Looking to revive this thread since I've got a FSGA Amateur qualifier coming up in June at Golden Ocala and I'd love some insight from other mid-ams who've teed it up under pressure (cc: @dphatt).
Last time I tried to qualify was two years ago and I missed the playoff by a stroke, but that was with a really balky putter. Now that I have my VHS tape-sized putter I feel a lot more confident that it won't let me down.
So as far as my prep goes, I play most of my rounds hitting every cup. As the tournament gets closer I really focus on grinding out my putts and going through my routine, even on two footers.
On the day of the tournament I make sure I get to the course very early and get in a lot of practice putting to get the speed of the greens. As far as the warmup goes, I hit balls with the intention of seeing how much draw is on the ball and if the driver is a slinger draw or just a baby draw. I do not try to make any adjustments to how I'm swinging because I feel like day of is too late for technique thoughts.
Just now I've been inspired to copy Patty Tavatanakit's warmup routine, where she spends half of it just taking really smooth, easy swings. I'm going to try this out this weekend and see how my ballstriking responds.
Compared to casual rounds, one thing I've noticed is I'm always a little bit longer in tournaments. The adrenaline factor is real, so whenever I've got a shot where I'm in between clubs I'll take the shorter one and count on the juice to make up the difference.
I also seem to play better in tournaments than in casual rounds because I'm taking it more seriously.