The TST Member Tournament Play Thread

[teeitup22]

This could be a cool thread! I have a few tournaments coming up in september.  A couple NCCGA events, hopefully NCCGA nationals, and another amateur event run by my state's golf foundation.  I'd love to win at least one of them.

Since school is about to start I won't get much time to practice, but when I do I will be focusing on getting my driver in the fairway more and working around the greens.  After watching the PGA championship in person, I was impressed the most by how easily they hit the fairway and how good their short games were, so I decided that is what I should focus on.

I will keep you guys updated!

Good stuff, I agree. Man I love this site. There are some great thread starters and ideas. Thanks guys! I won't be playing in any tournaments the rest of the year but I'm planning on playing in two next year. Can't wait!

[Big C]

Updating my prior post, I competed in my match play tournament yesterday. Those of you who have played the format know that it can be mentally draining and yesterday was no exception. I lost my first match 3 & 2, a round one exit to a tournament that I almost won last year. Unfortunately, I can't say that I deserved a better result The match started out poorly when I hit a bad drive and a bad approach to go 1 down on the first hole, which hurt my confidence. For the next several holes, I couldn't find my swing. Every full shot (and I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE) was either a dead pull left or a pull hook. That tends to be my go-to miss when I get tense, and yesterday started out as poorly as any round in recent memory. By the end of 6 holes, I was already down 4, and it was only a long par saving putt from the fringe that kept me from being 5 down. Thankfully, my opponent made bogey on a fairly easy par 5, giving me my first hole of the match. My swing then returned to some extent, and I played the very tough 8 & 9 holes at 1-under, winning both. Miraculously, I was only down 1 through 9, and made the turn feeling like I had the momentum. On the 10th hole, I was looking at a 3 footer for par, when my opponent unexpectedly sunk a long birdie of his own to take the momentum back. On hole 11, I choked. No other way to put it. My opponent topped his drive about 50 yards, and I proceed to yank my 3 wood left and into the trees. He then hit a poor second shot into the trees about 10 yards in front of me. With both of us in bad spots, but him lying 2 to my 1, a good punch out was all I needed to take control of the hole. Instead, I hit my punch out fat, and left myself with an obstructed shot to the green. To his credit, he got down in 3 from a difficult location. I could not do the same, and all of a sudden, I was back to 3 down. I played the last 5 holes at 2 over par, but by that point, halves weren't enough. I needed a heroic run, and I didn't have it yesterday. While I was disappointed with the outcome, I'm proud of the fact that I didn't collapse after a horrible start. I'm also pleased that my putting was really quite good under pressure (as I posted earlier, this has been a struggle of mine). Down the stretch, I made a few 4-5 footers to keep myself alive, in addition to some good long putts made on the front. Conversely, my driver and overall play off the tee was terrible. Fun fact of the day to illustrate how poorly I was driving the ball yesterday. On the 16 holes before the match was conceded, my Fairways percentage was a whopping 7.7%! That's right, I only hit one fairway out of 13. As Charles Barkley might say, "that's just turrible"

[David in FL]

Updating my prior post, I competed in my match play tournament yesterday. Those of you who have played the format know that it can be mentally draining and yesterday was no exception. I lost my first match 3 & 2, a round one exit to a tournament that I almost won last year. Unfortunately, I can't say that I deserved a better result

The match started out poorly when I hit a bad drive and a bad approach to go 1 down on the first hole, which hurt my confidence. For the next several holes, I couldn't find my swing. Every full shot (and I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE) was either a dead pull left or a pull hook. That tends to be my go-to miss when I get tense, and yesterday started out as poorly as any round in recent memory. By the end of 6 holes, I was already down 4, and it was only a long par saving putt from the fringe that kept me from being 5 down.

Thankfully, my opponent made bogey on a fairly easy par 5, giving me my first hole of the match. My swing then returned to some extent, and I played the very tough 8 & 9 holes at 1-under, winning both.

