WGT Golf News

WGT Nation members, just for you this weekend, free rentals on WGT and WGT Golf Mobile.

As some of our top WGT players, we're always looking for new ways to thank you for your support, so this Saturday and Sunday try out all the virtual clubs you've had your eye on... Like the new Odyssey 2-Ball Putter and Cleveland Wedges, or the top-selling Big Bertha Driver/3 Wood and NIKE VR Forged Irons. All free.

Rent Free Clubs

Not a WGT Nation member yet? See if you're eligible and join here so you can rent free clubs this weekend too!

Find the club you want, click the RENT or TRY ME button and it's yours free for 24 hours. Rent and re-rent as many clubs as you want for free Sat-Sun, 10/4-10/5.

*Special offer available to WGT Nation members only.

WGT player ujjbnjk wins the Strike Out ALS Challenge, Tour Legend tier in the WGT Virtual Tour.

In the always-competitive Tour Legend tier, WGT player ujjbnjk from Sweden, took the top spot, shooting an impressive 106 on Merion to win the third major in the 2014 Virtual Tour. 

The top 70 scores in each tier have all earned a share of the huge 400,000 WGT Credit purse this month, to help them move up the season-long leaderboard and qualify for the Virtual Tour Championship in December with a record one million credit purse.

Congratulations to sebicu, fmagnets and demcug on their second and third place standings, a solid finish considering the competition.

Strike Out ALS Challenge Winners

• Tour Legend - ujjbnjk, 106 (Sweden)
• Legend - RTW1279, 113 (USA)
• Tour Master - befok, 120 (South Africa)
• Master - Yiannis1970, 119 (Greece)
• Tour Pro - mulligan46, 119 (USA)
• Pro - Jonn50005000, 116 (USA)

See Strike Out ALS Challenge Leaderboards

As we get closer to the Virtual Tour Championship in December (with a record purse of ONE MILLION WGT CREDITS), every credit counts to move you up the Season Leaderboard to qualify for the final showdown open to the top 70 players in each tier. In the Tour Legend tier of the very best WGT players, dansamcam has won four regular events and currently sits in the #1 spot in the Season rankings, while poldimaier, ujjbnjk and frenchconnect have each won one major, placing them high at #2, #4 and #5 in the season standings.

Virtual Tour Season Leaders

• Tour Legend - dansamcam (USA)
• Legend - RoarEMackElroy (USA)
• Tour Master- shagadelic (USA)
• Master - Yiannis1970 (Greece)
• Tour Pro - demondeacons666 (USA) 
• Pro - Jonn50005000 (USA)

See Virtual Tour Season Leaderboards

WGT players should compete in the Virtual Tour every month, to accumulate Virtual Tour credits and qualify for the December Championship. This month's tournament is the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Challenge on the Best of Par 5 stroke play course, featuring a mash-up of par-5 holes on popular WGT courses. Be sure to post your best Round 1 score by 10/26 to qualify you for the single-play Round 2 from 10/27-10/31.

WGT is very proud to be working with Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF to support the cause of helping kids in need.

Play the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Challenge

This classic top-seller from Odyssey is a great way to help improve your virtual putting game.

The Odyssey Tank 2-Ball virtual putter provides extra alignment, precision and a slower WGT swing meter to help you make more putts.

Plus, it features popular swing meter increments of 15, 30, 60, 100, 150 and 300 feet to help you better judge your swing.

See Odyssey Tank 2-Ball

New Odyssey Tank 2-Ball virtual putter unlocks for top players in the WGT Pro Shop at Level 62.

This week's Country Club of the Week is... A Band of Brothers, a club brought together by military service that have found a fun, competitive place to get together on WGT.

A Band of Brothers is currently ranked #36 on the Weekly Leaderboard, with more than 100,000 Weekly XP thanks to its 127 members. At Club Level 7, they have unlocked a number of country club benefits, including a free Putter Pal and Shot Pal for all of their members and earning +5% Club XP when members play using a Pass. Keep leveling up your club to unlock these benefits too!

According to the club officers, the club's mission statement is "...to provide military veterans and active duty personnel, as well as their families, friends, and supporters a meeting place to enjoy the WGT golf experience in a social environment that is both fun and competitive while providing camaraderie to one and all."

