WGT Golf News

The "WGT 19th Hole" series focuses on featuring the players, personalities and country clubs that make up the global WGT community.

YankeeJim - An East Coast Guy with a Lot to Say

WGTer YankeeJim is an original ("OG") player, who has been actively playing WGT and contributing to the forums since 2009. He discovered WGT as a replacement for his old golf game (of 10 years!), just after the Bethpage Black course had been added to the game and says, "It was quite addicting, especially if you're a real golfer, like I am."

YankeeJim lives in New York ("God's Country - Upstate New York" to be exact), about 3 1/2 hours west of Bethpage Black. He says, "Upstate is just like what you see on that course" and that "the first time [he] ever saw Upstate New York [he] knew [he] wasn't leaving."

A west coaster's look at New York – if they've never seen it – is New York City. That's what I knew in my mind, and when I was presented with the opportunity to move to New York I wasn't thrilled. I didn't want to live in the big city. Heh, shows what I knew. I flew into Syracuse and drove to Rochester to find a place to live, and was absolutely astounded by what I saw. The drive from Syracuse to Rochester on the NYS Thruway knocked me out. I couldn't believe the cornfields and cows and farmhouses and all the space! This ain't the big city, this is home! That was 36 years ago."

Aside from being a proud New Yorker, YankeeJim is a self-taught cabinetmaker: "I design and build custom kitchens, I do it from scratch and I work alone. I like to say I do for a living what most guys do for a hobby. It's hugely rewarding." Check out these pictures he shared with us from a recent project:

So, why do you play WGT?

"I became totally immersed in the game and the community is a bonus. I've been a forum rat from the start and totally enjoy the characters and discussions that fill it daily. It's also a great way to share stuff, especially game specifics. I have zero patience with players that blame the game for their shortcomings. I play the same game and I can explain 99% of my results, so I'm sure it's the same for anybody that pays attention."

"As such an experienced player, we asked what advice he would give to new WGT players. His advice: "I have always played this game by feel...In fact, I learned early on if you play this game with the same mindset you play a real course, you will do well. Learn your clubs and play smart around the courses. Bethpage Black was brutal with starter gear and I couldn't qualify for the first VUSO because I couldn't get better than 66 and I think the cut was low 60s." Put more simply, "You can't do anything about the shot you just made, pay attention to the next one."

What's in YankeeJim's Virtual Golf Bag

• TaylorMade R1
• TaylorMade R11s 3 Wood (can't hit the Big Bertha to save my life)
• Nike Vapor Irons
• Cleveland CG16 Wedges
• Nike Method Putter
• Nike 20XI-X Balls 

"I have always played with the best equipment available. I like the Nike balls because the Vapor carry is close to the rated distance with them. Knowing club carry is the biggest thing to learn, IMO, and the combination makes it easy to play by feel. Judicious use of the spin required."

Besides playing WGT and building beautiful cabinetry, you can find YankeeJim spending time with his family, taking care of his wife who lives with MS and cheering on the New York Yankees -- here he is at a game with his two sons!

Thanks for sharing, YankeeJim, and good luck in this year's Virtual U.S. Open...make that cut!

WE WANT TO GET TO KNOW YOU!  If you'd like us to feature you or someone you know in a future "WGT 19th Hole" profile, please let us know at: players[at]wgt.com.

Be the first to win an exclusive WGT Virtual Tour champion avatar, by competing in the final tournament of the Jan-Mar Quarterly Season in the WGT Virtual Tour.

Play the Chambers Bay Championship Major, featuring an unlimited play first round (3/1-3/25) and two single-play final rounds (3/26-3/28 and 3/29-3/31) to determine your final score. The top 70 combined scores in each Pro-Champion tier will split a total purse prize of 200,000 WGT Credits, plus the winners will get to "wear" the new champion crown for the following month.

Play March Major

NEW this year, winners of each Pro-Champion tier in both the monthly tournaments and Quarterly Seasons will automatically display new "reigning champion" icons next to their player name during their reign (through the next month). Plus, each Quarterly Season champion (Pro-Champion tier) will receive an exclusive WGT avatar that's theirs to keep.

Every player that enters the March Chambers Bay Championship tournament will receive a free Chambers Bay virtual golf ball, just for playing!

