WGT Golf News

Bandon Dunes is joining WGT in 2014, and they've just launched a BEAUTIFUL coffee table book that is the perfect gift for any golfer this holiday season.

Bandon Dunes: Golf As It Was Meant To Be features never-before-seen shots of every single hole at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort's five courses from award-winning photographer Wood Sabold.

Stephen Goodwin, author of Dream Golf: The Making of Bandon Dunes, provides narration throughout, while Bandon Trails architect Ben Crenshaw and owner Mike Keiser offer their insights into what makes Bandon Dunes so unique.

Learn More And Order Yours

The WGT Winter Tour continues in November and makes its first stop this month at the Old Course at St Andrews.

Players have been posting their best scores in this unlimited stroke play first round in hopes of making the top 50% cut in each tier and advancing to round 2 on Bethpage Black. Be sure to post your best score by 11/17 to qualify.

The historic venue of St Andrews has played host to 28 Open Championships. Jack Nicklaus once said, "I fell in love with it the first day I played it. There's no other golf course that is even remotely close." You can experience the rich tradition of St Andrews too, free on WGT.

The finishing hole at the Old Course can be daunting, but it is a great opportunity to close your round with a low number. Here are a few golf tips to help improve your score on the 18th hole at St Andrews...

Try aiming your tee shot at the R&A clock and swing with confidence. There is plenty of room in this wide, bunker-less fairway. In order to reach the green in regulation and avoid the "Valley of Sin" on the front left side of the green, as precise distance control with your approach shot is essential. Prior to hitting your approach shot, consider wind direction, distance to the hole and club selection. Good luck!

Play WGT Winter Tour

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Share your tips for playing St Andrews with us and the WGT community on the WGT Course Pages.

Golfweek has just published its 2014 list of the Best Resort Golf Courses in the world.

If you can't visit all these top-ranked courses, WGT gives you the chance to play them virtually!

Bandon Dunes Resort claimed an impressive four of the top spots, including #1, #5, #6 and #11. WGT is currently in the process of shooting a Best Of Bandon course that will be added to WGT in early 2014.

Also coming to WGT in 2014 is Pinehurst #2, host of the real-world and Virtual U.S. Open. Pinehurst #2 ranked 3rd on Golfweek's Best list, while Pinehurst #8, a course available on WGT, claimed the #70 spot. 

Other WGT courses that made the Golfweek list include: #2 Pebble Beach, #8 Kiawah, #13 Harbour Town, #29 Challenge at Manele Bay and #49 Wolf Creek.

One of our favorite holes is the 17th on the #8 ranked Kiawah Ocean course. The tricky par 3 is played over water to a tight green guarded by pot bunkers.

You can test your skills and play the 17th hole at Kiawah yourself, free on WGT without signup.

And yes, those sounds you hear while playing Kiawah are birds and the Atlantic Ocean. Enjoy!

The WGT Winter Tour continues in November, featuring three rounds of stroke play on three top WGT golf courses.

Post your best score on St Andrews by 11/17, and the top 50% of scores in each tier will make the cut and move on to championship rounds 2 and 3 for a double WGT Credit purse.

As a special offer, everyone who enters this 18-hole stroke play tournament will get one free Callaway Hex Chrome+ Slow Meter virtual golf ball.

Play Winter Tour

This free, multi-round stroke play tournament is played across 3 WGT courses: play Round 1 on St Andrews and post your best score by 11/17 to qualify for the single-play Round 2 on Bethpage Black and single-play Round 3 on Merion. The top 70 combined scores in each WGT tier will earn WGT Credit prizes. Open to WGT players in all countries.

You can now take a Gimme for putts that are close to the hole on WGT.

Gimme Putts are a great way to speed up games on WGT, so when you're short on time, just tap the ball in!

Hack and Amateur players can take a Gimme when the ball is within 4 feet of the hole, and Pro tier and higher players can take a Gimme when the ball is within 2 feet of the hole.

Try A Gimme

Gimmes are available in the following game types on WGT...

Hack and Amateur players (not in match play games)

• Stroke Play Practice/Ranked
• Skins Practice/Challenge

Pro tier and higher players (not in ranked rounds or match play games)

• Stroke Play Practice
• Skins Practice

Final rounds have been posted, and the results are in from Wolf Creek and the October WGT Winter Tour.

