Nouvelles WGT Golf

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.

View Leaderboards

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.

Play WGT on the Web

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.

View Leaderboards

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

Get the newest irons from TaylorMade available now for top WGT players.

The new SpeedBlade irons have a low center of gravity that gives you a higher launch angle with more carry and less roll, helping with your approach shots.

See New SpeedBlade Irons

New iron set unlocks at Level 75, available in the WGT Pro Shop now.

Check out the new WGT Golf Mobile on iPad 2 or later, plus new TaylorMade Speed Blade irons, new tournament options, and a fun Halloween ball with some scary performance!

WGT Top Ranked Sports Game for iPad

WGT Golf Mobile is currently a Top 10 ranked sports game for the iPad in the US and many other countries!

You can download and play WGT Golf Mobile free for the Apple iPad 2 or later, with a high-speed Internet or WiFi connection.

Experience the upgraded performance and graphic experience. Log in with your existing WGT account and use your virtual equipment to play full stroke play, closest-to-the-hole and tournaments across six WGT courses. Continue the same games and tournaments on either the Web or Mobile.

Note, this first version of the game does not include multi-player games, country club tournaments, avatars or all the WGT golf courses yet -- but we'll be adding those as updates in the coming months -- as well as support for iPhone and Android mobile devices soon.

New TaylorMade Irons

Get the new high-level SpeedBlade Iron Set from TaylorMade to add higher launch, more carry and less roll to your approach shots. High performance ratings for distance, precision and spin make these new irons a great choice for players competing at top levels in the game. Unlock at Level 75.

Special 3-Click Meter Tournament

We're introducing a new WGT tournament option that requires players to use specific virtual clubs, balls or swing meters to enter a tournament.

The idea comes from players in the special WGT Forum tournaments hosted by WGTdbloshoe, that require using WGT Starter Cubs and Balls for an added level of difficulty. Player feedback was so positive that we've decided to start hosting more of these tournaments, and we thought top players would enjoy competing with the challenge of the 3-Click Swing Meter in a free stroke play tiered tournament on sunny Cabo del Sol. 

Play the free Cabo 3-Click Challenge now and remember you must equip the free 3-Click Swing Meter. Good luck and let us know your ideas for other Required Item tournaments you want to play next.

Ready-Go Popularity

Every Fall we see a lot more players competing in Ready-Go tournaments on WGT...it must be a carry-over from all the sports wagering and fantasy leagues for football and soccer season.

Ready-Go's are paid online golf tournaments on different courses (including Pebble Beach), which are limited to 50 players, with the top 30 scores all winning a share of the purse. They typically end in 24-48 hours, and you can play as many as you want. Check out the Ready-Go tournament page for expanded course and entry fee options, including...

Stroke Play Ready-Go's

$5 St Andrews Back 9

$3 St Andrews Full 18

$2 Bethpage Full 18

$2 Whistler Full 18

$2 Congressional Front 9

$1 Merion Front 9

$1 Royal St George's Front 9

$1 Best of Par 3 Back 9

$1 Best of Par 5 Back 9

$.50 Kiawah Back 9

Closest-to-the-Hole Ready-Go's

$2 Pebble Beach

$2 Manele Bay

$1 Kiawah

$1 Edgewood

$1 Royal St George's

Halloween Golf Balls

We're getting into the fall holiday spirit with special limited-edition Halloween virtual golf balls, featuring a fun purple vapor trail. Watch out though, these virtual balls actually have some scary distance and spin, so stock up while you can!

We'll also be running a special promo on Halloween in the USA, so mark your calendars to play WGT on 10/31.

(Editor’s Note: David Leadbetter is one of the top instructors in the world of golf, and the new virtual golf instructor on WGT, providing his personalized tips exclusively for WGT players about real world and virtual golf.)

Putting is hands down the most important component of a well-rounded golf game, and is as much a mental act as a physical one.

Prior to hitting a putt, top players collect as much information as they can about the entire green, and more specifically, the area between the ball and the hole. Your eyes are an essential tool in determining how a ball will react on the putting surface. Real world golfers have trained their eyes to recognize how a green slopes by observing what is in front of them, and are able to recognize the changes in elevation, the subtle slopes and ultimately the ideal line to the hole. While playing a real round or a virtual round on WGT, train your eyes to constantly pay attention to these slopes.

In virtual golf, WGT makes gathering this information easier, by displaying the exact distance and elevation, and placing a virtual grid on the green that shows changes in slope, elevation and speed. As you're looking at the grid, remember that blue is uphill, red is downhill and black is flat. Likewise, the speed of the dots on the grid helps to show the amount of break. How a putt breaks is directly correlated to how much power is used. When choosing a line to putt along, make sure to factor in how hard or soft you intend to hit the ball. I've found that like in real golf, less experienced players seem to play too little break or hit a putt firm enough, leading to a miss "below" the hole. Better players tend to play more break and hit their putts firmer, giving themselves a better chance of making the putt.

However, putting in virtual golf is clearly just as challenging as real golf, as there are many factors to consider, and you must get them all right to get the ball in the hole. Practice is essential in improving both real and virtual putting. Try playing WGT's Best Of Putting course for 9 challenging long putts on different courses.

One of my other favorite discoveries on WGT is the Reverse View, where you switch the putting view to behind the hole looking back at yourself putting. Changing the view will increase the likelihood of an accurate read and makes it easier to see the break, especially on downhill putts. That's another feature on my wish list for real-world golf!

So, the next time you're playing a virtual game on WGT or a real-world round, give yourself the best chance for success by taking in as much information as you can about each green. Make a mental note when you notice a tricky green or want to remember how a particular putt breaks. These notes will increase your chances of making a similar putt the next time you play.

All the best!
David