Jumping in the deep end

[Aces Galore]

I think the keys to success, for me at least, in a tourney is to stay away from OB. Don't give strokes away. Don't try and be a hero, if in rough, just pitch out the best you can into the fairway. Lastly, make the putts you should make. For me that is 20 feet or closer.

 

[ray1970]

While I'll be playing the courses blind, I have looked at the course maps for the tournament. Oddly enough I am feeling more confident about picking up my birdies on the par 4 and 5 holes than I am on the majority of the par 3's. It seems to majority of the par 3's are going to be just out of my range off the tee leaving me with a short approach and a putt. Distance wise, I think I can get to a lot of the par 4 and 5's for birdie looks. Obviously I am only looking at the distance and haven't played the course so my optimism might be squashed once I see the type of shots I have to throw to get there.

There also isn't a lot of OB so as long as I can avoid putting myself in any bad positions I don't feel like OB is going to factor in.

This should be a decent challenge for me as I believe the courses are playing as a par 64 and a 67 and the majority of the courses that I play usually are just par 54 courses.

They should have tee times posted tomorrow evening. Supposed to be a pretty warm weekend here and I think I'll be playing in the hottest part of the day so not necessarily going to be accustomed to that just yet.

 

[brutalbrutus]

While I'll be playing the courses blind, I have looked at the course maps for the tournament. Oddly enough I am feeling more confident about picking up my birdies on the par 4 and 5 holes than I am on the majority of the par 3's. It seems to majority of the par 3's are going to be just out of my range off the tee leaving me with a short approach and a putt. Distance wise, I think I can get to a lot of the par 4 and 5's for birdie looks. Obviously I am only looking at the distance and haven't played the course so my optimism might be squashed once I see the type of shots I have to throw to get there.

There also isn't a lot of OB so as long as I can avoid putting myself in any bad positions I don't feel like OB is going to factor in.

This should be a decent challenge for me as I believe the courses are playing as a par 64 and a 67 and the majority of the courses that I play usually are just par 54 courses.

They should have tee times posted tomorrow evening. Supposed to be a pretty warm weekend here and I think I'll be playing in the hottest part of the day so not necessarily going to be accustomed to that just yet.

Tip for surviving hot day tourneys... the night before, rink or pour out about a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a bottle of water and then freeze the rest. In the morning before you leave, top it off with water and by a hole or two into the round, it should have melted enough to get a couple nice drinks of ice cold water. Also, whether you just drink water while on the course, or do sports' drinks, you can drink whatever is melted and then pour more into it.

Having a barely above freezing drink on a hot day always helped me out and this way, you'll have ice enough to do it for the whole round.:thmbup:

 

[Puckstopper]

Tip for surviving hot day tourneys... the night before, rink or pour out about a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a bottle of water and then freeze the rest. In the morning before you leave, top it off with water and by a hole or two into the round, it should have melted enough to get a couple nice drinks of ice cold water. Also, whether you just drink water while on the course, or do sports' drinks, you can drink whatever is melted and then pour more into it.

Having a barely above freezing drink on a hot day always helped me out and this way, you'll have ice enough to do it for the whole round.:thmbup:

That's not just a good tourney tip, that's solid advise all summer long. I carry several partially filled, frozen bottles in my cooler on multi-course road trips in the summer and they're life savers. Cool drinks on the course and if there are leftovers I can ice my sore old-man knees on the ride home. That's another good tip BTW, always do the FIRST leg of the drive if you're splitting it up with someone!

 

[brutalbrutus]

That's not just a good tourney tip, that's solid advise all summer long. I carry several partially filled, frozen bottles in my cooler on multi-course road trips in the summer and they're life savers. Cool drinks on the course and if there are leftovers I can ice my sore old-man knees on the ride home. That's another good tip BTW, always do the FIRST leg of the drive if you're splitting it up with someone!

I always liked pouring a bit of the water on my head before i started using the Gatorade. Ice cold water on a hot sweaty head/face is nice... though some people get headaches from it, i never had a problem.

 

[Horsman]

While I'll be playing the courses blind, I have looked at the course maps for the tournament. Oddly enough I am feeling more confident about picking up my birdies on the par 4 and 5 holes than I am on the majority of the par 3's. It seems to majority of the par 3's are going to be just out of my range off the tee leaving me with a short approach and a putt. Distance wise, I think I can get to a lot of the par 4 and 5's for birdie looks. Obviously I am only looking at the distance and haven't played the course so my optimism might be squashed once I see the type of shots I have to throw to get there.

There also isn't a lot of OB so as long as I can avoid putting myself in any bad positions I don't feel like OB is going to factor in.

This should be a decent challenge for me as I believe the courses are playing as a par 64 and a 67 and the majority of the courses that I play usually are just par 54 courses.

