Digital Sportspage TW 2005 Tour Exhibition Events #3

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:43 am

In the final week of our exhibition season, we'll be playing two tournaments: one in advanced ability and one in expert. The only stipulation I'll put on this one is that you only play in one. I'll leave it up to you as to which is the best fit for your game. I'm trying to see how it will break down when players are given a choice.

The tournament names are Digital Sport 3E and Digital Sport 3A.

We'll be playing at Pebble Beach for both tournaments, and I think I've got the conditions set the same for both tournaments. The password is "mars". This week I ensured that I had Trueswing and 3-click enabled.
The tee times start at 9:00 AM EDT, on Thursday, October 7th.

Good luck to all players!

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 7:01 am

I'm going away (Canadian Thanksgiving) but if I were to play I would play in the Expert tourney.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 9:11 am

the only problem I have with advanced is the abiltity for others to use that stupid "E" thing. I will play in whatever tourny gets most of the people.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 10:32 am

JackB1 wrote:the only problem I have with advanced is the abiltity for others to use that stupid "E" thing. I will play in whatever tourny gets most of the people.

Are you going to win? If not, like myself, then who cares? I just play tourneys to try to break my own scores. It's not like there is something to gain by winning a tourney. It's fun just playin' with the select few that don't use all the 'cheats' and just seeing how good of a round you can shoot.

That's the thing about golf games...you can get completely destroyed in a round but you could shoot your best round ever and you'll feel good about it anyway. I don't really pay attention to the guys at the top because I know I'll never put in the time to be able to compete with them...I just want to improve on the tourney to tourney basis.

That's the way I look at it anyway.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:17 am

the fun of tournaments is to see how you fair against others. if you only want to better your own score, then you can do that solo.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:19 am

JackB1 wrote:the fun of tournaments is to see how you fair against others. if you only want to better your own score, then you can do that solo.

Not if you know who's on your skill level. I pretty much know who's right ahead of me that plays straight up. My goal is to beat that person...I know there is no way to beat the guys who are cheating, but in case you haven't noticed, the guys can cheat on Expert too.

Plus you can go out in groups too which makes it REALLY fun...can you do that by yourself?

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:06 pm

Knowing this group... all I have to do is say "No use of the "E" key in the advanced tournament", and being the sportsmen I know we are, no one will use it. So, no use of the "E" key in the advanced tournament. Let's see how that works.

I pledge not to use the "E" key in my advanced round:

John Cauthen (seal)

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 5:00 pm

What's really funny is that I NEVER even knew what the hell the E key was till you guys started mentioning it around here. I obviously don't read the manual.

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 3:40 pm

I don't know how scientific this is, but we actually had one more player turn out for the Expert tournament than Advanced. If I threw James' "would have competed in Expert had I been here" vote in to the mix... we would have had two more. We also had a couple of double-dippers, but that's an understandable mistake.

Advanced is certainly a good fit for me, I can say that much. I shot a 74 today, which included a triple bogey on the 2nd hole. Wet greens are my downfall... I bet I had 4 birdie putts stop within 6 inches of the hole because I couldn't make myself hit them hard enough. And I don't know how many greens I missed because I overclubed my approach. The wind was giving me all sorts of fits. Most of the overlclubbing incidents came where I was having to hit partial wedges into greens, and the wind didn't affect the flight as much as I'd calculated.

This round was as much fun as the 67 round from the first day because of the new challenge. One odd thing was that the lightling conditions made the course look a bit sick, IMO. I played with the hue and gamma sliders and never could get rid of the tinny, limish green quality that seemed to permeate... anyone else experience this?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 2:03 am

Just a little update on my TW 2005 Computer Performance for those involved.

If you recall, I was having a hellova time getting TW stable. I'd crash to the desktop all the time and occasionally the whole computer would reboot. This was after I upgraded my 9700 Pro to a 6800 GT. Turns out it was the card and some issue with my system and compatibility. I returned the GT and got a X800 Pro (same price) last night and I haven't seen a problem at all (except for my scores).

I actually think it performs better than the GT, at least when I play TW. Don't know why, because the GT is rated faster in nearly every game. I think I'm done with Nvidia...I haven't had one that I've loved...ATI on the other hand has supplied me with quite a few nice cards.

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:29 am

Very helpful info on your video card situation db. You are running XP, right? I ask this because I'm having problems getting wind blown grass in TW 2005 with my 9800 Pro system running Windows 98 SE. I also have a 9500 Pro system that doesn't show wind blown grass with W98 SE.

When your GT was running okay, would you say the frame rates were the same as what you're seeing with the X800 Pro?

BTW, you should see some consistency coming to your game now that you've got your stability problems whipped with your system!

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 12:53 pm

J_Cauthen wrote:BTW, you should see some consistency coming to your game now that you've got your stability problems whipped with your system!

I hope so man...nothing worse than getting in a groove and then having the thing crash to the desktop or whatever. This certainly won't hurt.

As for the OS, yeah I'm on XP. I can only assume that the two machines that won't allow for the wind blown grass, are because of the OS.

Framerates...interesting question.

The two games I have installed so far since I loaded my "game-free" ghost image are Tiger Woods and Call of Duty United Offensive. To me, Tiger runs smoother (full detail 1600x1200) than it did on the 6800GT. But I also think that COD ran better on the GT. I mean, it's probably only a difference of 5-10 fps so it's not really noticeable, but I just have a feeling that there is a 'gain' in TW and a 'loss' in COD. Overall both work really well (when they run).

I should also point out that the only game that I was having problems with was Tiger Woods. All of my other games(IL2 Sturmovik, Pro Evo Soccer 3, C & C Generals Zero Hour, Flight Sim 2004) worked fine. But half of my reason for picking up a new video card was Tiger, so I had to find one that worked consistently with that. Hence, the return of the 6800GT after two weeks of frustrating rounds of golf.

