world golf tour tutorials

World Golf Tour: Tips to help you on the real-world courses

Click, click, drop it in the hole

World Golf Tour is maybe the only golf game to use 3D photorealistic georeferencing in what has become a signature aspect of the game. That's how it gets its HD look. It's essentially like playing golf within images of courses. Speaking of which, WGT is also one of the few games to include real-world courses.

Some of the courses include juggernauts like Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, Bandon Dunes, and Merion. Most courses allow you to play a select amount of holes. So, that could be either the front nine or back nine, while others let you play three random holes.

The gameplay has the classic 3-click swing approach which has been popular in golf games for decades. And although these style of control is very familiar, there are still some strategic elements to keep in mind. This, especially since you're playing on real courses, including challenging ones like Kiawah Island and Bethpage Black.

Get used to the 3-click

Just because it's a recognizable concept, doesn't mean it's necessarily easy to master in WGT . Plus, if you're totally new to 3-click golf or golf games period, then it's good to get used to the controls. The cool thing is that all you need to do is press one button a few times. This is good if you want a more casual mobile gaming experience.

With this gameplay method, it's all about timing. Getting the power right on tee shots is the easy part, but making sure you're accurate will be a tad trickier. If you're too early or too late on the third click, then you'll hit your shot way right or left.

You don't need to be perfect on the last click, but if you can get the cursor near the sweet spot on the meter, then you'll be gravy. Practice on three-hole mini-games or get in a practice round and work on the three-click method. Hit some shots, get a feel for it, and you'll be set.

Read the slopes of the green

The greens in WGT can be pesky, especially since they clone the ones of the famous real-world courses. Make sure to read the greens by taking a look at the grid that covers them. If you've played golf games before, then you know what I'm talking about, but if not, then I'll explain.

The grid that is shown on the green will little beads on them. These beads will move in a certain direction based on the slope of the green. If the beads are heading right, then that means you'll need to aim your putt more towards the left and the same if it's the other way.

Keep an eye on the speed of the beads too. If they're moving fast, then that means you have to move much more to the opposite direction of the beads. Another thing is to look at the color of the grid. If it's red on a certain part of the slope, then that means it's an uphill putt. Blue means it's downhill and green means it's flat.

Use putt preview when necessary

Putting is likely the trickiest area of WGT but luckily, there is an aid that can help you out on the course. Putt previews can be utilized to help you read the greens. This a great tool that helps to make putting easier in the game. However, it will not hold your hand necessarily. 

It would still be wise to read the slope of the green before using this feature. It will help make the preview more accurate. If you want, you can use the preview from the jump and you'll just have to remember which angle it was going for you to adjust your aim. 

If you can read the grid, and try and put yourself in the best position you can, your preview should be right on point or close to it. The only thing you need to make sure of is having the right amount of power on your putting stroke. If you get that down, then the ball will drop right in the cup. 

Club up or use spin

For approach shots, it's a good idea to see where your shot could end up when using a certain club. There are many instances where you need to club up or club down. For example, if you're using a 5-iron and it shows that the landing zone is going to be well past the green, then you should probably use a smaller club like a 6-iron instead. 

If you're in a spot where clubbing up or down won't help you, then, try to use spin on your golf ball. To do this, just click on the ball on the lower left part of your screen. This will open up a small window with a red dot on the middle of the ball. 

Move the dot down to provide more spin. Lifting it up will dish out less spin. By using backspin, this will allow the ball to slow down or roll backwards when it lands. So, if you know that you might overshoot your ball, then it should remain safely on the green if you use the right amount of spin. 

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One of the best golf swings on tour has some good swing tips for you

Maddie Meyer

This article originally appeared in the Golf IQ newsletter, which is available exclusively for Golf Digest+ members. You can sign up for that newsletter, and more awesome content, by joining the Golf Digest+ community right here.

Last week I was walking around Augusta National with my fellow newsletter writer Sam Weinman. We were talking about the things us newsletter writers talk about, which is golf swings. Specifically, Tommy Fleetwood’s golf swing.

As we watched Tommy play his way up Augusta’s ninth hole, Sam pointed out something:

“I probably get more swing videos of Tommy Fleetwood on Instagram than anybody else.”

I hadn’t really thought about it before, but it was a good point. If your Instagram feed looks anything like mine, open it up at any given point and you’ll be flooded with lots of golf swing videos, but three players’ golf swings in particular:

• Nelly Korda
• Rory McIlroy
• Tommy Fleetwood

And of course, each time I do, I linger over the video, like it, and move on, leaving the algorithm with all the information it needs to know what to give me more of.

Anyway a day later, Tommy Fleetwood finished off his third-round 72 en-route to his career-best T-3 finish, so I decided to ask him: Why do golfers seem to get so many Tommy Fleetwood golf swing videos? And what can they learn from it?

He laughed.

“Good question! I dunno. Probably because people like you won’t stop talking about it.”

“Listen, I’m not a coach, but I think my swing has a kind of good framework that could help a lot of golfers .”

1. No slide

That word—”framework”—is important because it’s essentially how Tommy views the golf swing. Like a car driving down lanes on the road. You’re not too worried about the little movements; the goal is keeping the car between the lines.

One of those is the idea of staying very centered on the backswing. A common fault of amateur golfers is to slide their hips too far away from the target on the backswing. And when that happens, they can’t get back to their left side enough in time. It causes chunked shots and tops and all sorts of ugly shots.

“I like to stay quite centered,” he said. “If I’m centered on the backswing, it’s easier for me to get to transfer my weight, and get to my lead side on my downswing.”

Often you’ll see Tommy work practice hitting golf balls caddy holding an alignment stick on the ride side of his head. The stick literally prevents him from swaying too much off the ball.

2. Clubface control

The clubface is king in golf —it accounts for about 80 percent of the ball’s starting direction. In other words, if the clubface is pointing way left or right, that’s probably going to be where the ball goes.

Naturally, Tommy says he thinks about this a lot—and thinks you should, too. Something you’ve no-doubt seen him do is hit shots with an abbreviated follow through ( you can learn more about that here ).

It was a go-to shot once upon a time, which has basically become his stock full swing. The key feel here is making sure he finishes so his arms are straight, and his chest is pointing towards the target. You can see him doing exactly that on Augusta’s 12th hole on Sunday.

“It helps me feel the right things, and get a sense of where the clubface is,” he says. “That’s a good thing for a lot of golfers .”

3. Neutral(ish) swing path

The final piece of Tommy’s framework is his swing path, or the literal direction he’s swinging the golf club. Golfers who tend to swing over-the-top generally tend to swing too far to the left. If you’re stuck, you may be swinging too far out to the right.

Tommy wants his golf swing right somewhere close to straight down the middle, and he’ll practice this by hitting balls between a yoga block and a set of alignment sticks .

