Trying to play college golf

[BuckeyeNut]

he might be talking meters........but yes, still on the short side. He has growing to do so this is understandable.

[Pretzel]

If you want to be looked at by colleges you need to start playing longer courses. All the varsity courses I have played this year have been over 6600 and the one we played today for our big tournament was 7100 but played like 7400 with the wet ground. Also I am guessing you will grow more since you are a sophomore so just work on your swing mechanics and start hitting more greens. The most effective way to lower your score is to hit more greens.

This is the truth right here. If you aren't shooting mid to low 70's on courses over 7000 yards a lot of colleges won't even bother looking at you past that. While there isn't much difference between a 5500 yard course and a 6100 yard course when you hit 250 yard tee shots, there's a HUGE difference between 6100 yards and 7200 yards with those tee shots. I'm not saying try to hit it further, because you're still growing (I only hit it 220-230 when I was a sophomore), but just letting you know that it's not as easy a step as it may seem, especially if it's a long par 70 with two fewer par fives to take advantage of.

[Mattlevinson13]

So, I decided that I'm going to post weekly updates/ updates whenever something big happens, because I want to show you all my progress and what I've been doing. Firstly, thanks to everyone for their advice and comments, always appreciated. The overwhelming piece of advice was to get longer and play longer courses, so in this post I will let you know what I've been doing about that.

Some more details about the course I play:

It is 6320 yards, but has a 410 and 440 yard par 4, a 250 yard par 3, and a 570 yard dogleg right par 5 (all on the back 9). Those are the longest holes on the course, and I think they match up somewhat well to longer courses. I have played 3 rounds on the back 9 this week (I played two on the front, but nothing there is exceptionally long), and these are my scores.

410 yard par 4: round 1: 4, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach to 12 feet)/// round 2: 4, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach to 8 feet)/// round 3: 5, hit fairway, 2 putts

440 yard par 4: round 1: 5, hit fairway, 2 putts (2nd shot hit out of divot, 3rd was from 100 yards)/// round 2: 5, hit fairway, 1 putt (hit 2nd shot from 190 into trees on right side)/// round 3: 4, hit fairway, 1 putt from 17 feet

250 yard par 3: round 1: 4 (hit tee shot in bunker), 2 putts/// round 2: 4 (tee shot in trees on right), 1 putt/// round 3: 3 (tee shot left greenside rough), 1 putt

570 yard par 5: round 1: 5, hit fairway, 1 putt (approach from 150, right greenside bunker)/// round 2: 6, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach from 175 yards hit into left greenside rough)/// round 3: 5, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach to 7 feet)

These are a lot of numbers but basically I mainly get bogeys on the longer par 4 and the par 3, but can par with birdie opportunities the other 2 holes. If any of you have ways to increase distance by a little without radically changing my swing that would be great.

Anyways, I am playing in my first tournament in a month-ish when school gets out on a 6000 yard par 72 course that is very straight and has no monster holes. I have almost no experience playing in competitive golf, only school, so I was wondering if anyone who has played a lot of tournaments had any advice for preparation, playing, etc.

That's all for this update, but thanks for taking the time to read this and thanks for any advice you have offered/will offer.

[rkim291968]

Looking forward to track your progress (please update your handicap index as you progress).

[Tgb02]

I had my first year of playing tournaments the last few months and basically warm up for tournaments like you do casual rounds and during tournament rounds split it up into 3 hole stents. Like for me as a bogey golfer if I want to shoot even that would be 3 bogey's so like if I know there is 3 hard holes to start I will try and go 1 over then on the next 3 holes I will try and get the stroke back and all. Basically split the course up into segments and have goals. Also don't try and be a hero, I had a tournament that I should of shot a high 80 in but shot a 97 because I tried to be a hero and got a 13 on a par 5.

[Mattlevinson13]

Hey everyone, sorry this update is a little late, but I've been busy golfing so I haven't had much time to sit down and write something up. But anyways onto what happened for me in golf this past week. I shot 39 twice and 36 (even par) on a 3300 yard back 9 at a local course. The course is pretty easy, but I'm still happy with the progress. I have spent the bulk of my practice time working on my driver, glad to say I hit 5/7 fairways the last time I went, and an overall of 60% the past 5 times, without losing much distance. I have actually gained about 10 yards per drive, so I can get it out 260, sometimes more, sometimes less. I also have worked on my putting, especially distance control and short 4 footers that I always seem to leave myself for par. My putts per round have dropped as well, and this has resulted in more birdies and lower scores. Other than that I have gotten much more accurate with my irons, but I am struggling with the wedges and making sure distance control is right. The plan for this next week seems to be play a good amount (a few of my friends who belong to country clubs are inviting me out to play), and focus on my wedge distance. A question about the wedges, is Dave Pelz's short game guide beneficial for wedges/should I read it? That's all for this week, as always thank you for reading this, and any questions or comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them below; I would love to read them.

[SavvySwede]

A question about the wedges, is Dave Pelz's short game guide beneficial for wedges/should I read it? That's all for this week, as always thank you for reading this, and any questions or comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them below; I would love to read them.

Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible is a classic. You'll really appreciate it when you learn how to hit those "tweener" yardages.