WGT Golf News

Get a sneak-peek at Congressional Country Club, the site of the 2011 U.S. Open by playing in the front-9 closest-to-the-hole tournament. Cleveland wedges are now available in the Pro Shop for the ultimate in wedge accuracy. Please enjoy all the latest game improvements and let us know what you think in our forums or at members@worldgolftour.com

Virtual U.S. Open Front 9 Closest-to-the-Hole Tournament

Experience the beauty and challenge of Congressional Country Club in the first phase of the Virtual U.S. Open by playing the front 9 closest-to-the-hole tournament. You will get a sneak-peek of the course to help prepare you for the Virtual U.S. Open stroke play qualifying round on the full course beginning in May. Play the Virtual U.S. Open today!

Back-up the ball with the latest virtual wedges from Cleveland

Cleveland Golf is famous for their wedges and their latest CG16 Black Pearl Wedges are top performers. The combination of the Tour Zip Grooves and Laser Milled Surface technology provide maximum spin and precision. In the right conditions, WGT players will be able to back-up their approach shots, just like the pros! Available in 52, 56 and 60 degree versions and begin to unlock at level 26 and 74.

Check out the Level 26 Wedge and Level 74 Wedge here.

Last night we performed an upgrade in order to address some recent issues and we wanted to share the details with you.

We've resolved a problem with Country Club tournaments incorrectly preventing entry by some players, indicating that they did not have their country properly set.  It's now once again possible for all eligible players to participate in these tournaments.  For a list of eligible states/countries, please visit the FAQ document here:  http://wgt.com/help.aspx#countries

In a related error, some players were hanging at the end of multiplayer games where their country was not set correctly.  This should no longer happen.

The new level 88+ R11 club was not available for sale to the Pro Shop from a player's profile (not that you'd want to sell such a beautiful driver!)

New users found that in some situations, CTTH courses were not available until after logging back in. This problem has been resolved.

New users attempting to register using IE7 were encountering display errors with the Captcha security code.  The code should now properly display on all supported browsers.  For a list of supported browsers, please see the System Requirements here:  http://www.wgt.com/forums/p/635/2552.aspx  We recommend using Google Chrome for the best WGT experience.

We're sorry for any inconvenience caused by these issues and thank those of you who've sent us reports of problems.  If you encounter an error in-game please Right Click and file a Report.  These reports are very helpful as they send us information on the state of the game at the time of the error. These reports do not generate a response.  For other problems please send an email with your user name and a description of the problem to members@worldgolftour.com.

Thank you
-WGT

We’ve added some exciting new Closest to the Hole courses, virtual equipment and features to WGT. Please enjoy all the latest game improvements and let us know what you think in our forums or at members@worldgolftour.com

Harbour Town Golf Links

Harbour Town Golf Links is now available for closest-to-the-hole, Blitz and Country Clubs CTTH games. Harbour Town, the home of the PGA Heritage Classic and the par-4 18th, considered one of the most difficult finishing holes in golf, will challenge you with its difficulty and amaze you with its beauty. Play a round today!

TaylorMade R11 Clubs

New from TaylorMade, the top-performing R11 driver, 3-wood and hybrid. These long-hitting clubs with the white crown will give you unparalleled distance and precision. Set your self apart on the course and upgrade to the R11s today. Unlock at level 29 and 82.

Check out the Level 29 Driver and Level 88 Driver here.

Hilversumsche Golf Club

Hilversumsche Golf Club is also available for closest-to-the-hole, Blitz and Country Club CTTH games. Hilversumsche is one of the top 100 courses in Europe and is the home of the Dutch Open. Come see some of the best that Europe has to offer and play a game on Hilversumsche.

Play a round today!

Easy Ways to Get Free WGT Credits

Watch fun videos and earn free WGT Credits. We have made it even easier for you to earn free WGT credits by having short interactions with brands and advertisers. Simply watch short videos and complete simple surveys to get free credits. New activities will be available all the time.

Visit the Offers page today!

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

• 7 day Country Club tournaments now available

We’ve been busy! Please enjoy all the latest game improvements and let us know what you think in our forums or at members@worldgolftour.com

We’ve added some exciting new virtual equipment and features to WGT…

New Green Bay and Pittsburgh Balls

Special Edition Green Bay and Pittsburgh virtual golf balls based on our top-selling GI-SD Vapor Trail Balls. Support your favorite team or gift to your friends..

New Callaway Balls

New from Callaway, our top-performing virtual golf balls, the Tour i(z) for max distance and the Tour i(s) for max spin. Unlocked at level 33 and 35.

New TaylorMade Burner 2.0 Irons

From TaylorMade, the Burner 2.0 irons with high trajectory and long distance. Unlocked at level 15.

Updated USGA Championship Zone

Visit the expanded USGA Championship Zone and explore all our US Open courses with new tournaments, prizes and video highlights from the USGA. Find it under the EXPLORE COURSES menu in the game.

New Tier-Based Ready-Go Tournaments with Bigger Top Prizes

You can now play in Ready-Go Tournaments against only players in your same tier, so you compete against players with a similar skill level to increase your chances of winning. And when you do win, first earns now earns 10X the entry fee and the top 30 players still earn credits. New Tier-Based Ready-Go’s are currently available for Pro, Tour Pro, Master, Tour Master and Legend players.

