{"id":9,"date":"2010-08-10T18:03:07","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T18:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jaystuller.com\/?p=9"},"modified":"2010-10-14T17:54:16","modified_gmt":"2010-10-14T17:54:16","slug":"the-sweet-swinging-avatars-of-world-golf-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/golf\/9\/the-sweet-swinging-avatars-of-world-golf-tour","title":{"rendered":"The Sweet-Swinging Avatars of World Golf Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A reverse image of the 17th hold at Pebble Beach.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you think Facebook consumes too many discretionary minutes, beware of the allure of World Golf Tour<\/a> (WGT), a virtual game with the potential to suck time like a weapons-grade Hoover. \u00a0The hours 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.\u00a0 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The competitions offer the chance to win cash and prizes.\u00a0 Last year\u2019s Virtual U.S. Open winner won a trip to this year\u2019s event at Pebble Beach.\u00a0 The 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 an avatar that sounds as formidable as Tiger in his pre-scandal time.<\/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 start with the frequent \u201cclosest to the pin\u201d events, nine shots that gives you the most basic practice on full swings and chips.\u00a0\u00a0 The rest of the game gets considerably more complicated.<\/p>\n

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

In fact, the winners in the big events are players with pro-quality gaming skills and perhaps an obsessive-compulsive diagnosis dominate leader-boards.\u00a0 Drives, fairway irons, bunker shots and putts are all influenced by the timing of a \u201cswing,\u201d the shot\u2019s lie, elevation changes, wind and green speeds that are built into each virtual course.\u00a0 To excel takes nearly as much work, practice and talent as earning a living on the PGA Tour.\u00a0 It\u2019s all part of the beautiful accuracy of the game created by the San Francisco-based World Golf Tour, Inc.<\/p>\n

Roughly two million players from about 180 countries have signed on as members since its launch in October of 2008, says Lincoln Silver, the firm\u2019s marketing vice president, while the site gets about 1.6 million visits each month. Most aren\u2019t hard-core gamers, blasting aliens on Halo and humans on Call of Duty. WGT participation doesn\u2019t even require a game box, just a computer, which facilitates both marketing and participation.<\/p>\n

\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

The USGA<\/a> and the Royal & 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 are also forming partnerships with WGT, obviously in hopes gamers will develop a brand loyalty when it comes time to purchase real clubs and balls.)\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 this summer,\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

\"\"<\/a>

An avatar tees off on the 18th hole of the Old Course in St. Andrews.<\/p><\/div>\n

Indeed, these 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 that was featured on the USOpen.com website.\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.<\/p>\n

In real life, our caddie insisted we account for a severe break that wasn\u2019t obvious; in 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 the game is free, its owners count upon the competitive nature of gamers and golfers.\u00a0 Indeed, WGT is what game designers call a \u201csticky game,\u201d not unlike Zynga\u2019s FarmVille<\/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.\u00a0 The implicit challenge to improve is the sticky stuff that WGT counts upon to compel free spending by members.<\/p>\n

You see, beginners get a basic set of clubs and balls.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 For a price you can also field an avatar that\u2019s better dressed and better looking than the basic model.\u00a0 Along with sponsorships by the same corporations that back real tournaments, it\u2019s how WGT generates most of its earnings.<\/p>\n

In fact, to 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

Indeed, if you read some the information and observations in on-line forums, players trade regimens and tips for improving shots and scores.\u00a0 Several players were complaining rather stridently about perceived weaknesses in WGT\u2019s programming, because their perfectly duplicated shot routines did not produce the exact same results. \u00a0What this suggests in that some of the participants are simply gamers who\u2019ve not yet experienced the random torture of real life golf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you think Facebook consumes too many discretionary minutes, beware of the allure of World Golf Tour (WGT), a virtual… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":36,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-world-golf-tour"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2010\/08\/ST-Andrews-Hole-182.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","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=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/37"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}