Tournament divisions

[Spackler]

I'm a little confused about masters player divisions. I'm 48 and wondering if I should try playing with other old guys or keep watching the young guys out drive me.

First, are the masters divisions strictly about age? The pdga chart defines the three masters divisions by birth year only but they all have the word "advanced" in their title so I'm wondering if there is more to it than just age.

Second, how competitive is advanced masters compared to the other amateur divisions?

TIA

 

[vonDrehle]

From what I have seen those divisions are generally much smaller so if nothing else make sure you like the people because odds are you will be playing with them all tournament. From what I see they are just determined by age and there is pretty much Am and Open. So you could be with an advanced lvl 40+ or a recreational 40+.

Players Division Grid I was looking at.

 

[Spackler]

Good point about playing with the same people, that could be good or bad I guess. I've only played in a couple of tournaments but I plan to play several this year and even though I've enjoyed playing in the rec and intermediate divisions I'm curious about the masters divisions.

Hopefully a TD or someone who has played masters will come along and share their thoughts.

 

[TalbotTrojan]

I think it really depends on what division you are playing in and where in the country you are playing. For instance, here in Colorado, Adv Masters usually fall inbetween Adv and Int in skill level. So if you are playing Int, playing Adv Masters would be more difficult to do well in.

 

[adh56]

In So Cal the adv masters division plays like upper level int (MA2). Most of the top ratings are in the 940s. Any above that and they usually play pro masters.

 

[Spackler]

I asked a local TD about this last night and he said that here in OK ADV Masters usually plays around Intermediate, consistent with what Talbot and adh said above. I'm going to give it a try and see what happens. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[emook]

Its like that here in dfw like adh56 said. I've known a few people to play am masters bc of their age when they're still rec or intermediate players and they instantly regretted it bc they're actually a lot better players. Just remember Barry Schultz when thinking about this. He is the current Masters Champ...but he still plays in Open. He just does it, bc he can.