421lassie: Play 4 holes using ball effect!.
if you are using a ball with a built in ball effect, I don't believe it is the same thing as using a ball that you then add a ball effect to.
also, once you tap on the ball effect wand, you then have to select which ball effect you wish to use. if you don't have any in your inventory (they would show up above your ball when you add spin to your ball) then that may be part of the problem as to why it may not be working as you suspect.
to turn the ball effect off you then tap on the little red circle with a line thru it.
if you are doing it correctly, it should work fine, otherwise, try one of these adjustments.
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fwiw, these are not always easy or obvious to people - wgt does not explain all of these things and they are left to the player to often sort out - I got a question from a knowledgeable player that just overlooked one or two things before it began working for them - because in the past - the ball effects were causing glitches and bugs in the flash version that could alter the game function for other players - so many people refused to use them because they could be viewed as a form of cheating or trying to sabotage your opponent's game function.