How do you prepare for a tournament?

I wash my clubs the night before. Other than that I try to keep my routine to make it seem like every other round.

I try to do everything the same.

If I usually show up 30 minutes before my tee time I don't want to show up 2 hours early.

If I usually go to bed at 11:00 I don't want to go to bed at 9:30 or 1:00.

If you eat a bowl of cereal every day, don't have a huge bacon, egg, hashbrown, and pancake breakfast.

As far as the week of I try to stay in the same routine too. If I usually practice twice a week I don't want to go hit balls 5 days in a row in the days before a big tournament.

Your mind knows when you're out of your normal routine. And that in itself causes problems

My routine is a little off the beaten path. I pay handsome sums to find out the phone numbers of all my competitors, and have telemarketers call them at various hours of the early morning. Also, having an inside man at the power company to have their electric shut off/on to disable their electric alarm clocks for oversleeping can come in handy. When all else fails, I just hire the guy from happy gilmore to follow the leader around all round

Hmm. I never thought of getting Richard Kiel, but that's a good idea. I usually head over to the bar for a pre warm up drink & other than that I stick with my pre round routine. I get 50 balls or so, starting with my sand wedge, then my 8 iron followed by my 6 iron, 4 iron, hybrid, 3 wood & finally my driver. Then I head over to the putting green & hit a few chips & then a few putts. I do this routine every time I play, so I feel the same before every round.

I would treat this round like any other round you play. If you usually play with dirty clubs, shoes, clothes... then play with your dirty clubs, shoes or whatever. When you build up a round to anything more than it is, you can set your self up for unrealistic expectations or failure. A tournament round is still just a round, nothing more.

Funny, your question brought back some memories of someone telling me about this guy in his club playing a tournament and making the final match. This guy's night-before routine was to always get hammered and then show up to his match w/ a hangover, and he played great every time. Well, on the night before the final match, all he did was drink water and other non-alcoholic drinks instead and played the next day w/o the hangover. Needless to say, he got his butt whooped.. I guess the moral of the story is "stick w/ your normal routine", try not to think about it and don't put any extra pressure on yourself! ;)

Hmm. I never thought of getting Richard Kiel, but that's a good idea.

Hmmm ... Richard Kiel is dead these days, but that's not such a bad idea. A 7 foot specter would no doubt make even Tiger a bit spooked out me thinks. I was thinking more along the lines of the guy who heckled Happy ..... "you will not make this putt you jackass!" ;)

I go through my normal routine, but one thing I do different is play the first whole on the range 5 times at the end of my range session. We have a 400 Yard Par 4 as our #1 so I hit Driver 7-8 iron every other time I'll through in a short 52* wedge in case I miss my GIR. I cannot wait for this snow to all melt so I can get out there, and get tournement ready!!

Funny, your question brought back some memories of someone telling me about this guy in his club playing a tournament and making the final match. This guy's night-before routine was to always get hammered and then show up to his match w/ a hangover, and he played great every time. Well, on the night before the final match, all he did was drink water and other non-alcoholic drinks instead and played the next day w/o the hangover. Needless to say, he got his butt whooped.. I guess the moral of the story is "stick w/ your normal routine", try not to think about it and don't put any extra pressure on yourself! ;)

Wrong-o Cap-E-Tin. The moral of the story is to get drunk...drink lots and often.

:blink:

-mini

Hmmm ... Richard Kiel is dead these days, but that's not such a bad idea. A 7 foot specter would no doubt make even Tiger a bit spooked out me thinks. I was thinking more along the lines of the guy who heckled Happy ..... "you will not make this putt you jackass!" ;)

Are you sure he's dead? http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/kn...nf/Kiel+Richard

MY MISTAKE ! I had heard somewhere he had passed. In reading this, I found out we have the same birthdate ... Sept 13. Cool, maybe I can become a James Bond badass ;)

MY MISTAKE ! I had heard somewhere he had passed. In reading this, I found out we have the same birthdate ... Sept 13. Cool, maybe I can become a James Bond badass :blink:

!!!!!!! My bithday too!!!!!! ;)

I might consider hiring Enickma for my next tournament!

1. Sink a lot of 1-2 foot putts...Hundreds of 1-2 foot putts...

2. Spend a lot of time with wedges from a variety of positions around the green...

3. Play the host course as many times as possible...

4. Spend some time engraining my pre-shot routine, and feel how I'm swinging...

5. Sleep well and eat well...

I listen to the Allman Brothers Band before every big tourney. I did it the first match my senior year of high school and shot even par. I did it every match after that and had the best year ever making all conference and MVP of the squad.

I know it's superstitious, but it works!

Just wondering how all of you get ready and prepare for that big tourney or match coming up?? What do you do to make yourself feel confident and comfortable and do you do anything special or different??

I prepare by playing lots of tournaments. The more you play and the bigger they get the more comfortable you become.

Down here in Australia you play in club level competitions every weekend, as you get better you'll play representative stuff for your club, then you'll move on and play statewide events, then you'll play national level stuff.

By the time you are playing a lot of state level golf tournaments, the club level stuff seems very simple, not worth getting nervous over at all. Eventually the state level stuff begins to feel like that as well.

I Daly it and just play...too much preparation means too much thinking and too much thinking leads to mental fatigue which leads to higher scores.

I have yet to play in anything outside of high school matches, and that was years ago. I figure my tournment prep will be similar to my pre-round routine: show up 30-45 mins before tee time, loosen up, chip and put for 20mins, then swing the driver a bit before teeing off. I would do range work if my local course had an on ground range but the range is about a mile away on the other side of the freeway.