WRXers Scratch Amateur Tournaments Thread: Commitments, Results, etc....

[Obee]

Good question. The answer is simple: There is no easy answer.

Becoming truly competitive in your area (and eventually beyond?) is a journey, and it begins with an unequivocal desire to compete. To become the best you can be.

You need to care more about getting better and pushing yourself to master ALL aspects of the game, than you care about "looking good," or "not failing," or "work" or even, sometimes "family" (only partially joking).

And you need to be brutally honest with yourself.

For starters...

:-)

 

 

[GoTime]

I know there's no easy answer, and no replacement for hard work, dedication, and desire. Just looking for what other have experienced. One guy may say it was adding 10 hrs of practice a week, while another might say learning to play conservative, another might say adding 20 yards to his drive. Like i said, just interested in the experiences of others, not looking for an easy answer silver bullet.

[swizbeatz]

I would need to get longer. I could shoot those scores from 6500 yards but anything 6800+ changes the game. And so many guys are long off the tee when it comes to statewide Am golf.

[Celebros]

I had previously signed up for the Ohio Public Golf Association Mid-Am in June of this year, but it was cancelled and will not be rescheduled.

I am now playing in the Ohio Mid-Am in late August though. 54 holes (cut to Top-40 after two rounds) at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, OH. Donald Ross design from 1922.

I am also playing this Sunday in a Capital City Am Tour event (the Columbus, OH remains of the now defunct Golfweek Am Tour) at the same course. I had not played Springfield CC before and with only one practice round available for the Mid-Am, finding this event has been great - as besides the event itself, I was able to get a practice round in yesterday. So instead of one round prior to the Mid-Am, I will have three, including one tournament round.

Really looking forward to the tournament. Top-5 (and ties) from the Mid-Am qualify for the 2021 Ohio Amateur, so even if a victory isn't on the table I'll be shooting for getting into the Ohio Amateur proper next year (which might be an easier route than the actual Ohio Am qualifiers, lol).

[rich_s2]

Playing the entire www.thenewgolftour.com this year. Goal is to win player of the year. Tied for 5th in the 1st event (out of 17). Not great but it was my first competitive round of the year. Been working on my game since and the next event is this weekend. It is a 3 day event on 2 courses, neither of which I had played before this week. Practice rounds at each course went well. Very straightforward other than a few quirky holes. Every morning I do a 15 minute session of heart math. Nights have been working hard on chipping. I have never played in a 3 day event so any advice would be appreciated. Goal is to not waste too much mental energy the first day and stay in the top 25%. Would love to be in the top 3 going into the final day. Game is getting hot so fingers crossed! The event is scored on a app so my friends and family can watch the live leaderboard. Got to love technology!

[bogeypro]

Club championship this Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Still not decided if I'm going to play. I hate the time commitment. All day golf old functions at night.... you know the drill.

My game is getting good at the moment, so we'll see if I decide to play.

[Obee]

Just finished my SCGA Amateur Qualifier. Only 8 guys make it. I played ... Meh. Super tired on the back 9, as we had to walk, and no caddies. Just being able to compete with the Division I kids is great at my age. Played with a Freshman from UC Santa Barbara who was hitting driver 320 to 345, and 3-wood 290 to 305 (I beat him by one ;-)). Just ... crazy. I shot even par, 72. I think it's going to take 2-under, 70 to qualify. still waiting on players to finish.

Oak Valley Golf Club, 6,916, 73.5/138: https://scga-2020scgaamateurqualifyingoakvalley.golfgenius.com/pages/2333948

[GoTime]

Not the caliber of tournament many in here are accustomed to, but found out our member-member for this year has been canceled. Kinda bummed out as my teammate and I won gross last year and was looking forward to defending. Unlikely I'll be at the club for the 2021 season.

[Ty_Webb]

Good score! Is that quite a small field in the tournament proper? The Met Am has very few spots at each qualifier because the tournament is 36 holes in a day and so they only have about 70 people playing. 35 or so exempt, 35 getting in from 5 or 6 qualifiers equals not a lot of spots. 3.2 under the course rating to qualify is rough. Did you start on 1?

