{"id":15,"date":"2010-08-10T17:16:22","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T17:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jaystuller.com\/?p=15"},"modified":"2013-05-10T18:16:16","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T18:16:16","slug":"15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/golf\/15\/15","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

If you think Facebook consumes too much discretionary time, beware of the allure of World Golf Tour<\/a> (WGT), a virtual game with the potential to suck up hours like a weapons-grade Hoover. \u00a0That time will pass pleasantly, however, for this free, high-definition and addictive online game puts your golfing avatar on great courses, including Bethpage Black in New York, the Ocean Course at South Carolina\u2019s Kiawah Island and, among others, Edgewood Tahoe. \u00a0And thanks to WGT partnerships with the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient, players can also compete in \u201cvirtual majors\u201d\u00a0on the same courses used in real life, including this year\u2019s Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews<\/a>; the U.S. Women\u2019s Open at Oakmont; and, in a special event held at Pebble Beach.<\/p>\n

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A reverse angle view of the 17th hole at Pebble Beach.<\/p><\/div>\n

The competitions offer the chance to win modest sums of cash and significant prizes. \u00a0The winner of this year\u2019s USGA Virtual Championship – – a player code-named BolloxinBruges – – earned a 2011 trip to Congressional and replica of the Open trophy.\u00a0 AvatarLee won this year\u2019s Open at St. Andrews, by a mere two shots over BolloxinBruges, the latter a gamer who sounds as formidable as Tiger at his pre-scandal finest.<\/p>\n

There are several different types of games besides the majors.\u00a0 For example, the site allows individuals to introduce themselves to other WGT members and play one-on-one matches.\u00a0 Players can also hook up and create their own virtual country club, and start tournaments to determine a club champion.\u00a0 I recommend starting out with the frequent \u201cclosest to the pin\u201d events, nine shots that offers basic and repetitive practice on full swings and chips.\u00a0\u00a0 The rest of the game gets considerably more complicated, in particular the intricacies of putting.<\/p>\n

Beautiful Accuracy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Roughly two million players from about 180 countries have signed on as members since its launch in October of 2008, while the site gets about 1.6 million visits each month,\u00a0says Lincoln Silver, marketing vice president of the San Francisco-based World Golf Tour Inc. \u00a0Mot of the players are not hard core gamers, accustomed to blasting aliens on Halo and humans on Call of Duty. \u00a0And WGT participation doesn\u2019t even require a game box, just a computer.\u00a0\u201cWe tend to get primarily men between the ages of 20 and 50, with 35-to-40 being the sweet spot,\u201d explains Silver.\u00a0 While that\u2019s a little older than typical gamers, the younger demographic represents potential.\u00a0 Virtual golf, in fact, may be the fastest growing segment of a sport struggling to re-engage former players and attract new ones.<\/p>\n

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The 18th at The Old Course.<\/p><\/div>\n

The\u00a0USGA<\/a> and the\u00a0Royal & Ancient<\/a> hope that exposure to realistic versions of a championship and exclusive courses will whet an interest in both watching and playing the real thing. \u00a0(Equipment manufacturers and sponsors that back real life tournaments are also forming partnerships with WGT, obviously also hoping gamers will develop a brand loyalty when it comes time to purchase real clubs, balls and services.)\u00a0 \u201cNot everyone can afford to get over to Scotland and play the Old Course, or buy a ticket to the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach,\u201d adds Silver.\u00a0 \u201cThe game also gives players an idea of all the factors that go into the shots that the professionals make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the winners in the big events are players with pro-quality gaming skills and perhaps an obsessive-compulsive diagnosis.\u00a0 Drives, fairway irons, bunker shots and putts are all influenced by a \u201cswing,\u201d the timing of which is dictated by the click of a computer mouse. \u00a0In addition, the shot\u2019s lie, elevation changes, wind and green speeds are greatly influenced built into each virtual course.\u00a0 To excel takes nearly as much work, practice and talent as earning a living on the PGA Tour, which can be attributed to the beautiful accuracy of the online courses, an authenticity that mimics the real thing.<\/p>\n

WGT game-markers take hundreds of thousands of photos and laser measurements in developing a virtual course, and boast of topographical accuracy to within 1 and \u00bd inches.\u00a0 I believe them, especially after playing Pebble Beach during the USGA\u2019s media day in early May, and a special WGT Pebble Beach challenge.\u00a0 Here your avatar attempts to duplicate shots taken during the four previous Opens held at Pebble, in 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2000, including a putt on the 16th<\/sup> green. \u00a0In real life, our caddie insisted we account for a severe break that wasn\u2019t obvious; the WGT recreation, which features a grid that indicates sloping surfaces, showed exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n

Sticky Stuff<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Although WGT can be played for free, its owners count upon the competitive nature of gamers and golfers.\u00a0 Indeed, it’s what game designers call a \u201csticky game,\u201d not unlike Zynga\u2019s FarmVille<\/a><\/em>, in which players must plant, grow and successfully harvest crops to move up in levels and expand their farm, progress that can in part be bought but which also must be earned. \u00a0The implicit challenge to improve is the sticky stuff that WGT counts upon to compel members to spend real cash.<\/p>\n

You see, beginners get a basic set of clubs and balls.\u00a0 But once some improvement is made, say from Hack to Amateur, an on-line \u201cpro shop\u201d offers clubs that provide 10 to 20 more yards of distance than the standard and free issue, balls with more spin and other useful items for between $10 and $20. \u00a0In fact, to even become eligible to buy better clubs, a player has to reach certain levels of ability, which range from hack to amateur, pro and master. \u00a0Since the prospect of better performance and rewards is a time-honored recipe for addiction among gamers and golfers alike, it\u2019s clear how one can get hooked on WGT faster than a starving trout on opening day.<\/p>\n

For a price you can also field an avatar that\u2019s better dressed and better looking than the basic model. \u00a0But excellence in play is what drives most of the online players.<\/p>\n

Indeed, information and observations in on-line forums showing players trading regimens and tips for improving shots and scores.\u00a0 I also found several posts complaining rather stridently about perceived weaknesses in WGT\u2019s programming. The gamers were irked because perfectly duplicated shot routines did not produce the exact same results when the ball bounced upon the green. \u00a0It’s an outcome that suggests these particular participants were simply unfamiliar with the random torture of real life golf, well replicated in the virtual world of WGT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An online virtual game featuring some of the world’s greatest courses presents many of the challenges inherent to real life golf. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":17,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3595],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-pebble-beach"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2010\/08\/WGT_Kiawah_H17_Tee_screenshot.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}