You should have read this a year and a half ago....
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The Frugal Player's WGT Club Upgrade
Approach
Whether purchasing credits is within your means and you
determine that you will spend real money or you intend to watch videos and fill
out surveys; there is no reason to spend WGT credits foolishly.
This post will explain one method of maximally
purchasing 2 improvements for each item in your bag and having what you need to
face the challenges of the Legend Tier. This
approach should get you to Legend Tier within a budget of 20,000 credits.
WGT offers numerous clubs and balls to purchase that enhance
your ability to play better (lower your score).
This post is not an attempt to judge the merits of all of the offerings
but rather to give an outline of what is generally needed, when and why.
At this time a new member of WGT receives the starter clubs
and one somewhat more advanced club: The Max Driver Level 0 with a 230 yard
average distance. These clubs are all
sufficient for the hack and amateur levels.
FIRST: Once you run out of the good balls that WGT
gives a new player the frugal player does not use their precious credits buying
balls. Rather they save for clubs for
the simple reason that the expensive balls better distance or spin will not be
realized with clubs that WGT gives you. I recommend either playing with the
starter ball, or the 10 credit WGT BES ball (at most the 64 credit GI2-S or the
65 credit Tour SD).
When the Pro level is
attained clubs and club purchases start to take on added significance.
Below is an outline of what you will need on a journey to
and including Legend Tier. Please note these are not in the order one should
purchase them.
Driver
Off the Pro tees the first thing you will find is that 230
yards is not sufficient a distance for a driver on a number of holes on many
courses. You will also note the starter iron set is not long enough for a
number of holes off the Pro and Tour Pro Tees for your approach shot. However, a player reaching the Pro Tier has
very limited options due to the level needed for a frugal set of club
purchases.
My advice is to play on with all the starters and save
credits by waiting until you reach Level 48 and purchase the R-1 driver rated
at 275 yards. If however it is too
frustrating for you to wait a viable inexpensive driver is the WGT Pro 9.5 driver
at 250 yards and just 250 credits until the L-48 R-1 is available. However, the
250 yards off the Master tees will be too short for many of the same holes the
230 does not work off the Pro Tees so it is a short term fix.
Once the credits are in hand and Level 48 is attained; the
R-1 takes care of two problems at once. The fairways are all reachable and your
starter irons are now long enough to allow reaching all the Par 4s in 2. The
R-1 is good enough that no further driver purchase is needed until you reach the
80s in Levels and are closing in on or already a Legend.
Wedges
Your wedges are the backbone of your game. There are a number of types available each
with different attributes. Generally the WGT wedges should be avoided as well
as any wedge until the late 20s in level. At that point the Cleveland, ATV and
Ping wedges start becoming available.
The objective is to replace your 50 and 75 yard WGT starters with
something comparable. A third wedge can be added but decide which irons you
will be getting first so you know which longer wedge to get. General rule of thumb is to evenly space as
close as possible your wedges and iron set’s pitching wedge.
If you have enough credits set aside for the R-1 then start
buying wedges at these lower levels before anything else. In yardage terms 60,
80 and 100 or 50, 75 and 100 are perfect - knowing that someday you will have
an iron set with a Pitching Wedge of 110 to 120 yards.
Wedges should be upgraded to the higher level wedges when
they become available but that will not be until you have a Level of over 80.
Irons
Lots of different thoughts here the R-11 irons in the 30s
are used by many well into the Master tier, but by the time you have your R-1
in your bag two other sets are either available or close to being available.
The Level 40s Max slow meter irons are one and the level 50s Ping G-20 which
was less expensive before they became the G-25s is the other set. Both are playable as a Tour Master and again need
not be replaced until you are in the 80s level.
My advice would be to either go for the R-11s or wait for Max
Meter set rather than the G25s just for cost purposes. The biggest problem
however with that recommendation is that the 200 / 205 yard distance for the
3-Iron is tough off the Master tees on a few holes even with the R-1 in your
bag.
3 Wood
The three wood is not used very often so it should be the
last purchase for the frugal player.
Once again there are many options.
Off the Master tees you will need a 230 or 235 yard 3 wood.
By Legend you will need a 240 or 245 yard 3 wood. A medium high or high
trajectory is helpful to hold the greens when using the 3 wood for an approach
shot.
Putter
The starter putter is pretty darn good. Many call it the
best club that WGT gives you for free. It certainly can be used until in the
Master tier. The ultimate in frugality is to purchase just one putter – the
Level 55 Daytona Rossa. Many Legends use it to very good effect. Most however
replace their first putter with a higher level one; two good choices appear to be
the Versa or the Nike.
Balls
Your ball selection is numerous and can, within a short
period of time, become your largest expense. Another post goes in to the
attributes of many of the offerings made by WGT so no attempt will be made to
repeat that here. The frugal player will
however initially minimize the cost of balls in order to save credits to
purchase clubs by playing with free or 10 credit balls. Once credits are on
hand and club purchases are underway a better ball does offer advantages, but
the frugal player does not jump immediately to a 450 credit ball that last 15
rounds.
WGT offers two balls that are relatively inexpensive, The 64
credit GI2-S and the 65 credit Tour SD. It should be noted the GI2-S balls last
longer than the Tour SD so they are even less expensive than they appear.
When the frugal player has determined that credits are being
set aside at an appropriate level for the final round of club upgrades the time
has come to determine which ball type is within their budget. Included in that
consideration is what your clubs and needs are for game performance. High Spin
clubs do not require high spin balls; faster speed clubs may require a ball
with a slower meter; now and only then should they invest in more expensive
balls.