Took a while but I'm pretty good at Tour 9 now and fully maxed out. Opened up Tour 11 - $25M bonus which was nice. I've played probably 10 matches in Tour 10 and its always tough to start a new tour because you aren't comfortable with the courses. In any event, I've probably won 3 of 10. In any event, working to build up my bankroll so I can afford to learn Tour 10. Have about $75M now so probably enough, but trying to get to $100M because I know its going to be rough at the start. Playing Master III now and I've got about $250M and I'm not in the top 60. Obviously those guys at the top are playing the higher level tours to get into the billions/tens of billions.
There are some ridiculous players in those Tours. I can usually hold my own, but its pretty clear I'm way outclassed by some of those guys when they are dunking it with 13+mph winds. Anyways, Tour 9 is pretty comfortable and I'm pretty solid at the shootouts so I can win >50%. Still a lot of good players though and anything more than 2yds on the shootouts has a decent chance of losing. Looking to take the step to Tour 10 soon.
The biggest help for improvement was learning the wind charts, I was guessing up through most of Tour 8 and lost a lot of shootouts because I misjudged. Now that I understand the ring system, elevation, etc., I am much more consistent.
I watch a fair amount of play-throughs on YouTube to get tips, especially for the tournaments. The problem is its tough to change "how" I play or with what clubs and my performance in those is mixed. Most I win or finish top 5 in the qualifier, then sometimes I make it to the final round, sometimes I don't. It's crazy how exact the top guys are in setting up each shot to shoot those scores. Not sure I'll get there.
Still an addictive game, just not looking forward to the increase in losses in Tour 10 when I make the jump.