New or returning players?

[Brettster]

Hi Everyone,

A little background... I'm new to this forum, but I used to play many of the PC games: Links, Jack Nicklaus, TW, and PGA Championship Golf 1999. I always loved PGA Championship Golf 1999, but after looking here, it seems I'm one year behind what you are all playing, which is PGA Championship Golf 2000.

Can someone fill me in on what the new features were between 1999 and 2000? It appears I will have to purchase used PGA 2000, likely on eBay, though I see there are several versions of it (Titanium Edition, Collector's Edition, and Regular Edition). Is it better to buy one of these over the other, if I want to start playing again?

One last thing - I also have been working on setting up a Simulator at home, and I have most of the parts, now waiting on a shed addition to increase space there to play Sim Golf, which I will do with a ProTee sensor/camera system along with TGC2019 (The Golf Club 2019). I am considering purchase of Fitness Golf (which would require a SkyTrak launch monitor to play - or possibly another brand such as Mevo), for keeping my exercise up in the Winter months with a treadmill out in my simulator.

So, I'm also in process of converting/setting up some of my local courses using LiDAR data, so I can make them faster. Is it possible to move that same data back/forth up here into PGA 2000? Or, into WGC2010 (in case I might get Fitness Golf also running, during the Winter)?

Just wondering, as I will probably be overwhelmed - if I have to design an entire course for TGC2019 and then have to do the same thing for Fitness Golf (which I understand uses the WGC 2011, or Red Chain Golf Courses)?

Well, looking forward to getting going again with PGA 2000, and then seeing what I can do with designing courses.... I love this game! (Golf that is)...

[BrianZ111]

Welcome,

I think the main difference between PGA ’99 and 2000 was an improvement in graphics. One thing I remember was the golf ball was made 3D with a logo on it so it looks like it’s rolling rather than sliding. Season play may have been new too, I’m not sure. I haven’t played PGA ’99 in 21 years so I don’t really remember that well but the differences weren’t major. Maybe someone else will remember more.

You can download an install package for the game off the PGA 2000 utilities page. For now we are assuming it is abandonware unless we are told we can no longer host it. Otherwise if you do buy off e-bay, it doesn’t matter which version you get. The only difference in the versions was additional stock courses included and those were all officially made available for public download long ago.

As far as creating courses, yes LiDAR can be a huge time saver but it doesn’t do everything. All of the course designer programs work a little different so the learning curve of taking on all three at once would be tough. I will try to sum them each up from my perspective below.

For PGA 2000 the answer on LiDAR is sort of yes and no. You use Chet Bzdak's Terrain Assist tool originally developed for TW but also works for PGA 2000. You are only able to load it at a resolution of 20 yard spaced points. It was done this way for technical reasons because this is the spacing of the mesh in a starting plot in the architect. This gives the general lay of the land but not the detail so you still have to do the detail work like shaping bunkers, mounds, green contours, and tees. PGA 2000 has the easiest and most powerful tools to use for this though. It also has the best tools for planting. One other nice thing, you can export your elevations out of this game as a mesh and import them into other games as if they were LiDAR. It’s the course designer I would choose to design in if not for the LiDAR issue. For that reason I’ve looked into improving it’s LiDAR import ability but so far have not figured out a solution for it.

TGC 2019 is the easiest to get something playable fast thanks to the ease of use and how much Chad’s TGC Designer Tools does with the LiDAR. It is capable of any spacing though 2 meter is recommended due to performance issues in game. This pretty much gives you all the details and you'll only have make minor adjustments to the terrain like smooth some areas or fix the edge of a green that it rounded off a little too much. It also can pull in vegetation data from LiDAR and automate tree planting. However TGC 2019 itself is the hardest to do something really detailed/polished/unique in my opinion because the whole UI in the game was designed for a console controller with mouse and keyboard as an afterthought. Controller, or mouse and keyboard acting like a controller, is a very tedious way to do course design. Also you can't create any custom art or objects in this game like you can in the other games.

For WGC 2011, which you can use to create courses for Fitness Golf, the learning curve is a little bit steeper for importing LiDAR but it can do just as good a job or better than TCG 2019. It handles down to 1 meter spacing. A guy recently wrote a tutorial, which you can find on the WGC 2011 utilities page, for using the free LASTools and inexpensive AccuTrans 3D to do it. I personally use the more expensive Global Mapper, as it is easier to work with, in combination with AccuTrans 3D. The tools for course creation in game are somewhere in the middle in my opinion. Not as easy to work with as PGA 2000 due to some flaky bugs and not fully developed tools, but once you figure out how to work around the issues it’s not as tedious as using the TGC 2019 UI. It is the easiest to draw shapes (fairways, greens, bunkers, etc.) because it has a built in overlay tool for tracing images and you don't have to worry about if shapes cross. In the other two games the 3rd party LiDAR tools have developed methods for tracing shapes and importing them into the game. No shape borders can cross each other in PGA 2000, and I think that's true in TGC 2019 as well though I'm not 100% sure on that as I have less experience designing in that game.