Follow full WGT Virtual Tour coverage on Golf Channel, including online scores, virtual leaderboards, updates and even interviews with WGT players, just like the professional tours. See Golf Channel Coverage.

Play the Swing Into Spring SkyTrak Challenge tournament on WGT and you could win a free SkyTrak personal launch monitor with new WGT integration!

Spring is around the corner, so what better way to prepare to get back out on the course than swinging your own clubs?

This tournament is going on now and runs through 3/14, so be sure to play now for your chance to win. One lucky sweepstakes winner will be chosen at random to receive a free SkyTrak with a year's subscription featuring WGT Golf.

Win a SkyTrak 

This tournament is open for all WGT players to enter, but only eligible countries can win. See rules for details and eligibility.

Champion tier Tasor wins the Pinehurst No. 2 Open, the second tournament of the 2016 Jan-Mar WGT Virtual Tour Quarterly Season!

With an impressive first round score of 53, Tasor finishes the tournament with a final combined score of 109, with players fmagnets and tiburn7k7k close behind with 111.

The competition is heating up in the Champion tier, with Tasor and fmagnets battling for the top spot. In January's Bandon Dunes Challenge, fmagnets edged out Tasor with a final score of 81, with Tasor, WaLk0fLiFe and Saurabh08 close behind, finishing tied at 82. 

The Jan-Mar Quarterly Season concludes this month with the first Major tournament of the year, the Chambers Bay Championship, going on now!

Be sure to get your first round score posted by 3/25.

Play Chambers Bay Championship in March

January Bandon Dunes Challenge Winners

• Champion - fmagnets, 81 (UK)
• Tour Legend - Legaci, 84 (Canada)
• Legend - Hannsi, 86 (Germany)
• Tour Master - Vaibhav5viv, 88 (India)
• Master - Indianator, 92 (India)
• Tour Pro - ZiggyWoods83, 95 (Canada)
• Pro - SteveR470, 97 (UK)

See full Bandon Dunes Challenge Leaderboards

February Pinehust No. 2 Open Winners

• Champion - Tasor, 109 (Germany)
• Tour Legend - Legaci, 109 (Canada)
• Legend - Hannsi, 111 (Germany)
• Tour Master - Indianator,124 (India)
• Master - Lehrjet4, 120 (USA)
• Tour Pro - BigGameB0B, 124 (USA)
• Pro - baug1118, 121 (USA)

See full Pinehurst No. 2 Open Leaderboards

2016 Jan-Mar Quarterly Season Leaders, by tier

• Champion - fmagnets (UK)
• Tour Legend - Legaci (Canada)
• Legend - Corwyn (USA)
• Tour Master - Fionan1 (Ireland)
• Master - ZiggyWoods83 (Canada)
• Tour Pro - Robertdh23 (USA)
• Pro - KingGambit (Australia)

See full Jan-Mar Quarterly Season Standings

Follow full WGT Virtual Tour coverage on Golf Channel, including online scores, virtual leaderboards, updates and even interviews with WGT players, just like the professional tours. See Golf Channel Coverage.

Play Oakmont, now with new hole locations, in the Virtual U.S. Open Front 9 Challenge.

Oakmont Country Club is the host of the 2016 U.S. Open, and you can take an early look at the course in the Front 9 closest-to-the-hole tournament on WGT.

Play Front 9 Challenge

Post your best score in this unlimited play tournament for your chance to win a $500 USGAshop.com gift card, both the leaderboard winner and a lucky sweepstakes winner chosen at random will get one! See rules for details and eligibility.

Play CC Event #18 going on NOW through Sun. 2/28 at 12PM, featuring the best guilt-free pizza you've never tasted.

Get your country club together and compete against other clubs in this weekend's CC Event for in-game rewards, club pride and these killer pizza box tee markers and flags.

Go to Country Club Page 

CC Events allow WGT Country Clubs to compete against each other for golf glory and special in-game rewards. The club that earns the most total points from their Clashes wins. Each Event is made up of Club Clashes that last for a limited amount of time (usually a few hours). When your club enters the event, you'll get matched with another club close to your skill level, and a timer will show how much time is left in that Clash. Club members from both clubs can play as many rounds as they want during that time, using Club Passes and Superpasses to earn points.

Learn more about CC Events and Club Clashes

See what’s new on WGT today, including new Cobra virtual clubs and reminder that it’s time to start training for the 2016 Virtual U.S. Open!