“It just helps me feel the right things and makes sure my swing isn’t moving in any crazy directions,” he said. “Again, just a basic thing that I think golfers like.”

A few things Fleetwood says we can learn from his move, that will maybe make our own Instagram-worthy.

Questions? Hit me at [email protected] . You can follow me on Instagram here, or Twitter here.

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Golf Impact: World Tour Guide: 14 Tips, Tricks & Strategies for Winning More Matches

By: Author Tim McNeil

Posted on Last updated: May 22, 2021

Golf Impact: World Tour is an iOS and Android golf game by Neowiz and it promises to give players a “hit of satisfaction” each time they hit the ball. This game allows you to compete against human opponents in different modes and in various fictional, yet realistic golf courses.

Like other games of its kind, it challenges players to hit the perfect shot while dealing with the wind speed and other factors such as the weather, and there are different modes that offer something different for those who want to go beyond simple 1-on-1 matches.

As is the case with other mobile golf games, Golf Impact is very easy to learn. Mastering the game, however, is a completely different story, and one shouldn’t mistake this title as an overly casual experience — there are dozens of different pieces of equipment to collect, and the differences between golf clubs and golf balls are far more than cosmetic in nature. Then you’ve also got the various game modes and the different things that can happen when playing a PvE game of golf on your mobile device.

We hope to have you covered with this comprehensive Golf Impact guide, where we’ve included 14 tips, tricks and strategies that are mainly designed for new and intermediate players, but could also be helpful for more experienced players who want to gain an extra advantage over their opponents.

1. Getting Started With Golf Impact

If you’ve played Golf Clash , Ultimate Golf , or other similar titles, then you may not need much of an introduction to Golf Impact. The basic mechanics of this game are very similar to the ones we mentioned, as is the premise — it’s one-on-one, casual PvE golf where you’re paired up against another human player and tasked with getting the ball in the hole in as few strokes, or attempts, as possible.

The graphics may not be as advanced as some of the games we mentioned above, but they are quite impressive, and despite the cartoonish touch in this title, you should have little difficulty learning the basics of swinging and putting.

When it comes to swinging your club, the first thing to do would be to set the pin on the map of the golf course, though the tutorial stage won’t tell you about this just yet. As such, you can focus on the swinging mechanics, which would involve tapping and holding on the ball, drawing your finger backwards to gain power on your swing, and letting go of your finger once the arrow reaches the very middle of the swing meter, or as close to that as possible.

It’s best to pull back in such a way that the ball is centered inside the circle; pulling back short of the circle would result in a weaker swing than what’s ideal, while going past the circle would result in an overly powerful swing. If you let go of the ball with the arrow perfectly centered, that’s a Perfect swing, which is what you should be aiming for. Ending up in the yellow zone would result in a Great swing, which should suffice in most cases. Definitely, what you want to avoid is ending up in the blue, or even the green zone of the swing meter.

Once you’ve gotten the ball close enough to the hole, that means you’re in putting distance — for those not too familiar with golfing terminology, putting the ball means gently tapping it toward the hole. But just because you’re very close to the hole doesn’t make a putt any easier than a regular swing; in fact, you’ll need to deal with a similar HUD meter, as well as the expected path of the ball, which could curve left or right, especially if you’re more than five yards away from the hole.

Similar to what we told you above, you can start your putt attempt by tapping-and-holding on the ball and pulling your finger back. Likewise, you want the arrow to stop as close as possible to the center of the meter, but here, you’ll also need to pay close attention to the expected path, and make sure that it actually leads to the hole.

At the end of the one-on-one match, the player who takes fewer strokes to sink the ball in the hole wins, and the prizes would include coins, which are the game’s common currency, and a Golf Bag with cards representing different items, usually new golf clubs. On some very rare occasions, you may end up with a special ball, which would provide certain advantages over the default ball. You would also be awarded with trophies, which determine your tour placement and whether you can move on to the next tour or not.

Losing players, meanwhile, do not earn any rewards, and they will also lose some trophies, but not as many as the trophies you could earn for winning a game. In the event of a tie, in which both players take the same number of strokes to sink the ball, there will be a tiebreaker round where the player who lands the ball closest to the pin ends up winning the match.

All told, it’s business as usual for those who played the games we mentioned above, and a lot of the tips we will be discussing below may also be familiar to you, if that’s the case. But as you’ll learn as you continue reading this guide, there are some features that set Golf Impact apart from the competition.

2. As Usual, You Can Only Hold Four Golf Bags At Once

This tip is unquestionably a mainstay of mobile golf games, as well as other titles (usually casual sports games) where winning players get a box, chest, or bag that needs to be unlocked. But we’re going to mention it anyway for the benefit of those who may not be too familiar with such games — Golf Impact only allows you to hold a maximum of four Golf Bags at any given time.

That means if you’ve won four games and have four bags in the queue, you will forfeit your prize if you win a fifth game — unless you’re willing to pay some gems (the game’s premium currency) to immediately unlock your current bag. Now that’s something we would discourage, unless you’re overflowing with gems and/or don’t have much time to wait before the bag is available to open.

Likewise, the same rule applies when it comes to how many bags you can unlock at the same time — only one. And since Golf Bags have different rarities, with the rarer ones taking longer to unlock than the more common ones, time management is key if you want to keep playing more matches and regularly add more bags to the queue.

That would mean opening the more common bags while you’re awake while saving the rarer ones for right before you go to bed — a Gold Bag, for instance, takes eight hours to unlock, while a Royal Bag takes 12 hours. That way, these rarer bags will be available to open once you wake up (or may only have a few hours before they get unlocked), thus allowing you to play more often without having to forfeit your prize.

3. The Game Offers Tons Of Free Bags

Aside from the Golf Bags you can earn after winning a match against another player, you can also open free bags every four hours — these also contain coins and golf club cards for the most part, and as we’ve observed, the contents of the free bags are often better than those you can find in the basic, common blue bags.

This is a great way to load up on resources for upgrading your existing golf clubs, and who knows — you may end up unlocking a new one if you’re lucky. The items you may receive inside the free bags will depend on the highest tour you qualify for, so if you’re currently in the third tour, you will receive items that you can normally get from the Golf Bags from the first to the third tour.

However, if you aren’t able to immediately open a free bag, you don’t need to worry — Golf Impact allows you to hold a maximum of two free bags, which is especially useful when you’re sleeping. Assuming you sleep eight hours, that means two bags to open once you wake up. However, if you want to maximize the number of free bags you can open while you’re awake, it’s best to turn on your notifications — once you get one, log back into the game and open a free bag, easy as that!

