Career BatiGoal's Augusta National Golf Club Challenge

[Real_Random]

9 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

True, if I don't get a birdie on "my" hole I'll probably take a sabbatical 

But just like Klopp you will come back early

[BatiGoal]

15 minutes ago, Real_Random said:

But just like Klopp you will come back early

Only if a good challenge comes knocking. Very unlike Klopp 

[Cockers2505]

Mate still looking good and glad to see you still going, I guess the commitment is a strain at times, but all worth with you name up in lights when you romp home, good luck with the last holes mate

[BatiGoal]

1 hour ago, Cockers2505 said:

Mate still looking good and glad to see you still going, I guess the commitment is a strain at times, but all worth with you name up in lights when you romp home, good luck with the last holes mate

That's exactly it. 20 seasons down and 2 to go. Hole 16 is done and working on 17.. 

[Ashez]

The injury sucked but it was still an impressive hole, at times we need to ignore the end game target and enjoy what's just happened

[BatiGoal]

14 minutes ago, Ashez said:

The injury sucked but it was still an impressive hole, at times we need to ignore the end game target and enjoy what's just happened

Wise words, for sanity and longevity purposes 

[FuddledFox]

33 minutes ago, Ashez said:

but it was still an impressive hole

[PriZe]

too be honest not bad going  

[PriZe]

That's 10 likes for that lie @BatiGoal

[BatiGoal]

The Augusta National Golf Club Challenge

- challenge link -

 

Update 16 - Hole 16

Hole 16 - Redbud (Par 3)

A very short hole but one that is played entirely over water. As long as you as managers don't do anything daft then you should be in with a reasonable chance for a birdie, but don't under-estimate the challenge of the hole either otherwise you'll be falling back yet again.

Challenge - In half a season (Jan.15) a centre back of your choice must score as many goals as possible in all competitions.

• Birdie - 6+ goals
• Par - 4 or 5 goals
• Bogey - 3 goals
• Double Bogey - 0-2 goals

 

Let's get another update in. There's only two updates remaining after this one. The end is near. Very near.

 

The Center Back

This is the man who's going to get us the required goals..hopefully. He didn't come cheap and paying him the max wages should say enough about the potential of this BPD. About a year ago I played a career getting a defender, Riechedly Bazoer, score 250+ goals - The Ronald Koeman Challenge - 273 goals if I remember correctly. Obviously, I did a bit of homework before starting this hole 16, so I re-read that career and picked up a few tips that I'm going to use here. I picked a player who's got similar attributes to Bazoer and with 20 Technique I'm hoping he scores more penalties than he misses. The formation is tweaked accordingly and it's clear that playing this CB as a BPD, among others, will increase our chances to score goals. So with the formation and tactics in place as well as a couple additions from the transfer market to strengthen our squad we're ready to roll the ball. I'm very confident about this one to be totally honest, but who knows how this engine reacts to our new playing style. Afterall, that Bazoer career was on FMM17 + this challenge lasts half a season only - till 15th Jan - so we need to hit the ground running or we're toast.

We're going for Birdie and we're going to need 6+ goals to earn it.

 

 

23rd August 2035-36

Phew, that was close. A missed penalty but he smashed the rebound in. Awesome. 1/6.

 

17th September 2035-36

It took him almost 1 month to find the net once more. That's a bit worrying as we're not going to make it with this sluggish ratio. 2/6.

 

20th September 2035-36

Great, he learned about my worries and nicked a third one in three days later. We're halfway already with 3 months left. 3/6.

 

4th October 2035-36

Oh lovely. Not too happy they're all penalties thus far and can't get at least a corner in - not to mention the draw vs our rivals - but early Oct. and 4/6 we're far ahead of schedule. At this point this has become our Birdie to lose surely.

 

8th November 2035-36

Finally. I should've kept quiet. Another month passed and I was getting slightly worried about his dry spell. But the fifth goal is a fact and with a little over 2 months left we only need one more goal to wrap this challenge up. 5/6.

 

25th November 2035-36

There she is!! With lots of games to spare we score a 6th, not from a penalty this time, and win a Birdie. Delighted with the lad!