[Obee]

All start on 1 due to the 'Rona. 84 players in the final field. There are 6 qualifiers with ~8 spots per site.

regarding the qualifying score: Yes, fields in SoCal are deep. Very deep.

[GoTime]

New low score for me Satuday with 67, no bogies. Followed up Sunday with a horrific 78 and feeling like I wasn't in control of anything and couldn't get off the tee

[Ty_Webb]

Played my first two tournaments of the year over the past few days. They were respectively my second and third rounds since last October. Not exactly good preparation. Both were on joke narrow golf courses with trees everywhere. One was a golfweek amateur tour event. The other a Met Am/Ike qualifier. Shot 77 and 78. Hit a lot of greens and putted abysmally in both. The 77 was good enough to win, so that was nice. The 78 was not good enough to qualify. Missed by four. Long Island Amateur next week...

[fastswinger]

Played my first two events of the year and could have been a lot better. No birds and too many mistakes in first event. Second event starts like this: really good warm up, topped 3w on first tee, 6i then 80yd LW in the hole for a birdie start - yeah, crazy.

Fast forward to 18, +5 on tee and need a birdie to have any chance. Hit a bomb, bounces in fairway towards left rough. Didn't know the course that well and get out there and the ball is lost...walk of shame back to tee and make a mess of it...

[Celebros]

Just wanted to give a shoutout to a fellow Vandalia-Butler High School alum (Vandalia, OH just north of Dayton) for lighting up the Ohio Amateur this week: Austin Greaser shot -18 at Columbus Country Club (Columbus, OH) across 72 holes, winning by 8-shots. Went 65-69-66-70 and broke Ben Curtis' record of -16 (from 2000) for lowest score to-par in the Ohio Amateur.

Keep an eye on this kid. Will be entering his sophomore year at the University of North Carolina this fall.

[Obee]

Pasadena City Championship this weekend. Long-running 54-hole stroke-play tournament (36 holes then a cut to the low 30% of the field and ties) with a very large field (300+) ams spread over two courses. Lots of solid college and high school kids play along with the usual assortment of scratch mid-ams and seniors (me! LOL!). Going off early on Friday, so should be able to avoid the inevitable slow play of a large city tournament. Haven't played in this tournament much in the last 10 years or so, but with Covid, was looking for some good competition. Finished 3rd back in 2006(?).

Take a look at how many plus indexes are in the field and there are another 50 or so below 3.0. Golf in Southern California is deep.

Daeyoung Kim (+5.9)

Andy Yoon (+5.4)

Ryan Wilkins (+4.6)

Ryan DeHart (+4.2)

Hyunho Cho (+4.1)

Sean Jay (+4.0)

Jonathan Minkoff (+3.7)

Dan Sullivan (+3.6)

Daniel Ragsdale (+3.6)

Graham Brockington (+3.2)

Erick Liscio (+3.1)

Jeffrey Perry (+3.1)

Devin Keith (+3.0)

Jaden Cantafio (+3.0)

Kyle Sharp (+3.0)

Daniel Tiscareno (+2.9)

Ryan Kyaw (+2.9)

Tongun Lako (+2.9)

Brennin Tidwell (+2.8)

Devin Schaffer (+2.8)

Kevin Fitzgerald (+2.8)

Tyler Smith (+2.8)

Andre Nacional (+2.7)

Chu Wen Tsui (+2.7)

Brandon McDonough (+2.6)

Paul Silva (+2.5)

Raymond Kim (+2.5)

Aaron Lee (+2.3)

Connor O'Brien (+2.3)

Kyle Campano (+2.2)

Steven Anderson (+2.2)

Tim Hogarth (+2.2)

Goran Hagegard (+2.1)

Ken Cruz (+2.1)

Thomas Chung (+2.1)

Griffin Feldman (+2.0)

Lewis Simon (+2.0)

Owen Calvin-Smith (+2.0)

Ashton Roberts (+1.9)

Tim Snyder (+1.9)

Blake McGovern (+1.8)