The club's Recruiting Director, CT690911, explains why he chose to join A Band of Brothers...

"When I joined the Band of Brothers during its infancy, there were a plethora of Country Clubs making me an offer to join them. The Band of Brothers stands for integrity, respect, honor. It's much more than just a social venue over a golf game. It provides a stability and home for many who have served and currently serve...as well as family and supporters. The structure of the club provides a familiarity to many of us, while its focus on fun, friendly competition and involvement means those associated with the club become like family. It is, IMHO, the finest Country Club on WGT."

The club officers each have a role (listed below) and have this to add...

"We continue to try to improve the club for our members.  We welcome membership input as the club is really about the members more than it is anything else.  We try to keep it good, clean wholesome fun as we have families that enjoy WGT with us.   Check us out!  If you are prior service and looking for a place to hang your hat and want to be an active member in a club, get in touch with our recruiting director and he can tell you all about our club and what it is all about."

• Club Founder & CEO, mgbirish
• Director of Member Services, phiber
• Tournament Director, TheDuckinator
• Recruiting Director, CT690911
• Chaplains, Duval509 and EddyTongate

The current Weekly Leaderboard below shows The Peoples Club at the top, followed by the Sherbrooke Country Club, the Senior Citizens, The old duffers retreat and IBIS GC A Unique Golf Club.

Play the October stop on the WGT Virtual Tour, the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Challenge on the Best of Par 5 course.

Play as many times as you want to post your best Round 1 score by 10/26, to qualify for the single-play Round 2 10/27-10/31.

The Top 70 scores in each tier will split the 200,000 WGT Credit total purse, which will be added to your ongoing Virtual Tour earnings, determining your season-long standing and qualifying you for the Virtual Tour Championship in December.

Plus, you get a free UNICEF virtual golf ball when you enter, and you'll help create more awareness for their Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF program for Halloween.

Play Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Challenge

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.

Past champions of the Virtual U.S. Open on WGT were immortalized today in New York City.

Sarah Hirshland, Senior Managing Director of Business Affairs at the USGA, received the Virtual U.S. Open Champions trophy from Ed Willett, VP Sponsorships at WGT, in front of hundreds of people during the OnDeck sports marketing conference.

The championship trophy includes the WGT usernames of all the Virtual U.S. Open champions since 2009...

• NASAGolfer (USA) - Bethpage, 2009
• BolloxinBruges (USA) - Oakmont, 2010
• mrenn29 (USA) - Congressional, 2011
• StoneColdKiller (USA) - Olympic, 2012
• Kriztjan (Sweden) - Merion, 2013
• poldimaier (Germany) - Pinehurst No. 2, 2014

There are two identical championship trophies, one at USGA Headquarters in Far Hills, NJ, and one at WGT headquarters in San Francisco, CA, both of which will be updated annually with the names of future champions.

Each of these past champions will also receive personal trophies for their own homes, and players are being contacted this week by WGT for current mailing addresses.

The next Virtual U.S. Open is coming to WGT in Spring 2015, and will be played on the stunning Chambers Bay Golf Club on WGT. See behind-the-scenes photo from WGT crew below...

Photos from Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, WA

Log in and play WGT during the Ryder Cup and get a free Team USA or Team Europe virtual vapor golf ball each day Friday thru Sunday.

Watch the top players from the USA and Europe compete, and support your country with either the Team USA or Team Europe golf balls. These special edition virtual golf balls give you additional distance, spin and a vapor trail for better visibility.

Log in every day and get 3 free balls!

Get Free Ball

*Special offer for WGT players who log in Fri-Sun 9/26-9/28, get 1 free Team USA (if in the US) or Team Europe (if not in the US) virtual golf ball each day.

Bonjour! This week's Country Club of the Week is... Sherbrooke Country Club, a group of francophone players (French-speaking) with three main values:

• Sociability: the "glue" of our gaming community
• Consideration: respect and sharing among players
• Cooperation: we are a team and we all contribute to make it better by participating in the life of SCC

Sherbrooke Country Club is currently ranked #2 on the Weekly Leaderboard, with almost 350,000 Weekly XP. As an active club with 250 members, they have consistently been a top-ranking club on the Leaderboard and are currently at Club Level 8. At Level 8, they have unlocked a number of country club benefits, including a free Putter Pal and Shot Pal for all of their members, earning +5% Club XP when members play using a Pass and now a player XP Bonus of +3% per round, when using a Pass. Keep leveling up your club to unlock these benefits too!

