Getting ready for my major

[GHIN0011458]

So the process has begun. I am starting to get ready for one of three of my personal Major Tournaments this year. Obviously I want to win, but there will be guys who have played on the Web.Com tour, won Adams tour and Hooters tour events, played in US Opens, one played in a Masters.. etc. Anyways, it is a 50 percent amateur field 50 percent pro and first place takes home 15k for the pros. We all play in the same division. My real goal is to make the cut, which is roughly at 6 to 7 over par every year for two rounds on a course rating of 75. The course isn't easy.. its a 7200 yard par 70. So if it was a par 72 it is equivalent to 7400 yards.

I started practicing on Sunday, hitting two Jumbo's. Monday, hit another jumbo but abs were a little sore. Tuesday, practice round at one of the harder public courses in St. Louis and didn't hit the ball well at all, shot 78 on a 74 rated course. Ended up hitting balls Wednesday(just a large) and then finally the stuff I was working on clicked in yesterday which is good. So now the process will be to get reps in and move forward with drills only as I am done with changing anything in the swing. The only thing I have been working on is long irons because there will be multiple holes where I will have to hit Driver 6, 5, 4 into greens along with the par 3's which of course will be 4 or 3 irons. Wedge game was good at the last tourney, made 5 birdies so I warm up with them until I hit each target at the range.

Everything is coming together nicely BUT I wanted to start this to see if anyone out there has any tips/thoughts on peaking for this tournament. The goal is to make the cut and to do that I will need to play my best golf or up to a +2 in a tournament. I know I am capable but I must be playing my best. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm always open for new ideas. I think the hardest part will be grinding out par after par because few birdie chances are available on this course.

[Abu3baid]

No advice, but good luck and look forward to hearing about your progress!

[FooFader]

No advice, but good luck and look forward to hearing about your progress!

Ditto, best of luck.

[iacas]

Good luck.

Would love to hear more about your tournament prep. When are you scouting the course? What do you see? What types of shots will you face?

[David in FL]

Good luck. Would love to hear more about your tournament prep. When are you scouting the course? What do you see? What types of shots will you face?

^^^^ This ^^^^ Plus, what are you doing when you're "hitting jumbos"? Banging a bunch of balls down range doesn't strike me as very helpful at this point.... Can you give a link to the tournament website? Would love to follow along. Good luck!

[boogielicious]

Good luck @GHIN0011458 and have fun with it.

[Unforgiven93]

Good luck!! We are in very similar situations. I have an $8k payout tournament coming up that I just qualified for. I made the cut last year, but barely. I can play a lot better than I did. These 4 day events are so much fun, by far my new favorite type of tournament. 7200 is very long for a par 70. I just recently played in my state am, which was played from 7270 75.3/136, but it was par 72. It is definitely still possible to put up good numbers from that distance, but it requires a ton of focus. After looking at my scorecard from that tournament and comparing it to the guy who won, I realized that I consistently have one or two dumb holes a round that end in a double bogey or a triple. That essentially made up for the difference in our scores. So as far as tips are concerned, I don't know if this applies to your game as well, but for mine, I have a new rule: always make bogey the absolute worst score you can get. I know that sounds silly, obviously you are never trying to make double or worse, but I think just having the mindset of never making big numbers, just playing consistent golf, letting the pars, birdies, and bogeys come will improve scoring dramatically. To illustrate my point: The winner shot 69-70-72 the last three days with nothing worse than a bogey. I shot 75-71-73 in the same 3 rounds, the 75 had a double and a triple, the 71 had a double, the 73 was consistent, nothing worse than a bogey.

[Lihu]

So the process has begun. I am starting to get ready for one of three of my personal Major Tournaments this year. Obviously I want to win, but there will be guys who have played on the Web.Com tour, won Adams tour and Hooters tour events, played in US Opens, one played in a Masters.. etc. Anyways, it is a 50 percent amateur field 50 percent pro and first place takes home 15k for the pros. We all play in the same division. My real goal is to make the cut, which is roughly at 6 to 7 over par every year for two rounds on a course rating of 75. The course isn't easy.. its a 7200 yard par 70. So if it was a par 72 it is equivalent to 7400 yards.

