Club Championship disaster - HELP! ADVICE!

[JMiller]

You need individual stroke play tournaments.

~ I personally avoid Net only tournaments, I like playing gross within flights.

--> The CGA (Carolinas Golf Assoc) One-Day events that I tend to play in a lot have a Gross & Net competition within each flight, it is a good set up given there are two flights 7.9 or better & 8.0 or higher.

 

I normally cut off my travel time to 1 hour for local tournaments.

~ The exceptions would be what you think, larger tournaments on a State (NC), Multiple State (Carolinas) or National Scale.

 

 

The problem with Scrambles / Best-Ball tournaments give you a false impression of your tournament ability.

~ You can lean on your teammate(s) if you have a poor hole in a best-ball / scramble format.

--> Post a big number in individual stroke play you feel very alone. It is learning to deal with adversity individually that will help you improve mentally.

[sp0rtsfan86]

You need individual stroke play tournaments.

~ I personally avoid Net only tournaments, I like playing gross within flights.

--> The CGA One-Day events that I tend to play in a lot have a Gross & Net competition within each flight, it is a good set up given their are two flights 7.9 or better & 8.0 or higher.

 

I normally cut off my travel time to 1 hour for local tournaments.

~ The exceptions would be what you think, larger tournaments on a State (NC), Multiple State (Carolinas) or National Scale.

 

 

The problem with Scrambles / Best-Ball tournaments give you a false impression of your tournament ability.

~ You can lean on your teammate(s) if you have a poor hole in a best-ball / scramble format.

--> Post a big number in individual stroke play you feel very alone. It is learning to deal with adversity individually that will help you improve mentally.

This.

 

I play in mostly individual games but some scrambles... they are totally different. You need to find events just stroke play.

 

Also congrats on your win... twice I was unable to beat the bully like in your case... so I'm glad to hear you beat him.. 

 

Just remember to always keep yourself in check and not get too emotional. always has worked for me.

[Kor.A.Door]

Another thing to remember is usually in Club championships they course setup is way different as well. On our club championship we all played from the white tees. We have guys that shoot 67 from the black or championship tees, nobody broke 70, the winner shot 72/70. These are guys that played college golf and have played many tournaments. The course setup was ridiculous the greens were like putting on a cement floor, and almost every pin was tucked into a corner, 2 to 3 paces from the edges of the green, the course played harder from the white tees than it normally does from the black tees, it was easily 7 shots more difficult than an average day, so of course the scores for the mid and high hcp'ers were way up, 86/91 is not bad for tournament golf with your hcp. In tournament golf when it starts to get away from you it's difficult to get it back.

 

On Saturday of our championship I watched my friend who is. +1.6 shoot 74 from the white tees. That 6 shots from his hcp the guy shot 67 the Sunday before from the blue tees, it happens to everyone in golf. Keep at it. I had 4, 3 putts and a 4 putt, and then made a 50 footer on 18 for par. It's a crazy game, don't give up, it will get better and easier.

[mbrodeur86]

They don't do many tourneys like the cc tourney. This is a small town with about 5,000 people and they have 250 members. They try to make more "fun" tourneys to get more people out which is fine and I understand that. I'll find some. My league match yesterday was the first one I played where there were literally no nerves til the end. I usually don't look at my score and try not to pay attention to it because I put them in my phone with my golf app so it's a good way to not distract me. I felt really at ease and I've got another match tomorrow against the team who is undefeated so it should be fun. The guys from that team called me and said they heard about my performance so obviously people at the club are talking about it.

 

I'm not going to let this get to me though. Last year, my best round was 76 and I walked around like I was God until my next round which was 86 lol. My Dad was a very competitive but humble guy and I know it's not good to try to live up to his reputation but when I'm there I feel like I'm responsible to keep that legacy going by being like him and acting like him and 1 day play like him. 

[sp0rtsfan86]

They don't do many tourneys like the cc tourney. This is a small town with about 5,000 people and they have 250 members. They try to make more "fun" tourneys to get more people out which is fine and I understand that. I'll find some. My league match yesterday was the first one I played where there were literally no nerves til the end. I usually don't look at my score and try not to pay attention to it because I put them in my phone with my golf app so it's a good way to not distract me. I felt really at ease and I've got another match tomorrow against the team who is undefeated so it should be fun. The guys from that team called me and said they heard about my performance so obviously people at the club are talking about it.

 

I'm not going to let this get to me though. Last year, my best round was 76 and I walked around like I was God until my next round which was 86 lol. My Dad was a very competitive but humble guy and I know it's not good to try to live up to his reputation but when I'm there I feel like I'm responsible to keep that legacy going by being like him and acting like him and 1 day play like him. 

