by MacTHW
binkdog is very elusive and hard to track down for a photo shoot but we managed to finally catch up with him and present him the shirt for the 2012 Bolt-Action Challenge at East Lake GC.
by MacTHW
Well daggum, the last tournament of the Tiger Woods 2013 season is upon us. The THW Golf Championship, last held in 2011 on the Wii and won by MacTHW and his trusty Chicken Stick, makes it’s return this year at TPC Blue Monster. According to a back issue of Headlines, “too much partying and a defective router take the enderdog out of competition”. That tournament also saw the coining of the term sanderton and five bogey-free rounds for MacTHW. Would history repeat itself? You’ll just have to read the current issue of Headlines, coming up next.
It’s the last tournament of the season and also the last chance to make any serious moves on the leaderboard. binkdog has been sitting atop the leaderboard since the beginning of the season. enderdog has been unsuccessful in his efforts to unseat the champion, binkdog, who is rather enjoying his rise to the top after a very dismal season last year. MacTHW is set to defend his course and championship from the 2011 season. It is also his last chance at a tournament victory this season, having gone win-less all year due to a deteriorating relationship with his Kinect.
Four golfers partake in the THW Golf Championship this year and try their best to send the season off in style.
MacTHW vows to put up a valiant effort, as it is his duty as defender at TPC Blue Monster. His efforts pay off, as MacTHW leads at the turn going 5 under par with binkdog hot on his heels at three under par. enderdog, not quite warmed up yet, runs into trouble on the greens. The back nine sees MacTHW slowing down, running into his own troubles on the green but not slow enough to keep him from winning the first round, shooting a 5-under 67. binkdog is next at 3-under, enderdog at even par and Ash racks up the strokes at +23.
Second round starts off in a flurry of birdies and this time its binkdog reaching the turn and holding the lead. MacTHW is three strokes behind with a 34 while enderdog continues to struggle on the greens and is at even par. The back nine throws MacTHW a few too many bogeys and he loses three more strokes to binkdog after its done. binkdog charges ahead, carding an 8-under 64 which also happens to break the previous course record of 66, also held by binkdog. MacTHW ties with enderdog at 2-under and Ash goes twenty over.
After two rounds, the golfers relax at Spyglass Hill before calling it a night. enderdog, now relaxed after two grueling rounds at TPC Blue Monster, fires off a round winning 65 while the best bikdog and MacTHW could do was 72 and 74, repectively.
The group re-convenes on Saturday for the conclusion of the THW Golf Championship. After two rounds, binkdog leads at -11, MacTHW follows with a -7, enderdog a -2 and Ash a +43.
It’s Moving Day and enderdog is fully expected to make his charge up the leaderboard. binkdog surprises the crowd by out maneuvering enderdog, throwing down a 30 after the first nine. enderdog is close behind but gives up three strokes. Even further behind is MacTHW who now cedes his second place spot to enderdog after going one over par on the front. binkdog runs into major problems on the back nine while enderdog plays it cool and gains five strokes on his rival. enderdog finishes the round at -6, then binkdog with a -4, MacTHW a +1 and Ash a +17.
binkdog still leads going into the last round. enderdog will need to gain eight strokes on binkdog to take the championship outright or by seven strokes to force a playoff at the Augusta Par Three. The battle becomes intense as binkdog attempts to hold off enderdog who is known for his late, miracle comebacks. Both ‘dogs hit the turn at 35 each, leaving enderdog with a tall order on the back nine if he wants to add another winning shirt to his closet. enderdog makes a small charge along the back nine but soon runs out of gas, having trouble with the tricky greens and is only able to gain two strokes on binkdog. enderdog wins the round at -4 but binkdog comes in at -2, while MacTHW is also -2 and Ash +15.
The final results after four rounds
| TPC Blue Monster | Course PAR: 72 | Tournament PAR: 288 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | Player | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | THRU | TOTAL | SCORE |
| 1 | binkdog | 69 | 64 | 68 | 70 | 72 | 271 | -17 |
| 2 | enderdog | 72 | 70 | 66 | 68 | 72 | 276 | -12 |
| 3 | MacTHW | 67 | 70 | 73 | 60 | 72 | 280 | -8 |
| 4 | Ash | 95 | 92 | 89 | 87 | 72 | 363 | +75 |
What a great conclusion to the final tournament of the TW13 season. Thanks to everyone who participated this year, in this and any other eight or nine tournaments hosted by THW Golf. We appreciate you stopping by and hope to see everyone and maybe even some new faces at next year’s tournaments.
by MacTHW
Tonight kicks off the THW Golf Championship at TPC Blue Monster. It is the last major tournament of the Tiger Woods 2013 season before we launch right into the madness of Augusta National in April. MacTHW is set to defend this evening, last winning this tournament during the days of Tiger Woods 2011. Will binkdog win the tournament and all but ensure his first place ranking at the end of the season or does enderdog have the moving van fueled up with nitrous-oxide in an attempt to clinch first place in the last stretch of TW 2013? For Ash and Mac, there’s always the coop to snag second place.
