Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

[RaychelSnr]

One of the more inventive aspects in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is the country club mode, which allows users to team up for cooperative and competitive challenges, participate in tournaments, raise club status and add members in a meaningful way.

It's a pretty clever feature in a lot of ways, and it's something I didn't credit the game enough for when I reviewed it. However, what's struck me about country clubs is that they actually solve a lot of common problems with team modes in other sports games. Grouping up in hockey or soccer often results in lots of fun, but it doesn't always seems to justify some of the core conceits of team play:

Why should I be online all the time?
Why do we really need so many people on our team?
What if I'm not very good at the game?

The country clubs mitigate these questions by nesting the reasons right into the design.

Read More - Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

[MrArlingtonBeach]

I love the Country Club concept. But recently, people (including myself) have had their CCs up and disappear for no good reason. I have posted on EA's forums to no avail. This forced my friend and I to start a new one.

I just want to know why they shut our CC down

[berad88]

Re: Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

I don't understand the hype about these country clubs. I could care less about leader board status. Other than leader board status and being able to earn a little bit extra in game coins the country clubs seem rather pointless to me. Maybe I am missing something but I really do not understand all the praise they been getting.

[bhl]

Just like MrArlingtonBeach, my country club disappeared and we had to start a new one. Really the only disappointing aspect of the CCs so far.

[8iron]

Re: Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

If you find the right country club, it gives you a good place to compete against players where there is real competition. It is similar to the daily tiers tournaments that were in 11 and 12, but allows the user to refine their own experience online even more. If you get in the right country club, gone are the days of wondering, "How the heck did that guy post THAT score???" Worst case, you can ask, because it should be pretty easy to get to know the other at most 24 members. Better yet, your club's tourneys can be set so that everyone scores in a range that is agreeable to all members.

Beyond that, just by being in one, even if you never again visit the interface, you get a 5% or more boost to your coin earnings, eventually (clubs starting out get around 1% I think). Coins are real money, since they can be bought for real world money. Unless you are part of the one percent, why would anyone turn their nose up at 5% more of something EA is giving away for free? Just for playing the game while connected to the online servers...

Absolutely no reason not to be in one or to sneer at the concept. Best thing EA has done, arguably any game company, in a long while.

[kickingguru]

Re: Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

The in Club Tournaments are great.... Competition amoungst friends is almost always better than against randoms..

A couple changes would move the concept forward. More stats and capabilities in game and on the website would be a great start. One issue is the 25 player cap unfortunately encourages a club that is competitive to constantly hire and fire players at the bottom... If they gave us say 10 Casual spots that could be in the club, but that status did not count... We would have a better experience in the clubs... Right now, CC's are not for the casual once a week player and can cause some uneccessary tension amoungst the club membership...Lastly, some kind of solid information regarding how they work.... EA dropped the ball there and people are either confused or drop the game entirely due to not understanding it...

[misterkrabz]

I love the concept...only problem is never see anyone online in the PS3 OS country club. Might have to join a new one that's more active.

[JaymeeAwesome]

Guru nailed it on the head. I would even mind if they raised the competitiveness even more and average out the weekly status points so that if you do have someone that isn't playing it hurts even more.

[eskimos44]

Re: Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

Quick little question. In our CC, we have a couple guys who are pretty good. They shoot -8 to -10 per round. And then we got some guys who are not so good and shoot around E or +1.

How do we keep the worse players interested when they know they can't win a tournament? We're trying different difficulties but either way, some are always 10 shots worse per round. Any suggestions?

[JaymeeAwesome]

Teach them. We all have Xbox live and can talk to each other. Do some stroke play with them and talk them through each shot. Make them better.

[kickingguru]

Re: Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

Teach them. We all have Xbox live and can talk to each other. Do some stroke play with them and talk them through each shot. Make them better.

You would be shocked at what some players do not know.... Example.. They constantly say they are struggling with putting... They likely are hitting Putt Preview first before adjusting for break... Can you imagine trying to line up after your putt preview shows you 15 ft of break away from the cup? There are little intricacies in this game that EA did a piss poor job of describing. Tons of confusion out there and it seems that the ones that struggle simply have no idea what most of the ideas behind the swing are....

Have them in chat and walk through how they are looking at the shot... Their scores will improve dramatically....

[JaymeeAwesome]

Oh and point them to my chipping tutorial post. You will hole out more often around the green.

[FSUNoles2009]

Re: Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

You would be shocked at what some players do not know.... Example.. They constantly say they are struggling with putting... They likely are hitting Putt Preview first before adjusting for break... Can you imagine trying to line up after your putt preview shows you 15 ft of break away from the cup? There are little intricacies in this game that EA did a piss poor job of describing. Tons of confusion out there and it seems that the ones that struggle simply have no idea what most of the ideas behind the swing are....

Wow, I completely agree with you and appreciate your (and others on this board) good sportsmanship. I purchased TW13 about a week or two after release and the last time I played in my CC was through the head-to-head concept. (The simultaneous play format blew my mind... first TW game ever and I expected it be turn-by-turn based). My opponent finished the round -14, me? +10. Yeah, it was a bad round for my creative golfer.

Your analysis is spot on and much appreciated. For new comers like myself, this game is complex, but challenging to the point that you know you can do better. I just hope as some one else pointed out, EA did good with the Country Club idea, but for the casual gamer that can only hop on and play three days a week, it does start competition due to the 25-player cap. I've just learned about the effect draw and fade can do in the game, it does certainly seem EA Game much more control over the ball than years past.

Anyways, sorry for the rambling, just appreciate the sportsmanship to those online that are still trying to learn the game.

[JaymeeAwesome]

It takes time to learn. This isn't a game you can pick up and master right away. People like guru and I encourage the novices to participate in country clubs and learn from your peers. We are both in the same country club but we are always looking for people to allow themselves to get addicted to the game like we are. The only way to get addicted is to know how to play well.

[kerosene31]

Re: Country Clubs Are Finding an Audience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour Players

Country clubs have been great, and honestly I've only played in the daily and weekly tournaments. We have a few players constantly going back and forth trying to get the low score each tournament.

My only minor issue with clubs is that it is your typical "the more time you put in the more score you get" kind of system. I guess that is pretty much the norm in gaming now.

I was active almost every day in my cc, but haven't had time to get on nearly as much lately. Hopefully I didn't get the boot for being inactive.