We have a local tour in the area so I’ve been playing in that every summer simce high school. It’s really stepped my game big time. As I progressed I moved through the various flights based on handicap. Now that I’m a scratch golfer I’ve been playing the championship flights and doing quite well. It’s some really good competition from all over Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois so it’s got a little bit of pressure attached.
The money is probably enough to cover green fees but that’s about it, unless you win the championship at the end of the year.
Taylor Made, I only play TaylorMade equipment with exception to my putter which is an Odyssey. I love the 540XD Drive, 300+ and straight.
I’m 22, scratch player, been playing since i was 9. I play about 3-4 times a week year round. On any given day i can go maybe 2-3 under par.
Vegita,
You are going to have to step ur game up a whole lot more than shooting even par to even think about Q-school. Try shooting consistently “under” par for a few years before trying to take that step. Im not sure u grasp the actual talent and scores even the nationwide players put up.
You’ll know when I make it, so I won’t be giving out my real name just yet. My best round this year is 3 over. This was my second time playing in over six months and seeing as last year I didn’t break 100 till my seventh round, i’d say i have a good head start this year.
[quote]Vegita wrote:
I hear you there, I am planning on playing in a boatload this year. I played a lot last year but unfortunately most of them are scramble formats. However I do play in 2 leagues a week, and one is very large, with like 180+ men every year. I will definately need to play in our city amatuer tournament this year too though. It’s tough to find tournaments where I can just enter by myself, is there anyplace on the web which lists such events? Or do I just have to rely on my golf pro to let me know whats out there?
V[/quote]
Veg-
If you play in the NYC amatuer tournament let us know the time and place.
That would be a good reason to blow off work for the afternoon!
Veg, scambles are nothing. I played with 3 ladies last year against all other teams made up against men. It was a shamble (harder than scramble because all you use is best drive.) We shot a 52, LOL. Scambles are just for fun.
The “leagues” do add some competition but hard nosed real tournaments (MGA) will help you. Once you get exposure in them you’ll see what it really means to play golf as a sport rather than a recreation, not saying that YOU are. There is just a tremendous defference between the few times a week player and an amateur.
I forgot you’re in NY. Here’s a link to all of the tournaments for the MGA http://www.mgagolf.org/
[quote]Mr.Mark wrote:
I’m 22, scratch player, been playing since i was 9. I play about 3-4 times a week year round. On any given day i can go maybe 2-3 under par.
Vegita,
You are going to have to step ur game up a whole lot more than shooting even par to even think about Q-school. Try shooting consistently “under” par for a few years before trying to take that step. Im not sure u grasp the actual talent and scores even the nationwide players put up. [/quote]
Oh i’m well aware of the level of play by the pros on the nationwide and the pga tour. Most of the pros will shoot 65 -68 as an average on thier home course. I know I have a long way to go and I know it only gets tougher from here. Wayne Levi lives pretty close by and actually I hang out with his daughter a bit sometimes out at the bar. (what a hottie too!) I’v played with many golfers who are scratch or a 1 or 2 and even though they are more consistant golfers and make par almost every hole, several of them have told me after a round that I am just fun to watch play golf.
I’m not trying to blow smoke up my own ass or anything, I just know I can hit any shot there is to hit. My consistancy is the only thing lacking and it is improving with every swing I take. My confidence over shots has gone from (where the hell is this thing gonna go) to (this should land just left and short and feed down to the hole) Well in any even’t thanks for the warning, but I know how good I am and where I need to be to accomplish my goals. One more last note is that I am of the rare breed that thrives off pressure. I can only count a handfull of times in my competetive carreer for any sport that I have choked when it counted. Compared to the literally thousands of times that I produced when it counted I think i’ll do allright against the best of them. Good luck to all of you too this summer and i’ll definately look into the NYC amatuer tourney though I live in upstate NY so I don’t know if I can enter.
[quote]Vegita wrote:
You’ll know when I make it, so I won’t be giving out my real name just yet. My best round this year is 3 over. This was my second time playing in over six months and seeing as last year I didn’t break 100 till my seventh round, i’d say i have a good head start this year.
V[/quote]
Yeah no shit. First time this big ass ripped golfer is on TV and every fool will say you’re on 'roids and golf will tun into baseball. Because everyone knows Phil Mickelson is juicing E, have you seen the moobs on this guy?!! God damn what are those like a C cup?
lol, yea i’m not exactly big and ripped, though maybe in a couple years I could gain some size. Phil did have some serious man boobs too, I think they are a little better now though. He attributed it to when his wife got pregnant and he ate everything she did. Oh and a a FYI K.J. Choi was a powerlifter before he took up golf, so the trend for serious athletes to take a shot at golf is defanately increasing.
I wrote a fairly long post about how hard it is to make the pros and the page messed up, so I’ll keep it short this time.