4. Use The Wind Strength Ad Direction To Set Your Pin

Although the location of your pin might not matter that much while you’re in the first couple of tours and are usually paired up against beginners and other low-ranked players, setting the pin will soon become the most important aspect of each match you play in Golf Impact, more so than timing your swings and putts to make sure they’re perfect.

You may think it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, considering it will almost always take a few swings before you reach putting distance and how hard it is to get a hole-in-one in this game. But the location of the ball after each swing, and its distance to the hole, plays a large role in determining how quickly you’re able to get the ball in the hole.

At some point, the game will offer a mini-tutorial that shows you how to deal with wind strength and direction — you will see this indicator on the upper left whenever you’re setting the pin before taking a swing.

Fundamentally, it’s quite easy — look at the direction of the wind and move the pin toward the opposite direction. But by how much? Take note of the wind speed and look at the rings around the pin — not the largest one, but the rings inside the big circle. As the game suggests, one ring is equivalent to two miles per hour, so if the wind is moving left at 4 mph, you’ll want to move the pin to the right by the distance representing two circles.

5. Don’t Take Too Long To Take A Swing Or Putt!

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to take your time while swinging or putting in Golf Impact. Rushing your shots, after all, could result in the arrow ending up in the green, or even worse, in the blue zone. Or, on a more realistic note, you may end up with a merely Good or Great shot instead of a Perfect one. However, there’s only so much time you can take, as you’ll notice when you see the blue timer on the top of the screen when swinging or putting.

That timer actually starts when you’re setting your pin, so that’s something else to take into account. That may leave you with less time to monitor the arrow as it moves from left to right — experienced players might not have much of a problem with this, but if you’re just starting out, you’ll want to be careful not to wait so long that the game will start counting you down.

So what happens if you take too long to attempt a shot and time runs out on you? Your swing or putt attempt will be forfeited, and that will count as one stroke where you didn’t do anything at all. That, of course, will give your opponent a huge advantage and, in most cases, will give them a great chance to win the match.

So don’t take too much time when swinging or putting, and, in order to avoid timing out due to technical issues, make sure you’re playing on a strong internet connection so you don’t get kicked out of a match!

6. Be Careful When Setting The Direction Of Your Putt

For most players, taking a big swing at the ball may be the most fun of all to do — we’re talking about big shots where the ball travels dozens of yards in the air and much closer to the hole. These swings require concentration, and as we mentioned above, setting the pin is very crucial, but at the end of the day, they don’t require as much concentration as putting the ball.

Sure, those putts of three yards or less are essentially gimmes, but anything beyond the six-yard range may throw you off and leave you at a disadvantage during a close match if you aren’t careful.

We did briefly discuss putting at multiple points in this guide, but if we are to deep-dive into the topic, the most important thing when putting is to properly judge the direction of the expected path of the ball. That path, after all, can curve off at some point, and missing the center point of the putting meter, even by a few millimeters, could be much more costly than getting a mere “Good” or “Great” shot when swinging your club.

So with that in mind, you should move the expected path in such a way that it ends at the hole itself — this would naturally be more difficult for longer putt attempts, or those in the 10-yard range or greater.

The distance of the path should also be taken into account, as it shouldn’t be too short or too long, as noted earlier. As making it too short would result in the putt attempt falling short of the hole, you can make it just a tad longer than it should be, but definitely not too long — oftentimes, the game will warn you if you’re using “too much power.”

That’s where things can get really wacky, as we have seen instances where the ball will drift into the hole, only to pop out and move a couple more yards. That’s not something that happens in the real world of golf, but in Golf Impact, it is a possibility if you aren’t careful when attempting a putt — you don’t want the hole to literally spit out the ball, especially if you’re in a tight battle with your opponent!

7. Reach The Maximum Number Of Trophies Stated For Each Tour

When competing in the different tours in Golf Impact — there are 10 all in all, from Tour 1 in the Maldives to Tour 10 in India (Taj Mahal) — you can move on to the next one if you’ve accumulated a certain number of Trophies. For example, you’ll need to have 100 Trophies in order to unlock Tour 4, which is the Isle of Serenity in Fiji.

Each tour has its own settings for tee position and arrow speed, as well as a speed range for the wind, and apart from how your opponents tend to get tougher to beat as you move up from one tour to the next, the above factors make it even harder to get those good shots that may have been part and parcel of your playing experience in the earlier tours.

Although you may want to focus on the higher-level tours once you unlock them, it’s also a good idea to go back to the previous tours and see if you can beat enough opponents to reach the maximum number of trophies that’s stated in the basic tour information.

For example, the maximum value would be 25 trophies for Tour 1, even if all you need is a mere 10 trophies to unlock Tour 2 in New York. So even if you’ve got New York (Metropolis) unlocked, you can go back to Tour 1 and beat more opponents until you’ve got the maximum 25 Trophies — you won’t be able to earn any more beyond that if you keep playing there, but once you reach the 25 mark, you will earn a Royal Bag corresponding to the tour you completed.

The number of cards inside each Royal Bag will vary depending on the tour, but either way, you’ll be getting dozens of cards (76 for the Tour 10 Royal Bag), with a few of them of guaranteed Rare and Epic rarity.

That’s a pretty nice incentive for technically completing the tour, and while the Royal Bag is only a one-time prize, you can always return to a previously completed tour if you’re having a tough time in the higher-level tours. You’ll still be able to earn coins for a victory, and the stakes and pressure should ideally be lower, making this a nice way to regroup after a rough series of matchups.

8. Get More Goodies By Earning Trophies And Improving Your League Ranking

On the upper right corner of the main screen, you’ll see two buttons, one with the word Ranking and the other with the word Trophy. The Ranking button will show you where you currently rank in your league for the current season — your league will depend on how much experience and how many Trophies you’ve accumulated while playing Golf Impact, and each season lasts one week long.

Depending on your placement at the end of the season, you may earn some freebies, such as Green, Blue, and Gold Bags for the top 20 players in the Beginner League. So if you’ve got a lot of free time and maybe a ton of gems to spend to speed up the unlocking of those queued Golf Bags, it doesn’t hurt to keep playing and shooting for the top 20 in the league rankings!

You can also expect better rewards as you move up from league to league, so don’t be discouraged if the worst you can do in terms of prizes is a rather unappealing Green Bag.

Next to that, the Trophy button will show you how many you currently have, and you will also see a ladder of prizes, with each item gradually improving in terms of quality and rarity as you earn more Trophies. Now this is where you can earn those special golf balls you may have seen your opponents use, though you could also end up with Rare or Epic clubs, as well as coins. If that doesn’t encourage you to keep playing in the tours instead of setting the game aside for several hours on end, we don’t know what will.