Cobra F6+ Driver

Get the latest driver from Cobra on WGT, for more distance and a slower WGT swing meter, now available for high-level players.

The new Cobra King F6+ virtual driver is available now in the WGT Pro Shop in blue, green, orange and white, unlocking at Level 5 and Level 63 (NEW). 

See New Cobra Drivers

Cobra F6 Wood

Get the new King F6 virtual 3 wood on WGT, Cobra’s longest and most forgiving, with a slower WGT swing meter to make your shots easier to hit.

Unlocking at Level 7 and Level 64, the new 3 woods are available now in the WGT Pro Shop in blue, green and orange.

See New Cobra 3 Woods

2016 Virtual U.S. Open

It’s back! The Virtual U.S. Open tournament is back again this year on the challenging Oakmont Country Club course.

This year’s event kicks off March 1 with the Virtual U.S. Open Front 9 Challenge tournament, featuring 9 new shots on this player-favorite course.

Get your training in now for the Front 9 Challenge, the Back 9 Challenge (coming in April) and the main event, the full 18 Virtual U.S. Open Qualifier (starting in May).

Practice Mode

Other Fixes and Improvements

Match Play – Fixed a hang that occasionally happened at the end of Match Play games

Timeouts – Some players that played multiple, consecutive games experienced incorrect timeouts that have now been fixed

Three lucky WGT Country Clubs won the opportunity to design the new "Best Of" courses on WGT, here's a behind-the-scenes look at who the clubs are and how they made their decisions.

December's CC Event #14 featured a special prize for the top three finishing clubs, the chance to design one of the new "Best Of" courses including Best of Par 3, Best of Par 4 and Best of Par 5. Those clubs (in the order they ranked on the leaderboard) were: The Georgian, Majestic Mountain and WGTAMIGOS. Here are their stories..

Best of Par 5: The Georgian

Club Owner: ssommers

When asked about winning CC Event #14, ssommers said: "I would say roughly 40 members or so were involved. Maybe a bit more. The club was very fortunate in finding great everyday players who enjoy playing WGT, that's what I think it boils down to."

Best of Par 5 Course Design:

Hole 1: Pebble Beach hole 2

Hole 2: Chambers Bay hole 4

Hole 3: Kiawah hole 16

Hole 4: Merion hole 2 

Hole 5: Pinehurst No. 2 hole 5

Hole 6: St Andrews hole 5

Hole 7: Royal St. George's hole 7

Hole 8: Bethpage Black hole 13

Hole 9: Chambers Bay hole 8

Hole 10: Pebble Beach hole 6

Hole 11: Kiawah hole 11

Hole 12: Merion hole 4

Hole 13: St Andrews hole 14

Hole 14: Pinehurst No. 2 hole 10

Hole 15: Olympic Club hole 16

Hole 16: Royal St. George's hole 14

Hole 17: Congressional hole 6

Hole 18: Chambers Bay hole 18

Best of Par 4: Majestic Mountain

Club Owner: PeteGherardini

"The members of Majestic Mountain voted for the holes that they liked playing the most, we also wanted to put a lot of the new courses in our lineup. We feel that you must pay attention to what you are doing on these holes or you could make bogey or worse, yet wanted to make them the best holes not the hardest holes and sometimes the two overlap. We have looked at all 3 setups and in our opinion they are all GREAT, congratulations to the other 2 clubs on their setups."

Thanks,

The members of Majestic Mountain

Best of Par 4 Course Design:

Hole 1: Pebble Beach hole 1 

Hole 2: Merion hole 11

Hole 3: Royal St. George's hole 4

Hole 4: Chambers Bay hole 6

Hole 5: Olympic Club hole 18 

Hole 6: Pebble Beach hole 8

Hole 7: St Andrews hole 1

Hole 8: Pinehurst No. 2 hole 7 

Hole 9: Chambers Bay hole 12

Hole 10: Congressional hole 17

Hole 11: Royal St. George's hole 18 

Hole 12: Bethpage Black hole 1 

Hole 13: Congressional hole 18 

Hole 14: Chambers Bay hole 7

Hole 15: Pebble Beach hole 3

Hole 16: Kiawah hole 9 

Hole 17: Bethpage Black hole 15

Hole 18: St Andrews hole 17

Best of Par 3: WGT AMIGOS

Club Owner: shovlovin

"Hats off to all involved in the designing of the new Par 3, 4 and 5 courses, a good job well done in my opinion. Country Clubs are the glue that holds it all together so to let them have the choice in setting these courses was a brilliant idea from WGT, well done all."

