WGT Golf News

Joining a club is fun and easy. All you need to do to get started is to navigate to the Country Club page via the link located at the top bar of your browser window.

Now, browse through the list of Country Clubs listed in the Country Club Search area, or type in the name of the Country Club you wish to join and press the Search button.

Once you've found the club you'd like to join, click on the Country Club name and you'll be taken to that Country Club's home page. To request membership in this club, you'll beed to click on the REQUEST MEMBERSHIP button. A request email will be sent to the owner of the club, and if they approve your request, you'll be given notification of your entry into their Country Club. It's that easy!

If you ever decide to leave the club you've joined, simply navigate to the Country Club home page and press the QUIT COUNTRY CLUB button. .

If you'd like to create your own Country Club, navigate to the Country Club page via the link located at the top bar of your browser window.

Press the CREATE A COUNTRY CLUB button to start the Country Club creation process.

Next, choose a name for your new country club.

The minimum charge for creating a Country Club is 50 credits, which will provide you with a 15 member club with its own private Club Forum. If you have enough credits and are satisfied with the name you've chosen, press the PURCHASE CLUB button. You can also go back if you want to choose another name. Last chance, though, so pick a name you really like!

You can select the BOOKMARK THIS button to bookmark the URL of your Country Club in your browser for easy access.

Congratulations! You've just made your own Country Club!

Now, let's fill in some of the extras. First, start by customizing the appearance of your Country Club page. Choose a banner for your Country Club, and then select a logo for your club. You can choose to upload your own logo if you wish. Once you've made your choices, press CONTINUE.

It's no fun to be in a club by yourself! Let's invite some friends next. Choose from a list of your existing friends, or invite some people that haven't joined WGT yet to your club by typing in their email addresses. You can also enter a customized message to the people you invite. Once you're ready, press the SEND INVITATIONS button. The people you invite will receive a notification of your invitation, and once they accept, they'll be in your club!

You can also invite people to join your club by visiting their profile and clicking the INVITE TO COUNTRY CLUB button. They'll receive notification of your wish for them to join your club, and once they accept, you'll have a new member!

As an owner of a Country Club, you'll be given some tools to manage your club. You can find these Owner Tools on your Country Club home page. You can also choose to invite more people to your club from here, or access the club forum (we'll get to that in a bit).

You can update your club's appearance if you'd like to change the banner or logo.

You can transfer ownership of your club to another member if you decide that you don't want to manage the club any longer. Choose a person on the list to transfer the club to, and they'll be given notification of your desire to hand things over to them.

If you're looking to recruit new members into your club, you can choose to have your club show up in a search for clubs looking to recruit members. If you've decided you have enough people in your club and don't want your club to be found in a search for clubs looking for new members, you can select that option instead.

Should you ever wish to close your Country Club for any reason, you can do that here. A confirmation popup will appear, just to make sure you really want to close your club.

Your Country Club comes with its own private Club Forum. You and the members of your club can locate the CLUB FORUM button on the home page of your Country Club.

Your Club Forum page operates much like our main forum page. You can create topics for discussion by selecting the WRITE A NEW POST button, or you can read and comment on topics already created.

There are only a few basic rules for Country Clubs.

• You must be of Amateur rank or higher to create a Country Club. There are no restrictions on tier level if you just want to join someone else's club.
• You can only belong to one Country Club at a time. If you are the owner of a Country Club and you wish to join someone else's club, you'll first have to either transfer ownership of your existing club to another qualifying members, or close your club entirely before you are eligible to join another club
• The current limit on enrollment in any Country Club is 250 members.

Connect with Friends by Creating Your Own Country Clubs

You now have the ability to create and join Country Clubs, groups of up to 15 WGT players. Each Country Club will have its own private forum, allowing WGT users to stay connected with their fellow club members. Create a club and invite your friends, or join an existing club and meet new people.

Compete in Our New Facebook Game

Now you can play an exciting closest-to-the-hole challenge on our new WGT Blitz Golf Facebook game. Compete for prizes in Facebook-only tournaments, and play alongside your friends for highest combined team scores.

Give Yourself a Competitive Edge with New Clubs and Equipment Updates

The 2010 Rapture V2 Amateur Full Set, the first club set designed specifically for the Amateur tier, provides a perfect balance of forgiveness and power. Now available for purchase in the Pro Shop.

The 2009 Ping Rapture V2 Pro clubs will no longer be available for purchase in the Pro Shop. They have been replaced by the The 2010 Rapture V2 Pro Full Set which feature improved consistency and precision as well as a slightly faster swing meter.

Any Pro equipment can now be gifted to Pro and Master players.

