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Are Championship Games Harder?

• OrinBM 40 Posts

  Fri, Nov 7 2014 9:45 PM

  This is basically a newbie question...as I consider myself still very new to this game.

  I'm trying to play the Golf Advisor championship at Pinehurst and I am frustrated by the results.  It's not an easy course for me, it's definitely long, and if the winds are against me even par is a challenge.  But, I practiced the course a lot and seemed to be doing pretty well at it, par on most holes and even one or two birdies.  I felt I had a good chance of playing for even, which is my goal.  I've tried the championship four times now, although admittedly I didn't finish two of the four rounds I was so frustrated.  My two finished scores were +8 and a slightly better +5.  The two I quit obviously weren't looking very good.

  Finally to my question, are the championship games harder, or is it just psychological?  I swear I have missed more putts from with 5 feet than I can stand!  And so many are within a balls width of the hole.  Others hit the hole and roll out (too hard?).  It just seems that everything is extra sensitive.  Is it my imagination?  And last, any suggestions?  I thought that playing several rounds practice and taking notes would be enough to come in closer to even.

• 8buster8 649 Posts

  Sat, Nov 8 2014 9:52 AM

  OrinBM:

   My two finished scores were +8 and a slightly better +5.  The two I quit obviously weren't looking very good.

  I would say you are on the right track; your equipment is making it challenging as well.  However,  I wouldn't rush out to change anything suddenly.  IMO the most fun can be had in this game by not *rushing* through things.  

  If the tournament is *unlimited*, use it rather than *practice* mode.  Also, try to finish even cruddy rounds just to experience/practice  final holes in *difficult* conditions. 

  good luck . 

   

• Mushy01 2,567 Posts

  Sat, Nov 8 2014 10:18 AM

  In the tourney, your probably off championship tees and playing championship green speeds bud

• fatdan 3,379 Posts

  Sat, Nov 8 2014 10:21 AM

  OrinBM:

  Finally to my question, are the championship games harder, or is it just psychological?  I swear I have missed more putts from with 5 feet than I can stand!  And so many are within a balls width of the hole.  Others hit the hole and roll out (too hard?).  It just seems that everything is extra sensitive.  Is it my imagination?

  Yes, they throw a lot more deviation at you in the big ones...

   

• 1,866 Posts

  Sat, Nov 8 2014 11:36 AM

  Mushy01:

  In the tourney, your probably off championship tees and playing championship green speeds bud

  Nah, it's a tiered event so probably not. I doubt OP would score +5 with his gear if that were the case. But as other said, tourneys do tend to play differently, whether it is true or we just make it true, screwing ourselves out of a better score ;-)

• CanineSupervisor 1,882 Posts

  Sat, Nov 8 2014 1:22 PM

  OrinBM:

  Finally to my question, are the championship games harder

  Yes, sir, they are. You'll find Champ green speeds to be very difficult on Merion and Oakmont as well.

  Is that tournament set up with Yellow tees for you? If so, those are champion tees. From your description, it sounds like it. A few of the holes on Pinehurst play slower too, e.g. hole #4. Pinehurst has some interesting breaks right before the cups, too. Look at the breaks carefully from reverse view, take your time and then execute.

  Take notes when you play these courses so you can refer to them as you go.

  I totally agree with 8Buster8 above.

  If you ever need advice, my door is always open. Post my wall.

   

• mantis0014 8,946 Posts

  Sat, Nov 8 2014 5:51 PM

  CanineSupervisor:

  OrinBM:

  Finally to my question, are the championship games harder

  Yes, sir, they are. You'll find Champ green speeds to be very difficult on Merion and Oakmont as well.

  Is that tournament set up with Yellow tees for you? If so, those are champion tees. From your description, it sounds like it. A few of the holes on Pinehurst play slower too, e.g. hole #4. Pinehurst has some interesting breaks right before the cups, too. Look at the breaks carefully from reverse view, take your time and then execute.

  Take notes when you play these courses so you can refer to them as you go.

  I totally agree with 8Buster8 above.

  If you ever need advice, my door is always open. Post my wall.

   

   

  8buster8:

  I would say you are on the right track; your equipment is making it challenging as well.  However,  I wouldn't rush out to change anything suddenly.  IMO the most fun can be had in this game by not *rushing* through things.  

  If the tournament is *unlimited*, use it rather than *practice* mode.  Also, try to finish even cruddy rounds just to experience/practice  final holes in *difficult* conditions. 

  Probably 2 of the best replies to a simple question, which I agree too :)

  Not sure if the comp was on Champ Speed greens....

  But the best tip I got awhile back relating to Champ Speed from one of the best female players of the game.....

  "You have to click or aim wider than you think,  because the faster green speed will grab the ball quicker on the rolls"

  Not the forgetting how hard you have to hit it too

  -Roger

• OrinBM 40 Posts

  Sat, Nov 8 2014 8:07 PM

  Thanks everyone for the advice.  For the record I was careful to make sure that the tee position and green speeds in my practice games matched the actual conditions.  For my tier it is the white box and very fast greens.

  It makes sense to just play the game when it's unlimited attempts, I don't know why I was hung up on "practicing" first.  I guess I thought I could figure out some of the shots with the mulligan feature, but that hasn't proved as useful as I thought.

  Today I finished a round +1, a great achievement for me!  I actually noticed that my other two rounds were +10 and +7, so I've made more progress than I thought.  I did have very favorable winds on most of the holes, so that helped.  I've had it go the other way too of course.

  Well, thanks again, sounds like the best thing to do is keep playing, keep practicing, and keep learning.

• rqueen 57 Posts

  Thu, Nov 13 2014 11:57 AM

  Orin, one of the things to know is:  The higher up on the levels you go, the more the people controlling the game puts in more "bloops" to keep you from getting too good of scores.  I do not know how often they put them in but I know they have me set to where about 80 - 85% of my hits (not including my mishits since I do not know if they were set up with "bloops") have some kind of "bloop" in it.  I have even had a number of instances where they had those "bloops" inserted in every shot.  Those usually only happened after I turned in a problem or a complaint, so be very careful about turning those in.  I thought at first it was coincidence but when it happened every time, I decided it was deliberate.

• ZioMio 4,680 Posts

  Thu, Nov 13 2014 12:56 PM

  rqueen:

  the more the people controlling the game puts in more "bloops" to keep you from getting too good