GC Am Tour National Championship - video link and pics added

[crazyIvan60]

This is a pure brag post.

I have successfully qualified for the GC Am Tour National Championship to be held in late Sept. at TPC Sawgrass!

I realize that this isn't exactly a prestigious event, but none the less, qualifying locally and getting a chance to play a competitive round at that course will be fun and exciting!

[rlheiman]

Congratulations, should be exciting!

Enjoy it!!!

[Captain Joesterio]

congrats...thats pretty awesome.  What were your scores to qualify?

[Nukegolfer]

Congrats crazy. It's gotta be a great feeling know you get to play TPC because you played a good round of golf.  Knock 'em dead man!

[crazyIvan60]

congrats...thats pretty awesome.  What were your scores to qualify?

It wasn't a single tournament.  It's a season long competition.

There are a couple ways to qualify.  Either win 3 tournaments during the year or finish 1st or 2nd in points accumulated during the season.  If you win 3 tourneys, you are in, and then the rest of the flight competes for point standings.  One guy has won 3 times, and that leaves me in 1st place in points with no chance for anyone to catch me over the remaining 2 tourneys.  I am flighted in the 8-11.9 index flight, called the Hogan flight.  You play within your flight but play scratch.  No net scores.  I've had 1 1st, 4 2nds, and 2 4ths.  My GHIN index is 7.8 i think, but my tournament index is 11.  I do choke a little during tournaments, but apparently a little less than the other guys in the flight.

The tournament is a 72-hole event, with 1 round at TPC Sawgrass Stadium, 1 at TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley, 1 at world golf villiage, and 1 at St. John's Golf and Country club. 

Thanks for the congrats, guys.  I entered this thing with the goal of making it, so now it's all gravy.  I can just relax and enjoy some premier golf courses.

[Divot Dan]

Congratulations and good luck.

[mr_divots]

Very nice!  

How is turnout at those events? I played in one here locally about 5 years ago and I think I was one of 6 people that showed up for it. One of the guys had a bag of clubs that were all mis-matched demo irons. It was hilarious!  

More importantly, how long are the rounds? 5.5 hours seemed to be the norm here. 

[crazyIvan60]

Very nice!  

How is turnout at those events? I played in one here locally about 5 years ago and I think I was one of 6 people that showed up for it. One of the guys had a bag of clubs that were all mis-matched demo irons. It was hilarious!  

More importantly, how long are the rounds? 5.5 hours seemed to be the norm here. 

The local tour has about 50-60 members total and a typical turnout is 18-25 players.  My flight usually has 6-8 but sometimes as few as 4.  Last weekend's round was just over 4 hours, I think the longest was just short of 5, so I got no complaints there.  We do play in threesomes, pretty much everyone in a cart, so play isn't too bad here, at least.

[Divot Dan]

How much does it cost to enter and what other fees do you have to pay?

[br61]

Congratulations. Is there anyone with really low handicap like 0 or better? If so how did they do against those other players?

If you don't mind, can you keep us updated with running updates in your tournament in Florida?

Good luck and play hard!

[Nukegolfer]

It wasn't a single tournament.  It's a season long competition.

There are a couple ways to qualify.  Either win 3 tournaments during the year or finish 1st or 2nd in points accumulated during the season.  If you win 3 tourneys, you are in, and then the rest of the flight competes for point standings.  One guy has won 3 times, and that leaves me in 1st place in points with no chance for anyone to catch me over the remaining 2 tourneys.  I am flighted in the 8-11.9 index flight, called the Hogan flight.  You play within your flight but play scratch.  No net scores.  I've had 1 1st, 4 2nds, and 2 4ths.  My GHIN index is 7.8 i think, but my tournament index is 11.  I do choke a little during tournaments, but apparently a little less than the other guys in the flight.

The tournament is a 72-hole event, with 1 round at TPC Sawgrass Stadium, 1 at TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley, 1 at world golf villiage, and 1 at St. John's Golf and Country club. 

Thanks for the congrats, guys.  I entered this thing with the goal of making it, so now it's all gravy.  I can just relax and enjoy some premier golf courses.

That's a great attitude to have!  Still, I hope you play well to have even more bragging rights!

[crazyIvan60]

How much does it cost to enter and what other fees do you have to pay?

It costs $200 to join the "tour".  Each tournament here is about $100 to enter and most courses that we have played have weekend green fees of about $60-$80.  Prize payouts are not that great for each tournament, but some of the prize money is held back for the season ending "championship".

[crazyIvan60]

Congratulations. Is there anyone with really low handicap like 0 or better? If so how did they do against those other players?

If you don't mind, can you keep us updated with running updates in your tournament in Florida?

Good luck and play hard!

There are 3 or 4 people in the "championship" flight, and I think they are all 2-3 index players.  They typically are shooting mid 70s as the winninig score.  In my flight, indexes are 8-11.9, the winning scores have been 80-82.  So the low cappers haven't really done that well in comparison.

I don't own a laptop, by one of my kids is probably going to tag along and I'll try to get on hers while I'm there and do what I can.

I believe each day they post scores on-line, so when it gets closer I'll post a link to that as well.

