THW Golf Headlines

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Binkdog In Control, Takes Three Victories

by Mac

The wait is over. The Virg makes his return to the Team Housewares Golf Pro Tour. binkdog is on a mission. MacTHW melts down, while Ash tries to set a new record. Oh yeah, It’s Friday night golf at Team Housewares!

Ash, binkdog and virg started the Friday night action at Hazeltine. binkdog came out strong with a few birdies, putting him at 41 for the front nine. It’s bogeys galore for both Ash and virg, as neither are able to keep up with the pace set by binkdog. Virg finishes his inaugural THW Golf round at 103 while Ash delivers at record high 153. binkdog leisurely strolls in with a 90.

MacTHW joins the action at Bay Hill, where he struggles to find the elusive fairway. binkdog and MacTHW lock in a close battle for first, while Ash and Virg duke it out for third. MacTHW leads binkdog by one stroke coming into the 10th, but that’s where things go terribly wrong, as MacTHW loses 4 strokes, along with the lead, to binkdog. MacTHW mounts a charge on holes 12 and 13, but his birdie and par are skillfully matched by binkdog, effectively shutting down the rally. Then, a birdie by Ash on the 15th gives him a commanding lead over Virg. A par by Ash on 17 seals the deal for third place. Meanwhile, also on hole 17, technical difficulties threaten binkdog’s chances of a win over MacTHW. He recovers and only loses two strokes to the Mighty Champion. A par by MacTHW on 18 would not be enough to stop binkdog, who ekes out a one stroke victory over MacTHW at Bay Hill. It’s binkdog 89, MacTHW 90, Ash 105 and Virg 115.

Ash, bink and MacTHW finish out the evening at TPC Boston. Like a Tiger without his mistresses, MacTHW can not get it together. Errant drives and horrible approach shots continue to plague his hopes of victory. binkdog, with two victories already under his belt, pulls out all the stops in search of a third. He produces two pars and two birdies on the back nine, leaving Ash and MacTHW to battle it out for second and third. Just as it was looking like it would be third place for MacTHW, Ash scores an 8 on the 18th, allowing MacTHW to weasel a second place finish with a 96 to Ash’s 97. For the win, binkdog drives it home with an 85.

So, was it a fluke, or can binkdog keep his victory streak alive? We’ll find out tomorrow night, so be sure to join us for Saturday Night on the Links…

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The THW Golf 2011 Season Officially Kicks Off

by Mac

Duck hooks. Supposed bugs. Unpredictable swings. Wild putts. New players. Welcome all, to the exciting THW Golf 2011 season.

It’s a new season and the players are still getting a feel for the new TruView, Tour Pro and Expert settings.

In celebration of this weekend’s US Open, the first course on the agenda was none other than the difficult Pebble Beach. Ash, binkdog and MacTHW would test their mettle against the wind and water. More shots were played from the rough than the fairway. Even though it was a nice 60 degrees at Pebble Beach on Saturday, MacTHW brought the heat and finished off the competition with an impressive 87. The real Tiger turned in a much better performance at the real Pebble Beach. Ash would follow with a 108 and binkdog limps in with a 116.

Next stop would be TPC Scottsdale, where MacTHW continued applying the pressure upon his opponents. The ensuing battle was hard fought, as all three players turned in scores below the 100 mark.  Ash puts a Birdie on the board during the back nine. MacTHW finishes off with another sub-100 score of 82, with binkdog at 92 and Ash turning in a 95. Congrats to all players for their low scores!

The last game would be played at the rainy, wet and soggy Greenbrier golf course. A new player joins the ranks of THW Golf. Welcome to the links, zeke00. binkdog comes out swinging against MacTHW on the front nine. MacTHW brings the heat and manages to hang on to turn in a scorching 81 (scorching by definition THW Golf 2011 season thus far). binkdog would come in second with a 97. Ash follows with a 108, while zeke00 the new player finished fourth with a 123.

Virg plans on making his presence felt as he makes his return to THW Golf next weekend. Join us again next weekend for hot golfing action. The return of Virg will definitely light fire to the leaderboard.

Friday Night Bust

by Mac

OK, finally current with headlines. This is for Friday, June 18th 2010.

No one shows up to play on Friday night.

Sleep ensues.

Technical Glitches Derail Gameplay Saturday Night

by Mac

Technical glitches were abound Saturday evening. Persisting network errors often prevented games from starting or players being randomly disconnected. The THW crew persevered and managed to get in 2.5 complete games.

First up was Whistling Straits. An occasional Par (and a rare Birdie or two) could be spotted amongst all the single, double, triple or worse bogeys that were prevalent throughout the course. binkdog fought to control his so-called “duck hook”, Mac tried to focus on making contact with the ball and Ash slapped the ball around the green for a bit. Mac managed to come out ahead with a 107. binkdog comes in with a 112 and Ash follows with a 125.

Next up was TPC Scottsdale. Something seems to be paying off. Mac and binkdog manage their first sub-100 score. Mac gets a two Birdie streak going on the back nine, which would help him come in at 83 overall, giving him a win over binkdog (94) and Ash (108).

The last challenge of the evening would be at Cog Hill. Unfortunately, a disconnect happened on the back nine, so only the front nine scores were used. binkdog manages a win over Ash and Mac with a 48. Ash would get second place with a 55 and Mac trailing with a 56.

Stay tuned for more action next weekend.

Friday Night on the Tiger Woods 2011 Links

by Mac

On Friday, we had our first real outing with the new Tiger Woods 2011 for Wii. Needless to say, there is still much getting used to before any serious competition happens.

Just by looking at the scorecards, it is easy to tell that no one’s swing is consistent…yet.

Long, accurate drives down the fairway are still a dream at this point. I find myself having to concentrate just in order to hit the ball. I’m pretty good at topping it, so it rolls from the Black tees up to the ladies tees. Power is not something I’m putting any points into at the moment. In fact, power gets me in trouble. I have such a bad slice that the ball seems to nearly make a u-turn, usually sending me out of bounds. Approach shots are non-existant at this time. Reaching the green in 5 seems like an accomplishment at this point in time.

What is nice, though, is that your player earns experience points even when playing online. In previous versions, experience could only be earned while playing the offline tournaments. This is no longer the case. Points are earned for fairway drives, green in regulation, etc. Of course, there is also a drawback. The experience points you earn can also be taken away. For each bad shot you make, such as out-of-bounds, landing in a sand trap or quadbogey-or-more score, you will lose experience points. Let’s just say that, at this time, I have NO points. Nada. None. Zilch.

The exciting thing is that the leaderboard gets shaken up very often. It can very easily be anyone’s game. Getting an 11 can take you from leader to last place in an instant.

Here are the scorecards for last Friday night. I warn you, they are not pretty.

Being the first few people to play online does have an advantage. We found our names on the Overall Leaderboard. That won’t last for long.

Good times!