9. You Can Still Earn Impact Pass Rewards As A Free Player

While we’re still on the topic of free rewards, let’s talk about the Impact Pass, which you’ll also see on the top part of the main screen, right in the middle, next to the Ranking and Trophy buttons. Like most sports games of its kind, Golf Impact offers big rewards to those willing to pay a monthly fee to become a premium member — this is called the Impact Pass, and currently, it costs $10 or its local equivalent per month to gain membership this way.

However, you can still access the Impact Pass menu and earn prizes for each time you get enough points to make it to the next tier. You can earn points for each time you open a Golf Bag, or each time you redeem one of the prizes in the Impact Pass menu, and you will level up to the next tier for every five points you earn.

If you’re a free player, you can only receive the prizes in the Free Pass section, but we’ll still say they’re pretty good. Your initial reward, for one, would be a whopping 100 gems, and after the three high-end Golf Bags (two Epic, one Gold) for reaching Tier 1-3, you’ll get 50 more gems for making it to Tier 4.

That’s just a brief run-through of the prizes you can win as a free player, but if you’re willing to pay $10 a month, the actual Impact Prizes are much better — the initial reward is a random Legendary Club, followed by five straight high-end Golf Bags (Epic, Royal, Epic, Gold, and Epic), and 500 gems for reaching Tier 6.

As the Impact Pass requires monthly payments, the “season,” if you may, for the pass lasts exactly a month long — that means everyone’s back to zero once the 30 days are over, meaning a brand new month to keep opening Golf Bags and redeeming Free Pass and Impact Pass prizes!

10. Know Your Clubs And Prioritize Upgrades For The Rarer Ones

Soon enough, you’ll realize that sticking to your default set of clubs wouldn’t cut it if you want to win more consistently in Golf Impact. That means as soon as you start opening bags and receiving the Club Cards within, you’ll want to head to the Equipment screen (fourth button from the left on the bottom menu) and start switching your Beginner Clubs with the special ones you’ve unlocked.

All in all, you have seven clubs that the game will automatically select for you depending on the situation — a Wedge, a Short Iron, a Long Iron, a Driver, a Sand Wedge, a Mid Iron, and a Wood. Each club is rated based on several attributes, namely Power (the maximum distance in yards when swinging), Top Spin (improves the ball’s ability to travel farther after landing), Back Spin (opposite effect of Top Spin), Curl (allows the ball to “curl” a greater distance when aiming a shot), Ball Guide (extends the ball guide when setting a pin), and Impact (arrow speed — higher Impact means slower speed).

For each type of club, you can collect multiple varieties across the different tours. All your clubs except the beginner variant can only be unlocked from a certain tour onward — for example, the Hammer is an Epic-rarity Wedge that becomes available during the second tour, while the Axe is a Rare Wedge that you can only unlock once you’ve made it to the seventh tour.

When looking at the base stats, higher-rarity clubs will be more effective than their beginner equivalents, but if you’ve upgraded a common club enough, it may be more impressive than a Rare club that’s still at level 1.  So with that having been said, the best approach here is to save your coins in order to upgrade your rarer clubs.

Naturally, that’ll cost you far more currency than what you’ll need to pay when upgrading a Common club, but you can always focus on Common clubs initially — just be prepared to pay thousands of coins to upgrade a rarer club and improve its stats!

11. Train Your Clubs To Improve Their Impact

We did mention that Golf Impact has some unique features that aren’t found in too many other golf games, if any at all. One of the most noticeable such features is the ability to train your existing clubs — doing so will improve their Impact rating, which, as we stated in the last tip, determines how slow or how fast the arrow moves across the swing and putt meters. This is the only way to achieve this, as simply leveling up a club won’t do anything at all for its Impact.

Just as we recommended earlier, focusing on the rarer clubs is the best course of action when using the Training feature, which can be accessed by tapping the Training button right underneath the clubs. Once there, you can choose any one of your clubs to train, and depending on its rarity and its training level, it may take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.

You can pay gems in order to immediately complete the training, but much like we warned you when talking about unlocking Golf Bags, it’s very seldom recommended to bypass the wait time by paying premium currency. Once you’ve trained the club, you will notice that it will take a bit longer for the arrow to move across the meter, thus making it easier for you to hit a Perfect shot.

Additionally, there is an optional second training slot in the Training menu, though this will require you to pay $10 in actual money in order to unlock it.

12. Save Your Rare Balls For The Higher Tours

Compared to clubs, which are very easy to collect, golf balls are one type of equipment that you may find some difficulty coming by. Sure, you can win them by accumulating Trophies and reaching trophy milestones, but other than that, you will very seldom encounter them as a free item. That means they are best saved for the higher tours, where the wind resistance is greater and your opponents are harder to beat.

Just what type of advantages can you expect from a special golf ball? As you’ll notice when you tap on the Ball section in the Equipment screen, then tap on any of the special balls you have, using them results in increased power, decreased wind resistance, slower arrow speed, and greater spin.

All these things can be very helpful if you’re trying to finish off a tough opponent, but there is one more thing you need to remember about rarer balls — you will always have a finite supply of them. These items, unlike your golf clubs, are consumable, which makes it even more important for you to use them wisely instead of at the soonest possible convenience. (If you have two balls of a certain type, you end up using one per game, not one per hole!)

Considering how we’ve been advising you to hang on to your gems as much as possible, we would now recommend saving them for ball purchases at the in-game store, which can be accessed by tapping on the second button to the left on the bottom menu. Scroll down and you’ll find six different ball types, each of which offer different statistical improvements like the ones we mentioned.

Balls have similar rarity classifications as clubs (we call all the non-generic balls “rare” due to the simple fact you have an unlimited supply of the regular ones), and those that are classified as Rare or Epic will be more expensive than the Common ones. The Feather ball, for instance, only offers a small increase in Power and Arrow Speed, no change whatsoever in Wind Resistance, and 40 percent more spin.

As this is officially a common ball, it’ll only cost you 30 gems to buy ten of them, and 450 gems to buy 150. Compare that to the Super Rookie, which costs 150 gems for ten balls and 2,250 gems for 150 — this Epic ball improves your Power by 9 percent, reduces Wind Resistance by 30 percent, slows down Arrow Speed by 10 percent, and adds 60 percent more spin.

Additionally, take note that some balls, including the ones you may win for reaching Trophy milestones, cannot be purchased at the in-game shop — more so than the ones available at the shop, you should save these balls for the higher tours!

13. Join The Special Events For Big Prizes

Challenging human players in 1-on-1 competition is not the only way to enjoy Golf Impact. The game comes with multiple limited-time events, including the Long Drive, Putting Challenge, and Championship, the latter of which is only available for those in the Amateur league or higher. Long Drive, as the name suggests, tests your ability to swing the ball as far as possible across the course, while Putting Challenge determines how well you can putt the ball on the green — this is a fairly new addition to the game that was added just a couple of weeks ago.