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 3:27 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:
J_Cauthen wrote: I should also point out that the only game that I was having problems with was Tiger Woods. All of my other games(IL2 Sturmovik, Pro Evo Soccer 3, C & C Generals Zero Hour, Flight Sim 2004) worked fine. But half of my reason for picking up a new video card was Tiger, so I had to find one that worked consistently with that. Hence, the return of the 6800GT after two weeks of frustrating rounds of golf.

Thanks for your information on your video card experiences db. You've actually dispelled a false notion that I've developed concerning Radeon cards and TW series games. I had come to the conclusion that something about the Nvidia architecture/drivers were getting more bang for the buck than the Radeon cards, where Tiger Woods 200X was concerned. Sounds like you've got a really solid performer in your X800 Pro.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:33 pm

So maybe a nice smooth card does help. I just shot a 75. When my previous two rounds got me in the clubhouse at +50, a +3 is freaking amazing.

BTW, why the F does PingThis play in the Advanced tourneys...21 under after two rounds. If he reads these boards:

HEY IDIOT, PLAY THE EXPERT TOUR OR STOP CHEATIN'. You're either way too good for advanced, or you're cheatin' like a mofo.

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 6:20 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:So maybe a nice smooth card does help. I just shot a 75. When my previous two rounds got me in the clubhouse at +50, a +3 is freaking amazing.

I think I shot a 69 or 70 in round 2, but along the way I had a double bogey (put a ball in the water on the 4th or 5th) and three bogies. I chipped in for an eagle on the 2nd. 75 wasn't a bad score for round 3, with dry greens. You're on your way!

BTW, why the F does PingThis play in the Advanced tourneys...21 under after two rounds. If he reads these boards:

HEY IDIOT, PLAY THE EXPERT TOUR OR STOP CHEATIN'. You're either way too good for advanced, or you're cheatin' like a mofo.

He dominated our 2004 tour in advanced mode. I see that he's playing in both the expert and advanced events this week. He probably missed seeing my request that players choose one or the other tournament. Clearly, advanced is not a sufficient challenge for someone of his skill.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 10:01 pm

Guh....those conditions at Pebble were just brutal! A nice fat 19 stroke difference over my expert tourney finish last week.

After playing expert in those conditions, I'm not sure exactly where my skill level fits in the advanced/expert tourney choices.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:20 am

btmmayor wrote:Guh....those conditions at Pebble were just brutal! A nice fat 19 stroke difference over my expert tourney finish last week.

After playing expert in those conditions, I'm not sure exactly where my skill level fits in the advanced/expert tourney choices.

I will say this...that the conditions set for Expert rounds should be set a notch or two easier than those set for Advanced if you want somewhat realistic scoring. Gusty/Strong winds should be used sparingly as well as Very Dry greens. It all depends on the course being played, but some conditions just make play a brutal proposition in Expert mode.

I lost my swing in rounds 2 & 3 because I installed a new hard drive and a fresh install of WinXP-SP2. For some reason, my Logitech mouse was super sensitive in TW2005, but I finally got it calmed down to the kind of sensitivity I am accustomed to in Rd 4. Congrats to btmmayor for a fine final round in those conditions!

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:47 am

BigBerthaEA wrote: Congrats to btmmayor for a fine final round in those conditions!

Thanks. Took everything I had to keep it close to even after a few double bogeys early in the round. You had an amazing round yourself. 68 or something like that? Incredible with those winds on that course.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:19 pm

btmmayor wrote:
BigBerthaEA wrote: Congrats to btmmayor for a fine final round in those conditions!
Thanks. Took everything I had to keep it close to even after a few double bogeys early in the round. You had an amazing round yourself. 68 or something like that? Incredible with those winds on that course.

Yeah thanks. It was a 68, but several bogeys hurt me in the middle of the round. It was nice to get my swing back because I was beginning to think I had completely lost it. 2005 is far more challenging tee to green than 2004 is...

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:50 pm

I haven't been able to get to the tournament history screen since getting up early this afternoon (had to work night shift last night). Has anyone else been able to connect to tournament history today?

I shot a 69 in the final round in the advanced tournament (if I recall correctly). I'm pleased with it, but I could have shot a little better. I hit more fairways than I expected under the heavy wind conditions, however, I had absolutely no feel for putting. The only birdie putts I made were gimmies. Never came close to sinking a putt over 10 feet in length. It's a different game everytime out for me - and I think that's a lot like real golf!

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:29 pm

Ok so I am already in withdrawl.

When is the next event?

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:48 pm

We'll start the next tournament Thursday morning Danimal. I hope I can get my template setup for regular updates to the homepage. I had a bit of a system last season, but a fatal hard drive failure earlier this year resulted in starting over. Working 60-72 hours a week isn't helping me get things shored up right now, but that should end within the next two weeks.

I see that EASO's tournament history still isn't working as of 08:50 PM EDT...

I was wanting to get the last three tournament final leaderboards up, but I don't even know how this past week's tournaments ended up, or even how I ultimately finished. In all honesty, EASO's performance, at least where TW is concerned, leaves much to be desired. You guys who lament over the loss of online functionality and features from TW 2001, and earlier, have a valid point. It's amazing how far behind that standard we are today.... oh but the the intro page and menu is glossier looking

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:48 pm

J_Cauthen wrote: I see that EASO's tournament history still isn't working as of 08:50 PM EDT...

I have reported it John....they are working on fleshing out some token-related issues right now...

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:00 am

Thanks Tim. I was afraid it might be worse than that. I'll check it again tomorrow.