 

 

Final Goal Tally (16th January)

In the meantime our BPD continued scoring his penalties and corners, a 7th and 8th, and eventually finishes this challenge on 9 goals in half a season. That's a very solid number for a defender. It doesn't feel like a Birdie tbh more like a hole-in-one

 

Serie A

On a different note, we had an absolute killer season scoring 152 goals in the Serie A. Hasn't happened very often and can't recall the last time I managed to score 150+ goals in the league, so in many ways Hole 16 was a success. I'm loving this tactic.

 

 

Golfer BatiGoal - Manager Profile

Nice. The challenges so far have "pulled" the numbers down on my profile page but I think I'll be able to bring them all back up to 20 before the career's end. Don't think I've ever achieved this so it'll be a first and can't wait to see that collection behind my name

 

Challenge Progress - Golf Scorecard

Birdie noted!

Hole 15 was slightly disappointing just missing out on that Eagle so I feel much better now getting another Birdie in and further "drop" my score to -13. There's only two holes left. That feels great after the long ride this has been so it doesn't take a lot of motivation anymore to play the two final holes. I'm ready for the final chapters..

 

Thanks for reading and hope you stick around for the next update. Should be a cracking one.. yukkk.. with PoM with a 35yo player??? I'm halfway this challenge and trust me when I say it's much tougher than it looks. Didn't quite do my homework on this one I'm afraid. I'm seriously struggling to get the veteran I got my hands on to perform well.. consistently. Pray for us..

 

What to expect in the next update

Spoiler

Update 17 - Hole 17

Hole 17 - Nandina (Par 4)

Realistically, this will be the final chance to shape your score in a positive way because the final hole is a toughie. Typically this hole has been a mixed bag, it plays differently all the time. How will you go about it as you start the beginning of the end of this wonderful journey?

Challenge - Must buy any player age 35+ and that player must win as many Player of the Month awards as possible in one season.

• Birdie - 3/4+ POTM
• Par - 2 POTM
• Bogey - 1 POTM
• Double Bogey - 0 POTM

 

[BatiGoal]

The Augusta National Golf Club Challenge

- challenge link -

 

Update 17 - Hole 17

Hole 17 - Nandina (Par 4)

Realistically, this will be the final chance to shape your score in a positive way because the final hole is a toughie. Typically this hole has been a mixed bag, it plays differently all the time. How will you go about it as you start the beginning of the end of this wonderful journey?

Challenge - Must buy any player age 35+ and that player must win as many Player of the Month awards as possible in one season.

• Birdie - 3/4+ POTM
• Par - 2 POTM
• Bogey - 1 POTM
• Double Bogey - 0 POTM

 

The hardest part of this challenge was getting a 35yo player to join my team. I've litterally tried to sign hundreds of veterans but they simply refused. 99% of the 34-35yo players had retirement plans which put me in a very tight spot. The player I managed to get was one of the last ones and it was either going to be him or my 38-39yo GK Donnarumma. And since GKs pretty much never get a mention in the team of the month I'm happy I got anyone to sign for me.

Anyone out there going for this challenge, I suggest doing your homework on this one or you'll be toast, like me..

 

The 34yo Player - O'Neill

Here's where my problems begin. It's a huge relief getting a player in but he's 34yo, thus not yet eligible for this challenge. Unfortunately we need to wait..and wait a little.. till he becomes 35 so we can use him for the challenge.. I'm not even thinking about Par or Birdie.. I have very little hope in getting anything at this point.

 

The 35yo Player - O'Neill

There you go, he just turned 35yo. We can start using him for the challenge and score points, 'bout time. Tho we missed August-September-October to earn PoM, very valuable lost time so we need to hurry and not let this become a total disaster. Luckily he's an attack-minded player which increases our odds to get a PoM mention somewhat.

As we're now playing a Winger I need to tweak my "wingerless" formation into one with wingers. My BatiGoals formation is resurrected and it pays off.

 

Final Pieces of the Puzzle

Yep, looks like the BatiGoals tactics work pretty well with this squad. But does it bring the best out of our 35yo O'Neill? We need at least 3 mentions for Birdie or 2 for Par. Less than that and this challenge can be considered a massive failure.

Let's go..

 

 

November

I got 4 players in but no O'Neill. He's been playing well to be fair but so have the others. Rough start.

 

December

This is really unfair. We only got 2 Serie A games this month with Coppa and CWC games so not a single AC Milan player.