Here is your official invitation to the 2013 THW Golf Championship
by MacTHW
Now that I’ve had a chance to play with the demo for a few days, here are my observations for the Tiger Woods 14 demo. Keep in mind, this is for the game demo, not the final release, and only for Simulation Mode using the Kinect.
The most desired feature of TW14, at least for me, was Kinect functionality. Kinect in TW13 was a trainwreck. Reliable tracking and consistency being the Kinect’s downfall. Since EA saw fit to not even bother with promoting TW14’s Kinect integration, my hopes weren’t high that they had fixed anything in the code for it. Well, I am happy to say that, at least in the demo, they did do something for the Kinect. Is it much better or slightly better? That I can’t tell yet without playing for a few more hours but early indications show that improvements have been made.
For starters, binkdog confirms that the issues affecting left handed players have been fixed. Driving, chipping and putting all appear to work for left handers now.
I did not have any severe issues with the Kinect such as freezing on the backswing or any sort of (auto | early | late) (hits | putts). I played the demo using the same swing style that I used with the Wii and the ChickenStick. The Kinect did manage to lose me on the backswing once but I reset and it worked the second time. Unlike TW13, where sometimes it would take 6 to 8 swing attempts to get off the tee (and then, once you do manage to swing, it goes 10 feet off the tee). Playing competitively like we do here at THW Golf, consistency is a must. TW13 Kinect had no consistency, unless you count that it was consistently bad. I would be ECSTATIC if the Kinect “just worked” this year. Losing a tournament on my own merit is one thing. Losing because of 10 auto-hits is another.
Simulation Mode is supposed to offer the most realistic golfing experience and has been a much-hyped feature this year. It is supposed to be so hard that scores in the 60s will be a rare occassion. So far, Simulation Mode appears to be nothing more than the Tournament settings we here at THW Golf have been playing on all year long, with the exception that Zoom to Aim is disabled along with the wind speed display. As in TW13, when in Kinect mode, the game sets up the best possible shot for you, whether you are in the fairway, first cut, deep rough or the sand. Shot shaping does not apply to the Kinect. And for good reason. You are supposed to shape the shot with your hand motion! Unfortunately, the Kinect does not seem to be able to detect this with much accuracy. This is where accelerometers and gyroscopes, such as those in a Wiimote or MOVE come in handy. The ball mostly flies straight. I tried to hook a shot, but its either straight or on the next fairway. Not much in between. Same as it was in TW13. Putting is improved, if only, because they moved the information HUD away from the center of the screen so you can actually view the lie without words obscuring your view of the hole. The overall putting mechanics feel the same as they were last year. Simulation Mode is probably tougher for the controller players, not us Kinect users.
The biggest change in Simulation Mode is the lack of Zoom to Aim. I really like this idea. However, there is something missing to make it work properly. As it plays in the demo, and as the name implies, you are not able to zoom to your target landing area. All you get is the golfers view from the tee box. Unfortunately, the view is not that great. You can’t tell if there is a dog-leg, a sand trap or tree in your way. You see an icon where the pin location is, but most most fairways are not a straight shot to the pin. Standing at the tee box, you can not see what dangers lie ahead, nor any distances to bunkers or other hazards. You have to grab the controller, go into a menu and choose flyover, so you can get a view of the course. But even with the flyover, you can not tell how many yards to that dog-leg or how far you need to carry so you won’t end up in a bush. You are pretty much teeing off blindfolded and hoping for a good landing. If there was an optional Yardage Book, this feature would be kick ass. I’m guessing hard core players of Simulation Mode will be keeping their own Yardage notebooks. I’m prepping my iPad for note taking now.
Night golf is cool for a while. After playing about 4 three-hole rounds, I was ready for some daylight and green greens. It’s neat but, after a round or two, the effect wears off.
There was no head-to-head multi-player option in the demo. Only the Connected Tournaments. It was cool to play with all those other people but it doesn’t really lend itself to the tournaments we have here at THW Golf.