Club owner RemBeau is a Level 97 Legend and described the club in English and French for us (we've included the English version below)...

"Le Sherbrooke Country Club (SCC) was created in May 2011 by Odberg with the intention to bring together francophone players of all nationalities and for the pleasure of playing in their mother tongue language, even if the majority of members are bilingual. Subsequently, I took over keeping this primary goal objective and the values that we want to associate: 

• Sociability: the "glue" of our gaming community
• Consideration: respect and sharing among players
• Cooperation: we are a team and we all contribute to make it better by participating in the life of SCC

Members of the SCC are very faithful, ethical and very active, we currently have 18 Tour Legends and over 100 Legends with the majority of them started as Pros in our CC. That is why, even today, we welcome players of all levels and they have the opportunity to receive the expertise, tips and tricks of our most experienced members.

The total number of stroke play rounds played by our members is over 239,000, which represents more than 950 rounds per player, and that's not counting the countless rounds in Alternate, played for fun between players of the CC.

Started as a zero, we made a lot of progress over the years and we gain maturity, but more important, it is all the friends we have made over the years and that is priceless."

The current Weekly Leaderboard below shows the Sherbrooke Country Club in second place -- just behind The Peoples Club at #1 and just ahead of the Senior Citizens, The old duffers retreat and AUGUSTA NATIONAL CC.

Be sure to post your Round 1 score in the Strike Out ALS Challenge by Thursday, 9/25.

This month's tournament is a Major on the WGT Virtual Tour, with a total purse of 400,000 WGT Credits up for grabs.

Play as many times as you want to post your Round 1 score by 9/25 to qualify for the single-play Round 2 9/26-9/30, both on Merion.

Plus, you get a free ALS Association virtual golf ball when you enter, and you'll help create more awareness to cure this disease.

Play Virtual Tour

Major tournaments like this have a huge purse of 400,000 WGT Credits. These credits are added to your ongoing Virtual Tour season earnings to help qualify you for the Virtual Tour Championship in December with a record purse of 1,000,000 WGT Credits.

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.

This week's Country Club of the Week is... The WGT Alien Ambassadors, led by well-known WGT player, YancyCan.

Currently at Club Level 3 with more than 82,000 XP earned, all 22 members of The WGT Alien Ambassadors have the "wgt.com golf is FUN" attitude. Many of you may know club owner YancyCan from his YouTube channel, or his various in-game investigations on the WGT Forum (like the "Bethpage Black Squatch Hunt" and the more recent "Pinehurst Easter Egg Hunt").

Who better to explain the goals, focus and essence of The WGT Alien Ambassadors than the owner himself, YancyCan (PS: they're accepting new members!)...

"The WGTAA Country Club was founded for those individuals who believe in the "Yancy Hypothesis" which declares that Aliens from other galaxies are colonizing the Earth via golf courses. Our members will serve as ambassadors from WGT.com & Earth when 'first contact' with the Aliens occurs. 

Our members all have the "WGT.com Golf" is FUN attitude. Our member roster ranges in WGT skill levels from Hack to Legend and includes some well known WGT personalities. Our favorite pastime is to run club tournaments with some of the most unusual names ever used. Some examples are: 'A Fool, A Fool, I Met a Fool i' th' Forest,' 'The Opy & Yancy Mothership Open,' 'Talk The Talk - Walk The Walk Open,' & 'The Not So Merion Kind.' Other social events our members have strongly participated in are 'Bethpage Black Squatch Hunts' & more recently the 'Pinehurst Easter Egg Hunt.'

The WGTAA CC is not the most socially active club all up on the WGT and our member count is small compared to others. We think this shows that WGT Country Clubs do not all have to have 300+ members to be a great club. The running joke is that we tell new recruits that when they are on the WGTAA CC page: 'Shhhhhh be very quiet as likely we are napping.' If you are intrigued, we are currently accepting new members."

The current Weekly Leaderboard below shows The Peoples Club at #1, followed by the Sherbrooke Country Club, The old duffers retreat, the Senior Citizens and IBIS GC.