The Golf Channel Amateur Tour - Page 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golfingdad 

Yeah, I don't think that finding out after the tournament that you were competing against the other division was really the issue.  Unless, of course, you were within a shot or two of the leader and knew it, and would have played the hole differently had you known that.

 

The only real issue is the unfortunate lack of turnout for your section.

 

I always like to look at the bright side, so I would look more at the fact that you held your own with the guys from the better division.  You didn't beat them, but you at least showed that you "belong" with them and can compete at that level ... which is good because I imagine you aren't too far from being able to play in that division.

That is the reason so many guys wait until the last minute, some often entering after the deadline (our tour director allows it) so they can see how many and who. 

A couple of messages previous have mentioned $175 to join, it's actually $199 for your first year and then $175 in subsequent years.

The merchandise isn't impressive either, although the Antiqua golf shirts are pretty nice and they've made me re-think my Under-Armour only policy.

The more popular Major Tournaments fill up really fast, but for what they charge, I feel like it's worth it.  For example, I played at The Homestead last year for $395, got another nice golf shirt, didn't win anything, but I got two rounds on a couple of fairly upscale golf courses.

Regular tournaments as someone has stated, run anywhere from $100 to as high as $150.  We don't see many over $115 here in the Carolinas.

We have about 2 tournaments a month within 2 hours of me and I could probably play 3 a month during the summer if I was really to drive farther.

Sandbaggers don't last long...they are moved up due to handicaps in their tournament rounds.  Sucks to have them kick your butt until they get 4 tournament rounds in, but it is pretty well regulated.

Cheaters??????   There everywhere and I've had the misfortune to run into a couple of them, but the tour director assures me and I believe him, that the odds of anyone persons experiencing what I experienced twice in a season is pretty low.

I'm going to send in my $175 this year and give it another shot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golfingdad 

Yeah, I don't think that finding out after the tournament that you were competing against the other division was really the issue.  Unless, of course, you were within a shot or two of the leader and knew it, and would have played the hole differently had you known that.

 

The only real issue is the unfortunate lack of turnout for your section.

 

I always like to look at the bright side, so I would look more at the fact that you held your own with the guys from the better division.  You didn't beat them, but you at least showed that you "belong" with them and can compete at that level ... which is good because I imagine you aren't too far from being able to play in that division.

Actually it is "the" issue.  So you would be willing to pay 110+ to play in a tournament and competing against guys that are better than you, if so why don't you ask to be moved up a division.  Part of my decision on hole 18 was affected by my not knowing that fact.  I was beating the next guy by 13 shots, I wasn't hitting my Driver well all day so I decided to hit it 1 more time just to practice and since I had little to worry about I thought no big deal. Hit another bad shot with the driver and proceeded to take some unplayables and get an 8.  If I would have known that I was competing against the guy in my group and one in the group a few ahead of me, I would have hit 3W or 3H off the 18th tee.

I don't understand why they would combine the divisions, but if they are going to do it they might want to mention it to the people playing in those affected divisions.  My other competitor thought I had won too, and neither of us had an idea of what was going on til we turned our cards in.  He was mad for me.  I do like playing on tour but it's crap like that that makes me want to stop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCfanatic35 

Actually it is "the" issue.  So you would be willing to pay 110+ to play in a tournament and competing against guys that are better than you, if so why don't you ask to be moved up a division.  Part of my decision on hole 18 was affected by my not knowing that fact.  I was beating the next guy by 13 shots, I wasn't hitting my Driver well all day so I decided to hit it 1 more time just to practice and since I had little to worry about I thought no big deal. Hit another bad shot with the driver and proceeded to take some unplayables and get an 8.  If I would have known that I was competing against the guy in my group and one in the group a few ahead of me, I would have hit 3W or 3H off the 18th tee.

 

I don't understand why they would combine the divisions, but if they are going to do it they might want to mention it to the people playing in those affected divisions.  My other competitor thought I had won too, and neither of us had an idea of what was going on til we turned our cards in.  He was mad for me.  I do like playing on tour but it's crap like that that makes me want to stop.

Yeah I can see your point.  Here is my .02...

I'd rather save the money allocated to the Pro Am Tour - and invest those dollars into getting my game better via instruction, practice, etc.  Then as your game improves - and you get down to say a 12 or 14 or something lower (I believe you said you're a 19 right now)... Then start playing in those tournaments again?  

I say this as you have identified two issues with the format...

1.) It isn't cheap to enter these tournaments

2.) There aren't many players in your division to compete against - and you run the chance of them combining divisions due to limited fields within your division.

So get better... Re-allocate your funds to help you get better... And then once you reach some of your playing goals... Maybe then you'll get more enjoyment as you will be playing against bigger fields, and also playing better??  So you're getting a little more personal ROI out of your investment?  

Again, just a thought from my side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCfanatic35 

Actually it is "the" issue.  So you would be willing to pay 110+ to play in a tournament and competing against guys that are better than you, if so why don't you ask to be moved up a division.  Part of my decision on hole 18 was affected by my not knowing that fact.  I was beating the next guy by 13 shots, I wasn't hitting my Driver well all day so I decided to hit it 1 more time just to practice and since I had little to worry about I thought no big deal. Hit another bad shot with the driver and proceeded to take some unplayables and get an 8.  If I would have known that I was competing against the guy in my group and one in the group a few ahead of me, I would have hit 3W or 3H off the 18th tee.

