First tourney - which division?

[Mbagnola1]

What division should I play in?

Facts:
- average drive:275-300(valkyrie or sidewinder)
-big drive:315-325(Wraith)
-Fairway:250-280(eagle or river)
-mid:175-225(Roc)
-putter:150(ion)
-if I'm on I'm on. If I'm off,I'm screwed
-getting better on the putting. Confident within 20'


Spacing on other important info at the moment.

I don't know if any of that tells you anything. I've never played in a tourney but the one I plan on playing is my favorite course and I've been playing well lately.

Any input would help.

 

[ReinZ_96]

I'd say AM2, you might get your ass kicked but it'd be good experience. The way i look at it if you know you would have no problem placing in the top 3-4 play the next division up just for the experience of playing with better players. Unless your really competitve, hate losing, and dont mind being called a sandbagger, then just play rec forever

 

[birdman101]

well it depends on you.
You could play rec its your first tournament therefore you don't really know were you sit. or you can play up try to learn something and find out where you fit in for the next tournament with a slightly lower chance of winning.

 

[New013]

play rec, you'll have more fun. the people in rec care less about the results and won't give you a ton of **** about all of the rules because more than likely they won't know the rules that well.

 

[atl scott]

What course is your local course and what do you usually shoot there?

 

[JReynolds]

Play open... If your gonna pay cash to play, you might as well get paid cash if you win

 

[jenb]

Tell us your best and average scores on that course and hich course it is. I'll plug it into my pdga iphone app and tell you your ratingt estimate.

 

[Brick Forcepush]

Novice

 

[ejvogie]

The real answer? It depends.


In some areas that might be MA2 (Intermediate) level. In others you might do well to win MA4 (Novice). I hate for my answer to be a non-answer, but that's kinda how it is.

 

[olkok]

Check the results from last years event to compare your scores. One thing to remember is that you may not throw as well as normal in a tournament environment. Nerves get to a lot of people playing their first tournament.

 

[Mbagnola1]

What course is your local course and what do you usually shoot there?

Sorry,can't do links from my phone. The tournament is at The Oaks in Mokena Illinois. This is the first singles tournament held here since '05. I average about par to +2.y best score was a -5.

 

[simon14]

Play rec

 

[GLong]

ma2 or intermediate. you've been playing long enough that there probably won't be much challenge in rec or novice.

 

[mashnut]

He's in Chicago where the rec division is fairly competitive and there's a novice division for beginners at almost every tournament. I'd say go with rec (MA3) and see how it goes.

 

[Mbagnola1]

Thanks to everyone. My biggest decision was between novice and rec. I don't want to stomp the competion but at the same time I don't want to be DFL. I'll probably do rec for the first one and see how it goes.

 

[mashnut]

if you find that rec is above or below your skill level, it's easy to move up or down next time. If you play any of the IOS events, they split the divisions so you can play rec and novice (or rec and intermediate) on Saturday and Sunday.

 

[jenb]

The PDGA App has the Oaks as a 27 hole course, and if you 3 every hole, then that's a 940 rated round. That -5 would be a 1000 rated round. If you are averaging +1, that's high end of intermediate.

 

[Doelman]

do rec for sure

 

[Spatula Cornroll]

I would do rec if I was you. Tournament play is different than casual play. There is a mental aspect that can eat away at your game if you allow it to. The whole point of this game is to have fun. Just remember why you are there, and everything will be alright. If you destroy the competition, you'll move up next time, and no one will have any reason the give you a hard time about it.

 

[KenTyburski]

My brother played his first tourney about a month ago and decided to play Advanced just for the hell of it. He ended up finishing last, but he had a great time, wasn't on the very last card after the first round, threw better than he thought he would, learned a lot from the other Advanced guys with whom he was playing, and had an ace chain out. His rating will be in the mid 800's, and he'll probably be playing intermediate from this point onward, but I think he would say the first experience was worth it.