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Advancing to Legend Tier

• honkers1 38 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 1:19 PM

   I've heard a lot of comments about advancing to Tier Legend. Since my ave score started over I went from an ave score of 60 to 70 in 1 round.  I don't really care about my ave score at this point, but I wasn't thrilled about it either.

  Secondly, I found that the tournament greens were a lot faster especially downhill and the adjustment has been very difficult so far. The speed of the ball affects the amount of break on the putt. Therefore, everything I've done to be a good putter has completely changed and sometimes I even miss 2 and 4 foot putts, which almost never happened before.

  Another problem I encountered is that when you play a Tour Master in match play they have a distinct advantage because their tee shots are often 50 yds shorter. Which means when I use an approach shot to get on the green from 230 yds instead of 180. That really  affects my game because now my putts are 30/40 ft instead of 10.

  I just wanted to relay that those are my 3 biggest concerns. I'm not complaining, I just wanted to put that out there.

  Thanks for listening and I would love to hear your comments about this.

• mbcarp99 1,078 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 3:58 PM

  The reason your average went up is because it started afresh when you got to legend and your 1st score as legend was a 71.

  You will get used to the putting speed after a while and it will improve your putting, especially as you will now have lots of longer putts due to your new tee off location. Your tee shots are from further back than a tour master because WGT now regard you as a better player than a tour master

   

   

   

• pipala 887 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 3:59 PM

  Well honkers that's what happens when you tier up and the step up to legend is quite a big one compared to the rest.

  I found I had to re-think a lot of what I had learnt along the way but for me it breathed new life into the game. It's a bit of a steep learning curve for some and I found that I had to upgrade my equipment to get to be a half decent legend. We're all different though.

  You'll get used to it soon enough, there's some great advice on these forums, take the time to read through them.

  Good luck

  Pip

• renniw52 5,385 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 5:41 PM

  Just enjoy it now Honk. Unless you take this game as your life it will be fun. The views are better but yes the putting is a whole new ballgame. Play a bunch of games with experienced Legends(me excluded, lol). and listen to their tips they give you. If you have visions of TL, patience is a virtue. It is a long haul. I don't see myself living long enough to get the 500 games and the sub 60 average. I just play on occasions to take a break from real life.

  Renni

• chuddlymccannon 298 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 5:55 PM

  I recently advanced to the Legend tier and i love it and I am not sure I understand your complaint.

  When you advanced through each tier of this game, did it not change the game play and make you try that much harder?  Did you think you would get to Legend and they would just lay a golden path to the cup for you?

  As far as Master/ Tour Master having a distinct advantage, not real sure about that.

  Just play the game and have fun.

   

• senec 252 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 7:35 PM

  Legend tier isn't what it used to be.Twice this week I've played a match play round with 2 different legends.Both had 61 averages and both had'nt played a ranked stroke round since making it to legend,in fact there last round were as master.Now I'm just an average legend but I've gotten more competetion from tour pro's then with these guys.Legend 61 average don't mean squat .

  If the op had'nt played that 71 his average would of stayed at 61 but would he be a better golfer?

   

• alanti 10,564 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 9:40 PM

  Welcome to the Parking Lot.

  1. Do not worry about averages r stats, You have 500 rounds at legend to saturate your average lol so just enjoy. It was when I made legend I really started to enjoy the challenge. but personally the biggest tier  change  for me was making master with starters clubs.

  2. Yes downhill putts are slick and you need to learn where not to play the ball to or learn a new speed calculation for downhill putts. Wait till you play on champ greens lol.

  3. Part of the fun coming in from a mile away, kind of like real golf. Yes lower tier players have a yardage advantage, but this adds to the challenge. 

  As pointed out there are some legends who are  just  paper legends and have trouble stealing candy from a child, then you have the average joes like me who just play to enjoy the game. Not a bad outlook IMHO.

• Nikoshi365 1,521 Posts

  Tue, Feb 18 2014 11:13 PM

  I had a look at your set up thus I do not think you will be struggling for too long somehow

  Your clubs are equal to mine thus the distance you will be driving will be equivalent to mine, that means, with that set of R11s you got, you should still be putting the ball very close to the pin apart from maybe some of the horribly long par 4s

  As for the Tournament speed greens, I can only advise the calculation I use for my Callaways. It may or may not help but I use the following and most of the time have a calculator next to me or use the inbuilt pc calculator. The coefficient I use is 0.725

  So for example 12 foot putt I use the calculation

  12 x 0.725 = 8.7feet is the strength of the putt to hit

  As to compensate for up hill and down hill

  12 foot putt with 2 down = 12 - 2 = 10 x 0.725 = 7.25 is the strength to hit but because its going down hill maybe take a little bit off

  12 foot putt with 2 up = 12 + 2 = 14 x 0.725 = 10.15 is the strength to hit but because its also going up hill maybe add a little bit extra

  Here is an old table I used to use up to the 20feet mark for tournament speed greens not taking into account any up / down +  I always, like in real golf, add a bit more power to avoid coming up short, better to be 1foot harder with power than to scream at yourself for not giving it enough

  Tournament Speed
  Feet	Hit
  1	1,00
  2	2,00
  3	3,00
  4	4,00
  5	5,00
  6	6,00
  7	6,50
  8	7,00
  9	7,50
  10	7,75
  11	7,98
  12	8,70
  13	9,43
  14	10,15
  15	10,88
  16	11,60
  17	12,33
  18	13,05
  19	13,78
  20	14,50

  Hope it may help you a little in your new Tier

  Oshi

   

• PringleCraig 609 Posts

  Wed, Feb 19 2014 1:16 AM

  Hello Honkers,

  Yea, Legend can be tuff, and for me I became a hack again...... Never mind the fact that I didn't get here the long way, I did it by beating Legends in match play.

  Anyway, for putting, the easiest tool I use is an on screen calc.

  Rule of thumb.... 10ft flat is 7ft power. So, that's 10*70%.

  For a big up with a large curve/bend, the calculation is around 81-81%.

  For a massive down, you can calculate as low as 67% power. Try it out and you'll soon get your own feel on this.

  Cheers, Craig.

• ApexPC 3,164 Posts

  Wed, Feb 19 2014 11:22 AM

  1. Conrats! You be run'n with the big dogs now. The same scoring average thing happens to all new Legend tier players

  2. I use a base Tournament green speed factor of 1.3 for flat putts over 5 feet but less than 25 feet. Over 25 feet I start increasing the factor - 1.32, 1.35, 1.4, etc.

  So I divide the putt distance by 1.3 - 10 feet / 1.3 = a putt stroke strength of 7.7 feet.

  For downhill putts the factor gets increased as the grade gets steeper - 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 etc.

  Some courses, like Merion, have slow Tournament speed greens so for a flat putt you may want to use 1.2 or 1.1 instead of 1.3.

  Some tournaments have slower than Tournament speed greens, like this months Transamerica tourney on Congressional.

  Use a legal aiming aid for approach shots and reading putts:  http://www.wgt.com/forums/t/207460.aspx

  Need a smoother meter on the downswing? - http://www.wgt.com/forums/t/207124.aspx

  3. So what. Play your own game, and play it 1 shot at a time. If you can hit your longer approach shots closer to the hole than they hit their shorter shots you gain a big psychological advantage.

  The bottom line is you have to adjust on each shot for a range of variables - wind, elevation, distance, location of hazards and so forth.

  Attention to detail is a key to low scores. Avoiding major errors is a key to low scores. A positive attitude is a key to low scores.

  Whack 'em well.