WGT Golf News

Many thanks to everyone who clicked on the recent “Flight 93 National Memorial Foundation” ads running on our site, as you all helped that charity raise nearly $50,000. You can still donate at http://www.honorflight93.org/.

WGT was also a sponsor of the Flight 93 National Memorial fund-raising golf tournament at Essex Country Club in NJ. Here’s a photo of Tom Ridge (former Governor of PA, first Secretary of Homeland Security, and avid WGT player) and Richard Codey (governor of NJ) shaking hands after Tom’s spectacular chip. On the right is WGT’s own Stu MacDonald, head of strategic partnerships, which means he gets to play in all the fun golf tournaments. Also pictured is their caddy Danny, no relation to Danny Noonan from Caddyshack.

- WGT

By Chris Polson at Bleacher Report

Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne told ESPN that they will be extending the coverage of The Masters an extra hour next year.  That means we will get 4 extra hours of the golf season's first major.

My question is: Why not extend it further?

Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that they have extended it an extra hour.  But I want more.

It took years before the brass of Augusta National even started showing the front nine on TV.  For the past few years we've gotten to see the entire third and fourth rounds of the leaders, but that's about it.  They've started catching on by having internet coverage of "Amen Corner" the past few years, but its only for a couple of hours.  Places like Yahoo and even the PGA's official website are showing hours of coverage on their sites before the TV coverage comes on.

I've played golf, albeit poorly, for many years.  I know how long it takes to play, no matter how good or bad you are.  Three hours isn't enough time to see a full round of golf unless you're playing "speed golf".  This fourth hour of TV is a step in the right direction, but I think more is still needed.

Since the times of the pairings in the first two rounds are all over the place, those of us who have to watch it on TV don't always get to see our favorite golfers.  And if they don't make the cut, we don't get to see them at all.  While making the cut is in the hands of the players, the amount of TV time they get is not.

We get almost all-day coverage for the other three majors, you'd think that arguably the most popular major would get the same treatment.  CBS shows half hour highlights around midnight to try and help us get our fix of the first two rounds of the Masters.  Really?  This still baffles me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I know this is a very exclusive tournament and an even more exclusive club to get into.  There are many people of high standing that have never played a round on the course.  I would think they could make a lot of extra money by airing more hours on television, but maybe its not about money to them.  I'm not a member of the club, so I obviously don't know the whole story.

Either way, an extra hour per round of my favorite tournament of the year is a good thing.  Let's hope its a trend that continues over the years.

We’ve added a new golf course to WGT—The Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales, UK.

Celtic Manor is the latest championship course on WGT. It’s a free nine-hole closest-to-the-hole game, featuring nine of the best shots that the Pros will be facing on the new Twenty Ten course hosting the 2010 Ryder Cup.

We worked directly with Celtic Manor this summer, right after the Wales Open, to shoot the course and get it available in time for the upcoming Ryder Cup

Visit our new Celtic Manor page to enter the tournament for a chance to win a golf trip for two to Celtic Manor in Wales. And don’t miss our new Drive The 15^th one-shot experience. This is an extra hole that we created in addition to the nine-hole tournament, on the drivable par four 15^th hole. It’s a crazy drive thru a gap in the trees directly to the green. You won’t be able to play this hole with your personal WGT clubs, just our standard starter driver, but we hope you have some fun and tell your friends to check it out too. It’s free with no WGT registration required. (15^th Hole Tip: aim to the right).

Note, the real-world Ryder Cup is being held Oct 1-3 on NBC, ESPN, BBC and SKY, so don’t miss seeing the Pros on Team USA and Team Europe Pros trying to hit the same shots that you will have perfected by then.

Heads up!  We will have a short maintenance window tonight starting at 11PM PDT and lasting for roughly two hours.  Make sure to save your games prior to this time.

Thanks,

WGT

WGT remembers 9/11 and supports the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign. Help us honor the heroes of Flight 93 with a donation.

Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign

Cheers,
WGT

To all our US players, we hope you get a chance to enjoy some time off this Labor Day weekend, and if you can’t make it over to St Andrews for a quick round, then maybe play St Andrews with some friends on WGT!

Cheers,
WGT

The site will be down for approximately one hour tonight, Sept 2nd, starting at 11PM Pacific Time. We are fixing a few bugs and performing routine system maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.

