This weekend, I played my inaugural 2011 event on The Golf Channel's Amateur Tour at one of my favorite courses ever - Farmlinks. I was also lucky enough to be paired with two of my closest golfing buds, and we had a blast (we finished 2nd, 3rd, and tied for 7th in our flight). The weather was pretty dismal (for "down south weather", anyway), with temps in the mid 40's, clouds, and a steady wind - but it was great to get the competitive golfing season started.
For those of you who are new to BCC, or have not heard of The Golf Channel's Amateur Tour, its a really cool thing, and I recommend you check it out. Regardless of your skill level, it's an awesome way to enjoy some competition and play some "real golf" - something that lots of golfers (including me, before I joined) seldom if ever played. Playing completely by the Rules of Golf ("playing it down", no gimmes, no mulligans) is vastly different than how most people play...don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the game filled with "do overs" - just saying that playing where you count every stroke and must make every putt is a lot of fun, and will really improve your game.
Anyway - with this being my 4th season to play on the "AmTour", I decided to make some changes in my approach this year. The way the tour works is that every couple of weeks there is a one day event (with 8-20 people in your flight), every couple of months there is a "Regional Major" (a two day event with 50-100 people in your flight), and then the season ending National Championship (with 150 people in your flight). Although I have done well in the local events (winning a few here and there), I have placed reasonably well in only one major, and have struggled at Nationals for 3 years - message " I don't perform well in large events"....thus, I have decided to lessen the focus on local events this year (planning to play in 6-8 of them), and play in several "Majors", in hopes that this prepares me better for Nationals.
I will be writing more this year about my experiences on the AmTour, so please check back often to see how my plan works out. Of course, no new season here at Bushwood would be complete without an edition of "What's in the Bag"...so here are the highlights:
- The official ball of BCC is now the Titleist Pro v1
- We have also put a new driver in the bag, a Titleist 910D2, at 9.5 degrees (review of this driver is coming soon, but initial results are promising)
- TaylorMade r9 irons are back for another year, as are r9 Fairway woods and hybrids
- TP Mills "Hand Forged" Trad 2 is now the putter of choice (strongly recommend checking out TP Mills gear - he was truly a visionary artist of the putting instrument, and his son David has continued his legacy..although David IS a bit of a flake)
- Callaway Jaws wedges have booted out the Vokeys....can't say enough good stuff about this line of wedges. As much as I liked the Vokeys, these are the best for me...
Anyway, thanks for reading Bushwood Country Club, and please come back soon for more .... I'm hoping for a great golf season in 2011 for me and for all of BCC's readers...
