How do YOU prepare for tournament rounds?

[dusty5150]

Originally Posted by gcr_russell

And putt within a range you will make 90%. Right before a tournament isn't the time to improve your skills, but a time to make sure they are as tight as possible. Your mental game will strengthen much more when you make 9/10 from 25' more than when you make 3/10 from 40'.

yeah I forgot that part, it's very important. thanks!

many years ago, I was putting before a tournament, from like 40', missing everything and this pro was sharing the basket, putting from about 15' ... he told me to warm-up from where you know you're not going to miss, it'll build your confidence and you're still getting that muscle memory going. Technically, prior to a tournament round, you shouldn't be 'practicing' anymore.. save the practice for your backyard, garage or wherever. By the time you get to the tournament your practice should be done and all you need to do is warm up and wake up your muscles and get your confidence going. good advice right there that I hung onto.

[notroman]

Originally Posted by Jax11

Nothing about your tournament eve ritual Roman? haha Get them discs clean!

Haha, I do like to wash my discs the night before a tournament round. It's a habit now I can't say it's superstition, I just like clean plastic. If I forget to wash them or don't have time to, it doesn't bother me.

Thanks, Case.

[Mike C]

Notroman, good point about playing safe shots. I have two dogleg right holes at my home course back to bwck that I can park backhand....maybe 15% of the time. I often end up in a rough spot if I miss the gap or turn it over too much or too little. Somedays I get frustrated that my good feeling forehand drives aren't parking those holes, but then they tend to get me in jump putt or long standing putt positiong at least 80% of the time. Smart words.

I think for now I'm going to focus on that and pretending my casual rounds are tourney rounds, e.g. no re-trying a bad drive or putt like I tend to do during solo rounds.

Aa far as division I figure I'd start at intermediate and work my way up from there. Probably gonna get called a sandbagger if I do that but whatever.

EDIT: Now I feel like washing my discs. Dunno the last time I did haha.

[gcr_russell]

Originally Posted by Mike C

Notroman, good point about playing safe shots. I have two dogleg right holes at my home course back to bwck that I can park backhand....maybe 15% of the time. I often end up in a rough spot if I miss the gap or turn it over too much or too little. Somedays I get frustrated that my good feeling forehand drives aren't parking those holes, but then they tend to get me in jump putt or long standing putt positiong at least 80% of the time. Smart words.

I think for now I'm going to focus on that and pretending my casual rounds are tourney rounds, e.g. no re-trying a bad drive or putt like I tend to do during solo rounds.

Aa far as division I figure I'd start at intermediate and work my way up from there. Probably gonna get called a sandbagger if I do that but whatever.

EDIT: Now I feel like washing my discs. Dunno the last time I did haha.

Feel free to start wherever you feel comfortable. According to your videos I would guess you would compete strongly in advanced, but Tourney golf is totally different. Best of luck to you. Maybe you'll get with the right people and develop a passion for tourney golf. Then there can be more than a couple of us throwing MVP in Open.

[notroman]

I like playing tournaments on courses where I'm not a local where every hole can be birdied, but you need a good drive to do it and make the putt. It drives the locals crazy. They play leagues and casual rounds there all the time, they know they can birdie every hole, and they expect to shoot 10 down every tournament when SSA is only like 5 or 6 down. They run everything, get super worked when they miss a hole, and then just blow up I call it the "local disadvantage". Sounds like your dogleg holes. Pretty easy to try and go all out and get that bonus bird, but why? The only time I would do that is if getting in trouble means an easy pitch out for par, then you don't really have a lot to lose by going aggressive. Just don't be upset if you can't get up and down - it was your decision to be aggressive and that's how risk/reward holes work.

Also, nothing wrong with taking a second drive in casual rounds if you really want it. If it was a smart shot why not throw it again just to maintain your confidence throwing that shot. If I do that I still play my first shot though, because practicing the scramble shots is just as important.

[burdphil]

Originally Posted by Mike C

Notroman, good point about playing safe shots. I have two dogleg right holes at my home course back to bwck that I can park backhand....maybe 15% of the time. I often end up in a rough spot if I miss the gap or turn it over too much or too little. Somedays I get frustrated that my good feeling forehand drives aren't parking those holes, but then they tend to get me in jump putt or long standing putt positiong at least 80% of the time. Smart words.

I think for now I'm going to focus on that and pretending my casual rounds are tourney rounds, e.g. no re-trying a bad drive or putt like I tend to do during solo rounds.

Aa far as division I figure I'd start at intermediate and work my way up from there. Probably gonna get called a sandbagger if I do that but whatever.

EDIT: Now I feel like washing my discs. Dunno the last time I did haha.

So... are you going to be rocking the MVP soft goods at the tournaments you play?

[BillTard]

The kid who took MI states MA3 last year could whoop most MA2 and probably place decent MA1. but he was young and states was his first real tournament he ever played in. We all joked around called him a sandbagger but how did he know how he'd do. You never know if the pressure of a tournament will get you or not. I choke in everyone i play in. but I have fun and this year i'm hoping with getting my putting inline that i'll take MA3 finally.

Like gcr_russell said. play what you want (until you have a rating) and have fun. Also I wish I could see some of the people you play with when their jaws drop on the 300 ft ion throw ha!

[Jax11]

MikeC, I have played the division my rating has me placed in all the way up from Novice and got called a sandbagger, there will always be haters that don't handle losing well.

On another train of thought, the sandbagger issue would be another reason to get a PDGA membership though, once you get a rating you would be placed in the proper division and then those people calling you a sandbagger will look even more ignorant when you are playing the correct division based off of your rating.

[811rv]

The way MikeC throws in his vids are like, to me, at least 975 rating, like throwing Anodes 350 feet or so, Axis 375-400 feet accurately. But then like someone once said that recreational and tournament golf are two different kinds of game. It would blow those Int's away when he plays with only one disc Anode . "I throw Blizzard Boss 325 feet and he blows me away with some putter called MVP Anode throwing like 375 feet or so!"

[notroman]

Originally Posted by 811rv

The way MikeC throws in his vids are like, to me, at least 975 rating, like throwing Anodes 350 feet or so, Axis 375-400 feet accurately. But then like someone once said that recreational and tournament golf are two different kinds of game. It would blow those Int's away when he plays with only one disc Anode . "I throw Blizzard Boss 325 feet and he blows me away with some putter called MVP Anode throwing like 375 feet or so!"

Eh, you don't know where you belong 'til you play that first tournament! I have a buddy who signed up for his first tournament in the novice/rec divisions (they played separate days). He averaged about 970 golf for the entire weekend, and of course destroyed both divisions. Everyone screamed bagger. But he has never played a tournament before and didn't know where he belonged. After that he joined PDGA and played his first event as a PDGA member (third tournament for him) in advanced, without a rating. He shot 1000+ rated his first round. Again, people were yelling bagger. Sometimes you just can't win