioned in the others, these come into play by allowing you to level up within the season, thus entitling you to some particularly exciting rewards. You can access this by tapping on the season tab next to the free bag in the main screen, then heading to the Rewards tab next to Missions.

You will notice two columns in the Rewards tab — one for players with a Free Pass, and another for those with an Ultimate Pass. As your season level increases, you can redeem more rewards in the Free column, or both, if you’re willing to pay $20 for an Ultimate Pass. Free players already have quite a lot to look forward to — reaching season level 1 gets you 1,000 coins and a Silver Mystery Bag, while making it to level 4 will earn you three Spyder balls.

Make it all the way to the highest levels and you can get 50 cash at level 28, one Cleaner ball at level 29, and one Head-to-Head pass at level 30. Basically, it’s gold, cash, Mystery Bags, and balls for the most part, and much more of each than what you can normally expect as a reward for winning a quick Head-to-Head game.

Those who have the Ultimate Pass can get even better rewards, including one H2H pass at level 1, a Diamond Mystery Bag at level 2, and 12 Pro D1 balls at level 3. Great as those are for players willing to pay $20 worth of real-life money, they get even better as you go on — you can get 12 Wise Guy balls at level 28 and 25 of them at level 30, and two H2H Passes at level 29. 20 bucks may be a lot of real currency to invest, but as you can see with those rewards, it should be worth it if you can afford it.

10. Upgrade Your Better Clubs On A Regular Basis

As we mentioned earlier in this guide, using a basic club won’t be sufficient once you reach the second tour; the basic one may be all well and good for beginners, but the others come with enhanced stats that you can further improve by upgrading them once you have enough cards to do so. Go to the Golf Bag menu and you can manage your inventory of clubs, which is divided into several categories — Driver, Wood, Long Iron, Short Iron, Wedge, Rough Iron, Sand Wedge, and Putter.

Each of these club types will be selected automatically when playing in any of the different game modes, and it will all depend on the situation at hand. For example, Sand Wedges, as the name suggests, are used when the ball ends up in a sand trap, while Putters, obviously, are used when you’re putting the ball.

Each club is rated based on six stats or attributes, namely Power, Accuracy, Draw/Fade, Top Spin, Back Spin, and Shot View. Power affects how far you can hit the ball when swinging, Accuracy affects the speed in which the needle moves when you’re swinging the club, the next three stats come into play when influencing the movement of the ball after it’s been put into play, and Shot View affects how well you can see the target when setting pin locations.

These stats will, of course, improve once you upgrade a club, and you can only upgrade it once you’ve collected enough cards. Keep in mind that while one card is all you need to unlock a club, certain clubs only become available among your rewards once you reach a certain tour.

As it costs progressively more coins to level up your clubs, it’s best to focus on the ones with the better stats; that may be easier said than done when you’re in the first few tours and haven’t collected too many, but you will, at some point, have to move on from the less impressive clubs that you have, regardless of type, and shift your focus toward the ones you unlocked in more recent tours. As such, it’s best to level up your earlier clubs only a few times; overdoing it might leave you short when it comes to buy-in fees for H2H games!

11. Save Your Special Balls For Big Games

Balls are the second type of golfing equipment you can collect in Ultimate Golf!, and unlike clubs, they do not come in card form once you earn them via Mystery Bags, Pin Bags, and other means. Instead, any and all special balls you may earn or purchase are consumable; basic balls are unlimited and do not come with any special properties, while the special ones are limited and offer certain advantages once they’re used in a game.

For instance, the Cruzer offers 15 percent less wind resistance, additional 25 percent sidespin, a 2 percent larger putt zone, and a 2 percent shorter putt meter. The Pro D1, which is a rarer ball than the Cruzer, adds 7 percent power, reduces wind resistance by a whopping 50 percent, improves sidespin by a full 100 percent, and offers several more advantages apart from the ones we mentioned. Naturally, it’s much harder to come by as a reward, and if you choose to buy it in bundle form, you’ll need a ton of premium currency to make the purchase.  (Putting it in perspective, you can buy 10 Cruzer balls for 30 cash and 200 for 600 cash, with the cost going up to 750 cash for 10 Pro D1 balls and 15,000 cash for 200 of them. Ouch.)

