For those of you who are old hands here, there's nothing to fear - just set up your usual BLT Tour Player*, get the new 2008 MOPs, download the LTS files for each month's tournament, and get your rounds played and reported on time.
* Note: If you played on last year's Tour, please do not use the same player by simply resetting the stats. Apparently there is a bug that if you use a player created in a previous version of Links with the 1.06 MOD, some club distances are corrupted (e.g. SW 52 yards). So, make sure you create a brand new player from within the MOD version of the game. Please call your player BLT Forename Surname (use your name obviously!, and spaces not underscores)
For those of you
who are new, here's a quick overview of the Tour. If you have any questions or
are unsure about any of this, please do not hesitate to ask for further clarification,
we're very lucky to have an extremely nice chap (Randy Short) on hand to do just
that. So email him via the forum 
and tell him I sent you! We play Microsoft Links 2003 here, mostly at Championship
level, though if that is way too hard for you, you may play at Pro level, but if you win an event, you will be promoted to the next higher skill level. Every couple of weeks, you'll download a set of LTS
files that you can use to play your Tournament rounds offline or online, and the
scores are emailed back in to me and included on a leaderboard. The winner of
each event is promoted to the next higher level. Points will be awarded toward a merit rank for qualification into the Ryder Cup
team. At the end of the year, the highest money winners are filled into the Cup teams to contest the annual USA v
World online competition. It is all about having fun though, and you're encouraged
to join in the chat on the forums and meet new friends online rather than just
playing all your games offline on your own.
The very first thing to do is
to make sure you sign up at the Tour Forum (link in the black bar across the top
of each page). Just use your real name, and fill in your details correctly, the
email address is the most important one to keep up to date. Send an email to
me to register your interest and include a small photo showing your face that
can be used on the leaderboards and forum. All I need to know is what your name
is, where you're from, what swing type you play (and if you won't be able to manage
Champ level), and your photo as described.
Please make sure you read this page carefully and understand how everything works. For most of you it will be rather simple, since the basics have not changed much over the years, and you will have done most of these things a thousand times over, but still do read through them once and make sure you have it clear in your mind. You are the only one responsible for making sure you do everything correctly, failure to do so will inevitably result in penalties and disqualifications. If there is anything here you are unsure about then please post your question in the Forum where it should be quickly answered, and these pages updated. If you have any trouble finding files, you should post in the forum,usually a 'Search' option from the Start button in Windows can be used to locate the files you need.
Most of the rules are here to make things the same for everyone and to hopefully ensure a level playing field. Please do not take advantage, this is just a game, and it's supposed to be for fun. Common sense should prevail in all situations not covered by the rules. I don't have time to make custom rules up for every scenario or make allowances for everyone who runs into trouble, so please accept the rules and any penalties with good grace and remember it is the same for everyone.
In a nutshell
There is no 'Sign-up' procedure other than having to be registered at the Tour Forum. When you do register you must use your real name (no nicknames please), and if you take the time to fill out your country, swing type, email and ICQ details then that will come in very handy for any online play this year, or if we need to get hold of you for whatever reason. At the top of the Forum page, you'll see some links under the title, and if you click the link to 'Profile' you can edit these details if they change at some point during the season. It's up to you to keep your details up to date, and it's in your best interests for them to be correct, particularly when the online play kicks in.
You must create a Tour player as usual, and as usual you should use this player for all official Tour events (stroke and matchplay), and for no other events. Since you are allowed only one attempt at each round, then your player file should contain the right number of rounds at the end of the season, and if you use it elsewhere then it could be construed that you had some practice rounds (which you can have, but not with your Tour player, once you tee it up with your Tour player you are considered to be 'Live' and playing that round to the finish). The stats team will be checking your PIN files each month.
To create a player, start Links, and go to OPTIONS->PLAYERS->CREATE PLAYER. Set it to a human player of course and give the player a name along the lines of 'BLT Doug Casker' (obviously use your own REAL NAME, or close to it, for identification purposes please do not use nicknames). The BLT at the start of the player name helps me deal with the files at my end, and should help you to remember only to use that BLT player when you play in events here.
You can then select your animation and physical details, set the level to Champ (Unless you feel you are unable to play this level) initially, and the tees to BACK TEES. It's OK for you to use the Caddy and the Break Line indicator (you'll need this as Grids aren't enabled in this tour, including the one in the green analyser!). You can use any of the three main swing types, Click, Powerstroke (go on!), or RTS. When your player is created you will get a 'PIN' file which in my case is called 'BLT Doug Casker.PIN'. The location of this file in Windows XP seems to be here ( prepare for some digging around if you can't find it! - note by default this will be a 'hidden' directory so you may need to set your Windows Explorer to show hidden files )
c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\links 2003\players
As you play each round, your PIN file will be updated with the latest round played, and at the end of each event, you will attach your pin file to your report email as a final check. At the end of the season, your final PIN files will be used to collate the Tour stats and performances and to make sure you did everything correctly throughout the season. It does not matter that on occasion you'll end up playing different levels, for example in the International Matchplay, or possibly if the set up of the offline tournaments changes. Just keep your player stats running for all BLT events and rounds.
