How to set default course

When you create a new course, how do you make it so it comes up as your default setup?
Easy, by editing your moodle/course/edit_form.php file.
You can make changes here.

For example, if you want to make the format to show as topics, then you edit line 98
where it says $mform->setDefault('format', 'weeks'); and change it to
$mform->setDefault('format', 'topics');