COURSES
There are 52 courses used on the American Tour schedule, with 44 Real and 8 Fictional. Four Events use multiple courses.
There are 51 courses on the Continental Tour schedule, with 44 Real and 7 Fictional. Three Events use multiple course.
Most of the courses on the Continental Tour don't exist in Perfect Golf, so when I pick a replacement I go for playability first, a real course second, then as close in style and similar look third. Spain, Portugal, and Italy look similar to California; the Middle East looks a lot like Florida; Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands look like the Ohio area; Asia resembles Texas of all places. Mexico City is high altitude, so I used The Preserve at Stanley Lake (5357 ft).
When you ask yourself "why this course" do the following. Google the tournament name, look at the actual course, then look at the replacement. I used the above process.
I've also started to collect some basic tidbits about each tournament, mostly on the American side. I'll include these in the weekly blog.
Welcome to the 2021 PGLS Tours. The final count is 89 members across both Tours. Totals could increase at the start of Legs 2 or 3.
For those that haven't noticed, there are 7 tournaments this year (4 American and 3 Continental) that use more than one course. These are based on actual PGA and European Tour stops, and their formats. This week's Continental event, the South African Open, is one of these. Below is some history about these tournaments in general, mainly from the American side.
These types of tournaments are almost always big fundraiser events, with the usual field of 156 PGA Tour players and an equal number of celebrity players. Two PGA players are paired with two celebrities in a total of 78 foursomes (a 300+ field). In order for everyone to complete each round in 1 day, several courses are used simultaneously with the entire field split among them. Sometimes two courses are used, and sometimes three are required for bigger fields. Before the cut, each of the foursomes gets to play each of the courses. After the cut, the final round(s) are played on the home course, usually one of the pre-cut courses.
Three course tournaments with the cut after round 3 are - the American Express (formerly the Bob Hope Classic), the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Two course tournaments with the cut after round 2 are - the South African Open, the ISPS HANDA Vic Open, the Farmers Insurance, and The RMS Classic. The tournaments that we have real courses for are the South African Open, the VIC Open, AT&T Pebble Beach, Farmers Insurance, and the Alfred Dunhill.
PGLS Tours doesn't use a cut, so having a different course for round 2 looks odd unless you know why (above); the three course version looks a bit more familiare. PGLS also can't play simultaneous courses for the pre-cut rounds, but there is a workaround. Under the "Tournies" tab (top), scroll to the bottom and pick Round Selector and follow the instructions. As an example of a 3 course tournament, you can use this to play the rounds 1, 2, or 3 in the order you wish, sort of like a random course assignment. This shouldn't be used for the intended post-cut rounds.
Anyway...I hope everyone has fun with some of the new ideas. Good luck.
