The Golf Club 2

[Baddar]

EWB Tours!

We're still waiting on Cole and Meacon (?) to get their four rounds completed in Tour 1, but as I won't be at home from tomorrow until Monday, I thought it'd be good to get our 2nd Tour up and running to give you guys a chance to get a few rounds in early.

I hope that the courses I've selected this time play a little more casually than those in Tour 1. None of us will be going all "Little Brook Manor" so to speak, on any of them, but with straight drives and wise club selection, there's scores to be made.

So, here's the four courses...

Course 1 - Locust Grove GC (Easy)

Literally only saw this one for the first time this afternoon, and it's a beauty. On my test run, I had to contend with 13mph winds, but it still played relatively kindly. There are slopes on the greens, but each pin is situated with enough of an area to putt in. From what I recall, most putts from 0-15ft are either level, slightly up, or slightly down. There's no massive breaks on this. It SHOULD be a relatively calm start.

Course 2 - Salmasis Links (Thurs) (Easiest)

Played this Links course the other day, and it was very fun indeed. This is his Thursday version (he has Friday/Weekend versions too) so plays the easiest of the lot. It's marked as "Easiest" in the listing, but that's because it hasn't had that many plays in comparison to others, and experienced players have battered it.

However, it's one of those courses that offers birdie opportunities on a lot of holes if you're daring enough to attack the pin. On this version, the pins are placed in the most gentle part of the green, so again, play well in the run up to the holes, and you'll be fine.

Course 3 - Vulture's Perch CDC (Medium)

It's back to the Desert theme for us. Someone on the HB forums said that every hole here is a birdie opportunity. Not so sure I'd go along with that, but it's a course that plays very fairly. I want to say that it plays a bit easier than Cleric's Levy, but in testing, the wind wasn't up - it's one of those that could be very tough in strong wind.

My favourite hole on the course (despite only playing 1 round on it) was the Par 3 16th. On first glance, it looks far too hard. Pin at the front, with the need to use enough club to carry the water a must. Buuut, there's a nice area past the hole that, if you over-hit your approach a bit, it's likely to hit the bank and roll back down towards the hole. Pro tip - don't play short on this one!

Course 4 - Crawford Mines (Hardest) *Q School Course*

I've tackled this beauty a couple of times. I even shot a -3 on it, I believe. But that was a while ago, and in testing today, I completely shit the bed. It's deceivingly difficult. The greens are quite fast, but the important thing around these parts is to be smart about your tee shot. Use the top-down camera to calculate the yardage, and take wind into consideration. If you can out-smart the course from the tee, you'll have a much better time of it when it comes to your approach. The pins aren't in places that I would consider are too difficult, but reaching the green in regulation is the challenge here, unless your choice from the tee is a good one.

EWB T2 is now active, and you have 14 days to play it. Just like last time, keep everyone updated in this thread if possible.

The results of EWB T1 will be posted on Monday, more than likely.

[Whisper]

Doing a practice round on Locust Grove . +6 going onto the Par 5 9th... only went and holed my second shot from 240 yards!

Edit - annnnd finished on +3 after a double bogey at the 17th. Would've taken that as my tour score!

Edit 2 - Went and played my tour round. +1 and I'm disappointed. A few bad putts and a bit of bad luck with a couple of birdie efforts not dropping. Definite low scores possible on this one for those of you better than me!

Edited October 14, 2014 by Whisper in the Wind

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I think I'm on about hole 12 on the first round, about 8 over. Not sure what's happened, maybe too much dipping in and out of the game. My putting has completely gone to shit, to a point I'm actually missing simple easy putts that I made easily not long ago. Just bad all around. Had a couple of nights before the tours started where I was loving it and everything was going for me, now everything is going against me and I'm playing awful.

I would practice but I'll get annoyed if I shoot a good round outside of the tour.

[Baddar]

I shot +3 on Son Gual a week before my +12 in the tour. It happens.

When you practice on the tour courses, don't concern yourself with the score too much, just familiarise yourself with them.

[borman]

-7 through the first round. Might have left a few putts on the table, but I'll never complain about that kind of round.

[Baddar]

Sounds like you played a great round, borman. It might take me all four rounds to close that kind of gap!

It's important I don't go too attacking though. If I can shoot -3 or -4, I'll be very happy. Now we get to see how you deal with the pressure of being in front.

[Baddar]

The first update was submitted to Sony on Friday - we should hopefully get it by Tuesday next week, maybe even as early as tomorrow.

PC notes, but the update is essentially the same, just ignore the stuff to do with keyboard controls and low/med/high settings;

PC Update 1.0 Notes - 8 October 2014

*Scroll Clubs, Putter to Driver

*Add New Cameras

*Add ability to cycle cameras in real-time during shot set-up (Off-swing stick click on controller, 'V' on keyboard)

*Add option to remove reticule

*Ability to toggle off follow-cam. Can initiate in real-time by pressing 'A' (Xbox controller) or 'X' (PS Controller)

*Remove User Ratings from Official courses

*Separate the HB Official and Suggested courses to improve content discovery (to be implemented in server update soon)

*Remove Official Courses from the Public Course Lists to improve content discovery (to be implemented in server update soon)

*In-Game Pause Menu, Scorecard, Leaderboards should all show under/over along with total score - e.g. 48 (-5)

*Commentary additions and improvements

*Ability to play rivals in all rounds of Tours/Tournaments

*Only show "Bested" Messages if it is a score that beats the players record, as well as the users

*Ability to set backdrops to Low/Med/High for initial 5 themes in GNCD

*Add Pin-Height, relative to cursor, in real time in GNCD

*Tree lighting and culling fixes

*Added a 'Personal Rounds' filter to rivals screen, taking first ghost ball from the top of that list

*Added 'Suggested Opponents' to rivals filter

*10-20% overall performance improvement

*Wind tuning and gust support

*Improvements to speed in which you appear in the leaderboards

*Career screen improvements

*Mouse Swing Improvements Remove Dead Zone

*New keyboard shortcuts for club selection (Number keys, including ~ and +, to quick select clubs)

Looking forward to everything they'll be adding in the coming months.