Track Your Accomplishments with These New Awards

Round and Round - Complete number of rounds played
Green Thumb - Number of greens hit in regulation
Straight Shooter - Number of fairways hit
In the Cup - Total putts made
Walk in the Park - CTTH games played
Long Haul - 18 hole stroke games played
Short Haul - 9 hole stroke games played

Check out these awards and more in our FAQs

After this evening, the 2009 Ping Rapture V2 Pro clubs will no longer be available for purchase in the Pro Shop. This is your last chance to purchase these clubs, as they will be replaced by the 2010 Ping Rapture V2 Pro Clubs which feature improved consistency and precision as well as a slightly faster swing meter. If you currently own these clubs you will still be able to play with them.

It's May!  That means a fresh batch of monthly tournaments for you to compete in.  Check them all out here.

by Josh Zander

As we all know, there are many golf swings in the Hall of Fame and none of them look alike. But what they all have in common is that they can control their ball flight. After all, all we want as golfers is predictability. A few years ago I asked the #1 player on the Stanford Golf Team how he was hitting it. His answer was that he was hitting it too straight and could not curve the ball. He thought the new equipment made the ball fly too straight. Imagine that! We should all have that problem. The real reason he hits it so straight is that he has a stable release that keeps the clubface square to the arc around impact. These players tend to be very accurate but do not curve the ball much. Players with stable releases can still curve the ball but it requires set-up adjustments. Many great players also use the roll release. Phil Mickelson just won the 2010 Masters using it. Bubba Watson is another example of a player who uses it and he certainly does not have a problem curving the ball. In this day of forgiving equipment and computerized video analysis, I think we have lost the art of shot-making. Old schoolers like Sam Snead used to find their desired ball flight by playing “spin the ball” on the range. If they were hooking it on the golf course, they would slice it for a while on the range until they neutralized their ball flight. Once they found their favorite flight, they were good to go.

What kind of release do you have? Once you know this, you can use use the correct fundamentals to make it successful. As I explain in the video, the fundamentals of each release are significantly different. Impact is the moment of truth and if you want predictability to your ball flight, you need to know how to use your release to achieve your desired ball flight.

WGT extends its congratulations to modoherty, who was the randomly selected winner of the Cybergolf Open.  modoherty won a real Taylormade r9 Iron Set 3-PW with Steel Shafts, estimated retail value of $800.

Check out all of the other tournaments that we currently have running, and enter for your chance to win great prizes.

The Visit Edgewood Tahoe Challenge ends on April 30, so if you haven't entered yet, now's the time!

The grand prize for this sweepstakes challenge is an incredible trip for two to beautiful Lake Tahoe and a stay at Edgewood-Tahoe's exclusive Twin Pines Cabin, located on the lake, with four rounds of golf included.  Two more winners will get two rounds of golf at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, and five winners will get week-long passes to attend the American Century Championship held from July 13 – July 18, 2010 at Edgewood Tahoe.  See rules for details.

There will be some site maintenance occurring early Sunday morning between 12am and 2am Pacific Time.  Users playing during this time may experience some unexpected errors.  Please be sure to save your games, and our apologies for any inconvenience.

Purchase credits anytime from noon on April 23 until noon April 24 Pacific Time and get a 10% credit bonus. That means for every dollar you deposit, you'll get 110 credits!

Use WGT credits to upgrade your equipment in the Pro Shop, enter premium tournaments, or challenge other players in match play games.  Deposit now and get more bang for your buck.

To purchase credits, click on the ACCOUNT button under your username  on the upper left hand side of the screen, then click on the Buy  Credits tab.

By Josh Zander

Why is the finish so important? After all, isn’t the ball gone? This is a comment I get sometimes from some students. The finish is the result of having done correct fundamentals along the way. Watching the 2010 Masters this past weekend, I was so impressed by runner-up Lee Westwood’s balance at the end of his powerful golf swing. Westwood’s balance is the result of an on-plane motion which allows him to deliver an efficient blow to the golf ball without having his body compensate for any loops in his swing.

The finish is also the result of trying to hit a ball with a specific flight. If you want to hit the ball low, your finish should be low, If you want to hit the ball high, your finish should be high. If you want your ball to fade as a right-handed golfer, your hands should finish more left and away from the target line. If you want your ball to draw, your hands should finish closer to the target line.

The bottom line is that the golf swing is over in less than two seconds and you don’t have time to think about all the positions along the way. If you rehearse a swing that ends in balance and has one of the aforementioned finish positions, you have a good chance of hitting correct positions along the way. My students are so psyched when I have them do follow-through drill that improves their backswing positions. Give yourself some credit. You are a better athlete than you thought!

Make it part of your routine to rehearse the finish you want based on the ball flight you desire. Hold it for a few seconds to feel your balance and to tell your brain what ball flight you want. Feeling it will get you there more often than just thinking about it. I have my juniors always hold their finish for a count of five. Lastly, swing as fast as you can as long as you can hold your pose. After all, it’s fun to hit it far and you can’t get distance without clubhead speed.