By J | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
It was déjà vu all over again. Wednesday afternoon, on the driving range, at the PGA Championship, searching for a swing that would hit the ball within 10 yards of where I was aiming while traveling at least 260 yards in the air. And when hadn’t I been looking for that? No time I could […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
I invite you to follow along with me as I play the first round of the 2002 Kemper Open. Actually, the story begins 10 days earlier, at the Holden Cup, an 18-hole tournament for Middle Atlantic Section members at Belle Haven CC in Alexandria, Virginia…
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
[Premium] I took my time. I took a practice stroke. From 14 inches I make 100 out of 100 putts- maybe 1000 out of 1000. But I missed. Seventeenth hole, national television, standing one under through 52 holes and in good position in the top 10 in the PGA Professional National Championship at the Crosswater Club in Sunriver, Oregon, the same course on which I won the same tournament in 2001.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
Golf is an overwhelming game. The quickest way to find this out is to qualify for a PGA Tour event, play the course for the first time on Sunday, then spend the next three days trying to perfect all the shots that will be needed come Thursday when the first round commences. Among these shots […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
74 – 74–148. Miss cut. While a lot of interesting things happened at that year’s Kemper Open, that’s the bottom line: 148, six over par, miss cut. I may have been the low PGA Club Professional, but I got beat by about 120 guys. “So, I guess you’re disappointed with your play”, friends, students, and […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
It had been almost 5 years since I last played in a major championship, the 2003 PGA at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY, where I shot a first round 79 before withdrawing due to the death of my wife’s mother on that Thursday night. The course was the hardest I’d ever played: 6 to 8 inch rough everywhere on the course, narrow fairways, firm, fast greens, and over 7100 yards playing to a par of 70, the length an illusion as there are 3 par 4’s that play between 320 and 370 yards.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
So, is everyone getting all excited about the upcoming World Golf Championship Tournaments? Well, I’m not.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
It has been said by many great golfers that their main goal in any tournament is to get into contention going into the back nine of the final round. I would certainly agree with that, for that is where you see what you are made of, where you test yourself and all of the things you have been practicing not only for that week, or month, or year, but for your whole life.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
As the last round of the National Club Pro Championship (CPC) unfolds, the players are vying for more than the winner’s check. As recently as 1994 there were 40 available spots for Club Professionals such as myself to qualify for golf’s 4th Major, the PGA Championship.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
It is a wonderful thing for a non-exempt player to earn a berth in a PGA Tour event. It could easily be the most exciting week of that player’s life up to that point. It is no wonder that very few of the players who make a Monday qualifier ever make the cut in the […]
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