Post by Violinguy69 on Oct 7, 2020 12:14:38 GMT -5
Greetings everyone! Let's get this thing started with a story of how my tour career got started this year with the new game. The career itself is still a work in progress for reasons that shall become clear below. Enjoy!
The New Game Arrives!
I preordered the new game on XB1 and (not so) patiently waited for it to arrive. I debated whether or not to get the game on PC only, but I wanted to keep my XB as the "gaming" machine and keep my PC for music and video editing. About three hours after booting the game up for the first time on XB, I went to steam and plunked down some more scratch for the game here on the PC. As we all know, playing on the console is harder than my aunt's overcooked pork, and I certainly found that out the hard way. My first three swings on PC were all perfect. I'm still looking for the balls from my first swings on XB1.
The dilemma was this; I did not like my PC controller, a wired XB-like affair. I love the controller I use on XB, but I couldn't hit a ball straight or on time. The, ahem, lacking controller I used on PC gave me perfect tempo nearly every time, albeit with mixed results for swing plane. After going back and forth for a few days, I officially made the change to PC and forged ahead to what I thought would be a tour-sauce worthy career.
Whiskey Dunes
Talk about a perfect golf course to begin Q-school. Whiskey Dunes is a course that you can play shots on. You can employ a vast assortment of strategies, and with my wired controller and excellent tempo, I went low in just about every practice round. Sadly, it was not to be in qualifying. My target was even-par or better, and after four sub-standard rounds (and about a thousand putts), I sat at +4. It wasn't catastrophic by any means, but I felt like kid whose Frisbee was just out of reach on the porch roof - disappointed that it was up there in the first place, but knowing that I could get it with a lot of work.
During the latter rounds at the Dunes, I noticed some mild stick drift (when the stick is still but the pointer is moving) with the controller. As I began practicing at Evangelist, it got worse. So much so, that I couldn't use the controller anymore for designing at all. Imagine trying to line up spline points when the cursor keeps moving to the left on its own. Eventually, it got bad enough that I had to buy another controller, tout suite. No local stores had anything in stock worth buying, so I went online and bought the first cheap wired controller I could find with good reviews. A day later (and $26), it arrived and I got to work on preparation for the Widowmaker, er, I mean Evangelist.
Evangelist
During all the ruckus over my dying controller, I also watched a few videos on putting. My putting was atrocious, like trying to get a decent prize out of those claw machines at Chuck-E-Cheese's. I would line everything up, and then fire the golf ball past the hole, often times, off the green altogether. The lost stuffed penguin was my lost opportunity for birdies and even pars. I decided to do something about it so I did something that goes against everything I have ever stood for in golf - I practiced.
With an improved putting stroke and a new controller, I hit the links at Evengelist and played several practice rounds under par. Like a nerd with a hot prom date, I went into the qualifying rounds with a confidence with which I was unfamiliar. I played three efficient rounds and sat at -8 going into the fourth. I was headed to CC-C or better for sure. Even after a depressing 76 in the fourth round, I still sat in good position for CC-D with an outside chance at CC-C. And then...
Waaa-waaaa
I couldn't find my scores on Friday. I looked and looked again, but couldn't find myself on the leaderboard. No problem, I thought, obviously a glitch in the matrix. I booted up the game to ranger a few courses, but my absence on the leaderboard scratched at me like my dog at dinner time. I couldn't ignore it. I looked in my email and saw nothing. I even checked the "social" and "promotions" tabs (Gmail) just to be sure. Nothing. I was confident that my controller would pass muster, especially since the always-perfect controller had no issues. When I dug deep into my spam folder, I found out just how wrong I was. The email sat there like a turd in a living room. My scores were removed.
I was disappointed for sure, especially because I was now disqualified from Q-school, but the new controller, while tough to control tempo-wise, was very tight in the sticks (that's what she said) and hit every shot perfectly straight. I followed the directions and had a brief dialog with SmilingGoats to determine next steps. After a few very helpful posts, I bought a bluetooth dongle to use with a regular XB1 controller. It was at this point, Jeff dropped an H-bomb of knowledge on me that made me want to gouge out my eyes with salad spoons. I had no idea up to this point, after an XB360, and an XB1 for five years, that you could simply plug in a standard micro-USB cable into a wireless controller and use it on PC. I had been looking all over the internet for an XB1 wired controller for PC, and nowhere over the vast interwebs did anyone say I could just plug in one of my existing controllers.
Windstone
After I came back in off the ledge, I grabbed my favorite standard controller and plugged her in. Again, using my improved putting, I started shooting good scores again. With the putting practice, over the course of two weeks, my average PPH went from 1.8+ to under 1.4, which I calculated was about 5 strokes per round. An enormous boost. I got to work on playing Windstone, an excellent golf course that was just like a university freshman social - lots of scoring opportunities.
After three uninspired rounds, I sat at 9-under. Not quite where I wanted to be since my goal was 15 to 20-under for the tournament. Then I went out and literally made every putt, and chipped in twice en route to a completely satisfying 62 (-10). So now I sit at -19 waiting for the week to end and hoping for a decent placement. CC-C is where I've started after each Q-school I've completed. 19-under might just be good enough to get me to CC-B, but I'll have to wait and wish like poor Ralphie on Christmas eve.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week!!
