Pro vs. Am

[geoz]

What is it that you guys think separate an adv am player from a pro? I'm not talking the "stars" of the game either, more or less the c and b tier local guys.

 

[Moose33]

In my experience consistency and confidence are the separators.

 

[freestateflyer]

The amount of quality time spent working on the game vs just playing golf.

 

[Pbmercil]

Approximately 50 ratings points, on average. Give or take.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Some higher rated Advanced Ams still want to attend Am Worlds or Am Nats before turning pro.

 

[ToddL]

Natural athletic ability.
Local pros are guys who are good at throwing frisbees. Local ams are guys who spend 5 days a week doing field practice so they don't trip over their own feet.

 

[BlazedOrangeHat]

- putting
- getting up and down after a shanked drive

 

[cwild]

Inside the circle putting

 

[brickdoctor]

90% mindset most of up cannot keep our head in that place without being distracted.. Like Tiger Woods putting , not much physical about it ,but trying to stay focused for that long is something only a few have.

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

Strong fundamentals & putting would be my guess

 

[PWaggoner]

- putting
- getting up and down after a shanked drive

This guy has my philosophy.

 

[DiscFifty]

I think one of THE biggest separators between ams and pro is this...

Pros have a more aggressive mentality and are not afraid to "go for that shot" that ams would otherwise not even think about doing.

 

[JC17393]

One word: consistency.

Two players could have similar skill sets...long drives about the same distance, equal skill forehand and backhand, solid putting, etc. But the difference between them is how consistently they put it all together. The pro tends to be the one less likely to experience a blow up hole or a blow up round. While they both might shoot a hot round in a tournament, the pro is more likely to repeat or at least continue the good play in the following round. In other words, I see a lot more ams follow up a hot 49 with a less hot 61 in the next round or vice versa. Whereas the pro is more likely to shoot 51-52 and win the day (between the two).

 

[mark996]

Was thinking about this today actually. I'm an intermediate about to move up to advanced hopefully if this year goes well. My main thing is just like others have said, consistency. I'll shoot a 53 and then a 59 on my 2nd round. There's a strand of holes that are all legit birdies, just gotta hit the line. Same disc, same line wanted, but I'm not at that point yet of hitting that line every single throw just yet. It's getting closer as form comes together but still not there. I know a lot of local AMs who have that physical ability to play extremely well, but that mental ability just isn't there yet. The % of throws we make that are great or at least playable for par up and down is quite a bit less due to that. I'm also to the point now where I'm getting more confident in my upshot game and running putts outside of my normal 20 foot comfort range.

 

[DiscinMiller]

Putting and confidence in putting. I dont throw far enough to say my game compares ot any of our local pros, but on the holes that i can reach, i wont take their game over mine, until we both have a 45 footer that they arent afraid to really run at because they know they'll make their 20 foot come backer. I need to be much more conservative on my 45 foot run because I could much more conceivably miss the comeback putt.

 

[bradharris]

What is it that you guys think separate an adv am player from a pro? I'm not talking the "stars" of the game either, more or less the c and b tier local guys.

The pros separate themselves from the ams by paying a little extra in entry fees in order to play for cash rather than plastic.

They're both open divisions, the only separator is payout. Especially at lower level events, the line between the two divisions is virtually non-existent.

 

[storyboy]

Putting and confidence in putting. I dont throw far enough to say my game compares ot any of our local pros, but on the holes that i can reach, i wont take their game over mine, until we both have a 45 footer that they arent afraid to really run at because they know they'll make their 20 foot come backer. I need to be much more conservative on my 45 foot run because I could much more conceivably miss the comeback putt.

I think u nailed it right there. One of the things most pros will do from what I can tell by watching tournaments, is run the chains from just about any distance. They seem to always have confidence in there come back shot. This is where I suffer the most by putting to soft or just laying up.

 

[Cripes]

It is just a little bit more consistency. It only takes a very slight difference for the law of averages to work itself out over the course of a 4 round tourney.

If the Am hits 6/10 putts from 15-35 feet and the Pro hits 7/10 then that is 3 or 4 strokes. 6/10 tight fairways hit for the Am vs 7/10 for the Pro is another 3 or 4 strokes. Throw in 1 or 2 more outside the circle putts for the Pro and they are 8 to 10 strokes better for the tournament. That is generally the scoring differential I see for a high finishing Am vs a Pro getting into the cash.

Skill levels would appear to be the same, but consistently making 1 or 2 less mistakes per round goes a long way.

 

[ThrowBot]

The pros separate themselves from the ams by paying a little extra in entry fees in order to play for cash rather than plastic.

They're both open divisions, the only separator is payout. Especially at lower level events, the line between the two divisions is virtually non-existent.

Ha, this is pretty much true for most of the tournaments in which I play. A few years back I was frequently finishing on the podium when playing advanced, but looking at the final results I would realize that my same total score would have earned a lower cash spot in the pro division. (Obviously that sort of comparison only works if the pro and am fields are playing the same layouts.)

With so much overlap in the level of competition, the motivation to "move up to pro" can come from a number of different factors:

• Would rather earn cash/already have more than enough discs and swag
• Belief that competing against top-level players will help spur improvements
• Desire to claim disc golf earnings as taxable income (and deduct all disc golf expenses!)
• Enjoy playing against pro division players due to their maturity and focus level
• Shelf of am-level trophies is too full to justify further "sandbagging"

 

[VictorB]

- Putting inside the circle with consistency.

- Playing a smarter off the tee and converting more fairways/green 'in regulation' (to borrow a ball golf term)

- Ability to save par or minimize extra strokes when they do get in trouble.

Obviously the separation of top tier pros to 'just normal' pros is that they putt outside the circle with more consistency, and have the ability and accuracy to convert high risk:high reward shots with better percentage than most people.

I was borderline as a high tier am years ago (960s ratings), and could putt 80%+ inside the circle and save pars from bad spots, but struggled hitting fairways/greens in regulation at a high rate, especially on longer courses. I'd leave long approaches too short, or get myself off the fairway from the tee.