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Journey to the Mackenzie Tour: One Amateur's Pipe Dream


Diece
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I've witnessed many people go broke and blow their inheritance chasing this dream and they were miles better than you.  One decent college kid I remember played on the egolf tour here.  His father had passed and left him 250k.  He chased the dream for 2 years but, after paying entry fees upwards of 2k per event , membership fees, bills, rent ect...  He went home making nothing off those tours and broke.  I've had other friends thinking that shooting even par they can somehow make a living out there.  They get a reality check when they go to monday qualify and their -2 isn't even in top 20 and -8 goes into playoffs.  The courses these guys are playing are so much harder than what you are currently playing as well.  The course setups and lengths they play on the pga tour are in the 78-80 ratings with maxed out slope.  These mini tour guys when the play 7200 75 rated courses around here absolutely destroy them.  I'm talking mid -20s under for 3 days to crack the top 5. 

 

Another recent example is a young pro who I know who is famous for qualifying for the us 4 ball on his own. His partner bailed on him last minute and wasn't allowed a replacement.  He shot a 63 to qualify against alot of scratch golfers playing best ball against him.  Same kid I watched shoot 63 from 7500 yards with a 78 rating in 25mph wind in hawaii on the course they qualify for the sony at.  He missed web.com qualifying this year and is struggling to survive playing small mini tour events. 

 

I guess what I'm saying is it's cool to chase a dream but, you have to be reasonable and not delusional.  I could practice 12 hours a day every day and I'm not going to play in the NBA it's just not going to happen. 

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There's no delusion here.

I know exactly what I have to do & I'm going to do it.

It's as simple as that.

I will play on the Mackenzie Tour and dominate.

Maybe I will go further but that road will be decided when I reach there.

Right now, the goal is to become a top or very close to top amateur and get to a point where going to Q School isn't a complete waste of time & money.

Also,

I've seen first hand what the Mackenzie Tour guys can do and again, I'm very aware of how good they are. I'm nowhere near their level yet but I don't see why I can't get there.

Anyway.

Worked more on the game,

Stance & Grip.

Slightly changed my grip, making my lead hand a bit weaker and my bottom hand a little stronger. Seems to improve my consistency.

Stance wise, I've just focused on balance.

But..

By far the biggest downfall of my game is terrible putting.

Yuck!

I played again today, could have shot well under par but I couldn't make a damn 10 footer. Pissed me off to no end. I hit 12 greens with realistically having about 6-7 chances for birdie.

Made one of them and it was an easy straight putt.

If I could get the short game better and my putting drastically better I could probably come close to having a +1 handicap.

I can deal with bad drives, bad breaks, bad chips and etc but putting by far rattles me the most.

If I'm making some putts, I can deal with everything else so much better. When I miss birdies, I get rattled and it just keeps building as the round progresses.

Number 1, I missed my eagle that was about 8 feet away.

Number 4 missed a 8ish foot birdie putt

Number 5, missed an 11 foot birdie putt.

Number 6, missed a 15 footer.

Number 7, ball hung on the lip from 20 feet away

Number 9, blew birdie putt by the hole and made come back

Number 11, missed another birdie putt about 20 feet away.

Number 15, missed another 15 footer

Same with number 17 & 18.

I don't expect all of these putts to go in but man at least one should go in. Like I said, the frustration builds over the round as I keep missing more and more putts.

Bottom line is that I have to improve my putting.

 

 

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8 hours ago, Diece said:

By far the biggest downfall of my game is terrible putting.

Doubtful, but maybe.

You’re being incredibly dumb about this, though. You need to be really careful with how you choose to spend your practice time. You’re almost guessing though.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
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28 minutes ago, iacas said:

Doubtful, but maybe.

You’re being incredibly dumb about this, though. You need to be really careful with how you choose to spend your practice time. You’re almost guessing though.

I agree, how can I better find out what I need to practice on?

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8 hours ago, Diece said:

By far the biggest downfall of my game is terrible putting.

Doubtful. I would highly recommend you seek out professional advice for your journey. Here is a great start for sure. With your dedication I think you’d benefit from the Evolvr program this site offers. You have to be sure you have a solid game plan and not just ‘heart and soul.’ You spend hours and hours at the range and on the course and get nowhere as I have. You’ll get great advice from guys around here for sure. @iacas is an impeccable source of information but he’s a busy guy and I think you need more than the occasional piece of advice. Yes the ‘MySwing’ thread is free but I think you need more direct and regular input that you’d receive from Evolvr or a live instructor. Again, no one is doubting your desire. But you have to focus that desire in a most productive and efficient manner. Go read the thread on ‘questions to ask your instructor.’ Read through the Evolvr website...get a solid plan with solid instruction then you can report back to here and get some supplemental guidance. Sorry I didn’t post the links but I’m on my phone and hurried but wanted to comment. Cheers.

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1 hour ago, Diece said:

I agree, how can I better find out what I need to practice on?

Buy and read this book.

http://lowestscorewins.com/

 

Scott

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Finally got a video of my swing uploaded, im on my phone and cant post to member swings so i figured ill post here till i get back home.

 

I was hitting a two iron in this video.

I have a two way miss, right and left.

Typical shot is a fade.

