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The thrifty newbie upgrade path - first wedges & woods

• KennyDC70 20 Posts

  Sat, Apr 11 2020 3:03 PM

  I've had that 60° Vokey it in the bag since, it's been performing nicely (consistent, stops the starter balls better) and thankfully I don't really regret purchasing it as it should work with a 3-wedge bag (an idea I like) later on. Probably not as nice of a <100yd advantage as I could've had by learning to work the 56° one instead, but good. I found the meter on the TM MG

  That is tricky decision Zirjo... being mostly on mobile, on paper I'm leaning a bit towards extra off-ding forgiveness and high meter. I'll be taking the rentals and deciding from there, of course. Should be a day or two until I'm at L51 and can make an informed pick, and a few days worth of videos isn't long too wait if I'm still a bit short at L55 for the driver.

   

  el3n1:

  the ONLY clubs I considered below L51 were wedges... that's it... everything else you will end up quickly replacing... You are close enough to the other recommended clubs... just maximize your XP and given this weekend is an XP booster weekend, take advantage.

  watch the video at the end of coin games, you don't get the 2 credits, but it does boost your XP earnings so decide which is important to you if the restrictions they impose limit how many videos you can watch.    

  10-4, I passed on the L44 Callaway - the distance boost was hypnotizing me a little, and hitting the Max Meter rental driver afterwards nearly as far (but straighter) cleared my head to wait a bit more for at least L55. I've thrown on my XP-boosting apparel and I'm doing some short practice rounds with a video after each  whenever I've got a few minutes to spare. I'm sure it's not perfectly efficient in xp/minute of play, but it seems to be working reasonably well.

• KennyDC70 20 Posts

  Mon, Apr 13 2020 1:30 PM

  GrindNGamble:

  How long did you have between reaching each of those levels? I'm coming up on these now and plan to use the 10% rental discount to buy what I plan on getting, but I'm not sure I'd have enough time between levels to earn enough free credits for all 3 items?

  Just from my lone facet of experience it's very possible to save up enough, even at a relatively high progression pace, if you're willing to put your nose down to the grindstone and click on some duller surveys, and go with only zero/low-cost balls. I took reasonably good advantage of the double-XP weekend and currently am at L54 (perhaps 55 tonight, Monday). Besides the 2 Vokey wedges, I've purchased the L51 3W and (barely) have the budget remaining for the L55 driver. I'll have to slow down just a little to be able to afford the Ping iron set and 3rd wedge, but not by much IMO. I believe I'm still ahead of the pace Zirjo predicted, which is why I went for the earlier (<L59 3W, <L74 driver) woods than the optimally economic, more patient path.

• GrindNGamble 14 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2020 2:24 AM

  KennyDC70:

  GrindNGamble:

  How long did you have between reaching each of those levels? I'm coming up on these now and plan to use the 10% rental discount to buy what I plan on getting, but I'm not sure I'd have enough time between levels to earn enough free credits for all 3 items?

  Just from my lone facet of experience it's very possible to save up enough, even at a relatively high progression pace, if you're willing to put your nose down to the grindstone and click on some duller surveys, and go with only zero/low-cost balls. I took reasonably good advantage of the double-XP weekend and currently am at L54 (perhaps 55 tonight, Monday). Besides the 2 Vokey wedges, I've purchased the L51 3W and (barely) have the budget remaining for the L55 driver. I'll have to slow down just a little to be able to afford the Ping iron set and 3rd wedge, but not by much IMO. I believe I'm still ahead of the pace Zirjo predicted, which is why I went for the earlier (<L59 3W, <L74 driver) woods than the optimally economic, more patient path.

  Yeah, I powered from about level 44 to level 56 in the space of about 5 days. Normally wouldn't complain but having also bought the 3W at level 51 and some wedges prior, there's really nothing left for the Driver. Will have to come back to it at a later date and instead aim for the Ping Irons when I reach level 59 (hopefully this will be after I save enough credits!)