They should have tee times posted tomorrow evening. Supposed to be a pretty warm weekend here and I think I'll be playing in the hottest part of the day so not necessarily going to be accustomed to that just yet.

See if you can find a video walkthrough of the course on youtube. I have a tournament this weekend and didnt think I would be able to get to the course ahead of time to at least play it once before the event. So I got lucky and found a video of the course on youtube and have watched it everyday at work on repeat for at least a month now. I was able to get to the course ahead of time to practice and I can say that the game plan I had in my head for the course was about 90% correct. Definitely a useful tool.

 

[autocrosscrx]

I always liked pouring a bit of the water on my head before i started using the Gatorade. Ice cold water on a hot sweaty head/face is nice... though some people get headaches from it, i never had a problem.

Yeah, that gives me a pounding headache almost instantly. I also don't have much of a tolerance for drinking ice cold water in the hot, either.

Fortunately, my body seems to handle heat really well.

 

[ray1970]

Thanks for all of the hot weather tips.

Just looked at the forecast and it seems round one is going to be the coolest day of the week with the high hitting about 82. Got lucky there. Supposed to be 91 for round 2 and 95 for the final round.

Don't feel too sorry for me though. Even at 95 with the humidity likely around 30% or less it won't be totally unbearable.

Going to bear the weight of two full 32 ounce bottles of water and it sounds like they'll have some water coolers on site if I need to top them off along the way.

I'm taking an umbrella so if there are backups on some of the holes I'll have some shade.

 

[ray1970]

I also don't have much of a tolerance for drinking ice cold water in the hot, either.

I'm with you on that one. I can't drink water if it's too cold. I much prefer it kind of room temperature-ish.

 

[txmxer]

A stool is a nice extra. Several very portable options unless you are using a cart, then may not need it.

I used to do a lot of endurance cycling. I sweat a lot and get cramps from dehydration. I have found pickle juice to be better than Gatorade for me personally.

Not to be a negative, but your expectations seem quite high for a first tournament—and maybe you will kill it. It's possible. But given you are playing blind, that's a tough gig for anyone.

Regardless have fun and good luck.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

Commit to the shot you choose. Don't let failures stop you from commiting. On OB holes commit to a shot where an error will not put you OB. There will be nerves trying to get you to rush the shots. Don't let them win. Don't throw until you have a plan with each shot and can commit to it.

Play the same way in the final round when you have the lead.

Some people may think I am joking, but I'm not. Failure to commit to shots has cost me tourneys.

 

[txmxer]

Hard to imagine someone that throws mostly aces losing a tourney

 

[ray1970]

Not to be a negative, but your expectations seem quite high for a first tournament—and maybe you will kill it. It's possible. But given you are playing blind, that's a tough gig for anyone.

You may have misread my enthusiasm and optimism. I definitely don't have expectations. I do have hopes and wishes that I don't finish dead last in my division but even if I do it isn't going to wreck me.

I fully expect this to be more of a learning experience if nothing else.

And, I do have a small stool in case I get tired of being on my feet. (Sold my cart recently.)

 

[foreputt]

Hole 8 at Pessimist throw 5 putters.

 

[ray1970]

Hole 8 at Pessimist throw 5 putters.

Just for clarification, five different putters or the same putter five times?

 

[ray1970]

24 hours until tee time.

 

[Nick Pacific]

24 hours until tee time.

Make a list and pack most of your stuff up the night prior.

Extra shoes and socks. A stool. A cooler filled with extra drinks and snacks. Sunscreen. Hat.
Umbrella. Cash. A change in clothes (if it pours first round, you'll be one of the lucky few who will have a fresh dry get up for 2nd round).

You probably won't sleep well tonight. Don't worry about it, tomorrow's adrenaline will wake you right up. You'll sleep like a bear tomorrow night that's for sure.

 

[ray1970]

Update. Just finished the final round of my event.

A good time was had by all.

I mostly managed to just play my game regardless of what the courses threw at me. My scores weren't anything to write home about but in the MA50 division there weren't a ton of guys shredding the course anyways.

Finished 11th out of 15. Since my main hope was to not be dead last I'm okay with that.

Played the courses blind for rounds one and two and played Pessimist for round three so I knew what to expect after playing it in round one. Only managed two strokes better the second time through that course but I'm still happy.

Learned some things about my game along the way and managed to average an 847 for the event.

 

[ChrisWoj]

 

[autocrosscrx]

Bumping this up....

After a couple years of keeping this my fun/casual hobby, I joined the PDGA and signed up for my first tournament yesterday. It is a at a course that I've never played, but the tourney isn't until April 23rd. So I have plenty of time to get a couple of rounds in and figure out which bag I want to carry and things like that. The bad news is that I'm really excited and have to wait 2.5 months. My only real concern is that I generally don't play 2 rounds in a day.