[mr_divots]

It costs $200 to join the "tour".  Each tournament here is about $100 to enter and most courses that we have played have weekend green fees of about $60-$80.  Prize payouts are not that great for each tournament, but some of the prize money is held back for the season ending "championship".

Sounds better down there. Up here, courses that are normally around $40 weekends are $100 for the GG Tour. 

[crazyIvan60]

Well, its almost here.  First round of the tournament is on Sunday, and my first round is on TPC Sawgrass Stadium course.  Can't wait to dunk a few into the water at the 17th!

For anyone interested, you can track the scoring here:
http://thegolfchannel.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/thegolfchannel10/event/thegolfchannel10985/contest/4/leaderboard.htm
That page is for the Hogan flight, which I'm in.  My name is Greg Lantz.  On the right side of the page you can select the different flights to see overall how scoring stacks up.  The flights are divided by handicap index as follows:
Championship: 0-3.9
Palmer:          4-7.9
Hogan:          8-11.9
Sarazen:        12-15.9
Jones:           16-19.9
Snead:           20+

The Senior national champ. is in its 2nd day today.  A player in the Senior Hogan flight shot 73 first day  
I certainly hope I don't have to shoot that kind of score!  But I guess with 138 players in my flight, you gotta expect a few really good rounds out of a few people.  But it's a 4 day tournament, so one good round doesn't necessarily mean anything.

[nobogeys59]

Good luck Greg.

[Nukegolfer]

Best of luck to ya.

[JJ17]

Good luck.

If you see a lily pad moving and a snorkel in the water on 17, don't be alarmed. That's just jimbonecrusher hunting Somali pirates.

[Divot Dan]

Do you get to play a practice round there before competition? You don't neet to downplay the importance of this "unimportant" tournament. You did good to get it. Have fun and you'll do well. If possible, have someone in your gallery take pictures of you playing. All th best for a satisfying experience.

[crazyIvan60]

Do you get to play a practice round there before competition? You don't neet to downplay the importance of this "unimportant" tournament. You did good to get it. Have fun and you'll do well. If possible, have someone in your gallery take pictures of you playing. All th best for a satisfying experience.

I could play a practice round on Saturday, but decided just to hit the range and get used to the humidity and (lack of) elevation.  Besides, a round on TPC is $220, and I'm spending a small fortune on this as it is. 

My kid is taking along a camera and is following me around so I will definitely get pics.  I hope to get her to video the tee shot on 17.

[crazyIvan60]

Well, I officially suck at this stupid game.  I believe I finished 109 out of 138.  The bermuda rough, humidity/heavy air, and lack of elevation relative to home just got to me.  However, playing the famous 17th on TPC, I was able to 3 jack for a bogie.  They were kind enough to let us play the Sunday pin placement, except of course the tee placement we used required a shot over the pot bunker to go at the pin.  I chose a safer route, which left me in an impossible putt.  It was fun, frastrating, but mostly I was playing golf in Florida instead of being at work.

Lots of pics, including a video of the 17th tee shot, will be coming along after I get home.  I'll do my best to also provide a "review" of the 4 courses played during the tournament.

The TPC Valley course (a Dye creation) was being set up for the Nationwide event so it was playing in "pro" conditions.  Something most of us hackers couldn't deal with.

[Divot Dan]

Don't beat yourself up too much. You had the balls to enter. That's great. And a chance to play under pressure at an elite course is terrific. I look forward to the pics.

[Nukegolfer]

Well said 'Divot'.  Good job for getting out there and trying.  Better luck next time!

[crazyIvan60]

Well, thanks guys.  I enjoyed the courses, while I cursed them.  It was a once in a lifetime chance to play tournament golf at a couple of very tough courses that I was not prepared for.  The TPC Stadium course is just something to behold, standing on the tees trying to figure out what/where/how to hit.  And I didn't finish last, and there are hundreds of guys who didn't get that far, so while I'm disappointed in my performance, I'm also thankful that I got the chance and at least teed it up!

My daughter zip'd the pictures, but it still came out to 400MB, so I will have to get with her and load the pics directly on my PC before I can post them.  I'm not even sure that image shack will let me upload that much, so I'll pick the best of the bunch along with the video of the 17th sometime this weekend, I hope.  After the round on the stadium course, I reviewed the pics and some are great.  Just be patient, they are coming to a theater near you soon!

[idiotbox]

Well, thanks guys.  I enjoyed the courses, while I cursed them.  It was a once in a lifetime chance to play tournament golf at a couple of very tough courses that I was not prepared for.  The TPC Stadium course is just something to behold, standing on the tees trying to figure out what/where/how to hit.  And I didn't finish last, and there are hundreds of guys who didn't get that far, so while I'm disappointed in my performance, I'm also thankful that I got the chance and at least teed it up!

My daughter zip'd the pictures, but it still came out to 400MB, so I will have to get with her and load the pics directly on my PC before I can post them.  I'm not even sure that image shack will let me upload that much, so I'll pick the best of the bunch along with the video of the 17th sometime this weekend, I hope.  After the round on the stadium course, I reviewed the pics and some are great.  Just be patient, they are coming to a theater near you soon!

if you have photoshop, you can pull the pics in and save them for web and that will drastically reduce them in size. iPhoto will work if you are a Mac guy.