The Sand Trap Inside Look: 2012 PGA Professional National Championship, Tons of Pictures and Video

**mvmac** · June 24, 2012

The 45th PGA Professional National Championship takes place this week on the Bayonet and Black Horse courses in Monterey, California This is the event for PGA club professionals to earn their way into this year's PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. To advance you must finish inside the top-20. This year there will be 312 players trying to advance to the final major of the year. These players are pros but don't normally get that much time to work on their games. They are Directors of Golf, General Managers, Teaching Professionals , last week they were at their courses doing inventory, giving lessons, doing a junior camp. There will be a large gap in scoring, some guys will shoot in the high 80's while others will be under par. A lot of them are really good and four PGA Professionals played last week in the U.S. Open.

These two courses are difficult and there won’t be many low scores out there this week. In the January issue of Golf Digest , Bayonet was ranked the 21st most difficult golf course in the United States. The greens are very firm and I saw many good shots not have a chance of staying on the green. The rough isn't that bad but like Olympic las week, the fairways are narrow and placement off the tee is huge. Setting yourself up for the right angle into the hole and hitting the ball high will be huge assets this week.

I would say the easier of the two courses would be Black Horse. The first seven holes on Black Horse are holes that are short. No. 6 is a driveable par 4. There are a couple of other holes that are short. No. 7 is pretty short. I saw a couple of guys in the practice rounds go for No. 7. It’s risk-reward, so there are opportunities there.

There are also opportunities on Bayonet. I would say probably from holes 3-8, you could make some birdies out there. Hole No. 2 and No. 9, pars are great and you'll probably pick up some strokes on the field if you play them in even par for the week.

Once you make the turn and play through 10, 11-15 is called the “Comeback Corner”. You’re looking for pars on those holes and if you make birdie on any of those holes, I think you’re picking up strokes on the rest of the field. It’s tough golf, but it’s fair.

To keep up with the latest scores go here, the tournament starts today, June 24-27

http://www.pga.com/nationalchampionship/scoring/leaderboard/

And check out all the pics and video I took while I was at the event during the practice rounds.

2012 PNC Pics

Here is a sample of some pics

13 hours ago

42 minutes ago

41 minutes ago

40 minutes ago

39 minutes ago

38 minutes ago

**SamCreamer** · June 24, 2012

Awesome! Are you playing in this? If so, good luck!

***iacas*** · June 24, 2012

Originally Posted by mvmac

AimPoint instructor! :-)

No, Mike's not playing. He's helping a guy who's helping a guy who's playing. :)

I've caddied in this the past two years (and may be doing it next year too) because Dave's qualified the previous two years. It's a BLAST.

**mvmac** · June 24, 2012

Originally Posted by iacas

AimPoint instructor! :-)

No, Mike's not playing. He's helping a guy who's helping a guy who's playing. :)

I've caddied in this the past two years (and may be doing it next year too) because Dave's qualified the previous two years. It's a BLAST.

Hehe, that one was in there for you! Yeah too bad Dave wasn't here, not enough time to prepare when you're conquering the world of golf instruction ;-)

And Erik is just joking about me "helping" anyone. I've been hanging out with fellow 5 Simple Keys® Instructor Mario Bevilacqua and his player Liam Friedman. I always pick up a few nuggets being around Mario ;-) Liam's a talented player that smashes it and it's fun to watch him outdrive guys by 50 yards. You can see from the videos in the first post how much more dynamic and explosive his motion is compared to the other players. Mario teaches out at Trump Nat Colt's Neck in NJ.

**mvmac** · June 25, 2012

Just added swing videos to the first post

**Beachcomber** · June 25, 2012

These two courses look great. I can't believe how reasonably priced they are (comparing them to SoCal prices).

http://www.bayonetblackhorse.com/page.php?page_id=3232&name;=Rates

I was thinking with them being in Monterrey, they would be $150 to $200. Seeing it on TV, the courses look fantastic.

**mvmac** · June 25, 2012

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

These two courses look great. I can't believe how reasonably priced they are (comparing them to SoCal prices).

http://www.bayonetblackhorse.com/page.php?page_id=3232&name;=Rates

I was thinking with them being in Monterrey, they would be $150 to $200. Seeing it on TV, the courses look fantastic.

It's become a popular spot, "poor" man's Pebble Beach. It's in great shape all year round, a buddy and I used to make a trip to play it every year on his birthday. The Nationwide Tour also held a tournament here for several years.

**mchepp** · July 2, 2012

http://www.bayonetblackhorse.com/page.php?page_id=3232&name;=Rates

I was thinking with them being in Monterrey, they would be $150 to $200. Seeing it on TV, the courses look fantastic.

Well, to be fair they are not really all that close to Monterrey. They are up the coast a bit. Still though, you point is dead on, it is really rare to find someone who does not think that Bayonet is one of the best courses around. I have not played it since they redesigned it, but it is on my list.

Sign In

The Sand Trap Inside Look: 2012 PGA Professional National Championship, Tons of Pictures and Video

Recommended Posts

mvmac

SamCreamer

iacas

mvmac

mvmac

Beachcomber

mvmac

mchepp

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Topics Being Discussed Right Now on The Sand Trap

Wordle Daily Puzzle 1 2 3 4 608

PRGR Launch Monitor

Differential vs Course Handicap 1 2 3 4 5

"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge 1 2 3 4 1011

New From the UK

Announcements

TST Partners

Posts

Home

Info

Activity

My Activity Streams

Forums

More

TST Blog

Newport Cup

How To…

Advertise

Store

My Details

Important Information