I need advice for mini tour golf

[Giospro]

Witch Mini Tours are good to start out with to get a good idea of playing Pro Tours? Pepsi Tour, GSG Tours or?

[Wet Doggg]

I am about your age...36 now. I played college golf at a very good college program and was a Second Team All-American. Played against guys like Chad Campbell, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson just to name a few. Beat them on a regular basis as they did me. Gave Q-school a shot twice and failed. Mini-tours for two years as well. Could not afford to keep going and gave up the game due to not being able to go out and have fun. I always viewed it as a job.

Just starting to play again on a regular basis this summer. I am not going to say it is impossible. But while I was in high school. I had a contact that knew the Gallagher family very well. He put me into contact with Jim Jr. and we spoke about professional golf. One thing he said that always stuck with me. "If you can't go out and shoot 66 - 68 on your home course 9 times out of 10...you are not good enough to play professionally." Not sure if it is 100% true...but it stuck with me.

[enis750]

I have played some mini-tour events and many amateur events both at the state and national level, and I know many mini tour players and heard all kinds of stories. I can tell you one thing - Bring your game!

this pretty much sums it up...GREAT post!

[srjorion]

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true." Anonymous

If you are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to play competetive golf, dream big, work hard, and go for it? I'd personally live in cheap motels, live out of my car, eat cheap noodles every meal if I had to. I have a family that's more important to me though and I wouldn't take a chance that would jepopardize their health and welfare.

[Shorty]

Witch Mini Tours are good to start out with to get a good idea of playing Pro Tours? Pepsi Tour, GSG Tours or?

Are you prepared to put up $20,000 of your own money with the chance to win a quarter of it back by shooting for rounds under par under pressure?

How about winning your club championship first? Are there more than 20 guys at your club who are better than you? I'll bet there are. How many of them do you think have the game to make money from this game? If you have to ask why you shoot 75 one day and 85 the next, it means you have no clue. Why do you shoot 85? Because like everyone else here, you pay for poor course management and lack of skill with extra strokes. Set yourself this goal: 8 of 10 rounds under par on the most difficult courses in your area. Then, see if you're prepeared to match yourself against the hundreds of guys who will eat you for breakfast. Jorruss wrote one of the best and most realistic posts I have read here. Don't ignore waht he is saying. You become a pro because you've got the game and can back yourself. Not because you think it would be a cool thing to do. Also, can you think of anyone or any consortium who would be prepared to back you to the tune of, say $100,000 with the expectation that you would pay them back that amount plus 10% if you earn $50,000 over their investment? Time for a reality check.

[65withatriple]

Here we go again!!! Everytime there is a thread like this there are numerous posts about practicing 10 hours a day and you can "make it". If you don't have the natural ability, which you may, 1 million hours of practice will not help. If your 34 and your best score is 70 I would guess its probably not going to happen. I really don't think people understand how good professional golfers are. The guys on the Nationwide are really, really, really good. Other posters who said to start locally and become the best are correct. If you can't beat everyone in your city then you definitely can't beat the pros.

I am in no way telling you not to dream or you can't do it. It's good to dream big, but the reality is many dreams don't come true. Good luck and prove me wrong!

[Randy4h]

On a similar note, check out Jerry Rice's performance so far on the Nationwide Tour. Here's a guy who is obviously a very gifted athlete with great hand/eye coordination, who hits balls and plays golf every day, and has done so for many years. He fully expected to do well (even if he couldn't beat Lawrence Taylor).

He's currently 8 over after 7 holes.

One of the announcers said that, of the many ex-professional athletes who have tried their hand at professional golf, none have been within 10 strokes of making the cut on the Nationwide Tour. I can only recall a couple of guys who played on the Champions Tour in years past (Jon Brodie and an ex-pitcher, can't remember the name).

[Giospro]

Are you prepared to put up $20,000 of your own money with the chance to win a quarter of it back by shooting for rounds under par under pressure?

First thing, i didn't ask any body for what i shoot or $20.000, $100.000 (I make over that anyways) of my own money and winning club champs.and another thing don't bash down other peoples dreams! there is alway ways to get there like me drawing for disney, was not easy. I was wondering witch mini tour is good to start in??? I'm a part time golf teaching professional since 1999/Animator since 1989, my handicap was a 2 till i hurt my back now i'm up to 9 and should be back to 2 or lower (Hope) this year or next year. my goal is the same as my wife's uncle (Waiting for my kids to grow up) witch he's on the Champions tour, i'm 46 yrs old and getting prepared for Senior Q-School when i turn 50 and do what ever it takes to get there.