Hope that helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask them on the forum.

[Captain Nemo]

Hi Viper. Over the years I have played most of the Golf games noted here. Unfortunately, when I had to replace my old HP PC running XP 2+ years ago, I dumped all my old Golf Game disks because I could not get then running in Win 10. Links 2003 was the only game good to go (with some tweaking tips from that sitesTech Forum). So currently my computer Golf is limited to Links 2003. Anyway I am enjoying reading through the various game threads here, and that will keep me busy for awhile.
Cheers C.N.

[Viper]

Hi Viper. Over the years I have played most of the Golf games noted here. Unfortunately, when I had to replace my old HP PC running XP 2+ years ago, I dumped all my old Golf Game disks because I could not get then running in Win 10. Links 2003 was the only game good to go (with some tweaking tips from that sitesTech Forum). So currently my computer Golf is limited to Links 2003. Anyway I am enjoying reading through the various game threads here, and that will keep me busy for awhile.
Cheers C.N.

Hi Captain, thanks for joining up!
Every game on the site will work on Win 10. If you want to play one of the other games besides Links, I suggest you try one of the downloads here. Carefully follow the instructions. If you do try them, please let me know how things went.

[Guitarzan]

It's fun to goof around with PGA again. I did own the Titanium Edition with all the extra courses but I got rid of the disks long ago. I downloaded and tried the game and uninstalled after seeing the psychedelic golfers. Then I found this site and the patch and now it runs great. I think the only thing I didn't like about PGA2000 (and I still don't) is the swing meter. I can't move it or make it bigger and that was one of the reasons I didn't play it as much as Links or GBC. Still fun to play it again though, thanks to those who update these sims and keep them alive.

[Viper]

It's fun to goof around with PGA again. I did own the Titanium Edition with all the extra courses but I got rid of the disks long ago. I downloaded and tried the game and uninstalled after seeing the psychedelic golfers. Then I found this site and the patch and now it runs great. I think the only thing I didn't like about PGA2000 (and I still don't) is the swing meter. I can't move it or make it bigger and that was one of the reasons I didn't play it as much as Links or GBC. Still fun to play it again though, thanks to those who update these sims and keep them alive.

There is a way to move that swing meter! I don't know how, I know I managed to work it out ages ago and thought "now I know" but by the time I wanted to move it again I forgot how.
It bugs me like crazy not knowing how it can be done because I know it can be done.

[Guitarzan]

My eyes aren't what they used to be and trying to hit those snaps (3 clicker) on my laptp is very challenging. Making the meter bigger would be a game changer for me.

[Guitarzan]

Hi Viper. Over the years I have played most of the Golf games noted here. Unfortunately, when I had to replace my old HP PC running XP 2+ years ago, I dumped all my old Golf Game disks because I could not get then running in Win 10. Links 2003 was the only game good to go (with some tweaking tips from that sitesTech Forum). So currently my computer Golf is limited to Links 2003. Anyway I am enjoying reading through the various game threads here, and that will keep me busy for awhile.
Cheers C.N.

Links 2001 wouldn't run? For some reason it works great on my W10 laptop with no patching or tweaks. I find I play it more than Links 2003 as I find it harder and I prefer the real animations.

[Viper]

My eyes aren't what they used to be and trying to hit those snaps (3 clicker) on my laptp is very challenging. Making the meter bigger would be a game changer for me.

I'm quite sure you can't change the size. You can change to standard ability to make things easier.

I just gave a quick try to move the swing meter. I have no idea! A virtual lollipop to anyone who can figure this out.

[SteveHorn]

Guitarzan
There Is A great PGA2000 putting tutorial where you don't have to worry about hitting that little mark every time. Should help you with your vision problems some. Do a search in the PGA2000 forum general discussion area. Type in "putting tips". You should see a post by DC1 about this tutorial. Then go to the far right and click on where it say's "jump to post". This should take you to the tutorial or the area the tutorial is in. These tips helped me alot. I'm still a truswing player but I also do tri click.