Matias Gramajo (+1.8)

Aidan Lee (+1.6)

Bernard Leon (+1.6)

Brian Song (+1.6)

Jay Martinez (+1.6)

Matt Fry (+1.6)

Matt Monheim (+1.6)

Daniel Johnson (+1.5)

Drew Miller (+1.5)

Matthew Kang (+1.5)

Alex Hanz (+1.4)

cody Matthews (+1.4)

Colin Huang (+1.4)

Gunnar Murray (+1.4)

Nick Fowlkes (+1.4)

leif sunderland (+1.3)

Andres (Andy) Cortez (+1.2)

Mark C Miller (+1.2)

Nathaniel Frink (+1.2)

Christian Schrodt (+1.1)

David Ober (+1.1)

Ryan Parkhouse (+1.1)

Surapat Chokprajakchat (+1.1)

Will Stribling (+1.1)

CALEB GREINER (+1.0)

David Solomon (+1.0)

Gregory Sato (+1.0)

Hugo Amsallem (+1.0)

Roy Kim (+1.0)

Alex Resurreccion (+0.9)

Colin Bennett (+0.9)

James Tyler (+0.9)

Jin Park (+0.9)

Michael Gaven (+0.9)

Anthony Lynn (+0.8)

Beomseok sun (+0.8)

Dane Bagnell (+0.8)

Josh Ault (+0.8)

Michael Murphy (+0.7)

Branden Parkhouse (+0.6)

Dean Chavez (+0.6)

Michael Palffy (+0.6)

Aiden Choi (+0.5)

Darren Epton (+0.5)

Dennis Martin (+0.5)

Jonathan Clark (+0.5)

Leslie Taylor (+0.5)

Michael Padilla (+0.5)

Preston Gomersall (+0.5)

Robert Waters (+0.5)

Joshua Kim (+0.4)

Mike Sisk (+0.4)

Patrick Carrigan (+0.4)

Raphael Villarama (+0.4)

Edward Susolik (+0.3)

Ruben Stewart (+0.3)

Steven Price (+0.3)

Benjamin Valdez (+0.2)

Tyler Smith1 (+0.2)

Adam Schwimmer (+0.1)

Isi Tuanaki (+0.1)

Jeremy Moreno (+0.1)

Marc Mays (+0.1)

Blake Brothers (0.0)

Brad Jones (0.0)

Jonathan Johasky (0.0)

Matthew Bedford (0.0)

Ned Udomkesmalee (0.0)

Taylor Jones (0.0)

[b.helts]

@Obee that at brookside still?

i like playing tournaments there. Been a long long while for me though.

[Obee]

It is, indeed. When it's in good shape, it's a decent track.

[allparz]

Won my 8th State Title on Mon/Tue - RI SR 4-ball (3rd time in last 4 years w/different partners)

Shot 64-65 to win by 2 - 1st day had an eagle and 4 birds - 2nd day my partner had 4 birds and I had 1...

Even @ 60 - winning still doesn't get old...

 

[Obee]

Fannnnnntastic!!!!

I am looking at the results now. :-)

[Pepe8714]

Been playing plenty of NCGA events, scores ranging from 70-76. Qualifiers went very well, however CA State Am qual only had 8 spots out of 155 field size. Shot 71 (-1) missed by a shot. Pretty much perfect tee to green just playing with lips all day. Had a few top 30/150 fields so far but nothing exciting. I’ve got a good feeling about NCGA Am @ spyglass this year....

 

handicap trending at +2.7 with only tournament rounds posted. I’d consider this decent given all the circumstances.

 

good to see you still at it obee

[Obee]

WD'd after 9 today today at the Pasadena City. Hate to do that and have probably only done it two or three times in 25 years when I wasn't injured. Work stuff was unavoidable.

[Mike_C]

Played a couple of 2 man best ball tournaments over the past couple of weeks, didn't do very well, played average and my partners were not on their best games either.

