Your personal experience with PGA Championship Golf

[Indy Anna Jones]

While I was posting on Jax's "bizarre ball behavior" link, I realized that it was 10 years ago this month that Greg and I discovered PGA Championship Golf. We had gone to Staple's specifically looking for Jack Nicklaus 5 when we found PGA99 in the $10 bin. We installed it, liked the looks, played a couple of games together, then Greg tried to get online. I can't remember how but he found the necessary patch and played a few games online. I gave it a try (only had stock courses at the time) and CDA was my first game. Aced #4 in my first online game! I was addicted from then on, lol.

Greg was more into the designer than the game, but he had friends come over on weekends and they played it to death offline. I joined Case's Ladder, found Copyright Club and started dl'ing some of the courses that were available (3-4 hours each with dialup!!) Shortee's "Ladder" courses were real popular in the spring of '01 and Dammpa's Coyote Bluff was a favorite for a long time.

Cam later sent me copies of 2K, and I've been playing it regularly since the winter of '04. I still have JN4 but lost the booklet for it and can't figure out how to hit the darn ball. Links is also a beautiful game but I still prefer PGA2K best of all the sims I've ever played.

So I'm curious about other members experience with the game. When did you start playing and how did you get started?

[stillgolfing]

I think my first computer golf game (can't remember the name) was by Access for the Commodore 64 in 1983. It was 18 holes with various geometric green slabs of fairway and similar geometric slabs of dark blue water. I dont even think there was an actual player you somehow swung a suspended club at a ball (basically you were the player and you weren't on the screen). Owned every edition of every golf game that came along since then, but have no clue as to the names or the years. Gave up on TigerWoods with the 2007 version, as after hundreds of hours of troubleshooting in their forum could not get it to run properly on this PC. I think my fist experience with PGA golf would have been in the early days of Win 95 (say 1996 for me), but I'm not sure what the game was called back then. If I remember correctly it was like most golf games of that erra. You had more likleyhood of becoming a successful international assassin than you did of shooting descent numbers on those golf courses.
I Still have Jack Nicklaus Six, somewhere, which had some features that I really liked (the trajectory arc which indicated if your choice of club and shot would hit a tree ot other object) a good feature for a 3 dimensional game rendered on a 2 dimensional screen. Unfortunately (I assume) it didn't have the fan/design support to keep it alive on line. I kept PGA2000 on this machine for it's sort of cartoony style (in my mind, more of a game than a simulation, but as it turned out, a lot of fun), although it's only the last few days that I actually got active and hence competent enough at the standard level (tournament tees) to actually break par. The thing I like most is the pro players are about equal to me at my level (-3 to -6 for a round in moderate conditions). With links you have to edit all the Pros profiles to have them shoot realistic scores. I always remember when I booted up my first Links2003 game and Sergio Garcia shot a 51. I think he had a bad day once and shot a 58.
I plan to stick with PGA2000 for a while and check out the A rated courses, maybe set up a tournament season and design a course. Who knows? I can see this is a great site with some dedicated supporters, and that's a good thing!
Cheers, Dave

[SteveHorn]

I started playing a SNES version of Jack Nicklaus golf. It had only 4 courses but was still fun for a while. Then I played Swing Away Golf. It had a course designer but it was very limited as to what you could design. Also the golfing was to easy but I still had alot of fun with it for awhile. I finely desided to buy Links 2003 for our computer. When I went to buy it I saw a copy of PGA 2000 CE. It looked as good as links and was much cheaper so I went with it instead (even though I had never heard of it before). Here it is almost eight years later and I'm still addicted to this sim.

[Terry Grayson]

Wow where to start... Bought the game in 2000...Played it a few times, really sucked bad at it... I remember finding Ken McHales website somehow, but dont remember how, and seeing that he had created McGalloway Mountain. He gave a download link and I downloaded a course (Dont remember which one) but did not know how to install them. I remember thinking ok I downloaded it, why is it not working? Had no idea where to look for it... I emailed Ken and he gave me the CopyrightClub address and I went there and signed up. I remember building my first course The Appalachian (I think it was) and Fab and BadBody reviewed it and said i did a pretty good job for a newby, well I was hooked I built a few horrible courses even some with snow but I was hooked.

I remember my very first online experience, I played with Linda, Durange, Carolanne and a few others, I was tru-swinging and man I absolutely sucked. could not play dead and came in dead last. I met up with CCassetty one day and he taught me his tri-click method and I got pretty good with it. Won a tourney or two along the way. I then met SouthernRepub and Stan and Fab and we would play this game for hours and hours. I worked third at the time, and we would all stay up till like 5 am playing this game. I can remember nights it would be 5am and John (Southern) would still be playing and had to be at work at like 8am, that is how much fun we all had together.. People like BigHead, Huskergolfer and others really helped my game over the years...

I then saw a guy named The Magician shooting unreal scores, and I wanted a piece of that. I would shoot pretty low but wanted to get even better, after many tries he finally sent me his method and I started using it, and man did the scores go low....all about hitting the ball a mile high and landing it soft even on very dry and it works...

I started playing with TIncup,Hookster,Cope,Mrs Cope,DrewDiv2 and many others over the last few years, until I kinda faded away, I still play occasionally but havent online in about 2 years... There are so many wonderful friends I have met because of this game, and I still think it is the best golf sim ever created....