More about Levels

Thanks for all the feedback on the new Level system that we released today. Levels are designed to help all players be rewarded by unlocking new virtual equipment and other prizes for them as the play WGT.  Levels are separate from your Tier (Hack, Amateur, Pro, etc.) which are based on your skill and score history.  The Level system is designed to be fair to all players, based on their love of the game and not just their skill.

Your Level will increase as you play WGT and interact with other players online. Here are some of the ways that you’ll earn experience points (XP) that will increase your Levels…

• Hitting the ball
• Playing and completing any round of golf, including stroke play, match play and closest-to-the-hole
• More points are awarded for any tournament or multi-player game
• More points for more people in your multi-player groups
• Winning awards during your round, as long as you complete the round
• Playing on consecutive days, with each additional day adding more experience points
• A small experience point bonus for players who deposit $5 or more in credits

In this example, the player has advanced to Level 20 (L20) and has 3,270 of the 3,450 experience points needed to reach Level 21 and unlock more virtual equipment.

More about Tiers

When you reach a new Tier (Hack, Amateur, pro, etc.) we provide you with WGT Credits that you can use to upgrade your virtual equipment or enter tournaments. Here’s how many WGT Credits you earn at each new tier.
 
Tier            WGT credits awarded

Hack................0
Amateur..................50
Pro.................100
Tour Pro............125
Master..............150
Tour Master.........175
Legend..............200

Once again, thank you for your feedback on the new tiers and levels. We hope that you find that they present more challenges, more fun, and more great matches with friends, new and old.

New WGT Levels and Tiers

In today's release, WGT has expanded our Tiers and added new Experience Levels to make the game more fair and fun for everyone. These changes are based on lots of player feedback, and most recently from the over 250 suggestions on this topic in our Player Forum this month, http://www.wgt.com/forums/p/19077/109896.aspx#109896

We've also changed our Pro Shop to make our virtual golf equipment available based on your Level and not your Tier. All of the former "Master" and "Pro" equipment has been removed following our 2-week Clearance Sale, and will be replaced by new equipment in the future which will be available based on your Level not your Tier.

Here's an overview of the new changes that are live today...

• WGT Tiers are based on your scores and used to determine who you compete against in tournaments and match play. In order to make competition and matches more interesting and fair, we've expanded from 4 to 7 Tiers, now including Hack, Amateur, Pro, Tour Pro, Master, Tour Master and Legend.
  • Players have been pre-assigned to a new Tier based on their score history.
    
    
• WGT Levels are new and are based on completing rounds and interacting with other players. At new Levels, players will be able to unlock new virtual items previously unavailable to them. Levels will make WGT more fun for everyone regardless of their skill, and also encourage players to finish more multi-player games and matches.
  • Players have been pre-assigned to a Level based on their Tier and history with WGT.
    
    
• The WGT Pro Shop will start unlocking all our virtual golf equipment based on Level rather than Tier. As in real life, you may never play as well as a real pro, but that doesn't mean you can't buy the same equipment they're using. However, also in real life, some golf equipment will continue to be designed for beginners and other for experts, in terms of factors like swing meter speed and forgiveness.

o    There won't be any changes to the golf equipment that you already have in your WGT bag, and you will still be able to sell back any clubs to the Pro Shop for credits.

Note, these new Tiers & Levels are not designed to address sandbagging (players misrepresenting their ability to gain advantage in tournaments and match play). While these changes will help make sandbagging harder and discourage "quitting" in multi-player games, we're working on other improvements to address sandbagging by monitoring score histories and sandbagging behaviors, and addressing violations to our community policies more aggressively.

Other Improvements

While most of our focus has been on releasing the new Tiers & Levels, here are some other improvements in today's release...

• Fixed unexpected error when shot taken just as shot clock expires
• Fixed Closest to the Hole average score calculation
• Added ability to scroll through Friends List in multiplayer games
• Displaying correct award for Tin Day at the Beach award
• Fixed surface mapping errors on Bethpage Hole #2
• Fixed Match Play extra-holes scorecard issue

Please keep all your feedback coming to members@worldgolftour.com

WGT

We have scheduled downtime starting at 11pm PDT tonight, August 31st, for product updates.  This downtime will last approximately 6 hours.

A list of changes will be posted after the release, here on the WGT News blog.

Thank You

-WGT