ONLINE TOUR

[Jimbo]

I just started playing online last year and some of the scores that I'm seeing are unbelievable. How does somebody shoot 85 under par?
I'm just wondering so I can do it too. I'd love to get a PM-you folks know who you are!

[Kunkleman]

It takes a special set of inherent skills to get there. Most of us will never get there no matter how we try.

[pmgolf]

I just started playing online last year and some of the scores that I'm seeing are unbelievable. How does somebody shoot 85 under par?
I'm just wondering so I can do it too. I'd love to get a PM-you folks know who you are!

I imagine it's a combination of years of play and extreme attention to detail. Think about Roy - he shoots those scores while playing Elite level Click! Try playing a practice round at that level to see how difficult that is!

Pete

[Guitarzan]

I can shoot some pretty good scores from time to time but nowhere near that. I have played other golf sims and I got so good on them (like GBC), I quit playing them, the challenge was gone. If I was shooting those scores on Links I would quit that as well. Thank God Links is still challenging, for me at least, and Links 2001 is still the hardest edition of the franchise, it drives me crazy sometimes. I wouldn't want to know what their particular tricks or strategies are, I'll fail on my own till I hit that "aha" moment.

[Jimbo]

Hi Pete:

I just started playing the Online Tours this year and have a couple of questions:

1. Since we're in "tournament" format and are using spectator nsounds, wouldn't it be appropriate to unse spectators as well, if they are available?
2. I've noticed that some weeks we aren't using the newest version of a course or the appropriate course for the tournament, even though one is available.

That's my two cents (Canadian)

"The Nitpicker"

[pmgolf]

Hi Pete:
I just started playing the Online Tours this year and have a couple of questions:

1. Since we're in "tournament" format and are using spectator sounds, wouldn't it be appropriate to use spectators as well, if they are available?
2. I've noticed that some weeks we aren't using the newest version of a course or the appropriate course for the tournament, even though one is available.

That's my two cents (Canadian)
"The Nitpicker"

(1) The Tournament Director has control of setting "no crowds", or "small", "medium", or "large" crowds, but no control over whether or not you, as the player, will choose to hear crowd sounds - you get to choose that. Some of your competitors don't like seeing crowds all the time, so I vary them from none early in the tournament to small and then larger in later rounds. And I have lost my fascination for crowd sounds over the years, so now I only use the most basic sounds - like club swing and ball dropping into the cup. (My animations don't react to bad shots, either!)

(2) "Course" choice and "version of course" choice is up to the Tournament Director, too. Some Tours still use the original Links courses only. Some use the same version from year to year - even if they have been updated. Some, like mine (World Tour), use the latest version if at all possible. Sometimes though, the newest version doesn't get into the LSPN Course Database in time to be used.

Hope that helps!
Pete

[Jimbo]

Sorry Pete-I thought that you were the TD-my bad.

[Adelade]

As a designer, number 2 hurts me quite a lot to see. Not just the courses Im involved in, but other designers too. We spend so much effort on them, and then people still play the old versions out of nothing but laziness and old habit, it seems. Honestly, personally I cant even understand why they keep using Microsoft courses or user-courses from before 2003, even when there arent newer versions of that particular course. Its like they dont even realize there exists Robert Miller courses and stuff. I try to tell myself whatever, its their loss, but Im really baffled, they cant know what they're missing. Not saying newer courses are always better, and sure, some really old and small courses can be kind of nice, but when they keep using those especially simplistic ones over and over...

The runner of the LSPN site is not present very much these days, so that is part of why new courses dont get added to the database, or does so very rarely and slowly, but I guess it is what it is. I dont really care for the tournaments that keep using those old ones, and try not to look at them, but every now and then I glance at it and it feels like more often than not it is a course that makes me go "what the heck... really?"... And relatively, a lot of people keep playing those tournaments, out of old habit I assume, or since those are the first tournaments that show up to people, instead of the more up-to-date Tours like European Tour and World Tour. But I dont think any of those people visit the LC forums, so I know Im ranting to air here.

I always try to design for my own sake primarily, and try not to care too much what other people think, but theres no denying that it feels great to see when other people actually play the courses you've worked on. Thank you to everyone who actually does try new courses instead of sticking to the same old.

[pmgolf]

Sorry Pete-I thought that you were the TD-my bad.

I am a Tour Director, Jimbo, but only of one Tour/League, The World Tour. Knowing your thoughts on that, though, changes my answer a bit for one of the questions. I use the latest version of the course unless I think an older version is a better representation of the course. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

Some versions, like Sawgrass 2007 and 2008, are hard to replace because of their quality. I tried the 2019 version for two years, but there are just too many severe pins with that version so I'm going back to the 2008 version. Also, I have replaced Augusta National 2009 with Augusta National 2009/2010 because the problem with hole 11's pins has been corrected. And sometimes I use a Mike Jones course in place of the available version if I'm not happy with the available version.

I spend a lot of time choosing courses and setting them up. I try to make every tournament as special as I can for the players. Best courses, challenging conditions, and no severe pins. That's my goal!

Pete

[Jimbo]

Thanks Pete-between the online tour and Twin Cities I feel like a bit of a "shoot disturber" as well as a nitpicker!
Pete-just wondering how you feel about spectators?