Challenge Mode (Any%) is now a miscellaneous category, due to luck-based factors and region differences. A star indicates that the tournament or a match play is official. You need to win official tournaments or match plays to earn a star, and with enough stars, you'll be able to move up a league. When entering Challenge Mode, there might be a point where the game will give you a choice of 3 unofficial tournaments from RNG, making it impossible to speed run the challenge until you win. In the Japanese version of the game, the character selection screen is skipped, which is a huge unfair advantage for foreign speed runners. In the American version of the game, setting your name as “5TNEPO” unlocks 100% items in the game, which automatically beats the game. If you decide to speed run Challenge Mode (Any%), I strongly recommend playing on the Japanese version of the game.

I've made a video on how to play multiplayer using a PSP emulator. You need a newer version of PPSSPP and connect to "localhost" to do it, as older versions have a beta Ad-Hoc, and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee can run smoothly this way. I also run Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip in this video as well.

You can set your name to “5TNEPO” to unlock 100% of items on the Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee. Keep in mind that this will only unlock 5/12 medals, as the rest of the medals must be done legitimately. Also note that this will not work in the Japanese or European regions of the game.