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WGT and TOPGOLF are now one!

• phred952 2,714 Posts

  Sun, Feb 14 2016 8:01 AM

  Amen SP.  As the Buffalo Springfield said along time ago "Paranoia strikes deep..."

  xxxhogsheadxxx, If you really feel you are being robbed, then why are you still playing?   If I was being "robbed" I would not let it continue.  "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me".  You have the power to stop it.

  Remember, one true definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different outcome.

  Enough said.

  phred952

   

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Sun, Feb 14 2016 3:41 PM

  xxxhogheadxxx:

  I'd guess that 60-70% of the profiles on here are setup by the owners............   I know because I have spoken to player(s) on here that know.  

  Nonsense!  Not the owners!  I have it on the best authority!

  

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Sun, Feb 14 2016 8:00 PM

  Humor me then.....Would you or one of those who agree with you please explain the financial benefits to the owners of creating the 8 or 9 million fake accounts you claim they created?  Why would they do it?

• 949 Posts

  Sun, Feb 14 2016 8:53 PM

  andyson:

  xxxhogheadxxx:

  The reason I keep arguing with idiots morons stupid, hmm,  intellectually challenged people on here is that I know there are many reading these posts that do agree with me.

  Humor me then.....Would you or one of those who agree with you please explain the financial benefits to the owners of creating the 8 or 9 million fake accounts you claim they created?  Why would they do it?

  No problem Andy.  Free education lesson for you.

  It is no secret that businesses create 'customers' in order to get more business which obviously will generate more wealth.

  How many people knew that our current President (Obama), has somewhere in the neighborhood of 21 million+ fake Twitter followers.  Search for that  -  truly amazing.  So why would Obama do that?

              Credibility

  Credibility is key to many situations.  For Obama, this helps(ed) him to get legislation through Congress that he wants.  If the minions see you have a lot of support, maybe they will vote you in for a second term...hmmm... worked didn't it?

  And it is not just Obama doing this tactic.  Many Hollywood actors, musicians, etc. will use this approach.  

  Now, of course, I'm not privy to the business decisions of WGT.  But reasonable people can understand that having 1000's or 10E6's of players signed up will get other businesses to form partnerships with you.  Oh I don't know, like GolfChannel, TopGolf, who knows what else.  <advertising ?>

  So it is very simple Andy and I believe you already knew but just wanted to make me type all this for you.

  EDIT:  check out info on this women Amy Cuddy.  "Fake it Until you Make IT"  Interesting reading

  2nd Edit:  just went to your profile page.  Very Nice -  I'm impressed with your graphical idea of WGT

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Mon, Feb 15 2016 4:09 AM

  xxxhogheadxxx:

  2nd Edit:  just went to your profile page.  Very Nice -  I'm impressed with your graphical idea of WGT

  Thanks, I'm fascinated with understanding their business model.

  Briefly on WGT's credibility (I'm out the door in 20 minutes, its 5am here in Arizona, to spend President's Day on the water)

  When I signed on WGT in June 2009 I became UserId 614,946 on WGT.  They had already signed agreements with the USGA and the R&A with only 600K members..  That agreement gave WGT access to US Open and The Open courses.  So, IMO, that gave them plenty of credibility going forward. (and they don't add 10 or more to the UserID for each member it is incremented by 1)

  You signed on in 6/13 and are UserID 7,021, 467

  A new member this month is UserID 17,140,196

  You can see UserIDs in the URL on a CC member list when you roll your mouse over a name.

  I don't see any huge non-linearity in those numbers.

  More later.

• BillyMayfair 4,631 Posts

  Tue, Feb 16 2016 2:22 PM

  Arrons1977:

  It could be that Topgolf  thinks by acquiring WGT, it will bring more revenue to their company. Thinking that more of the wgt members will try the indoor ranges out. I myself have been playing real golf for 35+ years and have never seen the benefits of an indoor driving range.....

  Arrons, the Top Golf ranges are outdoor...  The hitting area's are under conver (wiht AC/Heat; tables chairs, food and beverage waiters etc. etc. but you are hitting into the outdoor range.

  Not sure of the exact distances, but their are something like 10 "targets" between the tee and fence (which is about 240-250yds away.  Actually it's one of the best "practice facilities I've found because with the memory chip balls and their reading technology you can tell exactly how close you are to your "target" - including the far fence which measures both "distance" and "proximity to center"

  Lucky enough to have 3 of them here in the Dallas area...but cost is an issue.  A "bay" which can accommodate up to 6 players rents for $40 an hour at "peak" times.  Only one player can hit at a time, so it's not too terribly bad if it's one or two players, but when you get up to 4 or more...you're now looking at two or more hours at the "range"  Add the drinks and food, and it's easy to see how they're making their $$

  Here's a shot I found of the "range" looking out from a "bay"

  

   

  Like everyone else, I hope they work on the issues here and get this game right.

  Wayne (BillyMayfair)

• 949 Posts

  Wed, Feb 17 2016 2:51 PM

  andyson:

  When I signed on WGT in June 2009 I became UserId 614,946 on WGT.  (and they don't add 10 or more to the UserID for each member it is incremented by 1)

  You signed on in 6/13 and are UserID 7,021, 467

  A new member this month is UserID 17,140,196

  You can see UserIDs in the URL on a CC member list when you roll your mouse over a name.

  I don't see any huge non-linearity in those numbers.

  Didn't know that about the userid's.  Thank you.  After some checking on oldest members here, I noticed a discrepancy in how the userid's are assigned.  

  Would you explain to me how someone who joined in May2007 could have a userid of 37000ish and a player joining in June2007 an id # of 35000ish.

  If these userid's are as you say, the May07 players # should be less than the June07 player.

• ct690911 7,201 Posts

  Wed, Feb 17 2016 4:21 PM

  andyson:

  Humor me then.....Would you or one of those who agree with you please explain the financial benefits to the owners of creating the 8 or 9 million fake accounts you claim they created?  Why would they do it?

  It may be a simple marketing ploy...you see it all the time with infomercials...large numbers imply success...This product must be great or they wouldn't have sold so many (insert testimonials here)...Wgt must be great, it has millions of people signed up to enjoy this "free" game, with millions more joining. (the original advertised number was 14 million...recently updated by a Mod to 21 million accounts!)

  I don't know if fake accounts were purposely set up...I do know there is no way 14-21 million active accounts are on this site (as advertised). I'm betting a very small fraction of those numbers are active and play regularly.

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Wed, Feb 17 2016 8:00 PM

  xxxhogheadxxx:

  Would you explain to me how someone who joined in May2007 could have a userid of 37000ish and a player joining in June2007 an id # of 35000ish.

  Likely due to anything before Oct 2008 was done as a private Beta.  WGT began their public Beta when this site started 10/2008.  The private Beta had a different site and looks like a different numbering system for UserIds.

  On the point you mentioned about a benefit to advertising,  there are many metrics collected on web site traffic (i.e. Google Analytics is one way to get metrics) and typically ad rates are set as a function of Unique Visitors per month and Monthly Impressions (how many views an ad will get).   The number of registered members doesn't get factored in because the ad buyers know about dead accounts and they need to know about real live traffic.

  CT is right IMO that big numbers can be used for show and can attract new members.

• 949 Posts

  Wed, Feb 17 2016 9:14 PM

  Andyson?

  Do you work at WGT?    No, don't laugh, I'm serious..    lol