Dream of Turning Pro

[WUTiger]

4 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

P.S. - When you mentioned "bridge clubs" the picture that came to mind was guys sitting around a table playing a card game with little ol' ladies.

A cautionary warning, my friend: IF the little ol' ladies tee off nine minutes ahead of the guys, what do you want to bet the LOLs finish a half-hour ahead of the guys?

[Double Mocha Man]

9 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

A cautionary warning, my friend: IF the little ol' ladies tee off nine minutes ahead of the guys, what do you want to bet the LOLs finish a half-hour ahead of the guys?

I love the little 'ol ladies.  And yes, they would kick our collective butts in speed of play.

[p1n9183]

On 6/25/2019 at 3:48 PM, Double Mocha Man said:

45 yards behind the longest tee?  So he has to tee it up from the McDonald's parking lot across the street?!

Jaja, in average! another way it´s to lower a hole par. A 520 par 5 teed up from ladies tee at 450 yards could be a challenging par 4. At my home course I turned a 3250 yard Par 36 course into a 3400 yard Par 35. That´s 6800 yards at par 70. Not easy at all, not pga tour level but midAm level.

[Golfer6969]

On 6/20/2019 at 8:23 PM, mcanadiens said:

Have you competed in any tournaments recently?

 

I have my club championship tomorrow, 18 holes and then 36 places and ties through to the second 18 the next day. It feels good that I feel I can actually compete properly this year in a gross scoring competition rather than just handicap! I’ve been taking on board the comments from everyone about manipulating the course yardages, all tips are good tips! - I’ve been playing the par 5s as long par 4s off the ladies tees, and adding 20 yards where I can on other tee boxes - makes for some very different holes and club selections! I will let you all know how I get on tomorrow morning, hoping to do the simple things right, play stress free golf and go low! 

[David in FL]

15 hours ago, Golfer6969 said:

I have my club championship tomorrow, 18 holes and then 36 places and ties through to the second 18 the next day. It feels good that I feel I can actually compete properly this year in a gross scoring competition rather than just handicap! I’ve been taking on board the comments from everyone about manipulating the course yardages, all tips are good tips! - I’ve been playing the par 5s as long par 4s off the ladies tees, and adding 20 yards where I can on other tee boxes - makes for some very different holes and club selections! I will let you all know how I get on tomorrow morning, hoping to do the simple things right, play stress free golf and go low! 

Good luck, and have fun!

Let us know how it goes, here!  ^^^^

[edomingox]

Anything is possible.  If a golfer becomes a pro at age 18 and has been playing since the age of 3, then that's 15 years to go pro.  Starting at 22, it's possible to become pro at age 37.  I wouldn't mind being a golf pro at age 37. 

It takes real learning in your practice though.  Not just banging out balls at the range.  Or you can do what Moe Norman did and just knock out 1000 balls a day for 12 years.

[iacas]

15 minutes ago, edomingox said:

Anything is possible.  If a golfer becomes a pro at age 18 and has been playing since the age of 3, then that's 15 years to go pro.  Starting at 22, it's possible to become pro at age 37.  I wouldn't mind being a golf pro at age 37.

It doesn’t really work that way though.

[MacDutch]

On 6/29/2019 at 12:00 AM, Golfer6969 said:

I have my club championship tomorrow, 18 holes and then 36 places and ties through to the second 18

And, how did you play?

[leftybutnotPM]

On 7/4/2019 at 2:44 AM, MacDutch said:

And, how did you play?

And, predictably, here endeth the thread.

Another budding professional who has a handicap of X but has the ability of a scratch and - wait for it - the astonishing expectation to sink 15 footers -  eagerly intends to inform us of his results in  a tournament or CC round being played the following day after playing by himself for a month. But we hear nothing. Presumably we are talking a score in the mid 90s all due to bad luck, but we'll never know.

There is only one possible reason, given that "anything is possible"; he just didn't want it badly enough.

[Pretzel]

I mean, did anyone really think a person with the name of "Golfer6969" was anything more than a teenager trolling to pass their time? Nobody with maturity beyond eighth grade makes usernames like that, and usually those kinds of usernames are for the Xbox only.

[Shindig]

14 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

I mean, did anyone really think a person with the name of "Golfer6969" was anything more than a teenager trolling to pass their time? Nobody with maturity beyond eighth grade makes usernames like that, and usually those kinds of usernames are for the Xbox only.