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

• Concede Putt/Hole option in alternate shot games

• Oakmont available for country club tournaments

• Golf Digest Hot List awards in Pro Shop

• Improved display of ad above scorecard

The 100 millionth round of virtual golf on WGT.com was played on 1/22/11 by a player in a foursome on Kiawah Island Ocean Course.

Since all four players were part of this historic round, we’ve awarded each of them the 10,000 WGT credit prize. Congratulations to bluestarsman, RasPINN, Marscha and foxnet, who are all experienced WGT players.

More and more WGT players are participating in Multiplayer rounds, from Foursomes like this one, to one-on-one Matchplay, to the new Alternate Shot game in which two teams of two players take turns hitting each shot.

Thanks to everyone for playing over the weekend. We’ve got a release coming this week with some nice surprises for you all.

WGT

Sometime this weekend, WGT will hit 100 million rounds of virtual golf played.

It’s a big milestone, and to celebrate, we’re giving the player in the 100 millionth round 10,000 free WGT Credits, which they can use on new clubs, balls, boosts, avatars, tournaments and match play. We’ll post the winner here next week, with their permission of course.

100 million is a lot of anything, but it’s especially a lot of virtual golf, and WGT is by far the largest realistic online golf game in the world. And to compare WGT to real-world golf, in the United States there are about 50 million rounds of golf played every month across about 20,000 real-world courses. So WGT isn’t as big as real-world golf…yet.

We’re thrilled that so many of you are enjoying WGT. Keep playing…especially this weekend for more chances to win.

Fore!

WGT

We’ve been busy! Please enjoy all the latest game improvements and let us know what you think in our forums or at members@worldgolftour.com

Today's new features include a new Alternate Shot game format, Concede Hole and Putt for Match Play games and new virtual equipment!

Alternate Shot Game Format

We've been having a blast at WGT playing our new Alternate Shot game!

Alternate Shot is a new fast-paced four-player golf game where two teams compete against each other, taking turns hitting each shot, from drive to final putt. Alternate Shot is available in 9 or 18-hole stroke play games on Bethpage, Kiawah, Oakmont or St Andrews.

Just visit WGT to create an Alternate Shot game and invite your friends, or find a game with new friends, and be sure to set your status to "ready for a game" so people can easily find you.

OTHER NEW FEATURES

Add Friends Add friends during a game by clicking + next to a player's name. Adding friends makes it easier to find multi-player, match play, blitz and alternate shot games.

Concede Putt A new option to give another player their putt in match play and move on to the next hole.

Concede Hole A new option to end a hole that you're losing to help speed-up match play games.

NEW VIRTUAL EQUIPMENT

Holiday Ball The perfect gift for your WGT friends! A festive red ball with a tinsel-green vapor trail. Based on our popular GI-SD Vapor Trail balls. Special Edition. Limited time only. See the balls!

XP Ultra Boost This new virtual drink gives you 40% more Experience Points (XP) to help you level-up faster and unlock more virtual equipment. See the Ultra Boost!

Ping K15 Clubs The newest PING K15 clubs use the latest technology from PING that lowers the club head weight for higher shot trajectory and distance. Unlocked at Level 37. See the clubs!

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

• New Kiawah Island hole group for Blitz games

We have scheduled downtime starting at 11pm PDT tonight, December 13th, for product updates.  This downtime will last approximately 4 hours.

A list of changes will be posted after the release on the WGT News blog.

Thank You

-WGT

ADT is running TV ads on NBC this weekend during Tiger Wood’s Chevron World Championship, promoting the ADT Pulse Challenge on World Golf Tour.

Here’s the TV commercial that you’ll see as you watch Tiger Woods battle Graeme McDowell and Rory McIllroy and 15 other top pros.

Be sure to play in the ADT Pulse Challenge on WGT. It's free to enter and there's a sweepstakes prize for a trip for 2 to the ADT Skills Challenge at the Breakers Resort in Florida in November 2011. This amazing golf prize includes airfare, hotel, reception, dinner, VIP passes to the tournament and taping - plus the option to actually play in the ADT Pro-Am before the tournament. Wow!

Exciting news! World Golf Tour is adding Congressional Country Club, site of the 2011 U.S. Open, as a full stroke play course to the WGT golf game in 2011.

You’ll start seeing banners on WGT promoting a Sneak Peek of Congressional, a one-shot experience on Congressional hole 2, which is a challenging par 3 with a tough hole location. The USGA is also offering a special for WGT players to purchase tickets to the 2011 U.S. Open during the Sneak Peek.

In the spring of next year, WGT will launch a Closest-to-the-Hole and Full Stroke Play on Congressional, making the course available to all WGT players, as well as the annual Virtual U.S. Open that attracts millions more.

Congressional is a historic golf course in Bethesda right outside Washington D.C. which is famous for being founded and played by U.S. Presidents. Congressional hosted the 1964 and 1997 U.S. Opens that were won by Ken Venturi and Ernie Els. It’s a long 7,213 yard par 70 with rolling terrain, tree-lined fairways, challenging greens and water hazards. A true “Open” challenge in real life and virtually!

Congressional will join Oakmont and Bethpage Black as other U.S. Open Championship courses on WGT, all part of our long-term partnership with the USGA to host the Virtual U.S. Opens. WGT is also working on adding several other top golf courses in 2011 so stay tuned.