 

I don't understand why they would combine the divisions, but if they are going to do it they might want to mention it to the people playing in those affected divisions.  My other competitor thought I had won too, and neither of us had an idea of what was going on til we turned our cards in.  He was mad for me.  I do like playing on tour but it's crap like that that makes me want to stop.

I can appreciate that your organizers are lame for not telling you ahead of time.  However, if my choices were to pay $110 to compete against one guy that I am better than, or 3 guys, 2 of whom are marginally better than me (and I'm improving, and by "I'm" I really mean "you're") then I would take option B every day of the week and twice yesterday.  That's my point.  The issue isn't that you were "robbed" of a trophy by beating one lousy guy ... what is fun about that?  The issue is that it just stinks that there aren't more guys there for you to compete against.

In St. Louis area, we have the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association (MAGA). This group is affiliated with the USGA.

MAGA has about one or two 36-hole association tournaments a month, and also sponsors regional qualifying events for the different USGA tournanments.

The area also has an affiliated senior golf association that coordinates a series of weekly tournaments at regional clubs and courses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by castlerockmo 

So I bit the bullet and joined the golfweek tour. Hopefully lots of people come out being this is the first year for the Ozarks tour.

First year tours tend to be small fields. Be patient and supportive and it will grow. Arkansas was a first year tour last year and they will have 50+ per event this year if you are looking for places to travel to. The National Championship in Hilton Head is a fantastic event, hope to see you out there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by castlerockmo 




You play on the Arkansas tour? I came to degray Saturday.

I do not. I'm the Tour Director for Cincinnati and the assistant Tour Director for Kentucky. That's great you played with Arkansas, what did you think? Did you have fun? How did you play?

Quote:

Originally Posted by castlerockmo 

I drove down there bc ozarks tour dont kick off till next month. They had a good turn out o believe its their 2nd year. Course wasn't the greatest, like a cheap muni. They had just aerated the fringe and fairways. It was tough to play some shots. I played absolutely terrible, first time I played a competitive round since high school 9 years ago. Had a blast. I thought their director did a great job.

I don't know the Arkansas director at all but I've heard he's doing a great job. They may have less of a selection than we do to work with if they were playing a mediocre muni, we have a really good schedule this year- 10 top publics and 9 private courses between our two tours. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Come out and play some more and bring some friends!

I live two hours from Cincy, Lex, and Columbus and plan to play on all three some I am hoping but from the looks of my 11 year old's travel baseball schedule it is going to be tough unfortunately.  There are some good courses on each schedule that I would like to play but I do not miss any of his games.   

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hstead 

I live two hours from Cincy, Lex, and Columbus and plan to play on all three some I am hoping but from the looks of my 11 year old's travel baseball schedule it is going to be tough unfortunately.  There are some good courses on each schedule that I would like to play but I do not miss any of his games.   

Great! Looking forward to having you. Introduce yourself when you get out.

So I've played a couple of Golf Channel AmTour events now.

1) the payouts are terrible

    the first event was at a course that would normally cost $40 to play with a cart.   The entry fee was $116, so $76 markup.  With 13 people in my flight, that means the markup for the flight should result in a prize pool of $988.  Subtract the cost of the trophy, and you probably have $950 left.  The actual payout was $140 for 1st, $60 for 2nd, and $40 for 3rd.  $240 payed out.  Not sure where the rest of the $710 goes.

   moral of the story, if you want to play for money, this isn't the tour for you

2) the tournament is very well run, competitors were all cool

   pretty cool to have your name announced on the first tee, very good scoring updates, pace policy is actually enforced (at least on the oklahoma tour), the trophies are pretty nice

Overall, the tournaments are a bit overpriced for the amount that is paid out for prizes, but the website is very well designed and the tournaments are organized fantastically.  If you are looking for fun tournaments and are more concerned with competition than winning money, the AmTour is a good choice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unkynd 

So I've played a couple of Golf Channel AmTour events now.

 

1) the payouts are terrible

 

    the first event was at a course that would normally cost $40 to play with a cart.   The entry fee was $116, so $76 markup.  With 13 people in my flight, that means the markup for the flight should result in a prize pool of $988.  Subtract the cost of the trophy, and you probably have $950 left.  The actual payout was $140 for 1st, $60 for 2nd, and $40 for 3rd.  $240 payed out.  Not sure where the rest of the $710 goes.

 

   moral of the story, if you want to play for money, this isn't the tour for you

 

2) the tournament is very well run, competitors were all cool

 

   pretty cool to have your name announced on the first tee, very good scoring updates, pace policy is actually enforced (at least on the oklahoma tour), the trophies are pretty nice

 

Overall, the tournaments are a bit overpriced for the amount that is paid out for prizes, but the website is very well designed and the tournaments are organized fantastically.  If you are looking for fun tournaments and are more concerned with competition than winning money, the AmTour is a good choice.

I've probably already said this before in this thread, but it all depends on where you play.  Here in LA I've paid $155 for a tournament at a course with a normal weekend green fee of $210, I've paid $140 for a course with a regular price of $120, and I've paid $145 for a course thats $175.

Now, these aren't courses I would normally be playing on the weekends, but when I get the opportunity to play them in tournament conditions, and in two of those cases with a discount, I'm jumping all over that.

The other plus down here is that the tournament fields are fairly big (every tournament but one has been a sellout) and my division (Hogan) is one of the more popular ones so there is usually at least 20 other competitors. :)