Golf.com World Amateur

There is a thread started over in the Golf Courses and Architecture about the World Amateur in Myrtle Beach at the end of August.  To me, that thread should really be in this part of the forum but anyway...if anyone else is playing in the World Am, if you want to comment on it go over there and do so.

This year will be my 26th consecutive year playing in it.

The World Amateur Handicap tournament is something I would like to do some day.  My biggest concerns are the weather and pace of play.  What would you say has been the typical temperature/humidity during your 26 years? What is the average time to play 18 holes?

Finally, how many times have you won your flight?

For me, going to Myrtle Beach is a welcome relief from the heat and humidity.  I live in the Houston TX area where the summertime temps are high 90s, low 100s and humidity in the 75%-90% range.  Myrtle Beach is usually in the mid to high 80s temps and humidity seems to run up in the 80s%.

Time to play - remember, this is a tournament played under USGA RoG.  So, people having to putt everything out, playing unfamiliar golf courses, and just the fact it is a tournament adds to play time.  Mondays are always worse.  Everyone is still "in with a chance to win" on Monday and 5+ hour round is not uncommon.  Tuesday will be better, Wednesday even better and then Thursday is usually the best time of all 4 days.  4-1/2 to 5 hours is pretty common.

I have won my flight one time in 25 years...last year.  I have finished 4th twice, 5th twice, 7th once, 9th once and the rest were above 10th.

I always go with the idea that I have a chance to win but I am probably my own worst enemy in MB.  I have been in the lead multiple times going into the last day and blown up.  We always go up on Friday before the event and we play 18 holes Friday afternoon, 36 holes on Saturday, 18 (or maybe 36) on Sunday and then the tournament begins.  Some years, my back just will not hold up to that much golf and it impacts how I play in the tournament.  But, I go to have fun and play golf.  I also go to see a bunch of folks who I only see this one week every year.  We party hard and have a great time.

Well, you guys are less than 2 weeks away from the big event.  Good luck!

Care to share any strategy either of you will be employing?  Seems to me that conservative play initially makes sense; as the say on the PGA Tour, you can't win an event on the first day but you can surely lose it.  Ever witnessed a player "shoot the round of his life" and then get nailed for sandbagging?  How about sketchy application of the Rules?

I wish this wasn't so expensive, perhaps I'll be in a position next year or the year after to give it a shot.

Well, I will share my 'strategy'.  By next week, we should have the names of the 4 courses my flight will be playing at.  If its a course I have played recently, I won't bother going for a practice round.  However, if its a course I haven't played in the last year, I will probably make a morning tee time the week before just to get a refresher of the layout, and the speed of the greens.  I have played about 95 of the 100 courses here, but some of them I haven't played for at least 5 years.

There are obviously some courses here that 'fit' my game much better than others.  I am hoping to get a decent draw and at least have a couple of those courses come up on my list that I must play.  And hopefully the handful of courses here in Myrtle Beach that I hate with a passion, will not end up on my list.

The weekend before I am going to spend an entire day on my chipping and putting.  It is the one part of my game right now that is stopping me from breaking 80.  I will probably spend about an hour with my Driver just to make sure I have everything in sync.  I took the entire week off of work, so that I can actually get some sleep before the morning rounds (I usually work 5pm - 3am).

I am not expecting much as far as being near the top of my flight.  When this year started, my handicap was 15+.  It had dipped down to 10.9 last month, and will be 11.7 at the time of the tourney.  I'm not sure I am going to have a chance to win my flight at 11.7.  We will see.  I have heard quite a few stories about players having 'the round of their lives' and being DQ'd from the event because of it (sandbagging).  There is no way this will be an issue for me.  My index is 11 and I have never broken 80.  Even if I have the round of my life and shoot 76 or something, I think that should be acceptable for an 11 handicap.

My only real hope is that I have some sort of slight advantage with local course knowledge.  I think the fact that my handicap has been established on courses in this area, at sea level, and playing 70 different courses over 80 different rounds, should actually play in my favor.  I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that there will be 12 handicap players in my flight, who have established their handicap by playing the same exact course each week, and more than likely it will have been on a course much less challenging than some of what they will encounter in this tourney here.

I'm not sure if anyone would be interested, but I will try to stop into this forum at the end of each day and give a quick summary of which course, score, and any interesting details or funny stories that may have occurred.  Maybe someone thinking about playing next year will be interested in hearing a 'first timers' experience in this tournament.

