Golf week amateur tour

Playing my first one this weekend any heads up on what to expect?

I played on the Houston tour for 2-3 years until it went under due to lack of turnout. If it is similar, what you can typically expect is 5-6 hour rounds of golf, mostly good folks out to try their hand at competitive golf, with a few of them taking it (and themselves) entirely too seriously. I had fun while I did it, and I'm glad I did (I qualified for and went to the National Championship in Hilton Head one year, only time I've ever been there). Met some good folks and played a few private courses I otherwise wouldn't have gotten to play. If you've never played a real individual stroke play tournament before, expect to shoot several strokes above your handicap in the first event. I shot a 75 3 days before my first tourney, and shot a 94 at the tourney.

> @bigred90gt said:

> I played on the Houston tour for 2-3 years until it went under due to lack of turnout. If it is similar, what you can typically expect is 5-6 hour rounds of golf, mostly good folks out to try their hand at competitive golf, with a few of them taking it (and themselves) entirely too seriously. I had fun while I did it, and I'm glad I did (I qualified for and went to the National Championship in Hilton Head one year, only time I've ever been there). Met some good folks and played a few private courses I otherwise wouldn't have gotten to play. If you've never played a real individual stroke play tournament before, expect to shoot several strokes above your handicap in the first event. I shot a 75 3 days before my first tourney, and shot a 94 at the tourney.

Yea the higher than normal score is one thing the local director had said to expect... Gettin to play stroke play on a level playing field is mostly what I was hoping for.. Did you feel like the flights were pretty accurate?

For the most part, yes. They keep a tour handicap and flight accordingly. Since you dont have one, you'll either need to have a GHIN index or a stack of cards. If neither, they'll most likely put you into the next flight up from whatever you tell them (if you fall into B flight, they'll put you in A flight till you establish a tour handicap).

They wont move someone up (an established player) based on one good showing, but if you play multiple tourneys better than your flight, they'll move you. A good director keeps pretty good tabs on that kind of thing.

For us, it got so bad at the end, there would be 10-11 people showing up every week, to divide across ALL 5 flights. Since we typically had to pay in advance, I played one tourney as the only person in my flight. Paid $120, got a few dollars back. There are some big and healthy tours spread out across the country.

> @bigred90gt said:

> For the most part, yes. They keep a tour handicap and flight accordingly. Since you dont have one, you'll either need to have a GHIN index or a stack of cards. If neither, they'll most likely put you into the next flight up from whatever you tell them (if you fall into B flight, they'll put you in A flight till you establish a tour handicap).

>

> They wont move someone up (an established player) based on one good showing, but if you play multiple tourneys better than your flight, they'll move you. A good director keeps pretty good tabs on that kind of thing.

>

> For us, it got so bad at the end, there would be 10-11 people showing up every week, to divide across ALL 5 flights. Since we typically had to pay in advance, I played one tourney as the only person in my flight. Paid $120, got a few dollars back. There are some big and healthy tours spread out across the country.

Yea from my understanding the tour in my area is in the starting stages.. The director has already established the tour over the past few years in the areas south of me and they've had usually 15-20 guys per event so far in my area so It sounds like it's trending in the right direction... I'm glad to hear from you though that they seem to do well with their flights that seems to be the overall consensus that I've read from the minimal reviews I've seen of the GW tour.. I just couldn't pull the trigger on the 200$ membership that the golf channel tour charges when the GW tour membership was only 70$

> @swish16 said:

> > @bigred90gt said:

> > For the most part, yes. They keep a tour handicap and flight accordingly. Since you dont have one, you'll either need to have a GHIN index or a stack of cards. If neither, they'll most likely put you into the next flight up from whatever you tell them (if you fall into B flight, they'll put you in A flight till you establish a tour handicap).

> >

> > They wont move someone up (an established player) based on one good showing, but if you play multiple tourneys better than your flight, they'll move you. A good director keeps pretty good tabs on that kind of thing.