All these limited-time events promise a wealth of prizes, mainly “special” Golf Bags, with the rarity of the bag increasing based on your performance! Depending on your ranking at the end of the event, you can also win non-generic golf balls that you can add to your equipment inventory.

There is, however, one caveat to these special events — for the Long Drive and Putting Challenge events, you are only allowed one free try per day, with succeeding tries costing real money, e.g. one dollar for an additional attempt at Long Drive.

That means you should make the most out of your free opportunity, though it might not hurt to pay for an extra swing or putt if you’re especially high up in the rankings and want to see if you can move up higher and potentially qualify for better prizes.

14. You Can Exchange Gems For Gold In The Store

Going through a rough patch where you’ve lost almost all your gold due to a series of losses in a higher tour? This is something that can happen even to the best players, and in such times of emergency, there is a way to get a quick injection of common currency that may allow you to keep on playing. You can go to the store and scroll down to the very bottom of the screen to exchange some of your gems for gold.

Currently, there are only three packages available — 80 gems for 4,000 gold, 570 gems for 40,000 gold, and 12,000 gems for 1,200,000 gold. Chances are you’re going to be opting for the first package, but if you just so happen to have lots of gems saved up, the latter two offer a lot of bang for the buck, so you just might want to consider them if you’re overflowing with premium currency!

As a bonus tip, you don’t necessarily need to pay real money to refill your gems, as the game allows you to watch a maximum of five ad videos per day to earn five free gems per clip — that’s up to 25 gems, which isn’t enough to afford the cheapest gems-for-gold package, but at any rate, we don’t think it’s very likely that you’ll completely run out of both types of currency when playing the game.

And that concludes our Golf Impact: World Tour guide. If you happen to know such tips, that we haven’t mentioned in the article, please let us know by leaving a message in the comment area below!

Monday 1st of April 2024

When is there a free starter package?

Wednesday 31st of January 2024

Two questions: 1. Is there a way to change clubs from one automatically selected? ie. switch to a putter when stopping on the fringe of a green, instead of the wedge selected. 2. Also would like to know how anyone can get -30 or better within 18 holes? I’ve seen many times when getting a respectable -20 or better and be in the single digit ranks of a Tournament, just to come back after it’s over, and find myself down in the 30 or greater rank and the top people with -28, -29, or -30!

Monday 22nd of January 2024

I’ve noticed when I move my ball pin alignment marker around before taking a shot will be blue in color and as I relocate it to adjust for wind it may turn pink or red. What do the different colors indicate?

Wednesday 17th of January 2024

Sometimes when you win a hole, a small banner with your clan symbol and +3 shows on final page before showing the amount of money you won. What is that?

Sunday 26th of November 2023

When playing on a team, what does it mean if the leader makes a person a "manager"? What does a manager do?

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What grips do the world’s best golfers use? Here are the specs for 9 of them

The grips of, from left, Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman.

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From shaft flex and weight down to loft and even hosel settings, the best players in the world don’t mess around when it comes to their golf club specs .

But one of the most underappreciated components of their clubs is their grips — and specifically how they are spec’d out.

But today we’re going to dig into that!

Below is comprehensive information on the grips specifications and tape combinations that keep Titleist tour professionals firmly attached to their clubs.

Note: The number and letter combinations below (60R, for example) represents the inside diameter of the grip in inches (i.e., 60 = .60 inches). The “R” denotes a round grip, while “X” means that the grip offers a rib or alignment aid.

Titleist T150 Custom Irons

Wyndham clark.

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord, midsized

Specs: One wrap of tape under lower, one three-quarter wrap under lower hand, one full wrap.

Will Zalatoris

Grips: Golf Pride Z Cord 58R, standard

Specs: One wrap of tape. By using a 0.580″ core grip on a shaft that is 0.600″, the final grip size is .020″ larger, making it play like a standard grip with two wraps of tape. This type of setup also makes the grip feel slightly firmer.

Jordan Spieth

Grips: Super Stroke S-Tech 58R, standard

Specs: One wrap, logo down

Cameron Young

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align 58X, standard

Specs: One wrap of tape

Brian Harman

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet, standard

Specs: One wrap of tape, logo down

Ludvig Aberg

Grips: Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound (MCC), midsized

Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord Grip

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord 58R, standard

Justin Thomas

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord 60R, standard

Grips: Woods and irons – Golf Pride Tour Velvet align, standard. Wedges – Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound (MCC), white/black, standard

Want to overhaul your bag for 2024?  Find a True Spec fitting location near you .

Latest In Gear

Surprising gear changes, eye-catching tour releases | wall-to-wall, golf clubs (and other gear) you shouldn't overlook this season, winner's bag: scottie scheffler's gear at the 2024 rbc heritage, winner's bag: nelly korda's gear at the 2024 chevron championship.

Ryan Barath is GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com’s senior editor for equipment. He has an extensive club-fitting and -building background with more than 20 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. Before joining the staff, he was the lead content strategist for Tour Experience Golf, in Toronto, Canada.

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Electrostal History and Art Museum

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Electrostal History and Art Museum - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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ISPS Handa Championship 2024 Tips: Mansell in pole position to win in Japan

 | April 22 | 

14 mins read

Following a four-week absence, the DP World Tour returns to action this week with the second edition of the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan; taking place this year at the Taiheiyo Club’s Gotemba Course.

As always, we've asked our ace golf tipster Jamie Worsley to give us his ISPS Handa Championship predictions and he has four each-way picks ranging from 33/1 to 110/1.

ISPS Handa Championship Betting Tips

1.5 pts Richard Mansell each-way (1/5 - 8 places) - 33/1  

1.25 pts Bernd Wiesberger each way (1/5 - 8 places) - 40/1

1.25 pts Taiga Semikawa each way (1/5 - 8 places) - 45/1  

1 pt Pablo Larrazabal each way (1/5 - 8 places) - 55/1

1 pt Sam Bairstow each way (1/5 - 8 places) - 66/1

1 pt Kazuma Kobori each way (1/5 - 8 places) - 110/1

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

This event is co-sanctioned between the DPWT and JGTO (Japan Golf Tour), and after being cancelled for a couple of years due to covid, it finally made its debut last year at PGM Ishioka Golf Club.

Australia’s Lucas Herbert won that inaugural edition for his third DPWT success, beating Canada’s Aaron Cockerill in a playoff. Though Herbert doesn’t return to defend this year; instead he’ll be teeing it up in Adelaide on LIV.

That doesn’t take away from an interesting field, which includes many home talents who will be hoping to take inspiration from countrymen, Keita Nakajima and Rikuya Hoshino’s maiden DPWT victories this year.

