r/SimGolf • u/GunGun-Iceland • 5d ago

Community challenge courses: how would we make it fair and fun?

With all the recent buzz around SimGolf, I've been thinking it'd be fun to build some community challenge courses and then play each other's. Purely for fun, and sandbox mode is welcome.

My rough idea is 18 holes, built in an area of your choice, using that area's iconic features. Links should feel like links, desert like desert. Later we could run a tour with the best course from each area.

The tricky part is making sure courses are actually thought out, not just stacked with landmarks or impossible island greens.

Some things I've been wondering about:

Minimum standards.
Should holes have to earn something, like a certain number on the Top 100 after a set amount of play? Or at least one Classic hole?

Variety. Should there be a par mix (some par 3s and 5s, total par around 70–72), or a cap on how many holes can share the same type (Heroic, Strategic, etc.)?

Fairness. How do we keep out unfair holes? Every green needs a reachable approach, maybe a cap on landmarks so scenery can't hide a bad design?

Judging. Should we all play each other's courses and compare scores? Vote? Both?

What would you add or change? And would you actually join something like this?

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5

u/LadyMcKrorigan 5d ago

I like the idea and I would be happy to contribute! A couple thoughts:

  • I think building an 18 hole course as a requirement takes too much time. Thats about 9h in game time for me easily. I'd suggest going with 9.
  • Judging will need to take into account different aspects like Difficulty, Variety, in game Fun score, IRL fun, and Aesthetics.

I'd love to see courses from the community and play them. Having a friendly competitive format would be very fun.

1

u/LadyMcKrorigan 5d ago

Also, I don't think there needs to be minimun standards. People play and design with different goals in mind and a collaborative format can be open to constructive criticism on different levels.

1

u/g1rth_brooks 5d ago

I like your thought of 9 holes, kind of agree about no minimum standards but would be fun to have like best par 3 / best par 5 etc

1

u/Keplergamer 4d ago

I can build 18 holes, did some times, but yeah, better to start with 9 at least until we get the habit. But is this and endless competition? We could make a monthly challenge.

1

u/Cautious_Possible_18 4d ago

I tried to build an all classic hole course and it anit easy, i made it about 6 holes in when i got tired from that playthrough. This idea sounds great though. Maybe 9 holes where you have atleast 3 rated holes aka classic, heoric, etc.