naughty1:I am complaining about people who use upgraded clubs, and then feel that they are a better player than the person who uses regs, because they score lower. They score lower only because they are using the power tools. My point is a person shooting 60's with upgrades is the same person who is shooting 70s with regular clubs
There is a lot more to it than that, naughty. I became a master with all starter clubs, with 66.xx, but then if I wanted to have a chance in tournaments, I was forced to upgrade. It's hard to even hit the fairways from the master tees with the starter clubs. My rank went down to about 63, where I am now, so the difference is about 3 shots per 18 hole round, not mentioning that I am probably more skilled now than before. Upgraded clubs are not so easy to use, the swing meter is very fast, even with upgraded balls; they shoot farther, that's true, but the target (fairway) is a lot narrower, the angles are tighter. You need a lot of concentration, they don't forgive mistakes so much, for an error of, say, 1/10 of a second your meter will be way off center and the resulting shot will be a lot more to the right or left than with the starters. And then there is no such thing as a putter that can't miss. I had a Redwood putter but now i've gone back to the starter putter, 'cause I feel better with that one. You sink putts because you can read the lines, calculate swing, withstand pressure and hit in the center. I am a good golfer in real life and I tell you that, just like real golf, this game is all about approach and putting (go see TW's stats and some average pro's stats, and see for yourself where the difference is). Good masters, once they get used to starter clubs again, can probably shoot -3 to -5 from the Masters tees, and that is an excellent result.
My feeling is that there are too many people quitting games after 1 or 2 lost shots, so what you are looking at in someones rank is the average of the GOOD rounds, not the overall rank. I think WGT shoud stop unlimited round tourneys, there is no such thing in reality, and we would get rid of quitters once and for all.
I won't convince you, I know, but why don't you use a friend's nick and pw and try for yourself ? In any case, I would suggest you not to challenge the good masters (with or without starter clubs), or you might end up with no clubs and no credits...