The Taiheiyo Club’s Gotemba Course – host of the 2001 World Cup of Golf - was designed by highly regarded Japanese architect Shunsuke Kato, opening for play in 1977. Since that year it has been the home of the Taiheiyo Masters on the JGTO, an event that has been won by Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal; whilst an amateur Hideki Matsuyama won there in 2011 and doubled up in 2016 by shooting a record 23-under-par winning score.

That second victory for Hideki prompted a renovation and toughening of the course in 2018 at the hands of Rees Jones and Bryan Swanson, with Matsuyama acting as a consultant on the project. They left the greens largely untouched but amongst other things, fairway bunkers were repositioned in an attempt to stop the venue from being overpowered.

With an average winning score of -9.33 in the six renewals of the Taiheiyo Masters since the changes, as opposed to -15.83 in the six events prior, they seem to have had the desired effect.

Set against the picturesque backdrop of Mt. Fuji, this pristine and densely tree-lined parkland course is a par 70 and will play to 7262 yards . It contains 12x par 4s ( 378-510 yards ), 4x par 3s ( 178-230 yards ) and 2x par 5s ( 525-565 yards ).

The course is highly strategic, with the overhanging trees that line the narrow, rolling fairways requiring players to hit the correct side off-the-tee to avoid their approaches being blocked out.

It is well bunkered throughout , tightening up the already small landing areas in the fairways and surrounding many of the speedy putting surfaces .

Said greens are around average in size overall and players will need to be precise in approach to conquer them, with some tricky pin positions hard to access. Aside from the strong bunkering, there are several run-offs around the greens, often sending the ball tumbling into tightly-mown chipping areas ; another feature of the recent renovation.

Water is in-play on seven holes and is a prominent presence at the beginning of the course – in-play on holes 1, 2, 4 and 5 – and returns towards the end, playing a key part in the closing two holes.

Among a tough set of par 3s, the 230-yard 17 th may be the most demanding, with players needing to hit an approach over water and a large bunker. Take too much club and there’s another bunker to the rear of the green that will leave the them with a tough up and down.

With few chances given up easily on the par 4s, the field will need to make the most of the two scoreable par 5s. The 525-yard 18 th is the shortest of the two and will be reachable for most in the field. However, with a bunker guarding the narrow fairway and water protecting the narrow green short and right, it is by no means a guaranteed birdie and we will see anything ranging from eagles to doubles+ there this week.

THE WEATHER

There is some rain forecast before the start of the event that should soften the Gotemba Course up. It looks set to disappear for the actual tournament and with little wind currently on show, players should get some enjoyably dry and warm playing conditions this week.

• SG: Around-the-Greens/Scrambling
• SG: Approach
• Greens-in-Regulation
• SG: Off-the-Tee
• Par 4 Scoring

We head into the unknown with this course making its debut on the DPWT and whilst the JGTO does have stats for the Taiheiyo Masters, they’re not the most informative.

Having said that, there was one thing that stood out among the most recent winners of that event and it’s that most of them were among the best scramblers on the tour in the years they won, with each of the last five winners ranking no worse than 32 nd in this area.

Therefore, with what also looks like a difficult ball-striking test, the very best tee-to-green players in the field warrant the most respect.

In addition, there is great variety among the par 4s, with two at 500yds+ and several around/under the 400yd mark; with these holes making up twelve of the eighteen holes at the venue, it will be key to handle them well this week.

CORRELATING EVENTS

We have no comp form for this event but there are a few tree-lined courses on tour on which it is tough to find fairways and difficult to scramble around. These could help us out in Japan this week:

2020 Irish Open/ISPS Handa World Invitational (Galgorm Castle Golf Club)

Alfred Dunhill Championship (Leopard Creek Country Club)

British Masters (The Belfry – Brabazon Course)

Dubai Desert Classic (Emirates Golf Club)

Winner of the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour and now top-25 player, Matthieu Pavon returns to DPWT action this week and is the top-ranked player in the field at #22. There are just a further three from the world’s top 100 in attendance; #58 Christiaan Bezuidenhout makes his first DPWT appearance of the year; #75 and home favourite, Keita Nakajima makes his first start since winning the Indian Open; #94 Jordan Smith rounds out those top-100 players.

Of the strong home gathering, 2023 Taiheiyo Masters winner, Shugo Imahira will be hoping to replicate what he did here on the JGTO at the end of last year; it’s the same story for 2019 winner here Takumi Kanaya, who enters this week after a win on his previous start; and along with fellow former #1 amateurs, Nakajima and Kanaya, Taiga Semikawa is part of a hugely talented group of youngsters to come out of Japan in recent years.

Pablo Larrazabal makes his first start in well over two months; Jesper Svensson tees it up for the first time since winning in Singapore in March; whilst Japanese-born New Zealander and three-time winner on the PGA Australia this year, Kazuma Kobori is among the tournament invitees.

Market leaders: Matthieu Pavon 12/1, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 14/1, Keita Nakajima 16/1, Takumi Kanaya 18/1, Yannik Paul 22/1, Jordan Smith 22/1

There’s little that appeals for me at the top of the market, for all Christiaan Bezuidenhout should always be massively respected when dropping back to this level, especially at a course that should suit.

The new course and four-week break looks a great opportunity for a breakthrough winner and after knocking on the door plenty in recent years, this can finally be the week that England’s Richard Mansell break his DPWT duck.

Mansell has been plying his trade on the DPWT for the most part since 2021 and has recorded several top 5s, but as yet the win has deserted him. Though he’s continued to hit the top of the leaderboard in 2024.

Prior to withdrawing after a difficult third round in India on his last start, Mansell had recorded seven straight top 25s on the DPWT going back to the double-header in Australia at the end of last year, with his form figures this year reading 14-25-9-9-11 before the WD in India.

He’s always looked a strong driver, combining his power with a reasonable level of accuracy and is again shining in this area this year, ranking 6 th off-the-tee. However, it’s his improvements in approach, for which he ranks 25 th this season and around-the-greens, ranking 30 th , that has caught the eye; contributing to him being the 6 th -best tee-to-green player on tour this season and 13 th in par 4 scoring.

The quality of Mansell’s tee-to-green game should be a huge asset at this potentially demanding layout and as someone who often performs well on similar courses, shown by his 4 th at Galgorm Castle in 2022 and a top 10 at The Belfry, I’m expecting him to be among the leading contenders this week.

Playing better than almost anyone tee-to-green this season, it hasn’t taken Bernd Wiesberger long to settle back into life on the DPWT. Coming to a part of the world in which he’s tasted success several times, he’s well equipped to win in Japan.

The Austrian hit the top 25 on his return to the tour in Dubai and continued to show promise over his next three starts, finishing 37 th at Ras Al Khaimah, 16 th in Bahrain and 16 th in Singapore. He did narrowly miss the cut on his most recent start in India but I’m happy to forgive anyone a subpar week on that quirky setup.