 

January

Again not a bad month but how do I up O'Neill's ratings and lower that of my other players to increase his odds?

 

February

YUK!! this was a very good month and I thought he might be in it but nothing again. This is bad.

 

March

He's in!! Yes, we're off the Double Bogey path and back in for Par or maybe even Birdie. We need another mention pls!

 

April

There goes Birdie out of the window. There's only 1 Team of the Month left so best we can do is Par.

 

May

Nope, not even Par. It's a fact. Sadly but true. O'Neill got a single mention thus Bogey. I just have no idea how I could've prevented this.

 

World Best XI - 2038

Ironically enough he does get into the World XI along with 3 fellow Rossoneri. Still Bogey tho.

 

 

Golfer BatiGoal - Manager Profile

Almost perfect. Next time you see this page it'll be a perfect collection of 20's. Only need to buy 1-2 quality youngsters and BAM!!

 

 

Challenge Progress - Golf Scorecard

Bogey noted!

Hurts but very little I could do about it. Well, if I knew I would've kept one of my own veterans for this challenge but I thought I'd be better off buying an oldie later on. Wrong big time and now, sadly, I'm paying for it. Tho -12 is still reasonably OK I think. With one last hole left to play I'm hoping I can score a Birdie and bring my points back to -13. But we need to give it our 100% or we keep dropping and end this challenge on a terrible low.

 

Thanks for reading and hope you stick around for the next and FINAL update.

 

What to expect in the LAST update

Spoiler

Update 18 - Hole 18

Hole 18 - Holly (Par 4)

This is it, the end of the journey. Hole 18. Season 22 (if you've managed to keep your job). There are no places to hide in the final hole, nothing really fancy to it. Just give your all and hope for the best.

Challenge - Every league game you fail to win will cost you.

• Birdie - 0-2 failed to win
• Par - 3-5 failed to win
• Bogey - 6-7 failed to win
• Double Bogey - 8+ failed to win

 

Edited February 4, 2018 by BatiGoal

[Titjes]

1 more hole, you can make that great score card even better and harder to beat fantastic manager profile

[samhardy]

What a manager profile Almost as tasty as that delicious bogey. Loved this update.

[Taff]

Unlucky dude, but that's a tough challenge for any 35 y/o but you did well getting him one so just bang this next hole out and you can put this awesome career to bed

[GrtepZ]

2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Hurts but very little I could do about it. Well, if I knew I would've kept one of my own veterans for this challenge but I thought I'd be better off buying an oldie later on. Wrong big time and now, sadly, I'm paying for it.

Aren't you supposed to buy a veteran for this hole anyway ?

2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Tho -12 is still reasonably OK I think.

You think... 

One tough hole for sure. Amazing manager profile tho, I'm trully impressed by that 20 in discipline particularly. 

Greetings mate 

 

[Ashez]

Cracking player considering his age but damn that's a tough hole to take, especially as your options appeared limited. Personally I think I'd have taken the keeper, I can't say that's from experience but my gut says keeper or striker for this challenge

[Nucleus]

The end is in sight!  you’ve done fantastic mate KIU, I’d be happy with par for the whole challenge!

[d00m10rd]

I really hate to be "that guy", especially since I'm still so new, but nowhere does it say anything about earning a place in the "team of the month", instead it says your player must win "player of the month". Which would make this a double bogey, no?

[samhardy]

9 minutes ago, d00m10rd said:

I really hate to be "that guy", especially since I'm still so new, but nowhere does it say anything about earning a place in the "team of the month", instead it says your player must win "player of the month". Which would make this a double bogey, no?

It works a little differently in Serie A - they don't have player of the month awards instead it's replaced by this team of the month. I allowed @BatiGoal to go with the TOTM as otherwise there wouldn't have been a challenge for Hole 17.

[d00m10rd]

38 minutes ago, samhardy said:

It works a little differently in Serie A - they don't have player of the month awards instead it's replaced by this team of the month. I allowed @BatiGoal to go with the TOTM as otherwise there wouldn't have been a challenge for Hole 17.

Oh right, that's good to know, thanks for clarifying.

[BatiGoal]

6 hours ago, Titjes said:

1 more hole, you can make that great score card even better and harder to beat fantastic manager profile

Thanks

5 hours ago, samhardy said:

What a manager profile Almost as tasty as that delicious bogey. Loved this update.