In the prestigious Tour Legend tier, GLADSTONESCREWER has captured first place as dansamcam and Saurabh08 round out the top three.

When asked about this month's WGT Winter Tour tournament, fourth place Tour Legend finisher fmagnets said, "I usually do well in CTTHs, so I enjoyed the challenge." The challenges of Pebble Beach, Harbour Town and Wolf Creek were well-played by champion, GLADSTONESCREWER, who posted scores of 35, 60, and 68 to claim the top spot on the leaderboard.

Wolf Creek proved to be a difficult layout for many players, including Top 10 Tour Legend finisher, Courtney01 from South Africa. When asked which venue was the most challenging, Courtney01 agreed, saying, "so far it’s been Wolf Creek...[I] have lost a few balls on Hole 2 and 9 trying to get distances down. But well worth it." A true test of skills, the rugged desert terrain was quite a final round challenge, pushing finalists to be on top of their games.

This has been an exciting tournament with some great rounds of golf posted across all tiers. Congratulations again to GLADSTONESCREWER and to all those who competed in the October WGT Winter Tour.

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WGT WINTER TOUR WINNERS BY TIER

• Tour Legend: GLADSTONESCREWER, UK
• Legend: mapewest, Italy
• Tour Master: BeachGolf, USA
• Master: buratino, USA
• Tour Pro: dsmithhi, USA
• Pro: Sportbilly33, France

The WGT Winter Tour returns in November with the first round being played on historic St Andrews, don't miss it! Plus, be sure to check back for weekly WGT Winter Tour news and updates...

It's Halloween in the USA, and we're celebrating by giving you a free Halloween virtual golf ball when you log in and play WGT Golf -- today only.

Get your free WGT Halloween Vapor Ball, featuring a spooky purple vapor trail, plus scary distance and spin.

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These also make great gifts, so go ahead and "treat" your WGT Golf friends to a cool virtual gift!

*Special offer available to WGT Golf players that log in on 10/31, receive one free WGT Halloween Vapor Ball (L0+).

Don't miss your last chance to win a trip to The Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida, by playing in the free Leadbetter Challenge tournament on WGT.

The top leaderboard score and one lucky sweepstakes winner will each get a grand prize trip for two, to learn like the pros.

We're also giving away Callaway and Odyssey virtual clubs to another 20 lucky sweepstakes winners, so post your score today!

Play Free Tournament

David Leadbetter is the new virtual golf instructor on WGT. Read his latest tip on Virtual Putting, exclusively for WGT players. 

*The Leadbetter Challenge tournament runs thru 10/31/13, is free to enter and open to WGT players in all countries.

Play this special free tournament with the new 3-Click Swing Meter for an added challenge.

In this new tournament format, players are required to equip the new 3-Click Swing Meter to participate.

Compete against WGT players in your same WGT tier in 18 stroke play holes on the sunny Cabo del Sol course.

Play Free Tournament

To change your WGT Swing Meter

• Edit Equipment
• Click "Meters" tab along the bottom
• Use left/right arrows to find "3-Click" Swing Meter 
• Click to select (you will see the "Equipped" check-box appear beneath if you've successfully equipped the meter)

*Players must equip 3-Click swing meter to play. Runs now thru 11/30/13 and is open to WGT players in all countries.

Thousands of WGT players are advancing to Round 3 of the WGT Winter Tour, played on the challenging desert course Wolf Creek from 10/25 to 10/31. The top 70 combined scores in each tier split a purse of double WGT Credits.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

The difficult course layouts of the 2013 Winter Tour proved to be no challenge for Saurabh08, a Tour Legend, who has posted two impressive closest-to-the-hole scores of 55 at Pebble Beach and 37 at Harbour Town. Saurabh08, a WGT member since May 2012, is currently leading the Tour Legends tier in the WGT Winter Tour for October.

Saurabh08 Career Stats

• Stroke Play Tournament Top 10s: 109
• Stroke Play Score Average: 58
• Hole-In-Ones: 4
• Skills Challenge Avg. Score: 59.06
• Average Distance to Pin: 12 ft
• Total Ranked Rounds Played: 1,162

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

Nashkurt of Singapore, currently 9th in the Tour Legends tier holed out from 180 yds on Hole 2 at Harbour Town during Round 2 of the WGT Winter Tour. Watch replay here.

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Make sure to check back weekly for WGT Winter Tour recaps, news and updates!