Just tried my first real tournament of the year this week, State Mid-Am match play. Didn't play great and couldn't make enough 8-10 footers to get past the qualifer. They cut to low 32 for match play with a one round of stroke play. I shot 74, on the number for a playoff, but it was 10 guys for one spot. We went off in fivesomes, first group was 4 pars and a bogey. I was in the second group, one guy hit it out of play and picked up, another chunked one in the green side bunker and was out of it. The other two guys hit solid shots, one about 20 feet, another about 15-18 feet. I hit my best drive of the day, second shot to a back middle pin goes right over the flag, hits the back fringe and spins back to about 10 feet, I think I'm looking pretty good. Then the first guy drains his 20 footer, second guy leaves his birdie putt short. I have got to make it, and its my worst putt, looks straight in down hill, but I almost think it could go left, but the grain is right. Play it straight, and the grain takes it just outside right.

Of course this wouldn't have happened if I had not bogeyed 18, hit a bad heel fade down the middle with the wind into and from the right. Normally a drive and a 8-9 iron to an uphill green, I ended up trying to hit a 5 iron and still left it short, and chipped it 8 feet by and missed a left to right slider down hill....

At least I didn't embarrass myself, I'm finding it harder to keep up with the mid-Ams, turn 59 this year.....probably should stick to senior events....

[Gsea]

Work what's that lol. Sorry to hear Obee was looking forward to hearing about your tournament. Those are some serious sticks playing.

[b.helts]

My tournament season starts this weekend.
Sant Barbara Classic is a better ball event I play every year with my brother, who’s a stick.
Then State Fair Mid-Am in two weeks in Sacramento.
Santa Barbara City in a month then Santa Barbara County a bit after that.
(short) season culminates with SCGA 4 ball qualifying with @Obee at Rustic Canyon then Dove Canyon in November.
My game is slowly coming back. I’m excited to see how the next few weeks go and then continue to build.

[ThinkingPlus]

Good luck and play well.

[b.helts]

Thank you kindly!

[Obee]

Love it, bud!

I've got quarter-finals of our Club Championship today. I'm defending champ, but there's a new kid in town. 22 year old who's a +3 to +4. I got the better end of the bracket as the number 1 seed, so that means on the other end the 2 and 3 seeds, both +2 to +4 have to (likely) battle it out in the semis.

Then it's a busy next three months:

Scratch League begins next week (inter-club matches played all at scratch. No giving/getting strokes, just your club's best six versus other clubs' best six in a series of "16-point" matches. The league was inaugurated 10 years or so ago, and it's great competition. Not at all uncommon to play a club where all six players are +1 or better. I played years ago in the number 4 slot on my team as a +2.1.

Inland Empire Amateur/Senior Labor Day Weekend

Pasadena City Senior the following week

SCGA Four-Ball Qualifier (with you!) in mid-October

Ojai Senior Cup the week after that

SCGA Four-Ball at Dove Canyon (if we qualify)

Club Championship (stroke-play) in mid-November

 

[TheCityGame]

Scratch League begins next week (inter-club matches played all at scratch. No giving/getting strokes, just your club's best six versus other clubs' best six in a series of "16-point" matches. 

We do this. It's 12 man teams and you play 3 fourballs at home, 3 away. Each match is 3 points (front, back, 18). Single elimination. Normally, it's in the spring, but because of Covid, we're doing October this year. Guys talk about the line-up for about, oh, 12 months a year. We don't go strictly by handicap. I think our highest guy is a 2 right now, but we have a scratch a couple of 1's on the bench. It's a blast.

We had club champ last weekend. I got eliminated in the semi's by the champ, but I played well for seeding, round 1 and round 2.

Our state AM is next week. Normally, there is qualifying all over the state and if you come out of the qual, it's one round of stroke play to get into the final 32. I've never made it out of qualifying. This year, it's just two rounds of qualifying (field limited by handicap). Top 32 (of 240) move onto match play. I'm really looking forward to this. Game is pretty good right now. I think it's going to take even to get through, but right now my goal is to pound one down the middle on hole 1.

 

 

[Obee]

Love it. Best of luck to you, bud!!

 

[Obee]

Won my match today, 5&3. Play a good friend and solid 2-capper in the quarters next.