THE STORY:
Year after year Sir Moeth would try. Year after year he would fail. The King's Gauntlet was the annual festival where noblemen from realms far and near would come to tilt, slash and battle to be declared the game's champion.
It was little wonder why he was disadvantaged. Gold was the substance of stature and he had little of it. Nay, he had barely enough to be considered noble. And while knights from neighbouring kingdoms came in all their finery, he looked like an underprivileged knave. His armour was ill-fitted and his edges dull. His steed was not a stallion at all but an aged brood mare with a sway back. Every year it was all he could do to muster enough dignity to compete. His complete entourage was his stout cousin Dinadan, who would toss him onto his mount after he had donned his armour. Dinadan also had a knack for repairing his dislocated joints between rounds.
Age, as well, was not Sir Moeth’s friend and it was only a short matter of time before he would be washed up as a knight. He had to do something!
One day, as he was mucking the horse apples of the stable, he had a brilliant idea! What if he could lower the stature of those shiny, skilled knights to his level... Mucker of Shite! Maybe he could gain enough of a leg-up to compete. Level the jousting field, as they say! The thought of it excited him and gave him a gimmer of hope. But how?
Sir Moeth concocted a plan...he would host his own gauntlet! But instead of the joust, the bow and the sword, he would use his instruments of cunning and trickery! Let’s see how many brave knights could hit a wheelbarrow with a horse apple and pitchfork at 20 paces, he thought! How about hitting a spittoon with pumpkin seed spat across a stream? What about a contest of stealth where he could sneak up on a raven within a stone's throw and slay it? YES! He would pit them against HIS strengths!
And so began the tradition of Sir Moeth's Scrambled Gauntlet. Knights throughout the realm came to discover that once stripped of their finery and keen weapons, they became disadvantaged as well. No longer could they prance along finely mowed lawns on steeds to do their tilting. Now they were required to joust in a bog. Nor could they battle with fine sword and mace within the firm footing of the arena! Now they must fight with sickle and hoe in pits of sand!
The rise of new champions and a new class of knights began to evolve. Some realms refer to them as Samurai. Other kingdoms have named this elite class, Ninja. One thing is certain though. You may call them what you will, and you may well question their sanity, but you will never doubt their cunning, resiliency and mettle!
When faced with the Gauntlet, do you have what it takes??
Year after year Sir Moeth would try. Year after year he would fail. The King's Gauntlet was the annual festival where noblemen from realms far and near would come to tilt, slash and battle to be declared the game's champion.
It was little wonder why he was disadvantaged. Gold was the substance of stature and he had little of it. Nay, he had barely enough to be considered noble. And while knights from neighbouring kingdoms came in all their finery, he looked like an underprivileged knave. His armour was ill-fitted and his edges dull. His steed was not a stallion at all but an aged brood mare with a sway back. Every year it was all he could do to muster enough dignity to compete. His complete entourage was his stout cousin Dinadan, who would toss him onto his mount after he had donned his armour. Dinadan also had a knack for repairing his dislocated joints between rounds.
Age, as well, was not Sir Moeth’s friend and it was only a short matter of time before he would be washed up as a knight. He had to do something!
One day, as he was mucking the horse apples of the stable, he had a brilliant idea! What if he could lower the stature of those shiny, skilled knights to his level... Mucker of Shite! Maybe he could gain enough of a leg-up to compete. Level the jousting field, as they say! The thought of it excited him and gave him a gimmer of hope. But how?
Sir Moeth concocted a plan...he would host his own gauntlet! But instead of the joust, the bow and the sword, he would use his instruments of cunning and trickery! Let’s see how many brave knights could hit a wheelbarrow with a horse apple and pitchfork at 20 paces, he thought! How about hitting a spittoon with pumpkin seed spat across a stream? What about a contest of stealth where he could sneak up on a raven within a stone's throw and slay it? YES! He would pit them against HIS strengths!
And so began the tradition of Sir Moeth's Scrambled Gauntlet. Knights throughout the realm came to discover that once stripped of their finery and keen weapons, they became disadvantaged as well. No longer could they prance along finely mowed lawns on steeds to do their tilting. Now they were required to joust in a bog. Nor could they battle with fine sword and mace within the firm footing of the arena! Now they must fight with sickle and hoe in pits of sand!
The rise of new champions and a new class of knights began to evolve. Some realms refer to them as Samurai. Other kingdoms have named this elite class, Ninja. One thing is certain though. You may call them what you will, and you may well question their sanity, but you will never doubt their cunning, resiliency and mettle!
When faced with the Gauntlet, do you have what it takes??
THE FORMAT:
Each round will be 9-hole stroke play, in practice mode and runs for 5 days. Moe will announce the venue in the forum as each round begins and will record the results on Challonge.
Players must post their scorecard in the forum for verification by the date and time limit for that round. If anyone is unsure how to do that they can email a screenshot to Moe and he will post it for them. BUT, although you can play each round as many times as you wish in order to improve your score, only one scorecard submission will be accepted, so you need to make sure it’s your best one. If you fail to provide a scorecard by the deadline, you are out.
Once a scorecard has been posted, that player’s score will be entered in Challonge, but since each player has an opponent (just as with any bracket tourney), you might want to wait until the last moment to post your score so that your opponent cannot see what score they need to beat.