I started practicing on Sunday, hitting two Jumbo's. Monday, hit another jumbo but abs were a little sore. Tuesday, practice round at one of the harder public courses in St. Louis and didn't hit the ball well at all, shot 78 on a 74 rated course. Ended up hitting balls Wednesday(just a large) and then finally the stuff I was working on clicked in yesterday which is good. So now the process will be to get reps in and move forward with drills only as I am done with changing anything in the swing. The only thing I have been working on is long irons because there will be multiple holes where I will have to hit Driver 6, 5, 4 into greens along with the par 3's which of course will be 4 or 3 irons. Wedge game was good at the last tourney, made 5 birdies so I warm up with them until I hit each target at the range.

Everything is coming together nicely BUT I wanted to start this to see if anyone out there has any tips/thoughts on peaking for this tournament. The goal is to make the cut and to do that I will need to play my best golf or up to a +2 in a tournament. I know I am capable but I must be playing my best. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm always open for new ideas. I think the hardest part will be grinding out par after par because few birdie chances are available on this course.

Hey, I actually know what you are talking about, regarding cuts and scoring. I just finished reading "Tin Cup Dreams" by D-Antonio about Esteban Toledo. His secret was having fun on the course. When he was tense, he shot miserably when he was having fun he shot in the mid/high 60s.

I wish you the best of luck making the cut for the weekend. It should be fun regardless. Make lots of birdies.

[GHIN0011458]

Good luck. Would love to hear more about your tournament prep. When are you scouting the course? What do you see? What types of shots will you face?

Sorry for the delay in response I usually only get on during the week at work (don't tell the boss). Anyways, I have played the course before but it is private and I won't be able to get in until next week. I have 12 days until it starts but the course is long so long irons have been my main focus. I am feeling better with the irons but have taken about a week away from the course. The course: can be friendly off the tee for the exception of about 4 holes. Those 4 of course are 480-490 yard part 4s. I will be working on tee shots this coming week. Really nice bunkers but my bunker play has been really solid this year and greens are slightly raised so judging the uphill lie shots on the greens will be something I need to focus on. Course is always in fantastic shape so hitting out of some thicker rough on the course is the only bad lie I should get. Preparation to this point: I am really trying to stay balanced to hit some nice long irons. I had to break down a few things and have about three drills I am working on. The main one is for ball striking and I am just putting a small piece of grass about half inch in front of the ball and focusing on that. Unfortunately I played 9 yesterday and was all over the place with my lines. The range can do that to me though so this week I will be playing two rounds with irons only to tighten up myblunes while I begin to work on driver at the range. Only 12 days left so putting and chipping for about 45 minutes every other night. That will get to every night about a week from now. The course is better for a draw for sure but you have to trust it. If you play a draw and it is left out to dry you will find trouble. Staying away from doubles and getting up and down is definitely the key as with any course. Bogeys cost me a lot because not too many birdie chances are there.

[GHIN0011458]

Only 7 days of preparation remain. I played on Monday with irons off the tee only at a 6800 yard par 70 and the first 9 was more getting the rust knocked off from not playing rounds so a few balls in from the fairway. After playing the back 9 I started playing real golf on the front 9 and ended up getting through 12 holes at 3 over par. One three putt, one tough up and down miss and then one really simple up and down missed. So two strokes were thrown away. I made no birdies so the lines into the green still need to tighten up a little bit.

The rest of this week I am focusing on chipping, lag putts(big greens at this course) and the driver/3w off the tee. They will be crucial there and I am hoping to peak at the right time next week. Practice round is scheduled for Saturday and I have the second round of my match play championship on Friday morning so get some competitive juices flowing and see where my game is at in competition will be good.