Your competition is guys who grew up on country clubs playing in junior tournaments, contending for HS Golf State Championships, contending for NCAA Golf National Championships, and all the major tournies in between.
I have known guys that growing up their goal was to become a proffesional golfer and did all the above things, and still did not make it (I’m talking like 10 ppl at my country club, meaning other clubs have just as many if not more with the same story).
So, considering scrambles a legitimate tourney, and your best being +3 on what could be a real easy public course, you have a lot of work to do. If I were you I would either forget about this goal, or put in twice the work to catch up with the type of guys I mentioned in the 2nd paragraph
Mike Weir was a hockey player! Not sure what level he made it to, but he’s Canadian so I’m sure he’s pretty good. For some reason a lot of hockey players like to play golf, I am one of them.
I understand where you are coming from but I am putting in the work. 2 years ago I was a 24 handicapp, last year I finished a 12 and this year I will probably be close to scratch. I wake up at 5:30 to go hit balls for 2 hours at the range before work and then I go play a round or 9 holes after work, almost every day. Then I usually play 27-36 holes on either one or both weekends.
I would definately get schooled right at this moment if I tried to enter Q school or the nationwide tour. Thats why I still need another year or two to refine and improve. I will not however give this up, what the heck kind of advice is that? Sounds to me like you tried and failed, listen, i’m not looking for your or anyone elses blessing here, I just thought i’d share some early sucess i’m having and my enthusiasm and love for the game. You don’t think I can make it, thats cool. I know I can make it and I trust myself more than I trust you.
I didn’t expect you to trust me, in fact, hopefully, my doubt fuels you. And no I was not one of those people I knew that grew up dreaming of being a proffesional golfer and failed. Some of my friends were that guy and I was the guy that tagged along and played for fun. I did play in some junior tournaments and for the golf team, but ended up quitting b/c I really never had any desire to play golf seriously, and wanted to focus on Lacrosse considering I was the captain and we were going for a state championship.
I did not know you were putting in a quality effort, and that you were that motivated. I thought there was a chance you were just some random guy that has fallen in love w/ golf and b/c you shot +3 on some shitty public course, and can hit some different kinds of shots that you were good enough for the tour. I too have dealt with people being “impressed” with my game because of my consistent 300+ yd. drives, creativity around the greens, being able to hit any shot, etc. (including getting a free $500 driver from a salesmen so I could show it off to golf team teamates/opponents, country club members) but I would never think of becoming a pro.
It seems that you have the will though. Of all the people that I know that failed, they said that will to becoming the best is most important.
So, if you really are pedal to the medal on this thing I wish you the best of luck. A good golf pro never hurts (one from a reputable country club that won’t rip you off), but this is totally up to you. A good golf pro can really get you where you need to be, a bad golf pro would probably kill your dream. Play in as many tournaments as you can. READ DAVE PELZ PUTTING BIBLE AND SHORT GAME BIBLE! There is a reason Phil Mickelson won his first major after seeking Pelz’s help. His Putting Bible was the single best thing for my golf game. I wish you the best, and you are really going to have to put the work in. Just remember that anytime you are not practicing, there are who knows how many putting in the work under top tutelidge, that already have about 10 yrs. of experience on you.
Compete in ur home course’s club championship, then try qualifying for ur state’s amatuer.
Last year i tried to qualify for the PA amatuer. I shot 70 & 69 and wasnt even within five strokes of the leader, and that was just to qualify. So imagine if i would have made it what i would have needed to shoot to win…best of luck!
[quote]Vegita wrote:
I understand where you are coming from but I am putting in the work. 2 years ago I was a 24 handicapp, last year I finished a 12 and this year I will probably be close to scratch. I wake up at 5:30 to go hit balls for 2 hours at the range before work and then I go play a round or 9 holes after work, almost every day. Then I usually play 27-36 holes on either one or both weekends.
I would definately get schooled right at this moment if I tried to enter Q school or the nationwide tour. Thats why I still need another year or two to refine and improve. I will not however give this up, what the heck kind of advice is that? Sounds to me like you tried and failed, listen, i’m not looking for your or anyone elses blessing here, I just thought i’d share some early sucess i’m having and my enthusiasm and love for the game. You don’t think I can make it, thats cool. I know I can make it and I trust myself more than I trust you.
V[/quote]
Probably shouldn’t write this, but…
If you ask any player who has been playing for a while, they will tell you that improvements come much slower the better you get. It is kinda like lifting in that way.
When you are a noobie, you can gain/improve a lot in a short amount of time, but as you get better the gains slow down and it takes a lot more work to improve.
