Post by mayday_golf83 on Mar 2, 2019 16:00:18 GMT -5
So I guess this is where I type something insightful and try not to sound like a blubbering idiot.
So many people need to be thanked in conjunction with the 2019 TGCT World Cup of Design, I’m bound to miss someone. Let me just start by staying if you’re a member of this community -- designer, player, admin, streamer -- thank you. Each and every one of you makes this place and this game special.
For starters, I need to thank Andre (Crazycanuck1985) and Eric (VctryLnSprts) for taking up the ship mid-stream. Not only did this community overcome some strife during the middle of the design period, it came back stronger than ever. Not only did we have 32 of 32 contestants finish, we had, I believe, the best collection of courses a contest has ever seen from top to bottom. Their leadership made it happen and congratulations to every who published in this contest. You all should feel proud.
Need to thank Matt (mrvinegar206) and his fine panel of judges. I’ve been in that chair before. It’s an incredibly difficult task to dissect courses down to the Nth degree and have to make the determination that one excellent course is somehow better than another excellent course. The hours put into judging a contest can rival that of building a course for a contest. That work is underappreciated at times, but is vital to what we do.
To Tim (Tim), Scott (Doyley), Jeff (SmilingGoats) and the entire TGCTours Admin team, You give us, as designers, a place to showcase our work that’s unrivaled anywhere else in this game and embrace us as a greater part of the TGCT family. Your support is incredible.
To the Brians -- gamesdecent and reebdoog. Congratulations on wonderful courses. The scorelines of our matchups are by no means indicative of the difference in quality of our courses, which was non-existent. It so very easily could have gone the other way, I feel, in both of those matchups. Your work was outstanding. As for the other semifinalist, Chuck (Violinguy69), you can always say you beat the eventual champion and who knows what the count might have been had we gone before all 14 judges in the finals. As for Old Henry’s Shipyard, you went for a setting very near and dear to me up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and nailed the look. I can’t hold any qualms about losing to a course based in God’s Country.
As for the personal thank yous. First and foremost, even though he has stepped away from the game, I have to thank Griff for all he has done, both for this community and me personally. He, obviously was the godfather of course contests around here for quite some time, and gave genesis to the World Cup format. He also took a chance on me, and was the one who put my rookie contest course Laurel Run Golf Club, on the CC Tour back in 2016. That was a breakthrough for me.
Now Griff was not afraid to share his opinions, but he also wasn’t afraid to take a designer under his wing. After an early exit in the Summer Showdown contest in 2017, he took time to sit down with me one-on-one, point out the positives and point out the negatives. Griff constantly urged me to get out of my comfort zone, be bolder, take more chances and stop being so safe. It took a bit of a sabbatical from the game following that contest for those words to really sink in and take hold, but I undoubtedly would not be where I am now if not for what he did.
I, like so many, fell into the rabbit hole of this designer after watching Andre’s Design 101 tutorials and realizing the power of the tool we had at our hands. Taking in the work of some of the OGs in this game, like Andre, Reeb, arcticfury, theclv24, Guitar Dude, Biggins, scarpacci … I could go on and on … helped fuel the fire as well and were very inspiring to me.
I absolutely must thank my wife, Casey, for allowing me to sit on the PS4/computer for hours at a time playing a virtual golf game. Luckily, she understands this game’s greater meaning to so many of us. I call her my chief “art inspector.” She’s not much into the actually playing of golf, but she has a great artistic eye and critiques the look of my courses (even if it is to say, “Hey, that bunker looks like a narwhal!”).
But the thing I keep coming back to is this community. I’ve gotten to know a number of my fellow designers offline, and other good fellows like Dan Dan (catcherman22) from the After Dark days, or my partners in crime on The Diamond Cutters, Tenahka and SCobbTDC_tv, or golferdude1994 who tells provocative jokes during our streams (BTW, I’m waiting for that big a-- beer, Matt!). Also, over the past few months I've really gained a better appreciation and friendship with so many designers, like Terry Grayson **bird emjoi** and other members of the DAM, along with mattf27 & staypuft39, who I had a blast doing our recent collab project with. We may squabble like brothers occasionally, but like a family we come together, and we’re all better off for it.
I realize I’ve written a book, but, in closing, I just want to reiterate how grateful I am for not only everyone involved in this contest, but in this entire community. Today is not a victory for one man, rather a celebration of an incredible community. Thank you all.
