Watching the Pros

I might afterall have a chance to go see the Pros in action! Yes. I am planing to go see the PGA Championship this year. I happen to travel to Chicago that week and will most definetly stop by. What are your suggestions? Is practice day better or the tournament day? Both might be even better!! Hope I can absorb something from the trip...what are your experiences?

Go pick out a good spot at the practice range and watch them hit all day
It might not be an enjoyable as watching them play but you will learn a lot more and see a lot more

if you have a pair of binoculars bring them along, it helps to see when your a couple hundred yards away.

Bob

I went to the US Senior Open twice last week and had a great time. One day was a practice day and the other was a Saturday. A few years ago, I went to the US Women’s Open, also
A few tips:

Practice days, for me, are more fun. Players will sign autographs during their rounds and some will interact more with the fans. It’s also interesting to see how they "practice"....when they hit extra balls, or try two different clubs or strategies or when they move a bad shot out of the rough, etc. On the greens, it’s a free-for-all, with balls going every which way, at imaginary holes, trying to predict where the pins will be and where they might be putting from.

Try to spend some time in a spot where you can get very close to a tee box, especially if the drives will be a bit dicey. It’s really cool to hear the discussion and the remarks and to see the swing mechanics. We spent some time on a box where we stood right at the tee markers, with the players facing us, three to six feet away as they hit. The box was elevated about 70 feet and the fairway had a dog leg left with bunkers and "gunch" on each side. Much discussion about target line, carry distance, etc.

Look for similarities in the swings. Most of the players on the Senior Tour do NOT have picture perfect text book swings. A few do, but a lot don’t. One, of many, similarities is that they all move through the ball as they hit it and they all finish WAY in front of where the ball was. This much more pronounced in person than on TV..

If you have the opportunity to go VIP, don’t pass it up, (assuming it’s free to you.....it’s very expensive!) Maybe someone you do business with has access, or something, keep your ears open. It’s the only way to fly. Breakfast, lunch, hors-de-vors all day, open bar, all inside an air condition tent with TV coverage or an outside shaded veranda set along side one of the fairways. Nice place to make pitstops at when it’s hot.

If a tour stop is in your town and you’d like to spend a lot of time at the event, consider being a volunteer. It costs about a hundred bucks but usually you get two logo golf shirts, a pullover, a hat, and/or some other junk. You "work" maybe two or three shifts for a few hours each over the course of the week. You have free access to all days of the event, whether it’s your work day or not. Meals and soft drinks are provided, as well as special parking. Check into it (months ahead of time).

My two cents, anyway.....

Jeeze man its the best day out EVER!

You will be shocked, AND I MEAN YOU *WILL* be shocked how good they really are.

Practice range is the best.

And I like to watch the smaller names who dont get many people watching them because you learn just as much but they maybe arnt holing the putts or getting up and down when they need too.

Go there, you wont regret it!