To play in nationwide tour

[jrsmith1491]

I think a good way to judge yourself, would be to ask these two questions.

I definitely agree with that very easy solution lol unless you live on Augusta or something

[$2 Nassau]

Woods is estimated to be a +8. So the guys behind him must be +5. This article by our forum owner confirms.

Those calculations are wrong.

for example: Used | Date | Score | CR/Slope | Diff. | Tournament * | 01/28/07 | 66 | 78.1/143 | -9.6 | Buick Invitational Um, that is not a -9.6 differential, not even close. The course rating is 78.1 and he shot 66. So right away he is 12.1 strokes below the course rating...then with a slope of 143, which is way higher than the average slope of 113, it would be even a greater differential. I'm guessing around a -14 or -15 differential. Assuming all those calculations are wrong, which they are, Tiger is not a +8, he's more like a +13 or more.... With an initial differential of 12.1, their slope calculation made the round less impressive in relation to the course rating, despite having a very high slope of 143? That doesn't make sense. The differential would be -9.6 if Tiger had played on a course with a slope of 90 or something. Whomever did this probably just took probably took the differential of 12.1 and multiplied by 113 and then divided by 143, that's fine for handicaps on the other side of scratch, but we are dealing with + handicaps here and you need to flip flop that calculation. Not sure if this is how the USGA does it as well for + handicaps, if so they are wrong. Sorry for the rant, but bad math pisses me off.

[TN94z]

The pro who I worked with in college was a +3. I asked him once why he never tried to play a tour and he explained really quickly how much better those guys were.

At my local course, the Pro that used to be there played in some tour events. He didn't really impress me that much. He scored well, but I have a friend that could beat him and the Pro played the St.Jude every year....although he didn't do that well.

I agree though, that scratch won't necessarily make you a living. Even though I will only play as a hobby, if I ever reach the level of being confident enough to try to qualify, you better believe that I'll there every Monday I can afford.

There maybe 306000 men who are scratch but how many only golf their home course. I think part of the equation lies in playing foreign courses well, you can qualify at your home course but traveling to unfamiliar setting and playing well is a different story.

I think a lot of that lies in playing different courses. I have seen guys that play to a + handicap at their home course, have trouble on our home course.

yea thats true and how do you get the opportunity to play foreign courses in competition mode, college golf

You don't have to play college golf to play competitions at foreign courses. There are State Opens, US Ams, State Ams, etc....Depending on what area of the state you live in, you may never play the courses where these competitions are held unless you are playing in the competition.

Well I figure if you are good enough to play scratch daily at your home track and it has a high enough slope then you can at several others

I agree. It depends on how conservative you get on a course that you don't play and don't know where the "can hit" and "can't hit" spots are.

I think if I won the Power Ball, I could devote enough time to get good enough to try out, not make it for sure, but try. You have to shoot mid 60's to Monday qualify for a Nationwide event...

I agree. I think I could devote enough time to feel confident enough to hit as many qualifiers as I could.

I think a good way to judge yourself, would be to ask these two questions.

Haha....this could be dependent on the golfers you play with and know.

[walk18]

Even watching the JT tournament on the golf channel yesterday you can see just how good these guys are. They get on monster par 5's in 2. They fire long 5 irons at pins tucked right next to the water with no fear, often pulling it off. Short game is ridiculously good. And this is supposedly a second tier tournament with most big names not in the field. It's amazing how good these guys are. Nationwide players are basically just as talented.

[Paradox]

Those calculations are wrong.

you should be pissed at yourself then :) That differential is exactly right.

(score-course rating) x 113/course slope (66-78.1) = -12.1 x 113 = -1367.3/143 = -9.56

[DeanS]

Can you qualify for the nationwide tour being a true scratch golfer?? Or what does it take?

This Q School link will answer you question, check out the article Q School 101 FAQ's

http://www.pgatour.com/qschool/

[motteler621]

You don't have to play college golf to play competitions at foreign courses. There are State Opens, US Ams, State Ams, etc....Depending on what area of the state you live in, you may never play the courses where these competitions are held unless you are playing in the competition.

yea you dont "have" to play college golf to play foreign courses on competition level but it pretty much sets everything up for you when you do. You dont have to plan everything out for the trip, spend tons of money, take time off of work etc. I think a player is more likely to go pro who played in colllege as a great player than some player who never played in college. It doesnt really make sense, because the college age is a young enough age to start looking to play as a pro and why not start out in college golf, they will pay for your college if you are that good.

[TN94z]

yea you dont "have" to play college golf to play foreign courses on competition level but it pretty much sets everything up for you when you do. You dont have to plan everything out for the trip, spend tons of money, take time off of work etc. I think a player is more likely to go pro who played in colllege as a great player than some player who never played in college. It doesnt really make sense, because the college age is a young enough age to start looking to play as a pro and why not start out in college golf, they will pay for your college if you are that good.

Yeah, everything is set up for you, but that doesn't mean that a college player will play a higher number of "foreign" courses in competitive play that a non-college player with the money to do so.

A college player probably is more likely to go pro than your local landscaper that happens to be really good at golf. But that is only because of the exposure and the time spent on practice, the coaches calling people to come watch, etc....many factors. But regardless, I was just pointing out that you don't have to be a college player to play "foreign" courses competitively.

