I didn’t expect that and has to be a fluke. I chipped in a couple of times unintentionally on the last round which helped massively.
I’ve been struggling with swing timing, I’m using an Xbox controller on the PC and as you say it can be unforgiving of a fast/slow downswing. I was starting to feel like Lawrence of Arabia I hit so much sand.
I second what Harry says, thank you for setting this up. I ended up buying the PC version as the cross play doesn’t support societies and so glad I did. In a time pressured world, it’s nice to play an online game in this way and at your own pace/convenience.
2 rounds works, I like the idea of a sprinkling of majors/invitationals too.
Glad you guys are having fun with it. It’s definitely a good casual game that doesn’t require carving out a huge chunk of time or commitment…so for someone like me with a whacky schedule it is a good way to participate in a community event at the time that works out.
I think it is fair to play a practice round at the course before committing to the tournament play. It generally only takes playing a few holes of a candidate course for me to determine whether it would be a good event couse. There were some “prettier” Norway courses in the user created ones available…but some were so tight and had such steep contours that a single mistake could probably result in some unplayable positions.
I might start the first round of the Norway tournament this morning with coffee. It fits the bill as me and the kids are going snow-tubing later today…!
After I’ve started the round, I found out that I previously I had played with training wheels on. The society’s settings are definitely more challenging than the two career mode tournaments I played before that.
But it’s fun.
I ended up playing with a controller as well. Still struggeling to get the speed right but it’s crazy how you can just wing it and use the force. Sometimes it even works
The swing meter continues to give me inconsistent results. Yes, if I’m in the green everything is fine, but it seems like sometimes I’m barely out and just barely slice/hook, while other times it’s a hard hook or slice. Regardless this time around I’ve avoided any major blunders, and understanding the lie gauge now my approach play is much more consistent. One of those birdies would have been an eagle if my putting was better, but overall not a bad front 9.
The scorecard doesn’t reflect how poorly I played and how most of those par holes, especially on the back nine, are extremely lucky saves after finding the rough and/or bunker and/or water!
On the plus side, I seem to have sussed out the greens and my putting has improved since Hawaii.
My Force was a bit off the first few holes I played tonight. I must have turned to the Dark Side. I don’t know what was going on…but I was pausing my swing too long or jamming it forward too fast. It took about 5 or 6 holes for me to figure out the “groove” again…then things trended towards better.
Three bogies on the front nine…only 1 on the back nine. I did get lucky a couple times being in the woods and somehow managed to at least punch it out to a playable lie where I could get up and down to save par. The default course settings are pretty breezy…but the greens seem pretty soft.
As I was playing I was cognizant of the scores relative @jenrick - and I just couldn’t make any progress against him. I thought I played the back nine OK-ish…but now I have to wait for him to put up a good back nine and see if he is demolishing me. I’ll play Round 2 tomorrow…
I started out with a pair of bogies that should have been birdies, the green on the 10th was extra slippery and rolled my approach shot right back off. I am dead last in all the putting stats compared to everyone, but some very aggressive tee-shots combined with getting better handle on the swing types and how the wind effects the ball in game let my approach game cover for my lack of putting skills. I wish I had saved the replay, the t-shot on the 18th was over the tree stand in front of the tee-box and around another tree to get free and clear on the fairway.
That’s a good round…! -2 for the round -3 total. That will be tough to track down in the next round. I think I made Round 2 conditions medium wind, overcast, and soft and slow greens. I also put pin placement as Day 4 placement…which I think should usually be the most challenging pin placement on a 4-day event. We’ll see. I’ll play the second round tonight with a beer I think.
Just for planning purposes - Norway ends on January 7th. The next tournament will be January 8-11 and I decided to somewhat track that tournament with the PGA Tour which is visiting Wai’alea for the Sony Open. There is a nice course available (maybe LIDAR created?). Of interest at Wai’alea - the fairways are tight (in my opinion) but it is an honest layout. There are some obstacles in that the designer used the event type layout with camera towers, spectator bleachers…so those DO come into play if you are too far errant. A nice challenge. Default course conditions for Round 1, a bit of breeze and medium greens and fairways for Round 2. Just wanted it on everyone’s radar…
I mean…the score looks better than it was played for sure. When you start out double-bogey, double-bogey…well…that wasn’t great psychologically. I just couldn’t seem to “groove” my swing through most of the round. And I had half a dozen putts that just swung off the lip. It was maddening. Very much like my real game of golf…
The front nine I played three over…the back three under…but like I said…the scorecard doesn’t really show the true cost of muffed shots due to my awful swing timing.
The bogey on 2 was a bear. Watching what should have been a birdie turn into a bogie after the ball rolled around the cup twice was brutal. The double of 8 involved a trip off into the water, so I’ll take the 6 even though it was a 3 putt, again the short game is killing my scores. The bogies to start the back 9 didn’t help any, all off of putting. The eagle on 15 gave me hope I could pull at least even, and my putting did improve. Going for broke on 18 in hope of an eagle, left me out in the long stuff, and it required two shots to get to the green instead of one killing any hope of taking the win. I sunk a reasonably long putt (though pretty simple, the green was pretty calm where I ended up), so it was nice morale victory to finish.
The wind and relatively short holes definitely didn’t work well with my “crush the ball onto the green early” strategy. However the improvements with my putting is a positive light.
The score doesn’t reflect the amount of mental trauma involved in getting to even. The wind hasn’t been kind, leaving me to some extended range putting. Overall my putting hasn’t been too bad, but watching birdie putts miss the edge of the cup by an inch hurts even when it’s from 40’+ out.