More updates to come.

[Lihu]

Only 7 days of preparation remain. I played on Monday with irons off the tee only at a 6800 yard par 70 and the first 9 was more getting the rust knocked off from not playing rounds so a few balls in from the fairway. After playing the back 9 I started playing real golf on the front 9 and ended up getting through 12 holes at 3 over par. One three putt, one tough up and down miss and then one really simple up and down missed. So two strokes were thrown away. I made no birdies so the lines into the green still need to tighten up a little bit.

The rest of this week I am focusing on chipping, lag putts(big greens at this course) and the driver/3w off the tee. They will be crucial there and I am hoping to peak at the right time next week. Practice round is scheduled for Saturday and I have the second round of my match play championship on Friday morning so get some competitive juices flowing and see where my game is at in competition will be good.

More updates to come.

Are you allowed to play the actual 7200 yard length to formulate some kind of course strategy?

[GHIN0011458]

Are you allowed to play the actual 7200 yard length to formulate some kind of course strategy?

Yeah for sure. I played the course last year and have a good idea of everything, but I want to get around the course more efficiently this time if that makes sense. This year I realize par is a good score but I would like to cut a few yards off the course from taking better lines off the tee. Also, Just to make sure I carry to the front of the green and try and lag in a two putt on the extra long holes is going to be my strategy. So if I have 220 to the pin, I can hit a smooth 4 iron 205 and get on the putting green vs trying to be pin high on certain holes. 18 pars will get me to the weekend so no need to try hero shots on 490 yard par 4s.

[mdl]

Good luck.  Keep us updated.  Would love to hear a hole by hole scouting report if you've got the time after you get to play the course.  Or even just a report for a couple holes.

[rdsandy]

... My real goal is to make the cut, which is roughly at 6 to 7 over par every year for two rounds on a course rating of 75.

You should push your goal to be in the top 25% after each day, that would put you in the middle of the pack after the cut instead of hovering on the bubble, too much stress.

[GHIN0011458]

The ultimate goal is to win and be up there but I don't want to put a number in my head to shoot to meat that goal. I can try to win my group both days but I want to focus on the process of each individual shot and see where I fall

[GHIN0011458]

5 days left until tourney. I feel some tendinitis in my left wrist from hitting balls so just wedge shots and putting/chipping until monday. Shot 69 in my match play event and still lost. Had to give the guy 6 strokes though on the part 5s and two par 3s so it was tough. More to come soon. Practice round Sunday

[GHIN0011458]

Scouted the course yesterday. Didn't play so hot.. Shot 79 which wont cut it but I really didn't have much focus because I was hitting additional shots here and there. I made zero birdie putts and had about 12 feet on 5 different occasions. I know my nemesis will be #18 though and I may end up taking my medicine, laying up in front of this creek that is right in front of the green and giving myself a chance to get up and down or worst case take a bogey. I will have to see where I fall. I shot a 74 the day before on a shorter course with friends with 3 3 putts on extremely slow greens then I went to the club and the pro said they had them at an 11 but are trying to get 12.5 for the tourney. only 3 days left and I will be teeing it up. More to come soon.

[Lihu]

Scouted the course yesterday. Didn't play so hot.. Shot 79 which wont cut it but I really didn't have much focus because I was hitting additional shots here and there. I made zero birdie putts and had about 12 feet on 5 different occasions. I know my nemesis will be #18 though and I may end up taking my medicine, laying up in front of this creek that is right in front of the green and giving myself a chance to get up and down or worst case take a bogey. I will have to see where I fall. I shot a 74 the day before on a shorter course with friends with 3 3 putts on extremely slow greens then I went to the club and the pro said they had them at an 11 but are trying to get 12.5 for the tourney. only 3 days left and I will be teeing it up. More to come soon.

Nice that you played the round. Were you playing from the tournament setups?