How do YOU prepare for tournament rounds?

[gcr_russell]

When I was 859 rated I was throwing over 450' forehand. That's why I would never give grief to someone playing any division they want their first tournament. I throw shorter a little bit now and am over 100 points better of a player and just had a 995 tournament. Tournaments are different.

[notroman]

Haha, yeah, I love it when someone in rec throws a 400 ft drive and everyone's eyes open wide and they start talking about bagging. Then you see the same guy go long with his upshot, three putt, and take a 5 on the hole. It's not all about throwing far!

[811rv]

Agreed notroman, I would ignore them anyway. I know of one player who everyone is calling him bagger because he still plays in Int and did win few of them despite having 930 rated average. His point is that he feels he should play in Int until he got rating average above 935 then he will move up to Adv. He likes to collect plastics via prizes. Each to their own.

For me, I would prefer playing in pro grandmaster as I like to play with better players and have better experience even thought I should be playing in Adv Grandmaster (currently have 920 rating).

[Toro71]

I say do it if you enjoy it, or want to go pro eventually or whatever. Otherwise, why bother?

My prep:

1) I have to almost verbally remind myself to eat breakfast. Critical.
2) I'm old. So I like a lot of warm up. I try to get onsite early enough to stretch/throw some warmup tosses AND try to get in maybe 5-9 holes, depending on how much I don't want to wear myself out. If I don't have enough time for all that, I'll echo the...
3) Opening round, opening holes, try to play more conservative, less "Evil Kneivel."

As far as dealing with a-holes, to me that's a crapshoot. I've got a total of 3 events under my belt, started playing sanctioned this year. I play Advanced Masters. In my area, this div is a lot of the usual suspects. They are by and large hilarious, laid back, helpful to a tourney noob, and serious without being hyper-competitive.

Pace of play was a HUGE adjustment. It really starts killing me toward the end of the day, i.e. second round. I hate to use this word, but I almost get "bored," and start to lose focus...especially in these larger fundraiser fields (90 as opposed to 72, 5somes instead of 4somes.) This is less of an issue with a lively, interactive card.

I say join the PDGA, but that's totally a personal pref. I wanted a rating, and knew I was going to play more than 5 events (it's 10 extra bucks for a PDGA event for non-members, so 5 events 'covers' your membership fee.) Hilarious to me...the PDGA "mini" I got is a miniature DC Ultimate frisbee...? My PDGA disc is a black ESP Stalker.

[BigSky]

I'm not even going to read this thread. All I know is, Mike C, tourneys, FTW.

Good luck!

[whentherainscome]

Stay loose during backups. If it's a good course, there'll be one or two super tough hole that everyone gets in trouble on, and there will be 3 or 4 groups backed up there all sitting around and complaining about it. And when they finally get on the tee with stiff arms and a head full of watching bad shots, well, things seem to go worse for everyone. Its super important to stretch and stay warmed up and try to take the tee with a fresh outlook on the shot.

I seem to get pretty lucky avoiding the worst backups. I've finished my first round, gone to lunch and gotten back before the last card was in. o.O

[Menacewarf]

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'.

This is very true. I like to practice putt before a tourney even closer than that. maybe end with a few from 25 -40 but for the 5 minutes I will practice putting I try to keep it from 15-20 where like you said, I will make 95% and get the good feelings going.

Also I have found when I putt great in tourneys there is always a certain detachment to it, due to this I find it the opposite of practicing putting (by the very act of practicing you are caring about it). the trick is to cultivate that aloofness which lets your ego get out of the way , while simultaneously maintains the focus in order to be meticulous and accurate. It's a fine ballence but it is certainly aided by being patienhave joking oneself, and not being overly distracted with a certain score, or player, or mistake.

[TheArnoldPalmer]

gigantic steak burrito @ pollo vagabundo, fresh load of laundry, and a good night of sleep

[Menacewarf]

I would consider starting AM2 but if you win move right up to advanced. It does feel good to win a division and there is nothing to keep you there after you win if you choose. Otherwise just play ADV where I'm sure you would be fine.

The talk about playing safe is huge. As a player with both forhand and backhand this IMO puts you at an advantage strategically. It allows a player to always play away from danger. A gap looks small and punishing? throw a forhand anhyzer into the ground (burry the ani as I call it) right in the middle of the fairway and keep making progress.

Other advice would be to try and play in your own world. The mantras in my head which lead to good tourney rounds are always, be patient, play your game, focus on the next shot, stay relaxed. Staying aloof and apart from other player's struggles, or particularly any you might encounter always seems like an advantage to me.

All too often I see things going slightly wrong for a player early in a tourney round only for them to never get playing well. If these players are a freind of mine I try to remind them quietly how many holes are left because I think the pressure to succeeded NOW distracts players from being their best. It's all about staying I've moment.

[trifocal]

Get a caddie. thank me later.