Tournament Ideas?

I used to play competitive golf in high school but dropped it due to my career path. Now I have more time and the motivation to play golf 2x a day if I could! Anyway, I would like to find out what tours are available to join across the country for a mid teens handicap (getting better) and for a person my age of 24. Should I just play local tournaments? Suggestions?

Aero,

What Country?

In the Uk all Golf courses have annual opens available from a few local web sites, this means you can book in and test yourself every week on a different course against all levels of competitor.

My advice would be practice as much as possible on and off the course, take some lessons to give yourself something to work towards, enter your local club comps....then when you feel the time is right branch out to other courses to test your skills and course management.

I enter and play about 15-20 every year, some are company days, some are opens, they are a great place to judge your improvement especially the annual ones, I keep a spread sheet of my results and aim to better them year on year.

Good Luck


Ian.

__________________
Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................

You can try the Michelob Ultra Light tour if you are in the states. I have played on the tour for the last four years and it is truly ran like PGA tours events. It is a fun time with great competition.

Great, I'm in the U.S. so I will look into the Ultra Tour, seems like the one I have been looking for. Do you make much money if you win on these events?

Depends on how many are in your flight. Usually all money is in the form of gift certificates to a local backing store plus a trophey for each event.

Are you MAD !?- winning money to against the rules of USGA Amateur Rules!! The USGA will send you a little letter informing you that as of the date of the letter you have forfeited your amateur status and so doing do not fall within the handicap provisions and the benefits of participating in events sanctioned by the USGA. (Basically, you lose the ability to hold an official handicap and you may not enter into or participate in amateur golfing events held under the sanction of the USGA which includes club competitions, club championships, state events, college and school golf programs, etc.)

Even with gift certificates there are very strict limits.

Once you lose your amateur status, depending on the country there's a minimum 2 year waiting period before you can apply for Am status again. In the UK it's 3 years.

I am actually writing a Digest of Pro & Amateur tours around the world. Tell me which state you live in and I'll send you some info on tours in your area.

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

Here is the site for you to go look at http://www.ultragolftour.com/. Graham let me know if this is something you have look into. I know a lot of college kids who play on this tour are from the tri-state area and all of them have to get the OK from their schools to participate. I am only going by experience, but no one has lost their eligibility playing on our tours that I have heard of. This is a nationwide tour and I know they have each area mandate their prizes and totals. Let me know what you think when you read on the tour!

Yep, I have got information on them and it's a great tour. Good infrastructure, great organisation, very well controlled ... and its pretty competitive irrespective of the flight you qualify to play in. They try their best to create a PGA-style environment which adds to the "value added" for the members.

Yeah ... they watch the levels of "prize money" very carefully because they can't risk falling foul of the USGA nor can the sponsors or the courses that host events.

I only mentioned the "prize money risk" because of the question in the post about how much prize money can you win. Don't ever ask that at an amateur event! That's the quickest way to get a letter from the USGA!

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

Thanks for responding to the post. It is a fun time and I totally overread the money part that he was asking about. My fault! Thanks again

Ok, I don't even have amateur status as per the USGA at this point so thanks for the abrupt tip though.

I live in NM, so please send me any and all information you have. My swing and clubs are new so I'm ready to kick some ass in NM!!!