 

 

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I'm not qualified enough to determine your primary piece to work on. But I do believe you are taking your club back too much on the inside and coming down OTT. Do you have a golf swing app that you can analyze your swing in slow-mo and draw lines? I recommend that for you. For your take awayl/backswing...imagine there is a wall about 4" behind you. As you take your club back you really shouldn't even hit the wall. If you watch your swing in slow-motion you can see your club would plow right into the wall. Coming back flat, too much inside will promote you to come back over the top resulting in an out to in swing. This is why your normal shot is a fade. I'm guessing your right misses are straight out to the right and not going straight then right (hook). Again I'm not near qualified as many other guys here but I can tell you you won't find tour players who take the club back flat and inside. Many take it back upright (Furyk, Moore, Kocrack) but flat and inside isn't a place to be. I believe someone here can move your video to your swing thread. You created a swing thread right? Cheers.

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12 hours ago, Vinsk said:

I'm not qualified enough to determine your primary piece to work on. But I do believe you are taking your club back too much on the inside and coming down OTT.

Yup.

01.jpg

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
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Well, I'm going to go to the range today to work on it.

 

I noticed I played the best golf when my swing was upright, my head still and in my pre-shot routine I'd rehearse the downswing motion, starting with the hips and my weight shifting as well as rolling of the ankles.

 

I've drifted from that but should probably go back because when I did what I said above, I broke par for the first time, shot par and then broke par a few other times at different courses. (never sub 70)

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You really need to pay attention to where you set the camera up as well when you video.  Changing the angle can make the swing plane look way different

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Good luck in your journey and keep us posted; I'll be interested to see how things fare.

You probably have already done this, but it might be worthwhile to read some previous stories on others' attempts and try and avoid some of the downfalls they faced.

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2 hours ago, poser said:

You really need to pay attention to where you set the camera up as well when you video.  Changing the angle can make the swing plane look way different

Yes. That said it’s outside his toe line a lot and STILL looks over the top.

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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Good luck with this!  Next is to get through their Q-School.

As I am in Canada, I volunteered for 3 years when they came to the Toronto area, did some caddying for a couple of them.  I can tell you this, those guys are good.  Just by being inside the ropes with them, I learned a lot about game management.

I look forward to seeing you on the tour next year 🙂

 

 

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3 hours ago, paperclip said:

Good luck with this!  Next is to get through their Q-School.

As I am in Canada, I volunteered for 3 years when they came to the Toronto area, did some caddying for a couple of them.  I can tell you this, those guys are good.  Just by being inside the ropes with them, I learned a lot about game management.

I look forward to seeing you on the tour next year 🙂

 

 

100%, I was shocked when I first watched them just how damn good they are.

Although, I don't think reaching their level is unachievable.

Today I practiced and played.

My practice was good. I took what people mentioned in this thread regarding my swing and worked on my flaws, started to draw the ball and I hit my irons quite well. Definitely, an improvement, although swinging so vertical feels weird and I have to get over that initial feeling because I know it doesn't reflect the quality of my shot.

Only played 9 as I got called into work.

Ball striking wise, I was great. Hit 2 9 irons to about 5 feet, missed the putts. Hit 6 greens, shot 5 over (ouch). 

Double on the 3rd hole because I got too aggressive and tried to curve a 3 wood around some trees for my second shot. Got into some trouble, hit a bad chip and another bad chip followed by 2 putts.

Other double I completely miss-clubbed, had a bad flop shot and another bad chip followed by 2 putts.

Last hole (number 9) I gave-up. I was rushing because I had to work very soon.

My chipping & course management let me down because I was giving myself difficult up and downs for par.

I definitely need to stop playing so aggressive (course management)

Luckily, it poured out shortly after I started work so I got off early and had the whole course to myself.

Which was great, except that my driver broke.

Shaft snapped (WTF)

I spent a good time on the empty course working on my wedges, my wedge stink. I have good direction but my distance control is terrible.

In fact, distance control is pretty bad through all of my scoring clubs.

The biggest issue has been my increase in work hours.

I'm not practicing anywhere near as much as I used to and I'm not playing enough either. 

But, the way I look at it I'm making a short-term sacrifice (my game right now) for long-term gain (I'm saving money to move across the country to better-golfing infrastructure and courses. As well as more consistent weather).

I'm never going to get good if I stay in the area I'm in.

No one from this area has done anything with their lives.

I'm going to where the competition is.

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36 minutes ago, Diece said:

Although, I don't think reaching their level is unachievable.

It may be for you. What then, if so?

36 minutes ago, Diece said:

My practice was good. I took what people mentioned in this thread regarding my swing and worked on my flaws, started to draw the ball and I hit my irons quite well. Definitely, an improvement, although swinging so vertical feels weird and I have to get over that initial feeling because I know it doesn't reflect the quality of my shot.

Nothing there would indicate to me that you had a good practice. I don't think you've got a clue how to practice.

36 minutes ago, Diece said:

But, the way I look at it I'm making a short-term sacrifice (my game right now) for long-term gain (I'm saving money to move across the country to better-golfing infrastructure and courses. As well as more consistent weather).

Huh?

36 minutes ago, Diece said:

I'm going to where the competition is.

You're nowhere near ready for "competition."

And…

Who is your instructor?

 

P.S. How to practice…:

An example of me practicing properly:

 

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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3 minutes ago, iacas said:

It may be for you. What then, if so?

Nothing there would indicate to me that you had a good practice. I don't think you've got a clue how to practice.

Huh?

You're nowhere near ready for "competition."

And…

Who is your instructor?

No, but being around better players is going to naturally make me a better player.

Instructor -

Myself.

Haven't found a teacher I trust.

I don't know how to practice, how do you do it?

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