My Experience Caddying in a Monday Qualifier

[RFKFREAK]

easy tiger......just joking with ya.....

Heh.

[mvmac]

Off topic but an instructor we know just had a student (Jared Hack) qualify for the Honda, he shot 64 today.

[David in FL]

Outstanding. Well have to keep an eye out for him. Any idea where they held the qualifier?

[mvmac]

Outstanding. Well have to keep an eye out for him.

Any idea where they held the qualifier?

Mayacoo Lakes Country Club.

[mvmac]

Austin Cook, who's currently tied for the lead, qualified for the Shell by shooting 64 on Monday.

[DrvFrShow]

Very interesting read, Mvmac. Thanks.

Just the sort of reality check that people don't want to believe because Ian Poulter played off 4 at some point as if that means something.

It's intriguing how Dan McLaughlin is going to be able to bypass all this stuff and just walk onto the tour in a couple of years.

Ninja'd.

[dunlucedreams]

Austin Cook, who's currently tied for the lead, qualified for the Shell by shooting 64 on Monday.

as did Kelvin Day, using his $2000 cheque from the web.com event the week before to pay his ticket to houston!

[M2R]

For a person like myself who has no background in serious competitive golf (college or higher) and only has experience on public courses, these types of tournaments present a special opportunity to experience a course set up for high level competition.

It was my habit at the start of every season to go through all the local, regional, and national PGA section, USGA, Symetra tour, etc schedules and make a note of were tournaments were scheduled on public courses close to me.

At that point it was usually just as difficult as calling up for a tee time the day of or the day after the tournament. Normally they do not want you there the day of but sometimes with a little talking and demonstrated willingness to cooperate it is definitely possible, although far from common.

The difference between even a few hours lapsing between tournament play and your play can be pretty dramatic. But I still think it is worth the effort even to experience it the next day. The competitors themselves might experience a dramatic difference between morning v.s. the afternoon.

It probably is not for everyone though. I once got to play directly behind the last tournament group then got swept into the tournament itself when there was a playoff happening directly behind me. I think it helps to have a competitive spirit yourself.

A 62 or 64 sounds insane but having experienced some courses during tournaments, those scores sounds proportionally even more insane.

[wannabe]

For a person like myself who has no background in serious competitive golf (college or higher) and only has experience on public courses, these types of tournaments present a special opportunity to experience a course set up for high level competition.

....

A 62 or 64 sounds insane but having experienced some courses during tournaments, those scores sounds proportionally even more insane.

That's the missing piece of this puzzle that makes "these guys are good" the biggest understatement in sport.

Not just mid to low 60's, but from tournament tees, with tournament rough, greens, pin placements, etc.

Aside question for the OP -- do the qualifier guys get any opportunity to practice on the course or at least walk it to look for landing spots, trouble, so they can plan their shot placement and approaches?

[mvmac]

Aside question for the OP -- do the qualifier guys get any opportunity to practice on the course or at least walk it to look for landing spots, trouble, so they can plan their shot placement and approaches?

Yes they can a practice round the day before but it doesn't always happen because they could be playing in the 4th round of another tournament on Sunday.

[mdl]

Cool post Mike.

[MEfree]

I caddied in a Doral Monday qualifier for a friend over a decade ago, and my experience matches yours. My friend wasn't close, but Brad Bryant was in our group- in addition to being a really nice guy, it was fun to see some good golf. IIRC, he played his stock draw almost all the time and hit penetrating short irons. [quote name="mvmac" url="/t/77688/my-experience-caddying-in-a-monday-qualifier/18#post_1067498"] Matt's fade is basically a straight shot. He maybe tried to "fade it" twice. Two approach shots come to mind where the pin was tucked on the right edge of the green. Off the tee the shots were all push draws, he missed two fairways all day. Also when I'm talking about these push draws they are only curving 5 yards or so, shot can still work on a dogleg right. [/quote] [quote name="mvmac" url="/t/77688/my-experience-caddying-in-a-monday-qualifier#post_1067016"][COLOR=333333] [*] Hitting it far is an advantage. [*] If you want to hit it farther without changing your swing, have a positive angle of attack with your driver. Matt hits his driver 10-20 yards longer than his playing partners but swings at about the same speed. Matt wasn't a club to club and a half longer with his irons compared to the other players and you could tell the other players hit down with their driver because of how low they teed it and their initial launch angle. [/quote] [quote name="mvmac" url="/t/77688/my-experience-caddying-in-a-monday-qualifier/36#post_1094579"] Check out this thread  [CONTENTEMBED=/t/44307/hitting-up-or-down-with-the-driver-in-an-inline-pattern layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED]  [/quote] If I am reading it correctly, the thread you referenced suggests hitting the driver on the upswing with a fade using the same swing that would produce a draw when you hit down on the ball with other clubs. The difference being ball position is more forward with the driver so that you hit the ball after the low point when your swing is working back in. Bubba Watson seems to do this as he is known for playing a draw more often with his irons and a fade more often with his driver, but do many other pros do this? Currently, I tend to play a push or straight draw with most clubs and think that I am losing some distance with my driver by hitting down on it. I have experimented with moving the ball up and have hit some nice shots (including a few fades), but don't feel as consistent with it and am more worried about a double cross if I play for a slight fade with the driver.

[mvmac]

In case you're wondering what it takes to Monday qualify on the Web.com Tour 

 

I guess this will get it done.....???. Time to get after it this week. #killerIsontheloose #birdies @pgatour @webdotcomtour @pingtour @nickkillpack

A photo posted by @mariobevilacqua on Jun 20, 2016 at 4:03pm PDT

[Club Rat]

31 minutes ago, mvmac said:

In case you're wondering what it takes to Monday qualify on the Web.com Tour 

WOW ......  I'm awed at the four guys who were -8 and two others at -7

Wonder how they feel ...... losing to -11 ???

 

[mvmac]

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/these-monday-qualifying-scores-show-how-unreasonably-hard-it-is-to-play-on-the-pga-tour?mbid=social_facebook

Quote

At the Cypresswood Golf Club in Spring, Texas, 34 players shot 67 or better, a group that included Max Homa, Lee McCoy, Andres Romero and Andrew Landry. One slight problem: there were only four spots available, three of which went to Riley Arp -- who fired a 10-under 62 -- and Wesley McClain and Andres Gonzales, who tied for second with 63s. That meant six players that shot 64 -- 64! -- had to go to a playoff. From this sextet, Jason Gore emerged, thanks to a birdie on the first sudden death hole.

 

[nevets88]

16 minutes ago, mvmac said:

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/these-monday-qualifying-scores-show-how-unreasonably-hard-it-is-to-play-on-the-pga-tour?mbid=social_facebook

 

Romero and Gore have won on the tour too. Gone are the days some unknown walks on and qualifies.

[Golfingdad]

26 minutes ago, mvmac said:

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/these-monday-qualifying-scores-show-how-unreasonably-hard-it-is-to-play-on-the-pga-tour?mbid=social_facebook

 

And to try and add a little bit of perspective for us handicap golfers here:

• The course is rated 74.4/136.
• There were 151 guys who returned a score.
• The winning score, in terms of handicap differential, was a plus 9.8.
• Dead last place (3 guys tied for 149th) was a differential of 2.0. 
• The median (75/76 place) was a plus 3.5. 
• The average was plus 3.6.

The author of the article summed up the field pretty well too: "And this was a competition for guys who weren't in the field of a middle-tiered event."

Edited March 28, 2017 by Golfingdad

[Jack Watson]

I think in every level of sport for a relative average person running into the talent of a true pro  is an eye opener.

SOme people have 'it'