All in all, there are seven balls that are regularly available in the game, including the basic one. (Other special balls may be available as limited-time season or event rewards.) But even if you’ve collected quite a few of these balls, it’s still best to save them for the bigger games and higher tours; unless you’re trying to complete a mission, it’s just not practical to use them in the early goings.

12. Compete In Tournament Mode To Win More Non-Basic Balls And Gold Bags

When playing Ultimate Golf!, you will likely spend most of your time in Head-to-Head mode, playing one-on-one matches against individual opponents. But there are other game modes where you can compete against several other players in real-time, including Ultimate Golf Tournament. The rules may change from tournament to tournament, but many of them stay the same — you and other players will play nine holes in a real-life golf course, and those who have the best score after nine holes have a chance to win some really attractive prizes, including Gold Mystery Bags, special or non-basic balls, and thousands of coins.

Even if you fail to make it to the top 20, or even top 30, you can still end up with a silver bag, some special balls, and a few hundred coins, which isn’t bad — take note, however, that each tournament has an entrance fee, depending on the difficulty you choose.

For example, the Amateur Tournament costs 1,000 coins to enter, though if you end up first, you will win 10,000 coins as part of the top prize. (Provided you are already qualified, you can also elect to join the Rookie, Veteran, Pro, and Tour Pro tournaments, which are in order of difficulty after Amateur.)

As you’ll see when viewing the tournament info, it’s not just the golf course that is fixed — there are other pre-set parameters, such as the range of the wind speed and the speed in which the needle moves around the meter when you’re attempting a swing. Another key element of each tournament is the option to replay the tourney as long as it remains active. For the Amateur Tournament, you have a maximum of 25 replays, though you can only replay your round if you’ve already completed all nine holes the first time.

13. Other Game Modes – Golf Royale And Big Shot

The other two available game modes in Ultimate Golf! are Golf Royale and Big Shot, and for the first one, this can be best described as a “battle royale”-type competition with more than a hundred players and various difficulties to choose from, just like in Tournament Mode. There are also different types of Royale Events, and these are only live for a limited period of time; it’s highly possible that you may access this mode only to see that none of the events are currently ongoing. You can enter an event 10 minutes or less before it starts, upon which you will be directed to a lobby of sorts before the event kicks off. (Unfortunately for those who would like to get social, the chat feature is currently inactive.)

Events in Golf Royale have varying rules, though one of the more popular rules would be to get the ball as close to the pin as possible. Each event has multiple rounds, and you’ll need to finish no lower than a certain position in order to make the cutoff to the next round. So with that in mind, your ability to hit an Ultimate Shot will be put to the test in many a Golf Royale event. There is, of course, an entry fee for each event, as well as rewards for the top players — these may include mystery bags, special balls, and coins, though the prizes here aren’t as attractive as they are in Tournament Mode.

The last game mode is Big Shot, and the goal, as stated, is to land the ball in the target to win a prize — if you hit the yellow target, you can win a particularly rare Mystery Bag, as well as 12 Mojave balls and 150 cash, though if you end up in the red, blue, or white zones, you will still win something — a lower-end, yet similarly loaded Mystery Bag, anywhere from 5 to 12 special balls, and 50 to 120 cash, depending on where you land. Fail to hit any of the targets and you don’t win anything.

Big Shot is, in all honesty, quite an easy mode to play in terms of the mechanics — again, your ability to hit an Ultimate Shot, albeit with a faster meter, would be put to the test. But you only have one free attempt at a Big Shot per day hence the name! If you need a few more chances at reaching the target, you’ll need to pay $2 or its local equivalent to get three additional shots.

There you have it! This concludes our comprehensive guide for Miniclips’s latest golf title, Ultimate Golf!! If you have come across additional tips or tricks, feel free to drop us a line in the comments below!