Miraculously, I was only down 1 through 9, and made the turn feeling like I had the momentum. On the 10th hole, I was looking at a 3 footer for par, when my opponent unexpectedly sunk a long birdie of his own to take the momentum back.

On hole 11, I choked. No other way to put it. My opponent topped his drive about 50 yards, and I proceed to yank my 3 wood left and into the trees. He then hit a poor second shot into the trees about 10 yards in front of me. With both of us in bad spots, but him lying 2 to my 1, a good punch out was all I needed to take control of the hole. Instead, I hit my punch out fat, and left myself with an obstructed shot to the green. To his credit, he got down in 3 from a difficult location. I could not do the same, and all of a sudden, I was back to 3 down.

I played the last 5 holes at 2 over par, but by that point, halves weren't enough. I needed a heroic run, and I didn't have it yesterday.

While I was disappointed with the outcome, I'm proud of the fact that I didn't collapse after a horrible start. I'm also pleased that my putting was really quite good under pressure (as I posted earlier, this has been a struggle of mine). Down the stretch, I made a few 4-5 footers to keep myself alive, in addition to some good long putts made on the front. Conversely, my driver and overall play off the tee was terrible.

Fun fact of the day to illustrate how poorly I was driving the ball yesterday. On the 16 holes before the match was conceded, my Fairways percentage was a whopping 7.7%! That's right, I only hit one fairway out of 13. As Charles Barkley might say, "that's just turrible"

God, I love match play.   You're right though, it's emotionally draining, and you just never know what's gonna happen next!

[Pretzel]

Alright, time to revive this thread for my biggest tournament of the year coming up.

I'm currently placed second in the conference (behind my team's #1 player) and, quite frankly, have no chance of getting to first. The first place player has a scoring average of around 69, and mine is hovering between 75 and 76. However, the third place player is averaging only two strokes higher than me due to his hot and cold streaks (compared to my consistency). This is the last tournament of the year and it's on a private course that the third place player is a member at and I, unfortunately, am not. If he scores 5 strokes better than me or more he will finish in 2nd, but anything less than that means I beat him. We'll see how it goes on this coming Monday, but it'll be fun knowing that at least something is on the line even if it's unlikely he beats me.

[David in FL]

Have you played there before? Do you get any practice rounds? 2 strokes on scoring average is a LOT. You'll cream him! :-)

[Pretzel]

Have you played there before? Do you get any practice rounds? 2 strokes on scoring average is a LOT. You'll cream him!

I've played it four times before, in the junior city tournament once a year. I'm calling them this afternoon to see if I can score a tee time, but it would mean probably not going to the BMW Championship... Tough choices, but fun either way.

[David in FL]

My own rule of thumb...... I'll always play golf, over watching golf! Kick his ass! :-)

[RJH999]

My own rule of thumb...... I'll always play golf, over watching golf!

I'm the opposite..LOL.

[Pretzel]

My own rule of thumb...... I'll always play golf, over watching golf!

Kick his ass!

Only issue is that Colorado never gets as many tournaments as Florida.

[rcwkent]

Playing in tournaments is the driver of my interest in golf. I always need a specific goal to work toward, so without a competition coming up I wouldn't get motivated enough to practice, take lessons or even play a lot. A main motivation this year in trying get my index from 25 to 18 this year is to be eligible to play in some local team tournaments next year.

This Monday Im in a one day tournament of the MGA ( association of the greater NYC area). It's at Richter Park in Danbury CT. 6300 yds, 71.6/ 136. 96 participants. All levels. Scoring is Stableford gross and net prizes for the top 3 places are nominal...at most you win your cost  ($80) back.

Very nice public course...I played there last Thursday afternoon and yesterday to get familiar with the course.  Will work on a "ÿardage book" for myself this weekend.

[David in FL]

Playing in tournaments is the driver of my interest in golf. I always need a specific goal to work toward, so without a competition coming up I wouldn't get motivated enough to practice, take lessons or even play a lot. A main motivation this year in trying get my index from 25 to 18 this year is to be eligible to play in some local team tournaments next year.