Amen to the last part. My dad's favorite moments in life are the moments that people compliment me on the golf course. Well that and hitting an eagle to one up my birdie on the past hole.

[mbrodeur86]

When I was looking for a new golf bag, I purposely bought a bag with 15 dividers so that I could bring his old 7 wood with me (I took out my 4 iron to replace it). I never use it. It's just my way of having him with me on the course. 

 

The course was modified too. They had certain holes where we were hitting from the gold (championship) tees where we normally play the blue (men's) tees. 1 of the par 5's ended up playing maybe 560 yards!! Crazy. It goes down about 260 yards to clear the bunkers and you pretty much have to get over them because it's a dog leg left and goes back to the right and I was the only one in the group to clear it. I normally carry 250 so that was cool too. Thinking about it 2-3 days later, my putting killed me more than anything. I might have mishit 2-3 shots both rounds and it was because of bad lies. I couldn't get the ball into the hole because I was shaking. 

 

It was a very humbling and incredible experience. I wish I could to it all over again right now. 

[JMiller]

The only other thing that I have to say about playing tournaments in general is bellow.

 

1) Have a base-line / tee shot strategy for every hole. (Par 3s what club gets you to dead center green).

~ If they have the tees painted (normally a white or yellow dot on each side of the tee box), then it becomes easy. If they have the pin locations painted (normally a very very small red dot of paint) then you have even more information make sure to stick a tee in the ground at that spot and make putts from 20 foot and in from different angle to that pin.

--> Normally they only paint locations the day before an event, sometimes they won't paint them at all. But if it is painted this makes the strategy and homework a ton easier on you.

 

2) Show up early the day of the tournament and study what your body has to offer that day.

~ I normally show up about 1.30 hours head of a tournament and spend 30 minutes putting, 20 minutes short game, 20 minutes range, 5 minutes putting again, off to the tee 5 minutes before my tee time. It is much much better to be early for the tee time then late. In a lot of tournaments within 5 minutes is a 2 shot penalty. 5 minutes & 1 second DQ.

--> Just figure out what works for you to take your time and not feel rushed to the first tee, i probably take more time then I need just to make sure i slow things down a lot help keep the anxiety in check of the first tee shot.

NOTE :: The last thing I do on the range is hit the club and shot I want off the first tee box visualizing it and executing. If I screw up the first time. i do it again to get positive ball flight I want in my mental picture when I need it for real.

 

3) Focus on only what you can control. Here is my process setting on the first tee:

~ Pre-shot routine & Execution (Data collection, Shot Selection, Visualization, One-practice swing, commit, alignment, target, fire)

~ Post-shot routine & acceptance :: This just means that you accept the results good or bad and then move on.

~ In-between shots :: I put my mind on "vacation" as much as i can thinking of things that make me happy in life, anything but golf related things.

>> Once I get back up to my next shot, I repeat the pre-shot routine process giving it my 100% attention for the 20-35 seconds it takes me to execute the shot.

 

For me, it helps keep me small picture, focused only on the task that is directly in front of me. Trying to make Pars, no worse then Bogey and hopefully drop in a birdie or two.

~ I write the score down between holes, know where i stand in the round then just forget about it as soon as I reach the next tee. Just keep on grinding regardless of the current score.

 

There is a saying "Tournament golf is played out in front of you not behind you."

~ Forget the past, stay in the present and don't worry about the future of what might be IF you do something.

--> You only control the current shot / situation nothing else so that's your focal point like I have said. It is a s*** ton easier to write about then execute though, but with practice everyone here can accomplish this.

 

4) Post Round, hang your head high regardless of the results.

~ You didn't cheat obviously, you didn't quit because of poor performances on a hole, you can learn from the mistakes and move forward.

--> Like i said before, a golf score NEVER defines the person, the way they conduct themselves defines that for them. A score is just a way to judge performance on that particular day in a silly little game we call golf.

 

 

 

If you practice the way that you want to play in tournaments then it becomes easier, you only get the anxiety on the first tee then it becomes more routine feeling.

 

Fairways and greens

JM

[mbrodeur86]

Well we got creamed tonight in our twilight league. I didn't play well (my putter has been my enemy all year and it's the only club I practice). Happy though. We beat 2 teams we had no business beating and made it to the semi-finals when we finished 6th out of 8 spots. We played against a guy who was in contention at the cc. The leader had shot 76 and he shot 77 and the next day he shot an 83. I believe he is a 2-3 handicap. I asked him what he does to calm down and he basically told me that he has been playing cc's since he was 12, playing juniors and up. The guy is probably 50 years old. That is a lot of experience! I see where he was coming from. A lot of what he told me has been said by all of you and it makes sense. I've got to find more tourneys to play in and I've got to find my "money" putter lol.