Once you have your player setup, all you need to do is follow the instructions for each event as they appear on the front page of the site. First of all you will need to download the MOP file for the event (For the offline tournaments we have the "BLT Tournament 2008" MOP, and for matchplay we have the BLT Matchplay 2008 MOP), which basically sets up the mode of play, and disables the grids and introduces whatever special scoring systems are in place. The MOPS you download (you only need to do this once!) need to be stored in the following location (for most Windows XP systems, again, this may be a hidden folder by default so you might need to sort that out first)
c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\links 2003\mops
Right, assuming you now have the right MOP for the event, you just need to download the LTS files - these will also be on the front page and basically these save you the trouble of setting up the course, conditions, tee positions etc. You can save these files anyway, and when you are ready to play your round, open the appropriate LTS file (one is available for each round) by running Links, selecting PLAY GOLF->EMAIL TOURNEY. You should then find the right LTS file and proceed. You will notice that the LTS files will require you to have the proper BLT Tour Mop installed. Usually the LTS files will be zipped up, so you'll need to unzip them to a folder somewhere for opening.
Make sure you use your Tour player for your official rounds, and when you get to the round, Links should automatically open an Email for you, include the details of your round and attach a verification file (see below). If you have problems with this, you need to speak out on the forum right away so that it can be sorted out. If everything goes to plan, an email is then sent to me automatically with everything I need to collate your score, I think you should be able to check that the email went correctly and that the files were attached. Do not tick the "Record" box otherwise it will disable the 4 foot gimmies that are part of this years format
When you complete your round, a box will pop up asking you whether to send results or not, you can type in a name for the round you just played, and there is also another button there to Save your round, which will make a ver file on your hard disk in case the report email goes AWOL. When you then click the 'Send' button, Links should minimise, an Email will then open, and you should see the round info in the email and also a VER file attached to your email. If that doesn't happen, we need to be sorting you out with some Tech Support from Microsoft. You just send this email and you should be returned to Links where you can close the results sending box if you are happy it went through OK
Make sure you attach your player PIN file when you send in the report for the last (usually 4th) round of an event. This file is used to log and display your player stats, make sure you're playing the right number of rounds, and also as a backup in case you have problems later on, or change back to a level that you played previously through a promotion/relegation.
Online Play:
Online play is allowed and encouraged, but with the Matchmaker Server down, you will have to set the conditions manually and connect using the "Direct Connection" Option. Please make sure that EVERY PLAYER in an online round sends a confirmation email report with all the scores from that round, plus their own VER file and PIN file if necessary. Mulligans are not allowed, and Gimmies are 4 feet as per the offline mode.
Verification files (VER files) give me all the information from your round so I can collate your scores and details and make sure the round was played correctly. Links itself should attach a VER file on the email that sends in your score report, if that doesn't happen then we need to help you sort out a way to find and attach the ver files manually. If you're having problems, then you can manually create a VER file by clicking the 'Verify Score' button on your scorecard at the end of the round. You can use the Save button to save the VER file where you want and with a name that will help you identify what round it belongs with. Penalties will be assessed to all email reports that do not have a VER file included. I will be generous for the first round or two of the season, and will point out missing files to those who don't get it right.
It's up to you to make sure in that first event that you are set up properly such that the reports are working properly and all files are attached. If you don't see your score posted on the leaderboard 36 hours after it was sent, be sure to check with me and possibly re-submit the files.
Deadlines should be specified on the front page of the site during an event. Normally, an event starts at midnight on Friday night (PST), and the next round or event begins immediately after, although I will not usually close the event until Monday. If you need more time, please let me know in advance. It's up to you to make sure you get the rounds played in good time and get the report sent in via the email that comes from Links itself (from the LTS files). If you leave it until the last minute and then your email goes astray or gets delayed, then your score won't get listed.
Cyber dollars are awarded based on your finish position in each event. Since I'm still not 100% decided on the format yet, regarding playing levels don't worry too much about this for now. Basically the distribution of money follows the %ages as per a normal PGA Tour event, with standard tournaments with a $1M purse, majors having a $2M purse, with $3M reserved for the Open Championship, as our flagship event. The top 10 players on each team (USA; Europe / World) will make the Ryder Cup team automatically if active and available, and the captains will select their two wild cards based on their own subjective criteria. That may be money earned, or turnout, or even just good character and enthusiasm. It's your job to impress your captains with your commitment to your Cup team! I will announce the Cup captains in due course.
Special MOPs and LTS files will be provided when appropriate. Pairings and deadlines will be clearly labelled for these events. It will be up to both players in an online grouping to make email contact with each other, this is why it is important to keep your forum profile up to date with your latest email and contact details. At the discretion of the Tour, players can be disqualified if one or both players fail to make an effort to contact their opponent or arranged and play a scheduled online game.
| © Bomber's Links Tour established 1997 | Page
last updated: 27th December, 2007 © Doug Casker |