Kriztjan:
when i started playing this game about a year ago, i was amazed looking at the top legend scores, Bollox shooting 58s at Oak and i could not go under 65, and at that time R11 or Nikes balls didnt exist, but i wanted to be up there, so i tried to make legend as quick as possible, problem i had to low level when i got there, i could not compete with that current equipment, but i grinded away, stayed away from RG until i could get the Burner 2.0 and at lvl 88 i got the R11 Driver, my account was basicly empty at that time, i still remember it, it was Aug first and i had about 400$ in earnings, 1500c left after that purchase, i had deposited maybe 120$ until then. After that, when i had the best stuff, as all other top legends, i started playing all RG i could get my hands on, and i won some, i tried not to WD as my creditstock was low, i was at that time unemployed so all my earnings had to count, i got better and better and now some ppl would consider me one of the top guys, i have played alot and practiced alot to get where i am today.
So instead of crying about guys that are good, try and get there oneself by practice and play, if one dont have that need or motivation to become one the top guys, well, set you mark lower then.
ps, i still miss one or two 5ft putts
I followed also a similar route. I mean I joined (almost) 16 months ago but I waited to have played for 9 months before entering my very first ready-go and I played today my very first 500 credits ready-go. I don't play much ready-goes because I am not interested to accumulate useless credits but I waited to be competitive before starting to play them.
There are three obvious key points in this game
- Approach shots: you need to be as good as possible at this. Obviously, the closer you are from the pin, the easier putting is. To master this, play a lot of CTTH / blitz. Start with those with low wind to master distance and then play those with high wind to master wind. Once you can score low in a rather systematic way, then your approach shot will be quite OK. Systematic doesn't mean each time, but means most of the time. Nobody can play very well during every single round.
- Putting: To start, play a lot on Bethpage. The green are quite flat. You will then learn the distance and the influence of small breaks. You have to focus a lot before each putt and really take your time in order to memorize the connexion between the moving dots and how much the aim must be moved. After a while, just seeing the dots moving will tells you how much to move the aim, it will become "automatic" if, each time you putt, your are taking your time to let your brain memorize. Of course, we all have bad days where we don't feel well how much to move the aim, and this even if you are an experienced player and a good putter. After Bethpage, you can pratice your putting on other courses, where breaks are moderate like St-Andrews, Congressional and RSG (Kiawah is not very good for practicing, especially the front 9 where the grids are wrong at many places).
- Short game: because nobody can be perfect on approach shot, you will hit rough and sand now and then. You have to avoid bogey at all cost, so your short game needs to be good. To practice your shot from the bunker, again play at Bethpage. There are bunkers around almost each green. Shot on purpose in the bunker and try to par. Here also you should practice such as you can par in a systematic way. To practice your shot from the rough, there are several possible courses. Congressional is a good option. Again shot on purpose in the rough around the green and try to par.
Concerning the new tier:
Well, end of February there were 235 legends with an average below 60. I am not sure it make sense to create a new tier for those players.
But in any case, using the current average to create a new tier would not be a good idea. The way the average is computed was introduced back in September 2010, namely 1.5 years ago. Those who turned legend overnight never saw they average increases. For the others, the average stops to increases after 400 ranked rounds. So clearly you can have an average below 60 while you are shooting mainly score like 62-64. Indeed, the average is actually the average of your best 400 rounds, it tells you nothing about what kind of score you shoot the most (especially for those who play a lot of rounds). For example, take a player who turned legend 400 days ago and since then he plays 5 rounds per day in average. 1 round every 5 rounds he posts a 60 and the rest are scores like 62 to 66. Such a player has a displayed average of 60 while clearly his "real" average is significantly larger.
However, I understand very well the frustration of many legends who clearly cannot compete with the bests. I am myself completely amazed sometime to see the scores that are posted in some ready-goes. Not only the winning score, but how many low scores there are. For example here
http://www.wgt.com/tournaments/leaderboard.aspx?ID=f7f3b474-6ab4-49f3-9769-a01201013eab
I know it was easy pin location at Bethpage with low wind but it's from legend tee and single play (holes 3, 5, 7 and 8 are not gimme birdie at all). 16 scores at 28 or below and three 26. Clearly the vast majority of legends would loose credits there.
The problem is the huge distribution of strength among legends. Let's take average as a measure even if it's far from perfect. I didn't make a graph of the average distribution recently but I did it few months ago here
http://www.wgt.com/forums/t/68958.aspx
You can see that 80% of the legends have an average above 62.5 and 55-60% have an average above 65.
I don't have a solution for this problem but somehow there should have ready-goes for legends with higher average (or any other better measure of level of play) such as they play between them and let the beasts bests play among themself. But it's quite tricky to come with a good system without introducing a new kind of sandbagging among legends...
PS: I am also missing now and then 5ft putts, how frustrating it is :) .