Late Nite musings on courses

[BopColtrane57]

Thought... I don't consider myself anti-nostalgia, but neither do I fall under the catagory of "well back a few years ago, that's when all the really good Links courses were made."
Why do the vast majority of tournament courses seem to be of the LS or 2001 variety, considering most of the really great courses coming out now are free of charge? Any reply- thoughts out there?

Curious, bopcoltrane (Keith T.)

[Larry_Warrilow]

keith, thus far the tour events seem to be playing out thusly: the plsas are trying to mirror the weekly real life pga or major tour events which can include 2k1 courses. on the other hand, they have previously featured plenty of tough 2k3 apcd real world venues.

the clscs are much like the old mayhem events and consist of a cocktail of four legacy LS venues. the RAWs have been pretty adventurous, and have had some really interesting venues. the flighted events have to be picked carefully, and like this week, i hope they remain 72 hole events on the same course. edgbaston this week is a superior apcd venue for this event.

while up til now, there have been plenty of old LS venues (which almost all veteran players are well equiped), we are still in a condition where many players are still trying to get their qualifying rounds in, and putting up a lot of exotic venues is not going to make that process easier. on the other hand, the tour has been supplying a steady diet of solid apcd venues. considering that we are only in week 7, my guess is that that we won't be disappointed by the tour's choices of venues over the long haul.

even now, the statement that "the vast majority of tournament courses seem to be of the LS or 2k1 variety" cannot be supported by the facts. this week alone, the plsa, the RAW, and the flights are all free apcds. the fact that most of us vets originally paid $20 a pop for most of the clsc courses this week, may put the clsc LS legacy course usage in perspective for those newcomers who consider $3.99 to be an outrage. lw

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[Justin_I]

I have to agree with Larry, no complaints on the course selections and variety to date, and I don't have all the old LS courses but am starting to build up the collection of them up as required each week.

But I can see Bop's point too, most players, for variety of reasons, prefer the the quality APCD courses, and that is the beauty of the arcade, you can play those to your hearts content. This is also one of the reasons I'd like to see ROR etc return one day... some degree of player choice in the Official Tour would be nice. No pressure Mark, just one day, in the future, possibly, maybe....

[Larry_Warrilow]

Justin, what has to be understood is that there are probably going to be more tour event catagories. like the old lsch timed cut events, and the lstr handicap events. the tour has to immerse the tour as a whole gradually into the apcd environment, because on the old indie site, the apcd event each week wasn't a particularly popular event. not only because they were generally more difficult, but also because the best players hardly ever played in it.

i can testify as one who put up a champ level plsa style event for 39 straight weeks in the arcade, that with only three exceptions, the biggest fields occurred when i occassionally put up an old LS file. and this was while i was trying each week to pick some of the best apcd venues (2k3 and 2k1) of which i had knowledge.

while the arcade events over previous months have required many lspn players to download many great new apcd files, the tour must initially proceed with caution, as more players, especially new players, realize they need to add to their course file list each week. lw

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[Justin_I]

That surprises me Larry... it's that hard to downlaod an APCD course that you get lower turnouts, or folks just don't like the challenge?

I must be in the minority...love to download and play a good, tough, new APCD course.

As always though this site is about each to their own, and I am not arguing with any ones choices... just saying that surprises me... mind you so does the popularity of Ammy... but let's not go there!

[HeavySwinger]

That surprises me Larry... it's that hard to downlaod an APCD course that you get lower turnouts, or folks just don't like the challenge?

I must be in the minority...love to download and play a good, tough, new APCD course.

As always though this site is about each to their own, and I am not arguing with any ones choices... just saying that surprises me... mind you so does the popularity of Ammy... but let's not go there!

I just did a quick survey and for the most part, APCD courses are being liberally used both on the official tour and in the arcade. In a couple of cases, I did note the use of old courses for which there is a replacement APCD version like the Belfry. My guess about the reason:
1. The tournament organizer was unaware of the APCD version.
2. The APCD version is not available to everyone.
3. The original version is easier, been mapped, or whatever and will not mess up those stats.

[DennisHarris]

That surprises me Larry... it's that hard to downlaod an APCD course that you get lower turnouts, or folks just don't like the challenge?

I must be in the minority...love to download and play a good, tough, new APCD course.

As always though this site is about each to their own, and I am not arguing with any ones choices... just saying that surprises me... mind you so does the popularity of Ammy... but let's not go there!

I just did a quick survey and for the most part, APCD courses are being liberally used both on the official tour and in the arcade. In a couple of cases, I did note the use of old courses for which there is a replacement APCD version like the Belfry. My guess about the reason:
1. The tournament organizer was unaware of the APCD version.
2. The APCD version is not available to everyone.
3. The original version is easier, been mapped, or whatever and will not mess up those stats.

Add # 4. Must in some cases use older version of an APCD course because of 2k1 game compatability issues.