The objective is not just to complete the round in the fewest number of strokes, but to AVOID playing Fairways in Regulation (FIR) and Greens In regulation (GIR). Each time you land on the fairway with your drive your scorecard with display a check-mark. And each time you find the green in regulation you get another check-mark, as shown in the example score card below. In this competition your score is a total of your strokes plus the number of check-marks on your card, so in the example below your score would be 46 (31 strokes + 15 check-marks).
The player with the lowest total score beats his opponent and goes through to the next round. The details for each round will only be revealed in the forum once the previous round has completed.
Each round will be 9-hole stroke play, in practice mode and runs for 5 days. Moe will announce the venue in the forum as each round begins and will record the results on Challonge.
Players must post their scorecard in the forum for verification by the date and time limit for that round. If anyone is unsure how to do that they can email a screenshot to Moe and he will post it for them. BUT, although you can play each round as many times as you wish in order to improve your score, only one scorecard submission will be accepted, so you need to make sure it’s your best one. If you fail to provide a scorecard by the deadline, you are out.
Once a scorecard has been posted, that player’s score will be entered in Challonge, but since each player has an opponent (just as with any bracket tourney), you might want to wait until the last moment to post your score so that your opponent cannot see what score they need to beat.
The objective is not just to complete the round in the fewest number of strokes, but to AVOID playing Fairways in Regulation (FIR) and Greens In regulation (GIR). Each time you land on the fairway with your drive your scorecard with display a check-mark. And each time you find the green in regulation you get another check-mark, as shown in the example score card below. In this competition your score is a total of your strokes plus the number of check-marks on your card, so in the example below your score would be 46 (31 strokes + 15 check-marks).
The player with the lowest total score beats his opponent and goes through to the next round. The details for each round will only be revealed in the forum once the previous round has completed.
You will note that the only way to get a sub-par score on a hole is to hole it from off green, but you may start over as many times as you want.
The courses and conditions will get progressively more difficult with regard to hazards.
The courses and conditions will get progressively more difficult with regard to hazards.
MOE’S TIPS:
Do your best to barely miss the fairways and greens, you are not trying to lose balls. Stay out of the deep cabbage and sand. The closer you can hang to the fairway and fringe, the lighter the hazard without getting a check-mark.
If you are not sure what regulation is, you should not have any birdie or eagle putts. Your first putt should be for par on each hole, unless you putt from off green.
Try not to get birdies and let the check-mark make your par. A par round is good, but someone who has done it with less check-marks will beat you. Many have tried and failed by this method.
You have several days to post your scorecard. You can either post it early, to pressure your opponent...or you can wait until the last minute to keep them guessing as to what you may have. The later you post, the more you will close out any chance they will have to play more rounds to beat your score.
Start over often. If you get a bogey or checkmark in the first few holes, it will probably not give you a winning score. If you have a good round going and get marks or bogeys later, only your sanity can determine if you wish to begin again!
I personally save several scorecards of differing scores. I will only post the one that will beat my opponent by 1 stroke, to mask my prowess!
The only true sub-par scores will come when you hole out from off the green. Practice your short game flops, pitches and chips. You will discover after years of running the Gauntlet, everyone will be in awe of your short game skills!
Stay out of the water. It’s the only hazard that has no advantage or forgiveness in the Gauntlet!
Do your best to barely miss the fairways and greens, you are not trying to lose balls. Stay out of the deep cabbage and sand. The closer you can hang to the fairway and fringe, the lighter the hazard without getting a check-mark.
If you are not sure what regulation is, you should not have any birdie or eagle putts. Your first putt should be for par on each hole, unless you putt from off green.
Try not to get birdies and let the check-mark make your par. A par round is good, but someone who has done it with less check-marks will beat you. Many have tried and failed by this method.
You have several days to post your scorecard. You can either post it early, to pressure your opponent...or you can wait until the last minute to keep them guessing as to what you may have. The later you post, the more you will close out any chance they will have to play more rounds to beat your score.
Start over often. If you get a bogey or checkmark in the first few holes, it will probably not give you a winning score. If you have a good round going and get marks or bogeys later, only your sanity can determine if you wish to begin again!
I personally save several scorecards of differing scores. I will only post the one that will beat my opponent by 1 stroke, to mask my prowess!
The only true sub-par scores will come when you hole out from off the green. Practice your short game flops, pitches and chips. You will discover after years of running the Gauntlet, everyone will be in awe of your short game skills!
Stay out of the water. It’s the only hazard that has no advantage or forgiveness in the Gauntlet!
In September 2017, the inaugural running of Moe's Gauntlet was won by Abe! 10 players competed across four rounds of ever-increasing insanity and the full playoff bracket is shown below.
Abe battled Robert in the final at Chambers bay, which can be a beast at the best of times but under Gauntlet conditions it was positively brutal. Although Robert's score of 39 was certainly respectable, Abe managed to pip him by a single shot to become the Gauntlet Champion. Abe's winning scorecard is shown below the playoff bracket.
Congratulations to Abe and also to Moe for running a great, fun tournament.
Abe battled Robert in the final at Chambers bay, which can be a beast at the best of times but under Gauntlet conditions it was positively brutal. Although Robert's score of 39 was certainly respectable, Abe managed to pip him by a single shot to become the Gauntlet Champion. Abe's winning scorecard is shown below the playoff bracket.
Congratulations to Abe and also to Moe for running a great, fun tournament.