[Whisper]

Being off work is great! Finished my tour rounds this morning;

-1 on Salmasis Coast. Could and should have been a few more under but I'll take any under par score at this point.

Fuck Vulture's Perch, seriously. Worst course I have played so far. +8.

Threw a good round away on the back nine of Crawford. Finished +7 after a disastrous 16th.

+15 for the tour as a whole which I'm relatively happy with, Vulture's Perch aside.

[Baddar]

Wow, what an up and down round.

Birdied the 3rd hole, but on the very short Par 4 5th, I uncharacteristically sliced into the water from the tee, and picked up a double bogey. Took a few holes to get settled again, and through 9, I was 1 under.

Cue 5 par's in a row, two of which should have been birdies. Picked up birdies on 15 and 16 before a par on 17 left me at -3 going into the 18th. Attacked my 2nd shot, ended at the bottom of the slope, but with my putt, it fell for eagle, and a -5 finish.

Didn't think I'd achieve that after 14 holes!

Two back on borman going into Salmassis. Can't knock that as 7 under was always a tough target.

Edit: Oops, was -6 going into the last 3 holes, but bogeyed two of them, stupidly, and finished -4. That's -9 overall after two courses. I'll get the others played early next week.

[borman]

Well, my round at Salmasis was a disappointment. I played the front 9 outside the tour last night because I didn't think I'd be able to stay awake long enough to shoot a good 18. Finished the first nine at -5, so I was pretty confident going into this round. Wound up putting 2 tee shots into the water on the front nine and making birdie on 17 and 18 to finish -2. Feels like I should have done so much better than that.

Oh well, I'll probably get my last 2 rounds in over the weekend.

EDIT: For whoever is wondering that puts Baddar and I in a tie for first after 2 rounds.

Edited October 17, 2014 by borman

[Baddar]

Salmassis was one of those that played easily enough if you could get the ball in close (you could attack almost every pin), but getting it close was the problem.

Being level going into the last two is interesting, although if I play as badly as I did the last time out on Crawford Mines, you'll ease to the win.

[Thrilla]

This fucking game just seems to make up the percentages on my swings as it goes along, every now and again it will just decide that the exact same action as one that gets a 99-100% rating should get 80-something% instead.

And pitching is 100% or nothing, no middle ground what so ever.

[Baddar]

It's to do with how fast or slow you move the stick too. It's sensitive, but you'll get used to it.

With pitching, I've found that not pulling the club all the way back behind your head greatly affects the swing %.

[Liam]

How much does this game cost? Is it in the PSN store only?

[Baddar]

Store/Marketplace only, £28.99.

[Liam]

Worth a look? I often pick up the Woods games.

[Baddar]

It's better than Tiger Woods, IMO. Harder though.

[Chris2K]

I'm going to live PBP my rounds because apparently I have some kind of fetish for self-abuse.

I should also note that I am playing the game on one TV whilst watching a Simpsons DVD on my other TV (the one where the sound works).

LOCUST GROVE GC (Running Score)

Hole 1 - On the green in two! Three putt for a bogey! (+1)

Hole 2 - Second shot just off the green! Putt from the fringe goes close, second putt for par! (+1)

Hole 3 - On the green in three, just feet from the pin! PUTT FOR BIRDIE~! (E)

Hole 4 - Tee shot waaaaaaaaaay over the green into bushes. Couldn't even see myself through the bushes but chip on within a foot. Putt for par. (E)

Hole 5 - Tee shot almost on to green. Chip close enough. Putt is straight for BIRDIE~! (-1)

Hole 6 - Second shot isn't great but long putt goes close. Putt for Par. TWO SHOTS AHEAD OF BADDAR. (-1)

Hole 7 - Here's some Chris Dewing golf. Lots of terrible chips. Double bogey saved by a good putt. ONE SHOT BEHIND BADDAR (+1)

Hole 8 - Standard up and down. Chip is good to get par. I like chipping. (+1)

Hole 9 - Another good chip takes out the tough green. PUTT FOR BIRDIE. THREE IN A ROUND.(E)

Hang on. EVEN PAR THROUGH THE FRONT 9????!!!!!

Hole 10 - Long putt goes agonisingly close to a birdie. Par putt. (E)

Hole 11 - Stupid verge on the green. First it takes out my chip, then slows up my putt. Bogey. (+1)

Hole 12 - Tee shot slams in to the rock face at the back of the green and rolls ten feet from the hole. Birdie. JUST HOW I DREW IT UP. (E)

Hole 13 - Bunker gets in the way, bunker shot goes over green. Saved for par. (E)

Hole 14 - Bunker + Slope = Double Bogey. (+2)

Hole 15 - Nearly another birdie but no green slope indicators throw me wide. Another par though (+2)

Hole 16 - Birdie putt slips juuuuuuust wide. Par again. (+2)

Hole 17 - Splash. Splash. Splash. Splash. Splash. Splash. GREAT SHOT! 7 over. (+9)

Hole 18 - Finish on a par. This is why I hate this game. (+9)

I'll try to do the other courses but my motivation is very low.

[Liam]

Bought. Will have a crack for a bit and see what it is like.

[Liam]

I hit +19 on the 1st course of EWB2. Good times.