Hi Richard,
Glad to hear you're enjoying the game! =)
The lie does not directly affect the direction of the ball flight. The lie does affect distance, but there is a reason you're seeing some shots that don't go straight down the line even on a dinged shot. You're experiencing the effects of low precision clubs.
The beginner clubs have a low precision rating, in fact they have virtually no precision at all. Precision controls your accuracy on every shot. Imagine
it's like a circle that surrounds the flagstick when you aim at it. The
size of that circle is related to the precision rating. The higher the
rating the smaller the circle. Your ball can land anywhere in the
circle on a dinged shot (left or right, long or short). It will ALWAYS
land in the circle on a ding shot, though sometimes it may land in the
center of the circle and sometimes it may land on the very outer edge or
anywhere in between.
Forgiveness dictates how far that circle is shifted left or right on
mishits. Beginner clubs have average forgiveness, so mishits will cause that circle to shift right or left some depending on the severity of the mishit.
We've created the game this way to prevent players from firing shot after shot within inches of the flag every time. Dinging the meter is easy compared to swinging a real golf club, so precision introduces a little variance in your play so we can avoid scores in the high 30's and mid-to-low 40's for 18 holes like some other games.
Lastly, you are using the WGT Beginner clubs which we really do not recommend for competitive play. Those clubs were designed to get people through the initial tutorial and to give players a basic idea of what the game expects. All players have a full WGT Starter set in their inventory as well when they start the game. The WGT Starters are a little longer on each club, have a little bit of precision and better forgiveness than the Beginners do. The trade off is that they have a faster meter, so it's a little harder to ding the line. I would recommend equipping your WGT Starter clubs and playing with those instead of the Beginners.
Good Luck. =)