Bernd’s typically strong short game has been evident, ranking 2 nd around-the-greens and he’s combining it with some top-class ball-striking, ranking 2 nd in greens-in-regulation, 16 th in approach and a solid top 50 OTT. All adding up to him ranking 3 rd T2G.

With top 5s at The Belfry and in Dubai, Wiesberger has plenty of strong comp form. He already has wins in Korea and China to his name, and can add a third title in East Asia at the Gotemba Course.

Taiga Semikawa has been producing some solid performances on the PGA Tour this season and if able to transfer that to these calmer waters, he has the talent to emulate what compatriots, Rikuya Hoshino and Keita Nakajima have managed to achieve on the DPWT this season.

The former #1 amateur burst onto the scene in 2022, winning twice on the JGTO when still an amateur, with one of those wins coming in the prestigious Japan Open Championship. He added two more titles to his cabinet on that tour last year, which went some way to helping him gain several exemptions into PGA Tour events at the start of this year.

Semikawa looked set to take serious advantage of the first of these in the Sony Open on his first start of 2024, entering the final round in T4 before a final-round 72 dropped him to 30 th . It was still a solid performance at that level and he has since made two of his next three cuts there at Torrey Pines and in Puerto Rico.

In his first full season in Japan last year, he showed himself to possess a strong all-round game, ranking 4 th in ball-striking, 11 th on the greens and 25 th in scrambling. Although, it is with driver that he has consistently impressed most, which he displayed when ranking 3 rd OTT in that strong effort in Hawaii.

Despite missing the cut here last year, Semikawa did finish 8 th at the Gotemba Course on debut in 2022. He has as many wins to his name in Japan as fellow youngster, Nakajima and with a higher ceiling than most of this field, he looked a tempting price this week.

For my money, there are few players who look as consistently overpriced on the DPWT as nine-time winner, Pablo Larrazabal. He’s performed well so far in 2024 and if able to continue driving it straight, he’d have to have a big chance in Japan.

Larrazabal has played five times this year and hit the top 30 on four of those starts. His best effort came when 4 th in the Dubai Desert Classic and when we last saw him, he finished 24 th in Qatar.

He’s been excelling with the short game, ranking 13 th ATG and 21 st in scrambling, whilst he’s also been strong in approach, ranking 27 th . Top 20 in par 4 scoring bodes well for this course and though often inaccurate and erratic with the driver, he drove it straight on his last two starts prior to this break in play.

Pablo has won four times in the last two years, winning for the first time in East Asia in the Korea Championship in 2023. There are few players in this field anywhere near as prolific as him and with a win at Leopard Creek, along with that top 5 in Dubai this year, this course could well provide a good stage for him to record DPWT win #10.

Former top-10 amateur, Sam Bairstow has been continually impressive during his rookie season and has the tools to record a first DPWT win this week.

Bairstow turned pro at the end of 2022 after an amateur career that saw him win the prestigious Brabazon Trophy in 2021 and finish 2 nd in The Amateur Championship in 2022. After initially starting slowly on the Challenge Tour last year, he got a first pro title in the Scottish Challenge and following a 4 th -place finish in the season-ending Challenge Tour Grand Final, he’d done enough to earn his place on the DPWT for 2024; finishing 18 th on the Road to Mallorca rankings.

He initially showed promise at this level in the wraparound events at the end of 2023, making three of four cuts but has stepped his form up considerably in 2024. In eight starts this year, he has recorded six top-25 finishes; seriously contending for the first time two starts ago in Singapore, entering the final round in 2 nd place before finishing 3 rd .

Whilst shining most with his short game so far this year, ranking 18 th in putting and 25 th ATG, the ball-striking has looked perfectly solid, ranking 26 th in GIR and he is a player who possesses both accuracy and length OTT. Right now he looks without any glaring weaknesses.

The fact that Bairstow finished 17 th on his only DPWT start of 2023 at Galgorm Castle is a boost, and we can also draw confidence from that first professional victory in the Scottish Challenge, at the similarly tight, tree-lined and strategic Newmachar Golf Club.

Jacques Kruyswijk is in good form and ticked plenty of boxes for me this week, however I’ve decided to take a chance of Kazuma Kobori. He played in India with plenty of interest surrounding him four weeks ago. Though missing the cut, he responded well from a poor first round there and as mentioned, that is a course at which I’m happy to forgive an off week, especially on debut.

Kobori was highly rated throughout his amateur career but he really stepped up his performances last year with a trio of victories in high-class events. He started 2023 by winning the Australian Amateur and then beat an excellent field in the Western Amateur Championship in the U.S. His final win of the year came in the Eisenhower Trophy, as he beat now PGA Tour winner, Nick Dunlap into 2 nd place.

He turned pro after a 6 th -place finish in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and immediately made an impact on the PGA of Australia, finishing 9 th and 3 rd on his first two pro starts.

Kobori was in incredible form down there at the start of this year, winning three times in his first five starts of 2024, automatically sewing up an instant upgrade to the DPWT next season.

As a self-described accurate ball-striker who can get hot on the greens, this course should suit, and he can make up for the disappointment of India by performing well on what is somewhat of a homecoming in Japan.

You can find all Jamie's latest Golf Betting Tips over on our dedicated golf Insights hub.

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• Preplanned tours
• Daytrips out of Moscow
• Themed tours
• Customized tours
• St. Petersburg

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro Tour is included in most guided tours’ itineraries. Opened in 1935, under Stalin’s regime, the metro was not only meant to solve transport problems, but also was hailed as “a people’s palace”. Every station you will see during your Moscow metro tour looks like a palace room. There are bright paintings, mosaics, stained glass, bronze statues… Our Moscow metro tour includes the most impressive stations best architects and designers worked at - Ploshchad Revolutsii, Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Novoslobodskaya and some others.

What is the kremlin in russia?

The guide will not only help you navigate the metro, but will also provide you with fascinating background tales for the images you see and a history of each station.

And there some stories to be told during the Moscow metro tour! The deepest station - Park Pobedy - is 84 metres under the ground with the world longest escalator of 140 meters. Parts of the so-called Metro-2, a secret strategic system of underground tunnels, was used for its construction.

During the Second World War the metro itself became a strategic asset: it was turned into the city's biggest bomb-shelter and one of the stations even became a library. 217 children were born here in 1941-1942! The metro is the most effective means of transport in the capital.

There are almost 200 stations 196 at the moment and trains run every 90 seconds! The guide of your Moscow metro tour can explain to you how to buy tickets and find your way if you plan to get around by yourself.