This Monday Im in a one day tournament of the MGA ( association of the greater NYC area). It's at Richter Park in Danbury CT. 6300 yds, 71.6/ 136. 96 participants. All levels. Scoring is Stableford gross and net prizes for the top 3 places are nominal...at most you win your cost  ($80) back.

Very nice public course...I played there last Thursday afternoon and yesterday to get familiar with the course.  Will work on a "ÿardage book" for myself this weekend.

Good on ya!

Too many people think that tournament play is just for the low handicap players.  The great thing about the handicap system is just that, everyone can play and compete on a relatively equal footing.

Have fun, and let us know how you do on Monday!

[Pretzel]

I've heard that MGA tournaments are a lot of fun (if you're referring to the Mediocre Golf Association like I think you are). Tell us how it goes!

[Club Rat]

Been a good year.

Won Senior Stroke (1st flight) two weeks ago at my club.

I play tomorrow for Match Play champ honors tomorrow morning, same division.

Won't get any hardware until the fall at the Club Champion's Dinner.

Club Rat

[Big C]

Been a good year.

Won Senior Stroke (1st flight) two weeks ago at my club.

I play tomorrow for Match Play champ honors tomorrow morning, same division.

Won't get any hardware until the fall at the Club Champion's Dinner.

Club Rat

Nice work - taking down the senior championship and the match play in the same year would be quite a feat!

Next weekend is my favorite men's club tournament of the year. It's a partner event that is split up into 4 different formats

- Front 9 Saturday is a 2 man scramble

- Back 9 Saturday is a 2 man alternate shot

- Front 9 Sunday is a 2 man best ball

- Back 9 Sunday is a "count 'em all"

I'm being somewhat masochistic because my wife and I have a wedding in Ojai (2 hour drive from Long Beach) Saturday evening that we are committed to, but I really didn't want to miss the partner event this year. So I'll be teeing it up at 6:30 am, rushing back home to shower and change in time to hit the road by 2 pm. And then driving 2 hours back that same night so I'll be ready to tee it up again Sunday morning.

If I have any energy left, I'll post the results of the event Sunday night.

[MacDutch]

Played last sunday the Goyer open. A strokplay tournament for the better amateur golfers. Winner after a playoff 69 strokes (-3). And boy it was hard on me. First time ever on that course, Stimp was 10.5, where I played the day before the tournament a round on slooow sanded, aereated greens. Made a 103, including a two stroke penalty because of a wrong drop. First hole a 2.5 feet putt for par I missed, 5th a 2.5 feet putt for bogey turned into a tripple. A par5: third shot into the greenside bunker became a 9.:~( But it was worth the experience. Its a challenge I will seek more often.

[David in FL]

Played last sunday the Goyer open. A strokplay tournament for the better amateur golfers. Winner after a playoff 69 strokes (-3). And boy it was hard on me. First time ever on that course, Stimp was 10.5, where I played the day before the tournament a round on slooow sanded, aereated greens. Made a 103, including a two stroke penalty because of a wrong drop.

First hole a 2.5 feet putt for par I missed, 5th a 2.5 feet putt for bogey turned into a tripple. A par5: third shot into the greenside bunker became a 9.

But it was worth the experience. Its a challenge I will seek more often.

Ouch....did you lose that damn 7-wood of yours? You're right though, they're a lot of fun, and a great challenge.  Tournament golf, especially stroke play is a lot different than our normal weekly match with our buddies.  Did any of the other guys from your trip over here last year play?

My county senior tournament is Sunday.  We'll see......

[MacDutch]

Yes Cornelis played too, scored a 91, not what you want to score as a 6.x hcp. Fingers crossed for you next sunday.

[David in FL]

Playing a practice round tomorrow at the course where I'm playing the tournament on Sunday. I'm really familiar with the course, but have never played it from the set of tees (1 more forward) from which the senior open is being played....damn old guys? :-) There are some holes that will be significantly different so we're gonna play those tees tomorrow. Oughta be interesting....