Best of Par 3 Course Design:

Hole 1: Pebble Beach hole 7

Hole 2: Royal St. George's hole 11

Hole 3: Merion hole 3

Hole 4: St Andrews hole 11

Hole 5: Pinehurst No. 2 hole 9

Hole 6: Bandon Trails hole 5

Hole 7: Bethpage Black hole 3

Hole 8: Congressional hole 10

Hole 9: Olympic Club hole 3

Hole 10: Chambers Bay hole 9

Hole 11: Kiawah hole 5

Hole 12: Chambers Bay hole 17

Hole 13: Bandon Dunes hole 12

Hole 14: Bandon Preserve hole 9

Hole 15: Merion hole 9

Hole 16: Pebble Beach hole 5

Hole 17: Kiawah hole 17

Hole 18: Merion hole 17

Play "Best of" courses

TGI-(almost the weekend!) To help get you there a little faster, take advantage of this special offer to get 3 free MAX virtual golf balls when you buy 2,000 or more WGT Credits.

Through tomorrow, you'll get 3 free MAX Slow Meter balls when you buy 2,000 or more WGT Credits. These are some of our most popular virtual golf balls on WGT, giving you good overall distance and a slower WGT swing meter, making all your clubs easier to hit.

Plus, Amateur tier and higher will get the MAX Slow Meter Balls with gold vapor trails to help you trace your shots through the air.

Get Free MAX Balls

Use your WGT Credits to upgrade your virtual equipment and compete in paid games for prizes.

Note, the free MAX virtual golf balls will automatically be added to your inventory but not automatically equipped. To use them, just open your Equipment and equip the new MAX balls from your inventory.

*Special offer for players who buy 2,000 or more WGT Credits today through tomorrow (2/18/16-2/19/16), receive 3 free MAX Slow Meter virtual golf balls (Hack) or MAX Slow Meter Gold Vapor virtual golf balls (Amateur+).

Offer valid on ONE 2,000 or more WGT Credit purchase only.

The "WGT 19th Hole" series focuses on featuring the players, personalities and country clubs that make up the global WGT community.

stevereilly - Lover of Beer, Futbol and Virtual Gear

Stevereilly lives in England and has been a WGTer since 2010. He's the owner of the BRIDGESTONE Golf club and has shot an impressive 17 holes-in-one!

You guessed it, this WGTer goes by the name, "Steve" outside the game and was nominated by gdog8, a "Veteran" member of his country club.

Here's what Steve had to say about his time with WGT:

"I'm one of those players who was suffering from a lack of imagination when I picked my WGT username, as it's my real name Steve Reilly.

I started playing WGT in October 2010, and was hooked straight away. I have a lot of laughs reading the forums and playing Alt shot games, as there are some real characters out there in WGT land. For me, WGT first started as an escape from the boredom of working out of town, constantly getting frustrated by dodgy hotel internet access affecting my meter. However, as time has passed I've made a lot of real friends on here, and I've met up with a couple of the guys in real life and shared a few drinks. (That's awesome, send photos next time!)

WGT has taken up a lot of my spare time, and as such I've become a bit of a virtual gear freak. My bag is basically a set of the most expensive clubs in the Pro Shop (bar the Golden putter).

I occasionally get in touch with owners of new up-and-coming CCs and sponsor prizes for their members to compete for, because as the owner of Bridgestone Golf CC I know how much time and effort it takes to run a successful CC and there are a lot of good Country Clubs out there.

To give some tips to newer players, I'd say set yourself an achievable goal. Then, when you have reached that goal, set the bar a little higher. I am always looking at my stats to see where I should improve, and am quite proud of the 17 holes in one and 9 double eagles gained over the years, though I still look at others' stats who have even greater numbers and try to reach their levels.

Thanks for sharing Steve! You can check out the Bridgestone Golf Country Club HERE.

WE WANT TO GET TO KNOW YOU! If you'd like us to feature you or someone you know in a future "WGT 19th Hole" profile, please let us know at: players[at]wgt.com.