All in all, looks promising as long as the Kinect works in the full release as it does in the demo. And EA doesn’t break it with a patch a few weeks after release. Things like a Yardage Book can be added later…via a patch. Judging from the demo, we may be in for a lot of the same as last year on Kinect, just perhaps a little less Tourette’s Syndrome brought on by a misbehaving Kinect.
by MacTHW
It’s a minor tournament weekend…four rounds at PGA National for the THW National. enderdog means business this weekend. binkdog hopes to cling to his ever declining lead in the overall rankings. Will enderdog cut into that lead even more after the weekend? There are hopes and dreams up for grabs. Who will take them? Find out in the weekend’s headlines for the THW National.
Round one…FIGHT! enderdog blasts into the lead after the front nine of round one, going three under while the best binkdog can come up with is par. The back nine sees enderdog going even lower, shooting a 32 and finishing the round at seven under par. binkdog trundles in at even par, MacTHW finishes out the round with a 77 and Ash a 91…early indications are that Ash and MacTHW already played themselves out of the tournament.
enderdog is hot on the scent of victory and throws down a 30 on the front nine of the second round. The rest of the field is trying to find the number of the truck that just hit them. Ash manages par, MacTHW two over and binkdog trailing two shots behind MacTHW. Nothing can stop the runaway ender as he picks up speed and goes seven under on the back nine for a total of thirteen under for the round. His 59 is two strokes shy of a new overall record but good enough to become Coure Pro at PGA National. Ash and MacTHW tie for second at 75 each and binkdog settles for fourth place with his 76.
The standings at the end of Friday evening put enderdog at -20, binkdog +4, MacTHW +8 and Ash at +22.
The golfers return on Saturday evening, most wondering if enderdog’s luck will hold out on the remaining rounds of the THW National. enderdog wastes no time in getting the third round started. He heads into the turn at five under but MacTHW is only one stroke behind, hoping to trip up the fast running enderdog. Like the Road Runner, enderdog proves to be an elusive creature and dodges all traps thrown at him by his Kinect. It’s Moving Day and enderdog puts the pedal to the metal, breaking the course record set the night before. At nine under par, just on the back nine, enderdog manages to tie the overall THW Golf low record of all time with his 58, which is also good enough for course record (again). MacTHW manages par, bink goes one over and Ash cards a six over par.
After three rounds, enderdog is sitting at -34, bink at +5, MacTHW at +8 and Ash at +28.
The final round is much like the last day of the Tour de France for enderdog, mainly a gentle, relaxing stroll while the rest of the contenders battle it out for second and third place. MacTHW needs to gain four strokes on binkdog in order to clinch second place but binkdog seems to have none of it. MacTHW gains a paltry one stroke advantage at the turn but gives it right back on the last nine. Both binkdog and MacTHW shoot a 63 in the final round, sending MacTHW into third place. enderdog has another great round, scoring ten under. Ash finishes the 18th with a six over par on the card and that officially ends the tournament.
The final results from the THW National:
| PGA National | Course PAR: 72 | Tournament PAR: 288 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | Player | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | THRU | TOTAL | SCORE |
| 1 | enderdog | 65 | 59 | 58 | 62 | 72 | 244 | -44 |
| 2 | binkdog | 72 | 76 | 73 | 63 | 72 | 284 | -4 |
| 3 | MacTHW | 77 | 75 | 72 | 63 | 72 | 287 | -1 |
| 4 | Ash | 91 | 75 | 78 | 78 | 72 | 322 | +34 |
enderdog is now in the record books as not only having the lowest overall score but also the player who has won by the most amount of strokes. he bests his nearest competitior, fellow Team Binkertoner, binkdog, by 40 strokes. Congratulations enderdog. Practice does pay off!
Join us next week for the last THW tournament of the Tiger Woods 2013 season…the THW Golf Championship at TPC Blue Monster.
THW Golf is a private online golf league that plays Tiger Woods PGA Tour on the Wii. Membership is not open to the public and one must be invited by a current member in order to join. THW Golf was formed during the Tiger Woods 2010 season and provides for a family-friendly environment where known friends can get together and compete in challenging and cheat-free golf sessions. We think that not opening ourselves to the trolls and cheaters and hackers of the greater World Wide Web is key to maintaining that environment.
Although we are closed for public membership, please feel free to check out our stats, headlines, tournaments, promotional videos, and heck, even our by-laws. As you can see, while we may be a small group, we like to think BIG. But more importantly, we like to have FUN.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter, thanks to the team’s resident social butterflies,
Ash and binkdog.