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Lovely Loophole or Unfair Advantage?

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 8:42 AM

  Here is the scene: It is monday and you sign up for all the Pro Tier events. You shoot a few low scores that elevate you to Master level. First stop is the Pro Shop to purchase the Master only 275yrd driver. You return to the Pro Tier events to compete with the advantage of the additional yardage the new driver affords, with excellent outcome. Possible? It is being done right now as we speak by a player with a rather dubious pedigree.

• marioh 1,055 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 8:50 AM

  Yeah, this has been brought up to WGT previously, but they haven't done anything about it as of now.  :(

• rustynipples 199 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 8:54 AM

  Its happening with me as we speak, got upgraded half way through month and when I submit score it still shows on the pro scoreboard.

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 9:39 AM

  Perhaps it is WGT's way to allow a player "one last day in the sun" before stepping into obscurity. If nothing else, it would seem to further delineate the charactor of a player who would take advantage of the "loophole" and consequently enjoy the rewards of playing with equiptment none of the other competitors have available to them.  

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 10:52 AM

  You should have to put the Master clubs back in the bag if you play a tournament while in the limbo stage.

• TarheelsRule 5,566 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 11:04 AM

  I agree with the previous comment.  You should not be allowed to use master clubs in a pro tourney.  I am still in the pro level, close but not yet a master.  I play with mostly standard clubs but I bought a Rapture Driver and 3 Wood about a week ago.  The advantage of having the master clubs and playing against me would be tremendous, 4 or 5 strokes a round I would say.  I don't think it would be too difficult to fix this.  The most simple way would be to only allow a progression to a new level once on the first of the month.  WTG should handle this.  In my case unless I can get a putter that is automatic from inside of 15 feet, having clubs that hit it better aren't much help.

• donsprintr 2,063 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 11:07 AM

  FYI .... for any pro players that are upgraded to master status during any month ... here's how it works ... If you are upgraded to master status (or tier if you wish), you will still shoot at a pro level for the rest of the period of any event you have previously signed up for ... for example, you sign up for the week 38 unlimited 9 hole event at pro level and are then upgraded to master class during the week. Any scores you card for the week 38 9 hole unlimited competition will be posted to pro class because you have signed up for a pro class event ... the same works for monthly events as well and for moving up from any tier to any other tier ... it should be obvious to the person that has been advanced to a higher tier that he (or she) now has an advantage because the tee box distances have not increased and i'm sure that mostly everyone is well aware that moving up in status increases the length of the course for the player... so please, everyone who reads this that has been advanced to a higher tier ... do the right thing ... play with the clubs you have that are available to all players of that tier ...

  WGT ADMIN SHOULD POST THIS IN A CONSPICUOUS SPOT FOR ALL PLAYERS TO SEE ...

• edchavez 488 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 11:23 AM

  WGT says they are going to fix these problems people have, but they really, and honestly, dont do it :(

• Faterson 2,902 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 11:47 AM

  TarheelsRule:

   You should not be allowed to use master clubs in a pro tourney.

  However, you see Master players commit a similar kind of "ethics infraction" when they participate in the tier-less International Open tournaments using their Master-only equipment from Pro (or even Amateur, back in August) tees.

  That makes those tournaments doubly unfair. Pros are not only forced to share the same leaderboard with Masters, but Masters are even allowed to use equipment that Pros are forbidden to buy.

• nivlac 2,188 Posts

  Sat, Sep 19 2009 11:57 AM

  At least in the tierless format, the Masters are playing within the rules designated by WGT.  Though it's probably not the wisest format in terms of equal competition, it's not really fair that Masters be called on an 'ethics infraction' for playing within the rules set forth.

  However, the 'loophole' is an unintended side effect of tier promotion, so I think we're dealing with two separate issues here.

  The loophole should be closed and tierless tournaments should be considered a failed experiment.