Either way, I am looking forward to it.  I am excited to see which courses I will be playing, and ready to tee it up.

Please give us whatever details you care to share about this adventure.  I love true life "war" stories.  I also think you are correct about some of the 12 handicappers you may encounter having played a single course.  I know of one participant where that description fits perfectly.  I will be interested in seeing his results.

Yep, it will be wheels up on Friday 23rd, a week from this coming Friday.  I have already stacked the shorts and shirts I intend to take with me.  Got balls, gloves, towels in a stack ready to pack also.  Wish I had a decent game to pack this year but it has been a little frustrating.  Have played way less golf than normal this year.  My handicap is lower than last year because of a couple of good tournament rounds a few weeks ago.  If I calculated from GHIN correctly, update is tomorrow, my index should be around 10.3.  So about a 1/2 stroke lower than last year.  Hope they let me play to that and do not adjust me down (again).

If the weather is good (unlike last year), I intend to play Friday afternoon after we land in MB, play 36 on Saturday, 18 more on Sunday then go party at Broadway at the Beach with the pre-tournament get-together.

I don't intentionally go play practice rounds on the courses I draw for the tournament.  I have pretty much played everything in MB, and some that are no longer in existence, except the courses I just have not called in favors to get me onto that are not easy to gain access to.

I am really looking forward to going this year. I don't expect a repeat of last year.  Just hope to play respectable and have some fun.

When I first played in the World Am 26 years ago, I belonged to a club that was not overly long, had a few challenging holes, but for the most part you just had to keep the ball in bounds to score decently.  Was I in for a rude awakening my first year.  I found out my game did not travel well.  Undulating greens, water hazards everywhere, approach shots that had to carry bunkers in front of the greens...I was horrible.  The next year...not much better.  Told my x-BIL who was there with me that I would never come back.  I just could not come anywhere close to my handicap.

Well, I did go back but I started playing a variety of golf courses, not just the one club I belonged to.  Funny part was, my handicap really did not change much at all.  My handicap remained pretty constant but I had learned from playing other courses that you just don't take for granted what club you need to hit.  The lack of familiarity with the courses made me concentrate more.

Then a few years later, I joined the golf league that I belong to now playing in 20+ stroke play tournament on weekends each year.  It has made a world of difference in my approach to playing in the WA.

There are years where my body just does not cooperate and I play like crap.  But, I still enjoy it.  I love playinig competetive golf.

You can definitely shoot yourself out of it the first day.

Yes, I have watched a kid "shoot the round of his life".  Unfortuntely, he did not get DQ'd.  This was some years back when they did not have a good a handle on sandbagging as they do today.

I was in the regular men's flight with guys whose handicap was around 9.0 to 9.5.  I am paired with this kid on the first day.  His Dad, Mom and someone else was walking along with our group.  He is 1 over thru 9 holes.  We get to the back 9 and I see him over conversing with his Dad.  I had already heard his Dad tell someone who was with them that he was "shooting too low".  On the 10th hole, he has a slight left to right breaking putt.  This kid has been dead on all day.  He hits the putt 4 feet high of the hole and 6 feet past.  Makes a comment about a misread.  A blind man could have read that putt.  He lags up and takes the 3 putt.  Does same thing again about 2 holes later.  We get to 17 and he is now 3 over for the round.  Water in front of the green.  He and I are laying side by side about 140 out.  He hits the ball dead in the middle of the lake.  I looked to see what club he pulled.  He had a lob wedge.  Really?  No emotion.  Goes down to the edge of the lake and takes a drop.  Knocks it on and 2 putts 6.  Ends the day at 5 over 77.

Don't remember what he did the 2nd day but was in the lead still.  3rd day, I have the "round of my life" for the WA.  I shoot 74.  This kid shoots 68.  He got adjusted some but still ended up winning the flight and the the little a$$ didn't even show up for the finals on Friday.

Last year a buddy of mine had a guy who got DQ'd in his flight.  This guy was about an 7 index and apparently shot in the low 70s the first day, mid 70s 2nd day then shoots around 79 or so for 3rd day but still way in the lead.  He was DQd after 3rd round.  He played the 4th round because you still can...just does not count.  Supposedly he said something like "Well, I told them I got it up to my handicap."  UP TO...hmmm...that does not sound right.  That isn't the way it works.

