Hi all,
I started playing WGT a few years ago but never really took it seriously until the last year when I invested in some clubs and countless hours of practice. This post would be aimed at someone who was where I was at that time and while I'm not the best at the game of course, I've improved to average a good 10 under average per round. I also hope that maybe someone who's better or has something that I'm missing could chime in and correct me or provide some insight to improve my way of playing. Thanks
Intro:
First things first, the starter clubs and balls can only take you so far. There is of course many good players who can consistently hit dings and know how to play around the clubs/balls from years of experience, but they still don't play every game with the starter equipment. If you feel like you're being limited by the spin, distance or speed of the meter that your equipment offers, then you should invest (wisely) in some clubs and balls. WGT offers good services to get free credits if you didn't want to spend anything too.
In terms of what equipment to buy, the first things to look at is the putter, wedges and balls since at least half your strokes will be within 60 yards or on the greens. Next thing I would look at would be driver, specifically for distance because it's easier to control a 9 iron than it is a 5 iron with lower quality clubs. Last things are of course irons & woods. This helped me massively shave strokes from my game.
Wind:
Now getting into the variables we have wind. let's start with wind blowing straight into us or behind us first. I always divide the wind by 2 to find the yards to add or subtract. So say it's 12-14mph behind us, I will divide 12/2 to get 6 yards to subtract from my overall yardage. Same is true for wind blowing into us.
When the wind is blowing across us from East to West or vice versa, I divide the wind speed by 3 to find the yardage to account for. If it's blowing 13-15mph left to right, I will divide 15/3 to get 5 yards to adjust the aim left. Each box on the grid represents 2 yards so half a box represents one yard, I will eyeball how much I need to move it. I choose the higher number (15) because you have to account for a bounce and also spin when it stops can add another yard of lateral movement onto the end result.
When the wind is blowing in a direction that's not perfectly straight or sideways, I'll roughly calculate the angle to a maximum of 4 quadrants. We know at 45 degrees the wind effect will be half of what it is when it would have been straight, so I would divide by 2 in that scenario and use the same formulas as above. If the wind looks a little before or beyond 45 degrees, I will divide it by 1/3 or 2/3 respectively. There will be scenarios where the wind is slightly at an angle and in that case I simply divide it by 1/4 or 1/5 to find out the effect. It sounds complicated but you can do it in your head easily. For example: If the wind is 12-14mph roughly 30 degrees behind us, I will divide 12/3 to get 4 yards. That means the wind becomes 8 mph behind us, so I divide that number by 2 to get 4 yards of wind helping. The lateral wind becomes only 4 yards, so divide by 3 to get a little over a yard in lateral aim to account for it. Just remember divide the wind helping/hurting by 2 and divide the lateral wind effect by 3.
Elevation:
Elevation I treat similar to wind as in I divide the feet by 2 to find the yardage. If the hole is 18ft higher, then I divide by 2 to find 9 yards to add to my shot. This never changes regardless of wind, so quite a simple calculation.
Spin:
Spin is of course going to affect how long the ball stays in the air and how high it goes, so the wind or elevation will have to be slightly adjusted. I simply follow the same steps as above and divide the derived number for the wind by 2 and add it on or subtract it. The elevation doesn't change for me since I rarely approach the green with max topspin for it to have any effect. Adding back spin doesn't change either since the ball doesn't fly further (assuming no wind) it just lands further up than usual with a lot more spin at a very steep angle.
For lateral wind effect I only ever add on a yard or two depending on the break of the green or the distance of the club. A 3 wood hanging in the air will have a greater lateral movement from the same wind than a 9 iron so I would add maybe 2 yards to account for the spin and bouncing. You get the idea. A lot of this is pretty much common sense to reality playing golf.
Different effect for different distances:
Taking the entire calculations above into account, different distances will have less of an impact. For me, around 60 yards and under I will divide all derived adjustments by 2 because the ball is in the air for less period of time, has more spin etc... So say the wind is 12-14mph directly into us, instead of adding 6 yards I'll only add 3 yards. No change for distances about 70 and above are the same as usual.
Accounting for bounces/short distances:
Similar to above, your higher clubs are going to have a shallower angle into targets and your distances 40 yards and under are going to be using less overall power and hang in the air a lot less, only difference with the short clubs is they don't roll, so you have to add some yards on.
If I'm approaching the green with a 5 iron to a hybrid, I'll decrease the overall yardage by 10 yards to account for the roll out. If it's a 3 or 5 wood, I'll take off 15 yards. This is of course done where possible, don't aim into a bunker if that's what the yardage says, you just have to play around it.
With a *full* shot if the yardage is 40 yards or less, I always add 6 yards to the total.
Pitching:
I typically only use the pitch shot. For me, I always aim to land the ball 3 yards short assuming a relatively flat surface with max spin up until about 16 yards. When you start hitting shots 17-25 yards for example, you'd want to allow 4 yards of roll. This will change depending on the ball you use or club you have so whenever you change make sure to practice the new yardage to account for.
Different Lies:
In the rough, I will add 5 yards for every 5%. The typical rough values are either 25-30% or 30-40% usually, so I always have either 10 or 15 yards in my mind to add. Sometimes you may get 50-60% and you just add on the 10 or 15 yards accordingly. Similar to real life however, you will get less carry and more roll out of a thicker lie like 40-50% and above, so make sure you account for that if there is an obstacle in front of you like a bunker or water.
For bunkers, I add the same. Typically bunkers are 35-40% and I add 15 yards to start. If it's 40-50% I add 20, 50-60% I add 25 and you get the picture. I always allow for 5 yards of roll on bunker shot. If it's very up hill or downhill, you'll obviously play for more or less depending on elevation and how much green you have to work with or the steepness of the point you plan to land the ball on which has a huge effect on the shot out come. For example, if it's a severely steep lip on the green, the ball may run off the green, but if you carry it 4 or 5 yards further to a flat surface, you may have a 10ft at least. This may help you save some lucky shots now and again.
If anyone found this helpful I'll make a putting guide. Thanks for reading, hope it helps.