   

• KennyDC70 20 Posts

  Wed, Apr 15 2020 12:13 PM

  GrindNGamble:

  Yeah, I powered from about level 44 to level 56 in the space of about 5 days. Normally wouldn't complain but having also bought the 3W at level 51 and some wedges prior, there's really nothing left for the Driver. Will have to come back to it at a later date and instead aim for the Ping Irons when I reach level 59 (hopefully this will be after I save enough credits!)

  I really went after the surveys for a while (both on a PC and mobile), which is how I managed to afford the L55 driver then. I'm very near L56, but about halfway to affording the (rental-discounted) L59 set even having purchased a few sleeves of WGT balls. I'm hoping to be able to reach the Ping iron set and 3rd wedge within about a week, but we'll see how it shapes up.

• MajorHooks 9 Posts

  Fri, Apr 17 2020 2:07 AM

  Nice to read your very enthusiastic posts as well as the very good advice given to you in this thread, Kenny.

  I bet you'll have a great career in WGT!

  I have nothing to add to the great advice already given on club and ball selection. But as a fellow mobile player I'd like to advice you not to wear your gear with the boosts when you play practice rounds - and personally I wouldn't wear it in coin games either. As you will/already have(?) realize the real WGT is never played with boosts. Here I talk about the many WGT tourneys and tourneys arranged by your country club. 

  Therefore, you risk wasting your time or even confusing yourself if you play practice rounds using e.g. spin boosts that will mess up your approach shots compare to when playing 'for real'. If your goal is to become a coin game master, then it is of course a different story. But based on how serious you have approached this game so far, I am quite sure you will soon be focusing mainly on WGT and CC tourneys.

  When I on rare occasions play coin games, I will only wear my Swing edge hat to boost driving distance. XP boosts of course make sense for you, but be ware of the spin, surface power and distance boosts!

• KennyDC70 20 Posts

  Sun, Apr 19 2020 11:53 AM

  Thanks Major! I've had to slow down a fair bit due to work/home projects for a bit, but I am still chipping away (heh) and learning. Got a few excel sheets going to help me learn the shots a bit more easily, but the 'feel' part is still most of my play.

   

  MajorHooks:

  I have nothing to add to the great advice already given on club and ball selection. But as a fellow mobile player I'd like to advice you not to wear your gear with the boosts when you play practice rounds - and personally I wouldn't wear it in coin games either. As you will/already have(?) realize the real WGT is never played with boosts. Here I talk about the many WGT tourneys and tourneys arranged by your country club. 

  Therefore, you risk wasting your time or even confusing yourself if you play practice rounds using e.g. spin boosts that will mess up your approach shots compare to when playing 'for real'. If your goal is to become a coin game master, then it is of course a different story. But based on how serious you have approached this game so far, I am quite sure you will soon be focusing mainly on WGT and CC tourneys.

  When I on rare occasions play coin games, I will only wear my Swing edge hat to boost driving distance. XP boosts of course make sense for you, but be ware of the spin, surface power and distance boosts!

  This did get me thinking a bit, it feels like been thrown off recently by a un-ignorable margin on some iron shots, and the only things I've changed were upgrading apparel after a few sponsor rounds. The driver distance is nice (and so is the putting forgiveness, must say), but I have to agree that I'm not enjoying the unpredictable nature of the other parts. Overall I'm not sure I'll be skilled (or game-wealthy) enough to really compete in tourneys for some time yet/ever, but as long as I'm still enjoying it and seeing some improvements here and there I'm happy enough.

• el3n1 4,502 Posts

  Sun, Apr 19 2020 2:12 PM

  Generally good advice @Majorhooks.

  The one nuance is... sponsor apparel, can allow a frugal player to play a cheaper ball competitively in coin games … if you are going to entertain yourself with them.

  People complain about remapping their clubs... but honestly... you can buy 5 or 6 sleeves of Srixons or 100 -120 sleeves of 10cr balls for the price of 1 sleeve of high end titleist.