I knew you'd love seeing that bogey 

4 hours ago, Taff said:

Unlucky dude, but that's a tough challenge for any 35 y/o but you did well getting him one so just bang this next hole out and you can put this awesome career to bed

Yeah the difference between scoring -1 or -2 is pretty significant so I'm happy nonetheless. 

3 hours ago, GrtepZ said:

Aren't you supposed to buy a veteran for this hole anyway ?

Apart from the GK they're all bought 

1 hour ago, Ashez said:

Cracking player considering his age but damn that's a tough hole to take, especially as your options appeared limited. Personally I think I'd have taken the keeper, I can't say that's from experience but my gut says keeper or striker for this challenge

My GK AvR are poor, not getting past 7.15ish so I really wanted a forward player for this one as they score good in my formations. At one point I wasn't sure what to do as so many players had this retirement message and zip you can do about it. I tried all available oldies in the DB, close to 100 

1 hour ago, NucleusNT said:

The end is in sight!  you’ve done fantastic mate KIU, I’d be happy with par for the whole challenge!

Thanks

1 hour ago, d00m10rd said:

I really hate to be "that guy", especially since I'm still so new, but nowhere does it say anything about earning a place in the "team of the month", instead it says your player must win "player of the month". Which would make this a double bogey, no?

No worries 

Tbh I was lazy to include an explanation in the update but I probably should have. But as @samhardy, the madman creator, said there's only a U19 and ToM in Serie A so I PMed him for further instructions. I know he'd loved nothing more than giving me a Double Bogey but a Bogey makes his day too.

 Welcome and thanks for the comment. 

[1899]

A bit unlucky once again, but you should be able to go out on a high with a birdie. Best of luck and very impressive going once again. 

[BatiGoal]

1 hour ago, 1899 said:

A bit unlucky once again, but you should be able to go out on a high with a birdie. Best of luck and very impressive going once again. 

Thanks. Completed Hole 18 already. Update soon.. 

[Real_Random]

Just caught up mate, Very unlucky with the bogey, great score so far. KIU 

[BatiGoal]

1 hour ago, Real_Random said:

Just caught up mate, Very unlucky with the bogey, great score so far. KIU 

Thanks, mate. Not the best score and it's beatable but overall I'm very satisfied with how things have progressed. 

[Cockers2505]

What a shame O'Neill didn't pick up a few more player of the month, but still a very good attempt @BatiGoal, can't wait to see how you finish hole 18, good luck mate

[GrtepZ]

20 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Apart from the GK they're all bought 

22 hours ago, Ashez said:

 

Seriously, when the rule of a Hole mention to "buy" a player, is it ok if he's been bought seasons before ? Might be useful to know 

 

[PriZe]

Great performance! Totally inline with what we have come to expect from you

 

[BatiGoal]

4 hours ago, Cockers2505 said:

What a shame O'Neill didn't pick up a few more player of the month, but still a very good attempt @BatiGoal, can't wait to see how you finish hole 18, good luck mate

Thanks man. Final update should be up today. 

1 hour ago, PriZe said:

Great performance! Totally inline with what we have come to expect from you

Trying to buy my support in your H2H, panda? Well, it's working

3 hours ago, GrtepZ said:

Seriously, when the rule of a Hole mention to "buy" a player, is it ok if he's been bought seasons before ? Might be useful to know 

I don't think so tbh, it defeats the purpose of the challenge imo. But best is to double check with the challenge creator whenever there's a grey area. Just like I did before I played this hole as well as hole 1 getting an Australian (challenge: Asian) GK. And a couple other holes as well... (re)using Chinese strikers was another one since I hardly had any Chinese in the DB. 

Edited February 5, 2018 by BatiGoal

[BatiGoal]

The Augusta National Golf Club Challenge

- challenge link -

 

Update 18 - Hole 18

Hole 18 - Holly (Par 4)

This is it, the end of the journey. Hole 18. Season 22 (if you've managed to keep your job). There are no places to hide in the final hole, nothing really fancy to it. Just give your all and hope for the best.

Challenge - Every league game you fail to win will cost you.

