So yeah I went out for the qualifier and did not make it.
Just putting the convos I'm having with various people on IG here.
Feel free to react, give input on any of this stuff.
1) Making the transition to mallet.
So I played the qualifier with a mallet. I have no issues with the putter itself, but I'll share where I felt really uncomfortable with it. The greens today were lightning fast, I mean our club normally plays at around 11, but they were way faster than that today. The thing I kept doing was leaving my approach shots a little long and above the hole. I chalk that up to adrenaline. But the downhill left to right putts is where I really struggled. With a mallet, today I just felt like I had to work to square up the face, for fear of fanning the putts right, so it was either too much speed trying to square it up or fan with only a chance to hit the right half of the hole. I wonder if face balanced putter would help?
2) Playing with fresh wedges.
I was nervous about putting the TW wedges into to play with the grooves being so fresh, but I'm glad I did. Wow the level of control with fresh faces is great. Had 2 chip ins and most of my shots <70 yards were right on point.
3) Driver loft.
I've been playing the 9 degree SIM most of the year with moderate success. I had a really bad driving round and felt if I went to 10.5, I would have more spin and more control over the ball. Well my driving range swing has the ball teed up more so in practicing with the 10.5 head, I liked what I saw. But out on the course in windy conditions, I left a lot of yards on the table, especially into the wind. What I realized halfway through the round is that when I'm playing for fun, I tee the ball up, but in tournament rounds, I tee it much lower and focus on keeping it in play. The 10.5 SIM teed down was struggling to get through the wind. (granted I play on a course where wind is anywhere from 10-25)
4) The 4 iron debate.
So I played the u500 today, and I have no reservations in saying it is a great club. But I don't think it's going to stick around. So my carry number with the 5iron p770 is 195-200. But my carry number with the u500 is at least 5-10 yards longer than a normal 4 iron. I got left with several yardages today that were 205ish, with 5 iron not being enough but u500 being too much. So on about three shots today, I tried to take something off of a u500 full swing to hit my yardage, which is reasonable, but the problem was when I hit a 3/4 shot, it goes lower than normal, so now those shots don't hold greens well. If I play in the first flight, I might have to go back to the regular 4 iron. Shit, I might even go p770 6-pw and then p790 4 and 5.
5) First tee jitters.
I had a super clean warm up round but as soon as I get to that gold tee box, I definitely felt a little nervous. I did some deep breathing and that instantly calmed me down. I know we talked about it in another thread, but I highly recommend it for anyone competing soon.
6) Why didn't I qualify?
Poor approach shot planning. They had the pins in some absolutely nasty pin placements, and it was my fault for leaving shots above the hole. First hole, hit it to 8 ft, but was above the hole on a slope, first putt I tried to be super aggressive, blew it way past then missed the comebacker. That was a bad omen. On 3, I had one of the 3/4 u500 shots, and it didn't hold the green, leaving an impossible to stop downhill chip. Hitting the pin on 11 sucked hard too, a total momentum killer but had I left more approach shots under the hole, I would've qualified, I should know better.
7) Strategy
I played with a bend don't break mentality. I didn't take the high risk shots, and to an extent that helped. But I also bailed on a couple tough pin placements and put myself in difficult putting situations. The play safe mindset definitely help prevent any huge numbers, like laying up on drivable par 4 and playing par 5s as three shot holes. One of my playing partners tried to go flag hunting on the par 3 9th hole, which if you've seen my iG feed, is that narrow green next to the water. It was the back left pin, he went at it and hit it over the green. It's a 30 foot drop off. He made a 9 on that hole and was essentially done. (He was 2 over through 8). I hit the safe shot to the front of the green, took my 3 putt and gladly walked off with a 4.
8) Mental game
I used to be a hot head on the course, but over time I've really focused on keeping even keel. It definitely helped today. I had plenty of moments where I would've snapped and probably been tilted really hard, but I kept telling myself that I'll have my chances to make up for as the round went on. It helped for sure, I had two birdies on the back 9, one was a chip in and one was a long putt, so those improbable birdies balanced out the bad breaks from earlier.
Braindump over, so apparently if you don't qualify for championship flight, you can play in the flighted bracket, I have such a "what could've been" feeling lingering that I want to at least make something good of this year and play next week. We'll see.
I absolutely enjoyed the rush of competing stroke play with no safety blanket, I hit some shots I was really proud of, and some that were regrettable, but all that range time meant that I could hit the few really good ones that would make up for some errant ones.
If anyone is ever debating whether to compete, I say unequivocally do it.
Regarding the pain, it hurt all round, but like Chris said, I was so focused and amped up I got through it.
as soon as I got home I dug deep in the golf closet and found the two putters that I refuse to sell because I have too many good rounds with them. 330m or old black pearl see more? Hmmm
