Does anyone play The AM Tour?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by bigwave916

I know this thread is over a year since last post, but I wanted to share my experience without starting a whole new thread.

I began playing in the Golf Channel Am Tour in North Carolina in April of this year.

Membership for the first year is $199 and that gets you a very nice Antiqua golf shirt, a dozen Bridgestone balls, a discount card for Golf Galaxy, handicap and stats service and a couple of other trinkets (hat, ball marker, bumper stickers, and Golfnow.com)

In my first tournament (entry fee $100, green fees included) I finished in a tie for second and recieved a Golf Galaxy gift card $40. There were only 7 golfers in my flight so not a bad payout. Fairly nice trophies are awarded to the flight winners.

I've played in 7 tournaments including a major. Majors are at least two day events, and the one I played was at The Homestead in Virginia, a 5 hour drive for me. There are majors at some of the most well known courses in the country. Here we have a two day at Pinehurst played on #2 and #4. There is a major at TPC Sawgrass on the stadium course and the Lagoon course.

I have met some great guys and have had a great time. I now have friends from Maryland and Virginia as well as the Carolinas, some that I met at the two day major in Virginia.

For handicapping, they run a pretty tight ship. With a 4 point index spread in flights there is some movement from flight to flight. It is well managed. If you can play to your index you have a chance to pick up a win.  Someone mentioned that if you win your flight twice going under your index and this is not the case. Your tournament index is calculated after your 4th tournament round. Prior to that you are playing off your USGA index. Tournament index only considers GCAMTour tournament scores and they tend to be higher than USGA handicaps. They only use your 12 last rounds instead of 20 so it is more current, but they use 9 of the past 12.

At first it seemed like the same guys were wining every week, but it turned out that there were 7 guys locally who played in my flight regularly and I think everyone got a win this year but me. (not uncommon for it to take a year or two to get your first win)

Every year they have a two 4 day National Championship, one for the open division and one Senior division (over 50 YOA) This year both were held at TPC Sawgrass, 4 rounds over 4 courses to determine national champion in each flight.

Here in the Carolinas, we are fortunate to have a lot of tournaments spread over NC and SC. I was able to pick and choose the tournaments I played in so I could play one every month without driving more than 2 1/2 hours one way. Check their website GCAMTour.com for tournaments near you.

I'm looking forward to another tournament next week and my plan is to play PInehurst major and the nationals next year.

Cost:

One day tournaments are $100 to $115 (includes cart, green fees, range balls, prizes, trophies)

Two day major, depends on the course, but my Homestead tournament was $215 incl. same as above, plus a nice Antiqua golf shirt with event logo.

Pinehurst 2 day $395

National Championship at TPC Sawgrass 4 day $895

If you sign up, I'd appreciate it if you'd list me as referring you:  David Jones, Raleigh NC

Glad to hear you are enjoying it!  I just signed up last week for the upcoming season (LA section).  I hope my experiences are as good as yours.

[bigwave916]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Glad to hear you are enjoying it!  I just signed up last week for the upcoming season (LA section).  I hope my experiences are as good as yours.

Good luck, best advice I could give you is play conservatively and don't let a bad hole or a bad shot get you off your game. It's amazing to see guys who are leading early fold late in the day.

[Mike Boatright]

What can you win guys the entry fees seems outrageous to the amount you can win. If it's a 100 dollar entry fees then first prize should be 1000 dollar gift card etc..

[Bill926]

Been doing these for many years in Orlando. The entry fee covers green fees, cart, range balls, lunch and drink, trophies, and prize pool.  The number of payouts per flight and prize amount depend on the number of players in the flight.  There's a section in the handbook that specifically spells this out, but a good example would be if there are 3 players in the flight, one place would get paid out for around $75, and if there were 20 people in the flight, 5 places would get paid out ranging from $25 to $250.  All gift cards, and first place gets a trophy.

[Prostudwelder]

Glad to hear you are enjoying it!  I just signed up last week for the upcoming season (LA section).  I hope my experiences are as good as yours.

Thanks for the great info, I just joined myself a week ago, have not played on any tourney yet -- how do u get paid if you win an event ? Or do you even get paid, I see a points system though

Please advice 

[Golfingdad]

 

Thanks for the great info, I just joined myself a week ago, have not played on any tourney yet -- how do u get paid if you win an event ? Or do you even get paid, I see a points system though

Please advice 

It's an amateur event so you don't get paid cash, you get paid in gift cards of some kind.  My local tour always gave out Golf Galaxy gift cards to those that placed in the money, although now it looks like they aren't a sponsor anymore but Golfsmith is - so I suspect those that place to receive Golfsmith gift cards.

The "ceremony" happens as soon as everything is finalized, typically 5-10 minutes after the last group turns their cards in.  If you play skins, that pays out in cash and that could be a longer wait because they combine two flights together.

If you happen to be in the first group of your flight and don't feel like sitting around, I think the director hangs onto everything and will get it to you at the next tournament you play in.

The points system, I think, is one way people can qualify for the National Championship tournament.  Otherwise, its just for fun to see where you rank in your flight over the course of the season.

[freshmanUTA]

On 10/29/2015 at 2:41 PM, Golfingdad said:

It's an amateur event so you don't get paid cash, you get paid in gift cards of some kind.  My local tour always gave out Golf Galaxy gift cards to those that placed in the money, although now it looks like they aren't a sponsor anymore but Golfsmith is - so I suspect those that place to receive Golfsmith gift cards.

The "ceremony" happens as soon as everything is finalized, typically 5-10 minutes after the last group turns their cards in.  If you play skins, that pays out in cash and that could be a longer wait because they combine two flights together.

If you happen to be in the first group of your flight and don't feel like sitting around, I think the director hangs onto everything and will get it to you at the next tournament you play in.

The points system, I think, is one way people can qualify for the National Championship tournament.  Otherwise, its just for fun to see where you rank in your flight over the course of the season.

Have you played any more? Thinking of joining myself, I miss playing tournaments. I haven't since I graduated and this looks like a nice, and decently affordable way to do so.

[Golfingdad]

45 minutes ago, freshmanUTA said:

Have you played any more? Thinking of joining myself, I miss playing tournaments. I haven't since I graduated and this looks like a nice, and decently affordable way to do so.

Since that post, yeah, I played in a few more events.  I didn't sign up this year, however, as I plan on getting my fill of tournament golf through some local amateur events and some club events.

I'm still a fan, though. :)

[OrangeHog]

I've been playing on the GC Am Tour now for a few years.  I'm sitting at a 12 handicap right now so I'm not at a point where I can play in State Am tournaments and even sniff the scores that other guys are posting, so the fact that the GCAT offers handicap flights is attractive.

It's not cheap but tournament golf typically isn't.  I'll play in around 10-12 local events, a couple of majors and (hopefully) the national tournament this year at Mission Hills in Palm Springs.

The thing I love the most about playing in these events is that 1) it has helped me to focus on the key areas of my game that really need major attention during my practice sessions and 2) I've learned how to manage the course within my own level of skill.  I've watched a lot of guys swing driver just to get as close to the green as possible while I hit 4-iron so I can lay up to a gap wedge distance.  I was the former when I first started but have changed how I navigate the golf course and I've seen the results in much more consistent scores.

So far this season I've got 2 wins in 2 events under my belt, so one more win qualifies me for the national tournament in September at Mission Hills.  I'm hoping I can get out there this year (it'd be my first time in that event) and put up some kind of respectable finish.  Top 15 is my goal this year, but that's going to take some work between now and September.