The problem the OP seems to have is expecting a set of free clubs to perform as well as a set that costs real world money, not really realistic. I'm sure he'll find a nice home at TWO though where he can birdie most holes at his first go. I mean, who wants to put in time and effort getting to know how to do something properly? Much more fun just to randomly smack a keyboard or mouse button and get good results straight away.
As to Flash and WGT needing to get their act together, I don't think there's a lot they can do about it. When Adobe releases a new version of Flash it sometimes causes unexpected problems with the game. This isn't really WGT's fault though, they get the game working with the latest Flash release and then along comes a new one and the trouble starts all over again.
I agree with finding an old version and sticking with it, I use 11.5 something and have very few problems with the meter. That's a big advantage with Maxthon, it doesn't update Flash even if you download and install a new version, you have to do it manually so can keep using an old one of you want. In my case Firefox is using the latest version while Maxthon (the browser I play in) is using a nice vintage one.