It is much easier to go from 20 to 10 than it is to go from 10 to 0 even though they are both an improvement of 10 shots
[quote]PharmD Pete wrote:
Vegita wrote:
I understand where you are coming from but I am putting in the work. 2 years ago I was a 24 handicapp, last year I finished a 12 and this year I will probably be close to scratch. I wake up at 5:30 to go hit balls for 2 hours at the range before work and then I go play a round or 9 holes after work, almost every day. Then I usually play 27-36 holes on either one or both weekends.
I would definately get schooled right at this moment if I tried to enter Q school or the nationwide tour. Thats why I still need another year or two to refine and improve. I will not however give this up, what the heck kind of advice is that? Sounds to me like you tried and failed, listen, i’m not looking for your or anyone elses blessing here, I just thought i’d share some early sucess i’m having and my enthusiasm and love for the game. You don’t think I can make it, thats cool. I know I can make it and I trust myself more than I trust you.
V
Probably shouldn’t write this, but…
If you ask any player who has been playing for a while, they will tell you that improvements come much slower the better you get. It is kinda like lifting in that way.
When you are a noobie, you can gain/improve a lot in a short amount of time, but as you get better the gains slow down and it takes a lot more work to improve.
It is much easier to go from 20 to 10 than it is to go from 10 to 0 even though they are both an improvement of 10 shots[/quote]
I hear you there, I was talking to a 1 handicapper at my club end of last year who said he got to a 5 in a few years of starting and then it took him 5 or 6 years to go from a 5 to a 1. But i’m sure that most pro golfer or at least touring pros probably did it a bit quicker than that, and I have to believe that I can do it to. I am a real student of the game and am aware of ALL the challenges and possible setbacks that await me. I need to however, stay focused, stay positive and stay driven to achieve my goals. So while I may know of these things, these possible pitfalls, they cannot happen to me, I cant let them happen to me.
[quote]RED9 wrote:
I didn’t expect you to trust me, in fact, hopefully, my doubt fuels you. And no I was not one of those people I knew that grew up dreaming of being a proffesional golfer and failed. Some of my friends were that guy and I was the guy that tagged along and played for fun. I did play in some junior tournaments and for the golf team, but ended up quitting b/c I really never had any desire to play golf seriously, and wanted to focus on Lacrosse considering I was the captain and we were going for a state championship.
I did not know you were putting in a quality effort, and that you were that motivated. I thought there was a chance you were just some random guy that has fallen in love w/ golf and b/c you shot +3 on some shitty public course, and can hit some different kinds of shots that you were good enough for the tour. I too have dealt with people being “impressed” with my game because of my consistent 300+ yd. drives, creativity around the greens, being able to hit any shot, etc. (including getting a free $500 driver from a salesmen so I could show it off to golf team teamates/opponents, country club members) but I would never think of becoming a pro.
It seems that you have the will though. Of all the people that I know that failed, they said that will to becoming the best is most important.
So, if you really are pedal to the medal on this thing I wish you the best of luck. A good golf pro never hurts (one from a reputable country club that won’t rip you off), but this is totally up to you. A good golf pro can really get you where you need to be, a bad golf pro would probably kill your dream. Play in as many tournaments as you can. READ DAVE PELZ PUTTING BIBLE AND SHORT GAME BIBLE! There is a reason Phil Mickelson won his first major after seeking Pelz’s help. His Putting Bible was the single best thing for my golf game. I wish you the best, and you are really going to have to put the work in. Just remember that anytime you are not practicing, there are who knows how many putting in the work under top tutelidge, that already have about 10 yrs. of experience on you. [/quote]
I will definately take your advice and pick up the pelz books. Actually he ran a special last year on golf channel and I watched him religously. Honestly, alot of my improvement last year was in my short game and most of what I was doing right was from watching pelz. But i’m sure I have a long way to go to become great with my scoring clubs.
just curious what kind of putting style you use? I’m thinking about changing mine up to see if I can have some more consistency in my putting. I’m not sure who was using the one I saw, I think it was the guy playing against Tiger in the Master’s final round. He setup with one hand and then with his other hand he didn’t grip the putter he kinda just pinched it with 3 of his fingers, hard to explain. Has anyone had any good results with different putting style here?
[quote]StevenF wrote:
just curious what kind of putting style you use? I’m thinking about changing mine up to see if I can have some more consistency in my putting. I’m not sure who was using the one I saw, I think it was the guy playing against Tiger in the Master’s final round. He setup with one hand and then with his other hand he didn’t grip the putter he kinda just pinched it with 3 of his fingers, hard to explain. Has anyone had any good results with different putting style here?[/quote]
That GUY was chris DiMarco. He has been using that grip for a few years now, and credits it to saving his game. Not sure if anyone else on tour uses it, but many have started with the belly putter.
Just try a few different styles, practice them, and see which works best for you. The most important thing with putting is to trust you stroke.