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My first US Open Qualifier experience


phillyk
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Maybe but I doubt those guys are foolish enough to lie their way into a plus handicap and attempt to qualify for an Open. I don't doubt there are a lot of vanity handicaps out there but my experience it's more a problem with recreational golfers that never play in any organized events.


A lot of times, an open qualifier is an opportunity to play a premium course that you otherwise would not have the chance to play.  Me personally, the risk of embarrassing myself outweighs my desire to play somewhere like Old American (where the local qualifier was around here) or a TPC type course.

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A lot of times, an open qualifier is an opportunity to play a premium course that you otherwise would not have the chance to play.  Me personally, the risk of embarrassing myself outweighs my desire to play somewhere like Old American (where the local qualifier was around here) or a TPC type course.


But what would be the point? Even if you lied about a bunch of scores to get your 10.5 down to a 1.4 you'd be out there making a fool of yourself playing aside pros and elite amateurs. Doesn't sound like much fun to me. Your "bad" day would be infinitely worse than the guys finishing at the bottom. It's not like taking a vacation and playing Pebble with your buds. You'd be out there with people you don't know getting slaughtered.

Dave :-)

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But what would be the point? Even if you lied about a bunch of scores to get your 10.5 down to a 1.4 you'd be out there making a fool of yourself playing aside pros and elite amateurs. Doesn't sound like much fun to me. Your "bad" day would be infinitely worse than the guys finishing at the bottom. It's not like taking a vacation and playing Pebble with your buds. You'd be out there with people you don't know getting slaughtered.

Exactly.. "doesn't sound like much fun to me" may sound fun to someone else. Sometimes a practice round and tourney round is cheaper than or close to cheaper than one round at a lot of these courses.

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What belies the inexperience of a lot of posters here  - and I don't mean this in a mean way - is that many haven't been playing long and they apply their imaginings of how they would  feel in a  pressure situation like a US Open qualifier.

Fact is, a + handicapper is better than virtually every other player he tees it up with 99.9% of the time. Unless, of course he is regularly playing in serious events where everyone else is a legitimate better than scratch player.

A+ 3 player doesn't suffer from nerves to the point where he blows out a score by 25 strokes. He can certainly stop trying and give up and blow out a score, but the notion that competition play is a new and frightening experience for these guys is ridiculous. That's not saying he doesn't get nervous - he should and he does, but not in the way some people think.

It's kind of the reverse of the posters who say they played at Sawgrass and don't really understand the difficulty of the island green because they hit an 8 iron onto it with no problem. IT's just naivety and a lack of experience of the bigger picture.

And I'll wager that the OP is was the only player any qualifying field who played Cobra wedges from 2006 (from his old set) that he thinks are conforming.

And that is not a comment about the need to be a gear head, it's about knowing the rules.

In the race of life, always back self-interest. At least you know it's trying.

 

 

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Sorry.. there are too many red flags here. I agree with Shorty. From the clubs he says are old to not having any other tournament rounds to show for. who DOESN'T play tournament golf. I know I don't know any of them.

Fair point.  To be at this level of golf you have to be playing and/or practicing all of the time and I can't imagine why you'd want to do that if you didn't compete all of the time as well.

But what would be the point? Even if you lied about a bunch of scores to get your 10.5 down to a 1.4 you'd be out there making a fool of yourself playing aside pros and elite amateurs. Doesn't sound like much fun to me. Your "bad" day would be infinitely worse than the guys finishing at the bottom. It's not like taking a vacation and playing Pebble with your buds. You'd be out there with people you don't know getting slaughtered.

I think to some people the "point" would be to just be able to know that you've played in a US Open qualifier.  Or to just say that you got to play a specific course you wouldn't have otherwise got to play.

But I'm like you.  It would certainly be a "bucket list" type of thing to say that I've tried to qualify for the US Open, but it would only really count if I did it legitimately and it wouldn't even be worth reliving if I didn't play at least halfway decent.