> >

> > For us, it got so bad at the end, there would be 10-11 people showing up every week, to divide across ALL 5 flights. Since we typically had to pay in advance, I played one tourney as the only person in my flight. Paid $120, got a few dollars back. There are some big and healthy tours spread out across the country.

>

> Yea from my understanding the tour in my area is in the starting stages.. The director has already established the tour over the past few years in the areas south of me and they've had usually 15-20 guys per event so far in my area so It sounds like it's trending in the right direction... I'm glad to hear from you though that they seem to do well with their flights that seems to be the overall consensus that I've read from the minimal reviews I've seen of the GW tour.. I just couldn't pull the trigger on the 200$ membership that the golf channel tour charges when the GW tour membership was only 70$

I never played a Golf channel tour event. Several of the guys that played on the GW tour with us also played the GC tour. They all liked it, but as you note, it was more expensive (both membership and tournament costs). The houston GW tour went away in 2012 I believe, and one of the guys I keep contact with still plays the GC tour (though he moved to Palm Desert area out in Cali).

It's a lot of fun if you have that competitive bug, dont mind long rounds from time to time, and want to try your hand at tournament golf. We always had optional skins, long drive and closest to pin as well. That is where I made the majority of my money. I took home almost $400 cash from one tourney with the side games when the tour was still big.

These days, I have absolutely no desire to grind during a round of golf, or to practice (rarely even warm up before a round anymore).

Don't worry about following the rules as they don't. It's not very well run, either, at least in Wisconsin.

(Played four years, won my flight three years running)

I am playing the one local here, So far it has been good. Seems like the flights are pretty even and accurate. I have finished 3rd in 1 and 4th in one. I play in the B flight 9-13 handicap and the two good finishes i shot 8 and 10 over in them. This past weekend, i played in one and my short game let me down and i got tied up on my 3 birdies that had skin possibilities.

> @bigred90gt said:

>** I played on the Houston tour for 2-3 years until it went under due to lack of turnout**. If it is similar, what you can typically expect is 5-6 hour rounds of golf, mostly good folks out to try their hand at competitive golf, with a few of them taking it (and themselves) entirely too seriously. I had fun while I did it, and I'm glad I did (I qualified for and went to the National Championship in Hilton Head one year, only time I've ever been there). Met some good folks and played a few private courses I otherwise wouldn't have gotten to play. If you've never played a real individual stroke play tournament before, expect to shoot several strokes above your handicap in the first event. I shot a 75 3 days before my first tourney, and shot a 94 at the tourney.

FYI, the Houston has been up and running for a few years. This is my third year playing, and the roster has grown each year. It's true you'll more than likely shoot higher scores to start out.

I've enjoyed it immensely. Tournament play is a great way to test your game, you get to play courses you may not have played previously, and you meet some great guys.

How did you do, Swish?

I played like a** shot like a 108 when I'm usually in mid 80's-90's... Coming off of shooting a 41 at league where I made sure to play the ball down to not be so shocked Saturday.. Honestly part of my issue was that we played tees that were shorter than I'm used to (which is me trying to not own up to my incompetence lol) and instead of me being smart and teeing off with a 3w or 5i to put me into a more comfortable distance for my second shot I kept bombing my driver and forcing myself to rely on my <100yd wedge game that is the weakest point of my game...the light bulb didn't really click on for what I was doing to myself till about 10 holes in and by then the damage was done.. I did enjoy the atmosphere and the competitive aspect of it and I do plan on playing more events.. This is the first year for the region I'm in but the director said he runs I think it was 8 or 9 others as well.. I did send him a list of courses in this specific area that he can look into for next season as he's pretty unfamiliar with my region.

I do have to admit the live scoring is a neat feature as long as you have some one in each group keeping up with it.. Gave me a good laugh when I'd grab my phone to check my GPS and have a text waiting from my wife busting my balls for that triple I just posted