Excuse my ignorance... for I know not what I say... lol

Yesterday I played my first daily (amateur) tournament, today I just played my first round in this weeks "play the pro" tournament where your score is compared to the pro's... and I'm not sure if I'm understanding this right...

1. I thought we played the same course, the same format, as the pro's would be playing this weekend... which if i am correct is Bethpage Black for the Players Championship? but yet it was a mix of courses and holes.

2. Do people like Woods and Daly hit 440 to 460 drives in real life... were suppose to be capped at 7 in this tournament but that ticker at top was reporting people hitting 400 plus drives, eagles's and birdies like they were candy... yet my character with a good hit, 99% strait down the fairway with little wind can only max about 220 to 250 yards. Am I missing something here?

3. I thought in these tournaments were all equal, yet I have limits on accuracy and distance when the ticker says others do not?


It kinda ruins the whole online tournament thing for me... why should i do tournaments when their is no way in hell I'll even come close, even if i shoot what I call a great game...

I guess i would prefer just to have tournaments with people on my Friends list... so I know theirs no cheating, or developers playing and winning all the time.

Can anyone explain what I'm missing here? Thx.

Bethpage Black is the U.S. Open course this year.

it is next week June 18th - June 21st. http://www.usopen.com/en_US/index.html

this week's tournament is the St. Jude Classic at the TPC Southwind course in Memphis, Tennessee.

this page has driving distance averages for the PGA Tour. Bubba Watson is leading with an average of 313.2 yards. http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/info/xm.html?101

in real golf it is not always a good idea to hit your drive as far as possible. being in the fairway with a good approach shot to the green is usually what you want.

real courses, like the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, have deep rough that you have to stay out of.

i don't have TW10 so i don't know anything about how it works?

As Kramer stated this week's tournament is on TPC Southwind course which I would guess is not in the game, but I have not verified that. This might be why they chose to use a mix of holes from various courses.

I also played a round today and I'm pretty sure that everything you see from other players is from actual pros in real life not the game. I do not believe that anything is shown from other video gamers at the time you are playing the tournament. Although I am not positive of this I did shoot a freakin' +25 on my first go around.....I'll give you all a moment to laugh.......ok....and with my wonderful score I was 157th on the standings. I played a round in a regular online tournbament and was -7 and that put me at 550th place. That tells me you are only competing against the pros in real life.

However I also do not like the fact that we have to play tour pro settings capped at 7 skill level. I like the fact that you play tour pro but not if its capped and level 7 is way to low. This may be a way for them to prevent cheating however. This keeps people from using unlocked suits or equipment to jack up stats which mask true skill.

That's my take anyway. +25.....wow do I suck :P

They can drive that far in Longest Drive Competiton, but those competitors are only concerned about crushing the ball for distance. They don't worry about the hazards or hitting a narrow fairway flanked by trees, desert or water. Although Daly and Woods can both drive the ball impressive distances their power is harnessed with trying to score and ultimately win golf tournaments. I've seen Tiger drive the ball 335 yards off the tee and reach the green in the air.

It's a grind starting a new player in the game and working on their attributes. It seems to takes two or three tournaments and working on your attributes after each round to get your player to a competitive level. That includes upgrading your equipment over time. The easier, albeit more expensive way to be competitive quickly is to outfit your player with good equipment in the Pro Shop with Microsoft Points.

I created a new player and started a career last night. I played one round and I like the improvements and the new putting system.

Holy crap, slash. Art imitates life. LOL! Were you playing on Tour Pro difficulty (and blindfolded)?

I played one full round so far, on Pro difficulty (not Tour Pro). I shot a -8 at Bay Hill from the white tees with medium pins. My skills are in the 4-5 range. There were some par 4's I couldn't reach in two and I didn't reach any of the par 5's in two shots. Still managed to putt pretty well, though I did miss a short put of about 4ft on one hole. It would've been a birdie.

I got a birdie streak trophy ball and a trophy ball for a bogey-free round. I think I got another one for hitting all but one fairway.

I plan to play quite a bit of this over the weekend.

For playing with the Pros I think they either match a course that's close to the one the Pros are playing or they select a random set of 18 holes that match the stroke and distance for the holes the Pros will play. Of course, if the Pros are playing a course that's actually in the game (like next week at Bethpage Black) then that's the one you'll play as well.

I played a few rounds and was in the plus teens... art imitates life for sure... the few times i did play real golf, i drove well and the secondary shot was well, but i overshoot putts a lot... and in this game, with the new putter thing I repeat that overshooting over and over.

lol

Leeman you couldn't be more right about art imitating life. A little too real if you ask me.

Playing in the pro tournament I believe the settings are set to Tour Pro, your skills are capped at 7 across the board and I was dealing with 13-16MPH winds. Add that all together and you get a pathetic +25 for the round for slash.

One thing that is killing me is that the putting set at tour pro is WAY more difficult. Just like driving, if you are off left or right on your swing, then it kills your shot. I tend to hang swing to the right, for some stupid reason. I think my thumb was screwed on crooked.

I didn't post that score and I played another round later at night and the setting were all the same except I was dealing with sunny skies and 6-8MPH winds which made a huge difference. I also hadn't noticed in the first round that the greens were very fast. This of course is an important bit of info. I ended with a +10 and posted it as my first round score. Not great but hey its a 15 stroke improvement LOL!!

My putting skill is in the 7+ range but all my other skills are in the 4 and 5 range. I'll have to try an online tournament.

I think you're allowed to use a fantasy golfer. You don't have to use your created character. I wish they had at least one tournament where you had to play as your created character.

I'm pretty sure there are tournaments where you don't have to play on Tour Pro difficulty. I read somewhere awhile back that there would be tournaments for different skill levels. I only briefly looked through the menus but I didn't actually enter an event yet. But, I'll do it for sure at some point this weekend.

We should get a foursome together!

I just saw on the EA Sports web site that they are going to try to make some improvements on the tournaments. One major gripe people have is that you can play multiple rounds before choosing a score to post. They might change some tournaments to be only one try. I like that idea because it adds a lot more pressure into having a good round.

I'm sure a lot of people will be doing what I did. Play a terrible round and discard. Start a couple more rounds that start to go south quickly and just quit out (with no penalty) and finally have an acceptable round and post. Kind of cheapens the experience.

The only people I know who have the game is you Leeman and Magnum. That's a threesome at least. (I love video game porn talk, threesomes and foursomes

Well, I played a round of "play-with-the-Pros".

It's HARD. My skills aren't high enough to be maxed out at 7 ('cept for putting). Putting on Tour Pro difficulty is very unforgiving. I think I 2-putted nearly every green. Just couldn't make a putt outside of 5-6 feet. Of course, it didn't help that I played 16 holes or so in a driving rain storm.

I double-bogied the first hole and ended up shooting a +8 (I think). I did manage a birdie or two but it was one of the more difficult games of virtual golf I've ever played.

On one hole (at Hazeltine) the tee shot required a really long carry over water just to reach the fairway. With my driving skills so weak there was no way I could reach it so guess what I had to do. I had to lay up by hitting my ball to the lady's tee which was about 180 yards in front of the black tee! Luckily I hit a perfect shot and landed right in the middle of the lady's tee. Still ended up with a double-bogey on that hole though.

Oddly, I parred the longest par 4 on the course, a 489 yard monster at Oakmont. And if I was able to putt I would have birdied it. I barely missed from inside 10 feet. ARGH!

Well, slash, I take back what I said. You're right. This is a whole different game on Tour Pro difficulty.

And now I gotta take some more lessons from Hank and get my skills up before trying that again.