Humbly submitted,
Jeremy Mayo
2019 TGC Tours World Cup of Design Champion
So many people need to be thanked in conjunction with the 2019 TGCT World Cup of Design, I’m bound to miss someone. Let me just start by staying if you’re a member of this community -- designer, player, admin, streamer -- thank you. Each and every one of you makes this place and this game special.
For starters, I need to thank Andre (Crazycanuck1985) and Eric (VctryLnSprts) for taking up the ship mid-stream. Not only did this community overcome some strife during the middle of the design period, it came back stronger than ever. Not only did we have 32 of 32 contestants finish, we had, I believe, the best collection of courses a contest has ever seen from top to bottom. Their leadership made it happen and congratulations to every who published in this contest. You all should feel proud.
Need to thank Matt (mrvinegar206) and his fine panel of judges. I’ve been in that chair before. It’s an incredibly difficult task to dissect courses down to the Nth degree and have to make the determination that one excellent course is somehow better than another excellent course. The hours put into judging a contest can rival that of building a course for a contest. That work is underappreciated at times, but is vital to what we do.
To Tim (Tim), Scott (Doyley), Jeff (SmilingGoats) and the entire TGCTours Admin team, You give us, as designers, a place to showcase our work that’s unrivaled anywhere else in this game and embrace us as a greater part of the TGCT family. Your support is incredible.
To the Brians -- gamesdecent and reebdoog. Congratulations on wonderful courses. The scorelines of our matchups are by no means indicative of the difference in quality of our courses, which was non-existent. It so very easily could have gone the other way, I feel, in both of those matchups. Your work was outstanding. As for the other semifinalist, Chuck (Violinguy69), you can always say you beat the eventual champion and who knows what the count might have been had we gone before all 14 judges in the finals. As for Old Henry’s Shipyard, you went for a setting very near and dear to me up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and nailed the look. I can’t hold any qualms about losing to a course based in God’s Country.
As for the personal thank yous. First and foremost, even though he has stepped away from the game, I have to thank Griff for all he has done, both for this community and me personally. He, obviously was the godfather of course contests around here for quite some time, and gave genesis to the World Cup format. He also took a chance on me, and was the one who put my rookie contest course Laurel Run Golf Club, on the CC Tour back in 2016. That was a breakthrough for me.
Now Griff was not afraid to share his opinions, but he also wasn’t afraid to take a designer under his wing. After an early exit in the Summer Showdown contest in 2017, he took time to sit down with me one-on-one, point out the positives and point out the negatives. Griff constantly urged me to get out of my comfort zone, be bolder, take more chances and stop being so safe. It took a bit of a sabbatical from the game following that contest for those words to really sink in and take hold, but I undoubtedly would not be where I am now if not for what he did.
I, like so many, fell into the rabbit hole of this designer after watching Andre’s Design 101 tutorials and realizing the power of the tool we had at our hands. Taking in the work of some of the OGs in this game, like Andre, Reeb, arcticfury, theclv24, Guitar Dude, Biggins, scarpacci … I could go on and on … helped fuel the fire as well and were very inspiring to me.
I absolutely must thank my wife, Casey, for allowing me to sit on the PS4/computer for hours at a time playing a virtual golf game. Luckily, she understands this game’s greater meaning to so many of us. I call her my chief “art inspector.” She’s not much into the actually playing of golf, but she has a great artistic eye and critiques the look of my courses (even if it is to say, “Hey, that bunker looks like a narwhal!”).
But the thing I keep coming back to is this community. I’ve gotten to know a number of my fellow designers offline, and other good fellows like Dan Dan (catcherman22) from the After Dark days, or my partners in crime on The Diamond Cutters, Tenahka and SCobbTDC_tv, or golferdude1994 who tells provocative jokes during our streams (BTW, I’m waiting for that big a-- beer, Matt!). Also, over the past few months I've really gained a better appreciation and friendship with so many designers, like Terry Grayson **bird emjoi** and other members of the DAM, along with mattf27 & staypuft39, who I had a blast doing our recent collab project with. We may squabble like brothers occasionally, but like a family we come together, and we’re all better off for it.
I realize I’ve written a book, but, in closing, I just want to reiterate how grateful I am for not only everyone involved in this contest, but in this entire community. Today is not a victory for one man, rather a celebration of an incredible community. Thank you all.
Humbly submitted,
Jeremy Mayo
2019 TGC Tours World Cup of Design Champion