Wild Bunch Golf

Like most Wild Bunch activities, there are few rules ;-) Unfortunately, I haven't found the last version of the source code yet, so I'm guessing here in several areas. Corrections gratefully accepted.

Enter the number of players and their names at the start of the game, then proceed to the first tee box. Be careful to enter the right type of data (letters or numbers) when they are requested. If you enter bad data, the program aborts [it's a feature ;-)]

When you're asked for a club, here's what to enter and about how far each one will travel:

If you get a wind reading when you address the ball, it means that you should compensate in club selection (with the wind results in the upper part of the ranges, against the wind result in the lower part of the ranges.

When you get on the green, each increment in strength is approximately 5 feet. The longer the putt, the more randomness will kick in and decrease the probability of making the putt. This randomness tends to add length to the putt, so it's better to "lag" the longer putts (kinda like in real life).

That's about it… Have Fun!

Back in the fall of 1981, your Webmaster (that would be me) was at Auburn and was whompin' code for the Industrial Engineering Department on the side. I talked my boss (Dr. Dave Brown, now head of the Computer Science Department of the "other" major university in Alabama) into letting me take a terminal and modem back to my apartment.

This terminal was about as large as today's 15" monitor sitting on top of a desktop computer, but it only had a 12" monochrome display. The modem raced along at a top data rate of 300bps (yes, that is 186 times slower than today's 56K modems) and was the acoustic type, where you had to place the handset into "headphones" built-in to the modem. I called into the mainframe (IBM 3031) and then could type line commands to the computer (kinda like MSDOS, except much more archaic). While all this doesn't sound like much compared to today's technology, back then I was a "Big Nerd on Campus" ;-)

Anyway, Gimo was rooming with me at the time and he found it disconcerting to watch me sit in front of that terminal eight hours or more at a stretch [that ability is still with me, except I need more bathroom breaks now ;-)]. He also didn't like me tying up the phone line for that long, in case some female was trying to call him. I don't think he missed very many calls. So, to keep him from whining so much, I took a weekend off from my academic labors and wrote this game so he could use the terminal as well.

The game was originally written in PL/I for the IBM 3031 mainframe, and used our favorite (meaning cheapest) golf course for the yardage (Pin Oaks in Macon County, $2.50 all day during the week). In 1989, I rewrote the game in Turbo Pascal for the PC/AT. The yardage is now based on the white tees of our WBI home course, Olympia Spa in Dothan.

The game still runs under Win95 and WinNT4, but the putting graphics (which were the only graphics) have lost their dramatic effect over the years as computer screen update speed has increased. Maybe someday, I'll whomp out a update.

T-Mac, 10-Apr-98