As the Tiger Woods golf series swings into its ninth year, gamemakers are rebuilding the game from ground up, promising more realism, more immersion and -- in a very Web 2.0 kind of way -- more community-driven innovation. That's right -- players will be able to create their own content for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08.

But wait, at a meeting at EA's new Orlando design studio this week, the Tiger team promises even more. The new GamerNet Channels, a new EA community area with its own in-game point system and leaderboard, will allow players to upload and share user-created videos. Complete a challenge and earn points, Xbox Live style, that will be applied to a player's profile and then assist them in climbing the ranks on the leaderboards. EA says this new points system will only be accessible within the game and will not necessarily work hand-in-hand with XBL Achievement points or the PlayStation 3 Network.

The crew showed us a few challenge categories that will likely be included in GamerNet -- a single-hole challenge, an 18-hole showdown, a "Grip It and Rip it" distance-hitting challenge and a freestyle challenge.

Creating a challenge won't require an advanced degree in video game wizardry. Although, aspiring attributers will actually have to pull off the challenge before other gamers can partake. So, if someone wants to create a test that requires virtual golfers to hit 18 holes-in-one, then the creator must complete the task, then save the stunt and submit it to the official challenge block. In other words, you've got to put your money where your mouth is.

User-created challenges can include conditions like distance to the hole, landing on green, maximum ball height, number of trees hit -- and an early fave -- numbers of spectators hit. Yes, someone can make a challenge that requires someone to hit five spectators at the perfect trajectory, so that the ball will fly off and land on the green. Then, tell friends to check it out -- next thing we know, legions of golfers will be taking pot shots at frightened spectators to score points and move up the ranks.