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But what would be the point? Even if you lied about a bunch of scores to get your 10.5 down to a 1.4 you'd be out there making a fool of yourself playing aside pros and elite amateurs.

Which is precisely the case in this thread. :-)

In the race of life, always back self-interest. At least you know it's trying.

 

 

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Exactly.. "doesn't sound like much fun to me" may sound fun to someone else. Sometimes a practice round and tourney round is cheaper than or close to cheaper than one round at a lot of these courses.


The course in the metro area here that hosted the qualifier is $40 walking and $54 with a cart. All the CO sites are public courses.

Dave :-)

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This from two years ago: http://thesandtrap.com/t/146/whatd-you-shoot-today/9468#post_758294

Sorry, you were asking him for scores, so I looked to see if he had mentioned any here.

Not bad for a course of that quality?

With a little detective work here, and a little detective work there, it's really not that hard to find a lot more than that. ;)

@Dave2512 ... the same is mostly true around here.  There are some decent courses for the local qualifiers, but many of them are public and none are off the charts exclusive or anything.  Sectional qualifying might be another story, though.

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This from two years ago: http://thesandtrap.com/t/146/whatd-you-shoot-today/9468#post_758294

Sorry, you were asking him for scores, so I looked to see if he had mentioned any here.

Not bad for a course of that quality?

A good score? Relative to what?

The guy claims to play off close to +3.

Not sure how this helps the case. One would hope that a + player occasionally shoots in the 80s. :-P

(And yes he may have been a higher HCp then.)

I'm interested in scores posted in competition with markers and holes being completed.

Where are his tournament scores?

In the race of life, always back self-interest. At least you know it's trying.

 

 

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Not really interested in cyber-stalking a stranger to work out his golf handicap. Sometimes internet forums can be very judgmental. Some might say that "Vanity handicapper" isn't a million miles away from "Bull*****er." If he can play to his handicap, I hope he does next time he plays in a qualifier.

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I just think the vague responses from @phillyk were a bit odd. Sure, you can play older equipment and still be a phenomenal golfer. But, you're not going to answer somebody who is asking why you need new wedges with "I use older stuff that is worn out. New stuff will give me more spin". Not realizing how golf technology works would be very strange at a +2 or +3 handicap, in my opinion. I also don't see how someone of this handicap could post a detrimental score due to lacking such a significant amount of spin on a given course. Something is just off , but I'm surely not intending to pile on or call anyone out.

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Not really interested in cyber-stalking a stranger to work out his golf handicap. Sometimes internet forums can be very judgmental. Some might say that "Vanity handicapper" isn't a million miles away from "Bull*****er." If he can play to his handicap, I hope he does next time he plays in a qualifier.

There may not be a next time if the USGA has to call on the club pro he has to list as a reference when you fill out the application.

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Quote:
There may not be a next time if the USGA has to call on the club pro he has to list as a reference when you fill out the application


Understood - sorry, I don't know how the system works. My 14 handicap is unlikely to ever trouble anything beyond a Wednesday afternoon scramble!

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I think to some people the "point" would be to just be able to know that you've played in a US Open qualifier.  Or to just say that you got to play a specific course you wouldn't have otherwise got to play.

But I'm like you.  It would certainly be a "bucket list" type of thing to say that I've tried to qualify for the US Open, but it would only really count if I did it legitimately and it wouldn't even be worth reliving if I didn't play at least halfway decent.

That would be a riot though. I can see it now. Someone saying I once tried to qualify for the Open as they attempt impress their buds while shooting another round of barely better than bogey golf at their local rinky-dink muni.

Dave :-)

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That would be a riot though. I can see it now. Someone saying I once tried to qualify for the Open as they attempt impress their buds while shooting another round of barely better than bogey golf at their local rinky-dink muni.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Flitcroft

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Note: This thread is 2643 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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