How have you guys fared playing tournament golf? How do you prep for it? What do you do that differs from your casual round? I will share some of mine but the one thing I can never get over the is the first tee gitters.

Just remember that unless it’s match play. Everyone else is so worried about their own game, they’re barely even thinking about you.

Kind of a humble brag here...but just recollecting on some of my more memorable wins and/or times I played my best and there was a recocurring theme: I won state in High School, won 2 College tournaments (along with a school record in one of them), and a really big 2 man best ball event that has tons of d1 college players. All 4 of those events had something in common: The week leading up to the tourney, I spent an enormous amount of time on the short game. We had a short range at our course, and I hit 50-75 yard pitches until I couldn't anymore....followed by chipping around the green from all sorts of lies, different clubs, different trajectories. And then putting from 8 feet and in. When I happened to hit an errant tee shot and needed to punch out...or missed a green. I got up an down every single time. I hit a lot of wedge shots close and made a lot of birdies in those events. First tee jitters will always be there...but they go away when you start making birdies. 😅

Haven't competed in about a decade. Remembering my university tryouts, dry mouth, shaky hands, block two OB, nice 5 off the tee to get your inner competitiveness going. If i ever wanted to compete nowadays, take a small CBD oil dose and you will feel zero nerves lol. Helps with that first tee jitter.

Don’t let dphatt fool you, I’ve played in mid-am events with him and he pipes the first tee ball every damn time. I have a 3/4 bunt cut swing I use off the tee when the stakes are real. It’s low, it always cuts, doesn’t look sexy, but it’s a fairway winder every time. Another thing I’ve noticed is I hit the best approach shots when I’m down in a match. Just that extra level of determination to really focus on hit my landing spot, especially with my irons is what I enjoy the most. Again that’s a small pull fade that has extra spin on it to control my landing spot into greens. I apply that to every par 3 I play, which is the strength of my game.

Eddie stop telling people I am good. I need to be able to sandbag some people every once in a while

Eddie Another thing I’ve noticed is I hit the best approach shots when I’m down in a match. In the wise words of Big Randy from no laying up... "Bad news is...Tron's not really comfortable until he's down $200". lolol (3:25)

For people who have first tee jitters, I got a recommendation for you. Start an iG live video and hit balls in front of your IG friends, talk about stressful LOL. It was fun though, we will do it again soon.

I look forward to piping one down over the right corner at BPB every time I tee it up there. First tee jitters isn't my issue, it is the chipping yips I have had for some time. I'll shake it for a while, and then the thought creeps into my head and I proceed to blade it from one side of the green to the other. Then the next one I'll stick the club into the ground behind the ball and watch it pop up a few inches and advance a foot ahead of me and settle deep into the rough.

First round where having to keep score was necessary outside of match games. Wasn't nervous, but the one aspect I felt off was over shots that weren't perfectly even lies, having been a range rat for so long, forgot how to hit shots with the ball below my feet, I pulled every damn shot.

Tournament Golf Experiences

bigjohntripod

DaHOF Hells yea!!! Great W bro!!!

Jaybananapantsarthur

Lettuce. It's all about the lettuce. Still.

DaHOF

Jaybananapantsarthur just trying to keep that flow going as long as I can get away with it 😆

Eddie

I’m playing in an event today and I’m going in with one swing thought:

compress the shit out of the ball.

Let’s see what happens.

DaHOF

Eddie Bring the thunder homie!!!

conorgolf22

I’m back at it on Thursday. Small, 1 day deal with about 30 in my flight.

dphatt

I had the Middle Atlantic Fourball today at the Cannon Club. My back has been bothering me all weekend and it really bad yesterday. It hurt to bend over but I decided to play anyways. During the warm up session it didn’t feel great but I was able to hit some decent shots so I gave it a go. The one thing that didn’t feel good was chipping so hitting greens was a must. The first few holes I was really uncomfortable and I was missing the driver dead right. I figure it out on the 622 yard par 5 5th hole and lip out for eagle from 119 yards. The next few holes I had great birdie looks but couldn’t convert. On 10 I had to hit a draw and I hadn’t hit one all day. I swung slower and was able to hit a great draw down the middle but it also hurt a lot. I had 141 into the pin and I hit a soft 9 that was all over the flag. In landed 6inches from the hole and spun to less than an inch. I birdie the next 2 and we are right back in it. I miss a 7 foot putt on 13 for birdie and that was pretty much the end of the round. My partner wasn’t much help today as he X’d out on a few holes and didn’t have any birdies. We still finished T15 but it could have been a lot better. I have my State Open practice round next week and then a golf trip so I need to rest my back for those.