Guide to betting on PGA TOUR golf responsibly

Golfbet News

The 2024 PGA TOUR season runs from January through early September. (Getty Images)

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Simply put, there’s nothing else like golf betting. With the ever-present potential for longshot victories, at times seemingly unpredictable variance of performances, and crazy swings from hole to hole that can turn sure-fire winning bets into heartbreaking losses, no other major U.S. sport provides the same level of weekly intrigue that golf betting does on the PGA TOUR.

As a comparison, to get +10000 odds or greater when betting on football, you’d likely have to place a longshot future or build a crazy multi-leg parlay ( not advisable). The futures bet would take many months to potentially cash, while the true chances of that parlay winning would be extremely small.

With golf, though, single wagers for triple-digit longshots win somewhat regularly and usually only take four days (or fewer) to play out. In fact, 2024 started with six of the first nine PGA TOUR events being won by longshots with +10000 odds or higher. In the words of Golfbet’s own Ben Everill , “No other sport gives you the chance to hit a lottery ticket so often.” However, that early trend has been countered sharply as of late, with Scottie Scheffler’s four wins this year – at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, THE PLAYERS, the Masters and RBC Heritage – all coming as the pre-tournament favorite.

It’s also worth noting that the longshot winners were very favorable results for sportsbooks. Sure, they had to pay out a handful of big winning bets those weeks, but the large majority of outright wagers were on other players, and therefore lost.

All of this helps illustrate the fact that betting on golf can be fun, but very difficult. Throwing darts on longshots can be exhilarating if they’re in the mix come Sunday, but a lot less enjoyable if the favorite ultimately comes through with the victory that week. Therefore, it’s critically important to learn and remember how to bet responsibly if you are going to be wagering on PGA TOUR events.

General Responsible Gaming tips and best practices

Whether you’re betting on golf or any other sport, understanding the basics of how to do so responsibly and sustainably is paramount. Every year, thousands of bettors lose more than they expected, which can have severe negative impacts on both financial and mental health. Take time to commit these tips to memory and ensure that they are always top of mind before placing a bet.

• Determine your bankroll, also known as a sports betting budget, for a specific timeframe. This should be an amount that you are comfortable with losing entirely without it impacting your overall financial wellbeing (ex: ability to pay bills). The timeframe for your bankroll should be long, as in multiple months or a year, not just one weekend of betting.
• Related to bankroll, it’s also important to choose and keep consistent with a unit size, which is your standard wager amount. Best practices are to have your unit size equal between 1-4 percent of your total bankroll. Keeping your unit size small will allow you to sustain funds during inevitable “cold streaks” and continue betting without the need to deposit again or increase your bankroll.
• Sports betting needs to be viewed as a type of paid entertainment. Since the odds are skewed notably in the sportsbooks’ favor, it’s very likely that you will not turn a profit from betting, especially in the long term if you are placing bets regularly. Therefore, it should be seen through a similar lens as paying to go see a movie, a show or a live sporting event. It’s entertainment that very likely comes at a cost, even if there is an off-chance that it could also result in winning money.
• Do not ever bet using funds that you don’t currently have. Betting with credit or borrowing funds from someone else to gamble can be extremely dangerous and result in losing amounts that you are unable to afford.
• Set limits on your deposit amounts and time spent betting. Most online sportsbooks now offer the ability for users to set these limits themselves, a critical feature that all bettors should use to ensure that they do not deposit more than their personal bankroll amount and don’t spend too much time focused on gambling.
• Never chase your losses. This is arguably the most common way by which bettors end up losing significant amounts, often more than they can afford to lose. Chasing losses involves placing more bets and/or wagering more than usual in hopes of winning back what was lost. This is a slippery slope where losses can compound quickly and possibly result in negative impacts on financial and mental well-being.
• Never bet while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, as those impair judgment and can potentially lead to placing larger or more bets than usual. If you are out at a sports bar with friends and have been drinking, do not bet. Wagering needs to be done with a clear mind to avoid potential unexpected losses or other issues.

Betting on PGA TOUR golf responsibly

As discussed earlier, betting on golf is different from betting on other sports. In many PGA TOUR events, there are sometimes 140 players or more in the field. That means picking a winner is much more difficult than in most other sports, but is also why some of the associated outright odds can be +10000 or higher. If you are new to golf betting, be sure to familiarize yourself with how to do so responsibly before placing your first wagers.

• Know the tournament format and rules. PGA TOUR events vary in field size, cut rules and playoff formats. This is particularly important in 2024 with “Signature Events.” This year there are eight limited-field Signature Events. The three player-hosted tournaments – The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday – feature a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties, plus any player within 10 shots of the lead. The other five Signature Events do not have a cut.
• Withdrawals (WD): If a player withdraws from a tournament before teeing off, bets on that player are almost always voided. However, if he plays even just one hole and then withdraws (due to injury or illness, for example), wagers on that player are generally graded as losses.
• Limit your number of bets and overall exposure. With hundreds – if not thousands – of golf wagering options available just about every week, it’s important to self-restrict how many bets you place. A smart approach is to ask yourself, “If all of these bets lose, what will my total losses be?” It’s easy to think that at minimum some of your bets will win, but there is unfortunately always the chance that all of them will lose (even when diversifying with different bet types), so calculating your entire exposure is crucial. Always make sure that your total exposure – combined amount wagered – is not more than the bankroll that you’ve chosen.
• Don’t increase your exposure for big tournaments. The excitement of popular tournaments like THE PLAYERS, Signature Events and majors can lead many bettors to wagering more than usual. That increased risk can quickly lead to heavier losses than expected and potentially burning through an entire bankroll. Be sure to avoid getting caught up in the hoopla of a headline event by wagering more than normal.
• It’s a marathon, not a sprint. The golf calendar is unique in that it is close to never-ending. The 2024 PGA TOUR season runs from January through early September, but there are events in other months as well. If you plan to bet on golf every week throughout the season or year, it’s crucial to understand that you will likely have cold streaks spanning multiple tournaments. Therefore, your exposure for any one event should only be a portion of your total bankroll.

Gambling additiction help and treatment

Learning and following best practices for Responsible Gaming can help reduce the chances of sports betting potentially turning into a problem. However, it doesn’t eliminate that possibility completely. Plus, even if you are betting responsibly, it doesn’t mean that a friend or family member is doing so too. Therefore, having and spreading awareness of specialized Gambling Addiction resources is a key piece of the puzzle.

If you or someone you know may be struggling with a gambling problem, there are tailored care options available. Birches Health is a modern, digital treatment provider that has assembled a team of specially trained clinicians to help individuals dealing with gambling disorders and related problems. Birches Health provides a fully confidential experience with easy and quick intake, custom treatment plans and ongoing care.

If you or someone you know may benefit from talking with a Birches Health care specialist, call (833) 483-3838 or send an email to [email protected]

Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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