Sketchy application of the Rules - not so much in my flights.  I have seen a couple of near fights over rules violations or being called on a violation.  Have seen a couple of guys try to bend the rules but did not get away with it.  Have a couple of friends who have DQd themselves for realizing they had played the wrong ball and only found it out after they had teed off on the next hole.  I called a penalty on myself one year because my ball hit the lip of the sand trap and brushed my shirt coming down as I jumped out of the way.  Guys I was playing with did not see it but I still called it on myself.  Got called up to the Committee Room one year because a jerk in my group tried to call a penalty after the fact on a member of my group (not me).  In the end, the other 2 of us did not see it and in fact the guy who called it on him was all the way across the fairway.  I told him flat out that night...you are a jerk, no way you could have seen anything.

I submitted mine yesterday.  I submitted 10.4 but my WA index is 9.8.  I would imagine I will most likely be reduced to 9.8.  I'm ok with that.  Much better than the year they reduced me from 9.9 to 7.0.

Next year I will be in this no matter what and I am excited. I just got back from MB for a 4 day golf trip at the Legends and it was hot as heck. It's actually cooled down in Charlotte the last 2 days so I would guess it has in MB and hopefully this sticks around for you guys.

Just a quick update....I received my course assignments for the World Am.  Hate it!

Day 1 - Monday - Founders Club - course is tough.  Every single hole is surrounded by waste bunkers on both sides. Slope 130.  Just to add to it....its one of the courses in this area that DOES NOT have a driving range.  So very first round of the week, with no option to warm up at a driving range.  Oh yeah, its also the course that is furthest south from Myrtle Beach.  Its the very last course you get to.  About an hour from my house.

Here is a pic of what just about every hole looks like:

^^ Founders Club Golf Course

Day 2 - Tuesday - Prestwick Country Club http://www.prestwickcountryclub.com/?ghtype=course&ghmid;=Prestwick - Oddly enough...last week someone asked me which single course I would not want to play (out of the 60 participating).  And this was my answer!  Prestwick CC.  Its a nice course.  But its quite difficult.  Pete Dye.  Slope 131.  There are some LONG holes.  The third hole is a 445 yard par 4.  And its only the 5th hardest hole on the course.  I never choose to play there, even though its close to my house.

Day 3 - Wednesday - Burning Ridge Golf Course - This course I am very familiar with....and neither love it or hate it.  There are some long par 3's, and some long par 4's.  Number 11 is a dogleg par 4 that plays 430 yards.  And Number 12 is a 200 yard par 3 that plays completely over water.  The par 5's on the course are quite easy...but its not a favorite course.

Day 4 - Thursday - Panther's Run Golf Club - I have only played this course 1 time. And it was just a few months ago. Layout is pretty straight forward.  Only a couple gimmicky holes.  The greens are usually in great shape but very fast.  And a lot of the course is unprotected, meaning it can get quite windy there.  The only real knock on this course is that it is about as far north as you can go.  Another 45 minute ride from my house in downtown MB.  Also, of the 4 courses at this complex....Panthers Run is probably the worst.  Tigers Eye, Leopards Chase, and Lions Paw are all rated ahead of this track.

My course assignments are....

Diamondback - played there numerous times and every time I walk away wondering how I could shoot this bad on that golf course.

Legends Parkland - probably played this course more times in the WA than any other course in MB.  Love the course except for #9 and #10.  Think they are stupid holes.

Leopards Chase - Played it 3 times and never shot better than mid 80s.  Have to improve my strategy there and quit going for the par 5s in 2.  Hope the greens are better than last time I played.  They were typical Bentgrass in late August in MB...not very good.

Indian Wells - played it 2 times before and never really wanted to go back.  Never played a practice round there, only tournament rounds.  Really does not appeal to my eye.  And, everytime I have played it, it was like a swamp.

I think my draw is pretty good as far as quality of courses go.  However, my 3 highest rounds ever in the WA were shot on 3 of those 4 courses.  :(

My WA index is 9.8 and that is what they have me playing to.  I'm ok with it.  Lost about a 1/2 stroke.

Ahhh yes, Founders Club.  The remake of some other course...can't remember the name now.  I played Founders Club year before last in a pre-WA round.  There can't be much sand left on the beach after building that course.  It has sand everywhere and if you hit it over the sand left or right you are in trouble.

I have played several practice and tournament rounds on Prestwick.  I have gotten over the fact it is a Pete Dye course.  I let that psych me out a few years.  Last time I played it, I had a really good round and shot 77.  I had to learn not to hit driver on every hole.  I played a lot of 3woods or hybrid off the tee and kept the ball in play.

Hope you have a great tournament and hope we get to meet.