DaHOF

dphatt I have a terrible back and any tournament lasting more than two rounds in two days is hard for me to do. However, this previous week the tournament I played in they had PT people onsite. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The first day I had a short 15-20 minute session on my back and it worked miracles for me to swing freely. By the last day, I had them work on my back (typical issues), calf (I had a severe cramp the night before), and elbow (don't get me started). I was also taped up like a mummy in k-tape, but I can say I wouldn't have been able to finish that last round without it. It was significant enough that it has entered my mind to pre-schedule a sports massage or the like in the future before my second/third round of a tournament if I am in that position again. Might be worth it to get something worked on during the week and your down time brother.

epyon

Old man golf problems are more common than I thought 🤣. I have to be sure I stretch fully before a round or I run a chance of pulling a muscle. Throwing out your back during a round is also not the biz.

conorgolf22

A bit of a frustrating one today. The ball striking was there, the short game wasn’t......again, too tense. I was able to squeak out a top 10. Have to get better

gfranktw7

conorgolf22 just wait to get better until after July 5....😛 I did find out I have a fracture in my wrist so I am gonna load up on pain meds LFG

conorgolf22

gfranktw7 oh damn. That’s the course I played today too. Just let me know.... it doesn’t get better, we’ll just go have a few cold ones somewhere

DaHOF

Defense of the title starts tomorrow. What a string of golf this month. I need a break after this one.

gfranktw7

conorgolf22 i'll be good to go. i have peb soon so i gotta get dialed. might need strokes though...:p

conorgolf22

gfranktw7 I’m not sure anyone needs shots from me with the way I look on the greens. I miss, I miss, I miss, I make

dphatt

I played in the State Open on Monday-Tuesday shooting 76-74 to miss the cut by 3. I came into the event with a hurt back but played well enough with pain last Thursday to try and tough it out. I went to an urgent care over the weekend with another unrelated issue but told them about the pain in my back. They prescribed me with muscle relaxers which I took before Monday. I felt very little pain and was ready to go. Once I hit the range something felt off with my swing. I couldn’t make solid contact with my irons or wedges. When I got to the best club in my bag, the driver, it was god awful. Every driver was right no matter what I did. The old saying of hitting it bad on the range is a blessing was in my head so I didn’t care. Once I got to the first hole I blocked it right and thought to myself this not good since I hit a straight ball or a slight draw. I continued to hit it right with the driver and decided to just play that shot for the day. I never felt comfortable with my swing for the two days and it showed with indecision on every swing. @bogeysandbeers can attest to this as he caddied for me. Major props to him for lugging my bag around throw a hot, humid and difficult walking course.

I was riding on a real confidence high and these two rounds broke it. I have never felt so uncomfortable over the ball. I am hoping it’s the medication but we will see. I already withdrew from an event scheduled for Monday-Tuesday. I finished second in this event last year but with it being 2.5 hours away and on a course I have never played it made the decision pretty easy. I am playing a Fourball event this weekend but that might be it for a week or so until I get my back better or swing better.

DaHOF

dphatt get that back right. I almost guarantee that with the meds is what contributed to a s#%* swing for two days. Still, to come in with those numbers and a band-aid swing is pretty solid.

OffTheDole

dphatt As someone who has battled back and neck issues over the last couple of years, I can empathize. It sucks getting old and minor back pain that doesn't necessarily prevent you from playing but just makes everything a little off is so frustrating.

As DaHOF said, those scores with a bad back are solid.

My advice would be to shut it down for a bit, get with a good massage therapist who does cupping, drink a lot of water, and figure out which stretches and exercises hit the areas you need to strengthen.

I'm literally doing all of those things right now (along with seeing a podiatrist for a likely stress fracture in my foot).

DaHOF

OffTheDole touches on a good point. @dphatt I can send you a shot of a MRI of my back on what happens if you DON'T rest your back... In summary, as most things in life, don't do what I did.

Eddie

OffTheDole with a good massage therapist who does cupping

Thank you for the 5th grade chuckle moment.

As for the pain killers, I used to ramp up on them when I was in pain last year and I had no feel at all, so you feel uncomfortable over the ball was most certainly a byproduct of that, way to grind it out regardless.