the difference between tournament golf and recreational golf

[juliette91]

There are great players who have said that tournament golf is different than casual golf, but other good players have said that golf is golf, whether its a tournament or not. I remember Patrick Cantlay saying something to that effect in an interview a while back after he shot 60 in a PGA Tour event.

 

When I embraced the concept that "golf is golf", as well as not bothering myself with expectations of others or possible embarrassment, I found it a lot easier to just play the game. Coincidentally, my tournament scores were more in line with my practice scores.

 

That being said, 90% of the guys I've played tournaments with absolutely crumble under pressure situations. I've seen phenomenal players shoot mid-high 80's at US Open local qualifiers. While I agree with your findings in regards to an increase of about 7 strokes, this principle cannot be expanded to all golfers. Tournament golf simply weeds out the players who aren't ready for some pressure and didn't come prepared. Most guys on tour, if playing under the same difficult conditions every day during their practice rounds, aren't shooting drastically different scores.

I like the idea of "golf is golf" but it's hard to actualize...

 

I figured out a way of doing it:

 

When I first started on the Dakotas tour, I was blown away by how much competitive golf I could play in succession. The structure of that tour was 3 or 4 day event on the weekend and then either 1 or 2 day satellite event on mon and tues.

 

I was worried that if I played every event I would burn out and play less then my best. I decided however, to just play in everything. At the time, my reasoning was that I was more likely to get hot in a short event and win. A good day could get me $2500 where as I'd have to play pretty steady over 4 days to finish 4th to make $2500.

 

What ended up happening was that I learned how to make every day just another day of golf. I never got to high or low because no matter what, I was playing another tournament round the next day or at worst, in two days.

 

When I was an Am, the worst thing was that there were not enough events. You'd put an event way up high on a pedestal and spend all of this time preparing and worrying about it. Then the big week would come and if you played poorly, you'd have to wait for weeks till the next event. In that time, you'd stew over all you mistakes and start to put the next event way up high. It was a roller coaster of emotions.

 

On the Dakotas tour, i couldn't afford to get too high or low because the next event was the next day. If I played poorly, no biggy cause you just hitched up your pants and went at it again. And if you played great, no biggy cause you still had to get ready for the next days event. I got to the point where I was just playing golf. The nerves stopped effecting me so much. I was just going out every day and playing a tournament. I played 45 competitive rounds in a 2 month period for 4 years in a row each summer. That sort of experience can really change your outlook on tournament golf.

 

For the average golfer however, that's not possible. We spend so much time and energy building up to the "big week" that it's almost a given that you'll be let down.

 

So how do you learn to take it all in stride a little more rather then get so amped leading up to an event? I think the answer is rooted in understanding what it means to live in the moment. To love the process itself. I can't tell you how many people I've seen crash in tourney's simply because they'd been thinking about possible outcomes for weeks leading up to the event. What will people think of me? How will it feel to win? How will it feel to choke? How will I face my friends if I screw up?

 

All of these emotions are ego driven and based in fear. I don't want to sound too "self helpy" but seriously, if you don't enjoy the moment, you'll never master the moment. Elite level golfers, at least in my experience, really get into the whole process. They love it. The results just happen. Good rec players, but poor tourney players, are almost obsessed with results. It's the cart before the horse analogy.

 

Have you ever said something like this to yourself:" I just wish I could post this 2 under round I have going and be done. " Or: " I'm even through 5... if I could take my 72 I'd gladly just sit in the restaurant all day and see what happens."

 

Those are thoughts of a person not loving the chase, not in the moment, and too focused on results.

 

How about this one: " I can't believe I just 3 putted from 12 feet! What an idiot. Stupid double, there goes my round!"

 

Again, the idea that you can control what has already happened is an indication that you're not in the present. When we hear Tour Pros talking about not looking at score boards, or not even knowing how many under they were during a round until they were in the scorers tent, that's a sign of a guy in the present. He's truly taking one shot at a time and just trying his best to do his best. Then he goes to the next shot. Being in the eternal present while on the golf course is the key to allowing your natural ability to take over.

 

This is a great post. As an aspiring amateur tournament player (1 hdcp) reminding myself to stay in the process is tough. There are so many times I've been in a qualifier and known pretty much what the number is going to be at that site, and when I'm 11, 12, 13 holes through and right on the number, it's really hard not to think about it, or say "just gotta par in", blah, blah. You're right, we build these things up in our minds so there is too much emphasis on that one round. It's tough though- for instance, my club hosted the State Open this year and so like it or not, you know for an entire off season that the qualifier in June is going to be a big deal for you. In hindsight, it's hard to perform when something is built up to that level. I do think that if tournament golf is a really important goal for someone, they need to make the sacrifice to play in as much stuff as possible. Playing 2-4 events a year (I mean state or regional stuff) is just not enough reps in my opinion to get over the hump, or at least do it fast enough particularly if you are picking up the tournament thing in your 30's. I've played more events this year and it's helped, and going forward I've found more regional associations I can join to try and get a couple more events in.

 

Bottom line, ego and results driven focus is a killer and I think maximizing one's tournament opportunities is probably the best way to make the experience more "normal" and as a by-product help transition to a more "process-oriented" mindest.

[mlwenzlick]

I think that in a lot of lower level tourneys there are tons of people that just simply dont know how to grind. They will hit a fairway bunker and immediatly assume its a bogie hole, or let some other squirrley shot get away from them. In low level tourneys, people just dont understand how to hunker down and just play the next shot to the best of their ability.

 

Also managing focus has got to be HUGE, its impossible to focus at tournament level intensity for 5 straight hours. Most people have no idea how to turn focus on and off. If you cant turn it off you will be worn out before the round ends and then boom blow up holes! If you cant turn the focus back on, then BOOM careless mistakes!

 

Resurrecting this thread as im sure there are still folks out there with issues. As someone who has been really struggling the past two years (shoot 75 regularly, then get to a tournament and shoot 90+) this quote as well as the prior post really resonates with me as something I need to work on. Its so damn frustrating to pull into a course and hit perfect in warmups only to put yourself out of it by hole 5. After that the anger has just been building as the thoughts creep in..."well great, now youre dumb*** has ruined the entire day" blah blah blah.