[bryce]

My first video game golfing experience was with Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf (Nintendo). Brian and I got into a discussion about this game last year and found out that the "American" course on the game is actually PGA West. Once in a blue moon, I will still fire up the old NES and give it a whirl.

I bought the PGA 2000 Titanium Edition in early 2000. It took several months to find out that there was a massive following online at the time. There always seemed to be a handful of people playing at all times of the day. I used to play with a guy who called himself EZDee45. He tried to talk me into playing in the ladders, but I just enjoyed playing with random people, or with him. I have had the opportunity to play with alot of the people that are still here with us today that were there in the early days. I've always been into drawing holes on notebook paper, even when I was a kid, so the architect review is what made me pick the game over Links and Arnold Palmer. I made the right choice

[tincup]

I love the game of golf... always have. I played on my high school and college teams. I was never all that good, but I tried hard. At best, I was maybe a 10-12 handicap player.

About 1994, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. It was fairly minor at first, but got progressively worse. By 2000, I had to give up real golf. That left a big hole in my life since I loved the game so much.

In Nov/2001, my son introduced me to PGA2000. He told me he thought I would like it... little did he know how much. It became an obsession with me really. It is the closest you can come to the real game I think. I have never played any other golf game really.

I never will forget how nervous I was when I joined the WON world... especially my first tournament. I was hyper ventilating before I got knocked out in the first round There were always plenty of jerks around who let you know how bad you were. I resolved then that I would get good at this game, come back and make them eat those words. By the time all the ladders closed down, I had won over 200 tourneys.

I downloaded every available course and build a big spreadsheet to track my inventory. Ironically, that spreadsheet became the basis for building the GolfSimClubhouse site last year. There is a reason for everything I guess. I guess you could say that my reasons for wanting to help build a new site are selfish... I just don't want to see this precious game die.

I have met hundreds of great friends over the years, most of whom are gone now, but certainly not forgotten. I have been blessed with thousands of hours of entertainment as we beat the hell out of each other on one of the 1,600+ courses. It has been a blast and I don't regret a minute of it. We are down to a handful of people who play online now, but the competition and friendships are stronger than ever. I love the game and will play it until they pry the mouse from my cold dead hand.

Dar

[Robert@]

My Family bought me the game in 99 strickly for the abilty to build courses. Up untill then I have always scibbled golf holes on pieces of paper,mostly left around the house. I figure they thought the game would clear up some clutter. At a young age when my Dad first took me out on the course with him to caddie(pull his clubs around) I have always been interested in the designs of golf holes and the concept of the challenges they tried to provide. I have almost never played a course anywhere that I didnt think I could improve with a bunker here or there or some alteration of some kind.

It took me a while to figure out the Arch(the book has very little help) and with the help of others I eventually turned out my first course Oasis Dunes. Not very good and it took me over a year to complete. I was determined to keep at it untill I could get what I envisioned a course to be into the arch. 60+ courses later i am still trying.

Playing the game and playing online was a great bonus,my first game online was with a guy named OSUDavid and it was his first game as well. We played almost everyday for the next 9 years. Then he got a new PC and Vista...online no more. I hung on and held on to my XP for as long as i could but then I too got a new PC and windows 7 and taking me offline as well. I still talk to David and consider him one of my closest friends.

Early on I could see this was much more then just a game for the PC..it was very special and as time went on many of the players left for the what was the newest thing,never being the better thing. Some i guess just have to have the newest latest thing out there,others needed the masses to boost there ego`s maybe. Whatever the case it was there loss. Cream always rises to the top and in this game it has done exactly that. The best people are still here,the people that truley love golf. When there was 1000 members there were always disputes between players and designers on a daily basis,I havent seen any of that in years here. My family and friends never understood the connection between the people and this game, but anyone who loades it up and steps up to the first tee is ever the same again. I couldnt begin to thank this game for the years of enjoyment it has given me,and I hope to be the last one standing on that first tee when its all said and done.

A very special game and special people along with it!

[sandwedge]

I started playing golf on the PC with World Class Leaderboard Golf. I did not play very much though - friend's computer and software, not mine - online golf wasn't around yet. I chose PGA 99 in the store over Links because it was cheaper and have never regretted it. I went on to own all of the other golf titles for the PC but now only have PGA on my computer - the kids hated Links, hated Tiger Woods, hated Microsoft Golf - they even hated British Open Championship Golf with the video caddie who actually talked to you if I remember correctly - so much for bells and whistles and gimmicks I keep this game because my kids and I enjoy playing it. Playing the real Pebble Beach is a dream we are still waiting on - so on rainy days when we can't get out to the farm converted course that charges $6 to play all day - we fire up the computer and have an absolutely silly and ridiculous time. PGA has provided a lot of giggles and laughter over the time we have owned it.

We are not course architects, we have never played online but I like to think we are the people you never hear about - average folks having a wonderful time together. I think that is the main attraction for us - the physics and playabillity of this game - not the graphics or the super silly career mode scenarios or the obnoxious individuals online of the other sims but the realistic recreation of a sport that my entire family enjoys. I don't owe my life to this game - truth is I would probably be better off without it I am thankful though that my family has it as an option when we do want to do something we all enjoy together.