• Birdie - 0-2 failed to win
• Par - 3-5 failed to win
• Bogey - 6-7 failed to win
• Double Bogey - 8+ failed to win

 

I've made it.. after a gruelling ride I've made it to the last hole of this career. Whatever happens in this last hole I'm relieved to have been able to complete it at all. It was long, tough, demanding yet enjoyable due to the fantastic support here on Vibe.

For this final Hole 18 I need to win win win. Two screw-ups in the Serie A allowed for Birdie. Normally with the perfect squad I'm managing we'd get that -1 score in but we all know a draw is always lurking around the corner so we need to keep the 100% focus for one last time. Let's get cracking..

 

After 10 games

Perfect start. Some big scores in and the opponents never stood a chance not even for a draw.

 

After 20 games

Oops, there goes the perfect record already. Tho it's a CL game and not a Serie A one so we're still on Birdie.

 

After 30 games

All greens which means we're still on 0/2 permitted screw-ups. The 4-2 and 4-3 wins at the bottom were comebacks so it's not going as easy as it seems.

 

After 40 games

Another no-win but luckily it's another CL game. Was a crazy one coming back on multiple ocassions to keep me in the tie.

 

After 50 games

There she is. Our first point loss in the Serie A. March, and we're on 1/2 screw-ups for Birdie. Look at some of the scores , 6-3 vs Bayern after the first 5-5 in leg one. Udinese 8-6, Inter 7-2, some GF and GA this is going to be.

 

After 60 games

Yikes, our second Serie A screw-up is a fact and we're on 2/2 with no more errors allowed. That was league game 35 tho and we only needed to win the next three games. And we did, but the last one vs Sampdoria (again) nearly got me crying as we went 0-2 and had to score at least 3. Fortunately an overload in attacking players produced a rewards over the risk and we score Birdie in our final hole.

 

Serie A Table

Delighted, and that with 164 goals. I think that's a record for me. Don't recall scoring that many. Especially in Italy. Tho I must say it does seems that the further we go in careers, especially 2 decades in, the crazier the scorelines become. Maybe a worldclass squad vs weakening opponents over the years adds to that too.

 

Special Mention

 

Gianliugi Donnarumma

He deserves a mention. Not surprising he's the only original player in the squad when I took over. After 22 seasons everyone left the club except my GK. He's been alongside of me for the entire ride getting 1300+ games in for the club, he's a true AC Milan Legend. And nearly 1KC conceded goals

 

Sven BatGoal

He deserves a mention too because he's my son lol. Not top but decent. Could make a mid-table side if managed properly.

 

Club History - Player Records

I particularly like the Most Assists record.. could be a future career..

 

Club History - Team Records

Not worldly but decent. It's just for the stats guru's on Vibe.

 

Golfer BatiGoal - Manager Profile

Percentage Statistics

Spoiler

Now this I absolutely love.

Don't recall ever going for a full set of 20's so I'm thrilled to see this on my page. It's definitely possible but it takes commitment. If it wasn't for the challenges I'd say it's possible to reach this in approx. 10 seasons but due to meeting challenge objectives we only managed to get it in 20+ seasons. Also 117 trophies is pretty cool. More money earned than spent. 88% winning rate and 3 gls/game - tho playing a GK as striker hugely impacted this number - in all I'm satisfied.

 

 

Golf Scorecard - Final Score

 

Score: -13

 

 

Final Words

Huge thanks to everyone for following and dropping by with supportive comments. Can't say it enough, it's these comments that keeps all us career posters motivated to continue spending time writing updates and producing future careers for you to read. If it wasn't for that I'd still be playing the game but not as often and certainly no insane challenges like this one. So thanks big for the support you've given me in the past 22 seasons of Golf madness. I can't say I enjoyed all of them but that's also the fun part dealing with challenges that we're less comfortable with. For me playing a GK up front, dropping my best AvR players each month and getting PoM/ToM with a 35+yo were among the toughies I faced. The more enjoyable ones were scoring hattricks with multiple players, definitely scoring with a defender and getting a Bournemouth CM to assist/score as much as possible. As you see I've faced all sorts of challenges along the way and I definitely recommend this to anyone dying for a serious challenge. It's a looong and painful ride at times but very much worth it in the end.

 

Big thanks to @samhardy as well for coming up with this insanity and hope to see all of you in my next career. Cheers !!

Edited February 7, 2018 by BatiGoal