[deronsizemore]

It's never too late. Guys in their late 40's and early 50's have improved and made the Champions Tour.

With that said, you'll have to improve a lot before you can make it on the Nationwide Tour or even the Hooters Tour. The courses these guys play are long and difficult; they're not your local 6400 yard muni. The Hooters Tour comes to a course that I play a couple times a year and every year that the Hooter's Tour has played there, the cut was made at -4 par. It's like that at a lot of their stops. I played the course right after the tour stopped there last year and shot a 74. All the tees were as far back as they could go and the rough was about knee deep; seriously, if you hit it in the rough, you you better tee it up again. The winning score over four days was something like -15 I believe. That's just something I cannot compete with. lol

But again, it's not too late. If you have the time and are willing to use that time to work on your game and NOTHING else. Go for it.

[MiniMoe]

from my personal experience if you can't go out on your home course and shoot in the mid to low 60's every single time you play, you have vary little change of contending on a mini-tour. If you don't thing this is right, go out to a different course that plays close to 7,000 yards and play the tips. If you can't shoot at least 2-4 under almost every time, you are not ready for the mini-tours. I say this because if you pick a random course, the pins are gong to pretty easy... for the most part. When you hit the mini-tours, the pins are almost all hard. They are tucked near the edge of a ridge, or right over a bunker, or whatever, but they are not easy by any stretch of the imagination. So, if you can't go out when the pins are easy and shoot under par, what is going to happen when the pins get hard? Test your game. Lay back and have 195 to every par 4 and make it so you have to lay up on every par 5. See how well you shoot. Granted, on the mini's not every shot to a par 4 is going to be 195, but you will have your share. If you can't shoot under par making the game as hard as you can, you are not quite ready for the mini's. I feel your pain.... I'm real close to being ready for the mini's, but I don't have the money to take off work to practice to see how good I can be.....and I do shoot under par far more often than I shoot over par.

Don't mean to sound negative, but it takes more than most can even imagine to make it on the mini's. I hope something clicks and it comes together and you make it. Good luck and practice hard. Oh, and it will cost at least $60,000 to play a season on a mini-tour... probably more. I talked with a friend that was on the Adams Tour and he mentioned his sponsors spent almost $100,000 on him last year.

[Scottoooooooo]

All I can tell you for sure is that most of the mini tours are full of guys that think they are good, and go out and shoot 80. Here is the definitive answer: if you have to ask why your scores fluctuate so much, and if you low round is 70, YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Guys on the web.com tour would shoot 67 on a BAD DAY at the courses you are playing, and if the goal is not to at least get there, mini tours are a waste of money for guys that once shot a 69, and think they are good.

[WUTiger]

I'm approaching this as a former caddie who saw guys try for the big time.

1.  Find a swing coach who matches your "wave length," and work with him or her. Chart your shots and rounds for persistent flaws, and work to overcome them.

2. Not alll mini-tour events are created equal. Ask around, and see if you can get the $$ together to enter one that's not overrun with players. Even if you didn't turn pro, playing in a few would be quite a golf experience!

[MEfree]

Originally Posted by Scottoooooooo

All I can tell you for sure is that most of the mini tours are full of guys that think they are good, and go out and shoot 80. Here is the definitive answer: if you have to ask why your scores fluctuate so much, and if you low round is 70, YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Guys on the web.com tour would shoot 67 on a BAD DAY at the courses you are playing, and if the goal is not to at least get there, mini tours are a waste of money for guys that once shot a 69, and think they are good.

Why are you responding to an OP that hasn`t posted anything on the site since 2009?  I skimmed through the thread hoping that we would get an update from the OP...

Edit- just noticed that you are new to the site so welcome to TST (and kudos for using the search function)!

[ultimategolf]

There is a new tour in Las Vegas the Ultimate Golf Shootout and the next event is Feb 25, 2012

[hoosier53]

Try the Southern Golf Tour. It is a new tour that just started based in Tampa Bay area and also plays

in the Orlando and surrounding area at the most elite courses to be offered. They play for quality purses

and treat you like you belong and will help in any way they can to get you ready for the next level. Their

website is: southerngolftour.net