  I think it can be worth keeping a separate set of notes for the credits you save in the long run and it is much more affordable to map a new ball for coins.  

  One of possibly a few exceptions is... when players enter showdown events, where credit and ball prizes are up for grabs... then they tend to want to play the setup that gives them the very best chance of scoring as low as possible.  Otherwise, you are usually just grinding out sponsor games to earn the apparel.  

  At any rate... there are a number of ways to approach the coin games in particular.  But I fully agree, you definitely want notes and more likely a higher end ball when you don't have apparel enhanced clubs, if you want to play competitively from the back tees. But until then, you can get by with lower end balls with good clubs on the forward tee boxes.

   

• MajorHooks 9 Posts

  Wed, Apr 22 2020 12:59 AM

  Almost all the weekly and monthly WGT tourneys are tiered, which means that you can be competitive almost immediately. You may not be winning (some multi accounts/re-starts/sandbaggers will likely make sure of that) but if you compete on a regular basis, you will over time find other player of similar skill that you can compare yourself up against. This is even more true if you join a good country club!

  Of course it all depends on what you want from this game. I have no doubt that you can have a lot of fun and compete against very talented players in the coin games. But personally, I would say you miss out on the best wgt has to offer if you focus mainly on coin games. I see two major issues (plus a lot of minor that I will not list here 😊 WGT please enable match play and alt shot on the mobile platform!!) with coin games:

   

  • Until you get the top level clubs/balls you will not be able to compete on equal terms, i.e. it is frustrating to get out driven by 50 yards!
  • Except for the (monthly?) show downs there are no skill based competitions. The coin league structure is based on earnings and more comparable to clashes where it is mainly time (and money) spent and not skills that decide the winners.

   

  My advice to you would be to find a good country club that runs some internal tourneys/leagues/cups and also start playing the free weekly and monthly wgt tourneys.

• KennyDC70 20 Posts

  Fri, May 1 2020 10:59 PM

  el3n1:

  The one nuance is... sponsor apparel, can allow a frugal player to play a cheaper ball competitively in coin games … if you are going to entertain yourself with them.

  At any rate... there are a number of ways to approach the coin games in particular.  But I fully agree, you definitely want notes and more likely a higher end ball when you don't have apparel enhanced clubs, if you want to play competitively from the back tees. But until then, you can get by with lower end balls with good clubs on the forward tee boxes.

   

  Sort of where I'm at currently - the coin games are fun to pick up here and there, and proper rounds when I have a bit more time to spare. Unfortunately, I've done a lot of coin games lately and generally played terribly in my last few tournament rounds, at least partially due to the differences. I would like to get the SE cap (driver distance+) and glove (driver meter) leveled up for higher coin games, and upgrade a few other pieces just for looks (effects removed) to help keep some more consistency.

  Funds-wise, I may actually be able to step up to a slightly higher-end ball if I choose to, in the 100-300cr range, without significantly setting myself back for further club upgrades. If I continue this rate of a handful of coin games and a couple of 9/18 hole rounds per day, some extra cost per round in balls is easily written off with a survey or two every few days, though I'll need to scan over the equipment spreadsheets/test results to get a good pick there, unless there's already an established mid-range favourite. Ultimately, I think I'd like to be able to play the same ball in all games, with driver/putting boosts in coin games but minimal/no other effects that might significantly throw me off in distance or spin in regular play.

   

  MajorHooks:

  My advice to you would be to find a good country club that runs some internal tourneys/leagues/cups and also start playing the free weekly and monthly wgt tourneys.

   

  Check and check (slightly), I'm enjoying the chatter and loads of helpful reading with TPC even as a mobile player, though the biggest social/advancement gains seem to be with mainly PC it has made my journey a chunk more engaging.

• GrindNGamble 14 Posts

  Sun, May 3 2020 7:08 PM

  I must be in the minority but I haven't seen the benefit of paid balls so far. I've tried some lower end ones and they do slow the meter, but the release on them is a lot less which has put my irons off. I still shoot better scores with my starter ball so have kept using that for now.