Oh, those weren't his expected PAT scores?

[mcanadiens]

Yeah. I'd suppose we could put together an entire thread referencing all the other threads of our would-be pros from years gone by. 

It would sort of be cool to track em all down and have them tell us how things turned out, but that would be a lot of work.

[Shindig]

49 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

Yeah. I'd suppose we could put together an entire thread referencing all the other threads of our would-be pros from years gone by. 

It would sort of be cool to track em all down and have them tell us how things turned out, but that would be a lot of work.

We might find a pattern like didn't make it to Q school, didn't make it through Q school, doesn't play golf anymore, hasn't broken 80, played in two KFC tour events but missed both cuts, Ian Poulter, made it to final round of US Open qualifying but didn't make it, ... 

[Pretzel]

1 hour ago, mcanadiens said:

Yeah. I'd suppose we could put together an entire thread referencing all the other threads of our would-be pros from years gone by. 

It would sort of be cool to track em all down and have them tell us how things turned out, but that would be a lot of work.

The only one that interests me is that Kelly kid from a few (4-5) years ago that was convinced his swing looked just like Tiger Woods. That one provided some good entertainment.

[Double Mocha Man]

30 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

The only one that interests me is that Kelly kid from a few (4-5) years ago that was convinced his swing looked just like Tiger Woods. That one provided some good entertainment.

My swing does not look like Tiger Wood's swing.  But my girlfriends look like his girlfriends.

[gjunkie57]

I will repeat what Mr. Penick said about pro golfers.  They are experts.  That is a level that is attained by few, and normally their potential to do so is noticed and nurtured at an early age.

 It was a fun read while it lasted.  

[amished]

I feel like anybody that has gotten to watch a pro up close knows they can't make it.  I think I've told this story here before, but I have a friend who took 2nd in our state championship as a Junior in High School, won the championship as a Senior and went on to golf for 4 years at our main state University.  He's been grinding to try to make it onto the web tour or some other smaller events, was one blowup hole from making it to the U.S. Open two years ago (triple bogey, hit it OB on his tee shot his last hole of the day) and just an incredible golfer. 

He was around one afternoon helping our local high school kids and we were working on controlled wedge/short iron shots to help alleviate the effect wind had on the golf ball, and it was probably a 10-15 mph wind.  As a demonstration, he took his normal preshot routine from a slightly downhill lie, 160ish out (no previous swings all day to my knowledge) and stuck a flighted down 9 iron to 12' or so.  A shot I would have to take 50 or more attempts to get that close, and even then probably not do it.  He then pulled out his pitching wedge and said he'd have to aim over a tree to the left of the green and let the wind take it in if he was going to hit that instead.  So he stepped up, preshot routine, and stuck it to 9'.  Two shots in a row, with no warmup, with tough conditions to hit two shots which would be once a summer shot for myself.  And this is a guy that currently isn't able to make it as a touring pro.

I just hope I can get to sub 5 hdcp...

[leftybutnotPM]

52 minutes ago, amished said:

I feel like anybody that has gotten to watch a pro up close knows they can't make it. 

Anyone with less than exceptional ability. I totally agree.

The OP and the several just like him have never seen a really good player in the flesh. If they had they would accept reality.

Their logic ( flawed at every turn) is as follows:

• I once had 76 (on a course playing 6000 yards with concrete like fairways and no penal rough) playing alone and not really knowing the rules.
• Pros play around par and I once saw JB Holmes have 75 on TV
• Therefore, I'm as good as him, pretty much.
• My friends who don't play golf know I'm "around a 2" and saw Rory have 79 and golf pro's are scratch, so on my day I'm as good as they are and I would beaten Rory that day.

It is my sincere belief that unless you are an absolute gun player, until you have seen a good playing pro IN THE FLESH - and seen a long, difficult golf course - you have absolutely no idea how good they are and watching a random touring pro on the range for 2 minutes will tell you that you have no chance. TV gives you zero idea of how good they are. You can watch Rory carry it 310 on tV and it's impressive because the microphones make it sound so awesome. See it in the flesh and you almost faint.

These guys in Monday qualifiers for 3 spots can be yet to hit off and there can be a 62 and a 63 already on the board.

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by leftybutnotPM