[motteler621]

Yeah, everything is set up for you, but that doesn't mean that a college player will play a higher number of "foreign" courses in competitive play that a non-college player with the money to do so.

yea I just think the exposure, etc what you said are really going to help out the player that is looking to go pro. Although I know alot of golfers who play for big colleges around me and got scholorships to play. They arent near good enough to think of playing pro, a few people I know are probably 4-5 handicaps and they got scholorships and a really really nice college to play. They also got opportunities to play some famous courses in the US competitivly cause of college. I also look at scores of players from local colleges in the paper and they shoot around 2-9 handicap. I think in other sports to dont have to be quite as good to go pro.

[Quinn07]

I think this would be an appropriate one for BEN to respond to this thread...or others that have some pro experience. The guys that play the different courses, even in the mini-tours knows exactly what differentiates them from the top players.

[Shorty]

What it takes is a crap load of money and pretty much all your time unless you are gifted.

A crap load of money and all the time in the world won't help you if you aren't gifted.

I played in a pro-am two weeks ago with two pros. This was on the pro am circuit in Australia. Peter Lonard won the event. The two pros both shot 5 under par and 2 under and each won about a hundred dollars. (36 holes, I only played on round). These were seriously good players. But they spent a lot of the round talking about how good the good players were. They were very well aware of where they stood in comparison. They were talking about better players in the same way a 20 marker talks about a scratch marker. "They make everything look so easy" etc. etc. Very enlightening. And these guys hit every drive 270 to 300 dead straight. On 3 par 3s of over 150metres there were 3 shots inside 3 feet. Between them they hit par 5s in two 6 times. Between them I can only recall one hole when they didn't get up and down from off the green.

[sean_miller]

A crap load of money and all the time in the world won't help you if you aren't gifted.

If someone has enough money they can sponsor their own tournament and get a sponsor's exemption. They won't make the cut of course, but for 2 glorious days their name will be on the leader board where people can see it (and wonder why that guy didn't WD after day 1).

[Paradox]

bottom line is that the separation between the Nationwide tour and the PGA tour is a break..not skill. The average guy on the Nationwide COULD play on the PGA and be average there, as well..just hasn't had the breaks go his way to get the card yet. I'd venture to say that the top 25 Nationwide guys will all probably end up being slightly above average for the most part, some even being in the top 1/3 of PGA pro's eventually.

Its naive to think of the Nationwide tour as some level of competition far removed from the PGA...at least in the top half.

[sean_miller]

bottom line is that the separation between the Nationwide tour and the PGA tour is a break..not skill. The average guy on the Nationwide COULD play on the PGA and be average there, as well..just hasn't had the breaks go his way to get the card yet. I'd venture to say that the top 25 Nationwide guys will all probably end up being slightly above average for the most part, some even being in the top 1/3 of PGA pro's eventually.

Some would argue the 100-125 spots on the PGA tour are all better than the top Nationwide guy and a so are a ton of guys on the European tour.

[James_Black]

bottom line is that the separation between the Nationwide tour and the PGA tour is a break..not skill. The average guy on the Nationwide COULD play on the PGA and be average there, as well..just hasn't had the breaks go his way to get the card yet. I'd venture to say that the top 25 Nationwide guys will all probably end up being slightly above average for the most part, some even being in the top 1/3 of PGA pro's eventually.

think of it like soccer (if you follow football in the uk which I doubt you do but anyway....)

There are different leagues the premier league (like the PGA and european tour) league one (nationwide and challenge tours) and then league two and three (mini-tours) only a few teams from league one ever make it to the premier league but the top teams there could hold on and stay in the bottom half. But there's a huge leap between the middle of the Premier league and the bottom of the premier league, just like the PGA and European tours. the guys at the top though are at a different level though, a +3 golfer will shoot the odd really low score but the best are able to do it on a consistent basis. I can't imagine how hard it is to put together 4 low rounds under the pressure those guys are under.

[golfro]

bottom line is that the separation between the Nationwide tour and the PGA tour is a break..not skill. The average guy on the Nationwide COULD play on the PGA and be average there, as well..just hasn't had the breaks go his way to get the card yet. I'd venture to say that the top 25 Nationwide guys will all probably end up being slightly above average for the most part, some even being in the top 1/3 of PGA pro's eventually.

Agreed with this. A lot of Nationwide tour guys are amazing and could probably contend to a certain level. Unfortunately many of them will not go on to get that big break.

I think some people watch events on TV and mistake what they do as somethign that looks easy. Sure, on paper, the only difference between a scratch golfer and a tour player could be as little as just a few stroke per round...but you have to consider the huge difference in course difficulty, and that last 5 remaining stroke difference is one that most golfers will never achieve. The best round I've ever played was a 68, at 3 under 71. Best round a lot of pro's have played on their home courses and non competition courses are more or less in the low 60's, some in high 50's. That just seems completely out of reach even on my best days.

[TN94z]

I don't understand the whole "not get the break" for the Nationwide guys. IMO, you are either good enough to finish high enough to get your card or you are not. It is a season long money list that determines whether you get your card or not. How many "breaks" does a guy need to get his card? Why not just give them to everyone?

What I mean is, if you don't finish high enough on the money list to get your card...you can't blame that on a break (I'm sure there are rare cases where someone caught a bad break in a tournament that cost them just enough to get them out of the running). You have to beat the guys on the tour to get your card.

And, no, I don't see Tommy Two gloves being above average on the PGA tour. There is a reason guys graduate from the Nationwide tour to the PGA tour and I don't think "breaks" have that much to do with it. That is my opinion though.

[Joeyvee]

There are alot of great golfers but I think one of the main ways to actually get on tour is being set up for it. Like being a really good player for your college etc. how many guys are playing in the nba that didnt play college ball?

How many baseball players are in MLB that didnt play college. Oh 90% or so... A lot of hockey players dont play college either. There are different proving grounds for each sport.