Unfortunately, there are some areas, even states, where players don’t have the option of playing for Golden Tee prizes! Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and New Jersey don’t allow playing for prizes anywhere in the state, and that’s tough for players there who want to see how they stack up against players from around the globe. I’m also told Washington, Michigan, Mississippi and Arizona have prize play but no “Hole-N-Win.” Two other states we’re unsure of are Hawaii and Maine. If you’re anywhere else, you should be able to hook in and give prize play a shot!

Let me know if there are other areas missing Golden Tee prize play that I’m not yet aware of! Even though it’s an extra dollar to play, it’s worth seeing the different tee box setups each time out!

Ever since Golden Tee came out with the technology to hook up all their machines to a network, players have been able to compete in contests against people all across the country. This added a fantastic new element of competition to the game. This section outlines the different play modes and prizes in Golden Tee.

Another fun new feature added to Golden Tee Live is the option to win money on a hole-in-one. Usually once per round, the game will pop up a message asking if you want to risk $0.50 to win a certain amount of money (usually between $10 and $30) if you shoot a hole-in-one. I’m not good enough to risk the $0.50, but I know many people probably bank on this opportunity! The offer isn’t just for Par 3s either…you may receive the offer on a Par 4 hole that’s reachable off the tee. So if you’re an approach shot expert in Golden Tee, you can probably sink a hole-in-one just often enough to make this opportunity profitable!

You may have noticed “Give away code” under the Options menu in Golden Tee. Supposedly, a couple years back, Top Flite ran some promotions where they sent mailers to select individuals with these special give away codes. The codes would earn you special articles of clothing such as pants or hats with the Top Flite logo on them. The promotion was only short lived, though, and no codes have been given out since that time. I suspect that the option still remains in the game just in case Golden Tee wants to start up some kind of promotion again in the future. If you know someone who still has one of these codes, it’d be fun to see what kind of special clothing articles you can get, but from what I hear, it was nothing as exciting as the other items you earn simply from playing!

You also have the option to play for prizes (Prize mode) by feeding the Golden Tee machine an extra dollar. Here you’ll square off against 50 people within your skill level. Players are separated into 3 brackets here as well – those whose best score is –11 or better, those whose best score is –1 to –10, and those who have never broken par.

You compete for a $50 prize pool, where payout is as follows:

1st Place - $10
2nd Place - $8
3rd Place - $6
4th Place - $4
5th – 10th - $2
11th – 20th - $1

Prize money is credited to your account, and you can request a withdrawal at any time, if you wish (you will get mailed a check).

All other players win a free “virtual ball” that’s randomly awarded from among the balls you can buy at the start of your round. Check the ‘Select Balls’ screen before you tee off to see which type of ball you won!

With the normal Golden Tee Live play (or Glory mode), your stats will be tracked, and you will compete against a group of 20 people who also happen to be playing that same course at about the same time. In addition, you will be in 1 of 3 brackets, based on your best score ever on that course. New players use the easiest red tees, players who have scored –1 to –17 play the medium blue tees, and those that shot –18 or better play the hard black tees.

As you move from hole to hole, you’ll see your current rank in the standings against all other current competitors on that course. When everyone in that group has finished playing, your score and final rank will be posted, so you can see how well you shot compared to everyone else who was playing that Golden Tee course at that time!