I’m at home sick today, so what else is there to do but watch Golf Channel’s coverage of Golf’s Longest Day. All across the country today, golfers from all walks of life are competing at 11 different sectional qualifying events to fill 56 spots in the upcoming U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in two weeks.
Do I have what it takes to compete one day in a U.S. Open qualifier? Currently I have a handicap of 10.4 listed on the GHIN website. In order to just register for the U.S. Open qualifying you have to have at least a 1.4 handicap or lower. This year, over 9,800 players signed up for qualifying. Needless to say, I have a looooong way to go, if I ever am good enough to get there.
It’s always been an aspiration of mine to play in competitive amateur events. I have played in the Greater San Antonio Mid-Amateur tournament once before and shot 89-87, which is horrible. For someone like me who typically always plays from the second set of tees from the back, the most difficult part of playing in GSA Mid-Amateur was the length of the course. With a setup of 6,700 yards or more, I was just not used to hitting longer irons into the greens. Normally when I am out playing with my buddies or my dad, I have much shorter irons into the greens which sometimes might construe my scores. But then again, the tees I play on the weekends are what I need to play based on my handicap.
So what do I need to do to improve my golf game enough to maybe one day be good enough to enter U.S. Open qualifying? First, I need to start practicing more and I need to learn how to putt and chip better. I get to practice maybe once or twice a week and I get to play a round maybe 1-2 times per month. Second, I need to find an golf instructor in San Antonio who I can get comfortable with and take long-term lessons with. Third, I need to play in more competitive golf rounds.
I think if I can focus on those three things above, I think I will see my golf handicap begin to drop over the next few years. Later this year, in September, the Greater San Antonio Mid-Amateur is taking place again and I will likely play that tournament again just to see how I do. Going into 2014, I am going to try and play all three San Antonio amateur events and maybe play in one Texas state amateur event. Based on my results next year I will add more Texas events and hopefully work my way up to playing more amateur events around the state of Texas. I have narrowed my choice of golf instructors in San Antonio down to about 4 that I still trying to decide on. After that, I plan on laying out my goals to the instructor and paying for a series of 10 lessons.
I have a long way to go and I don’t know if I will ever get there. Like I mentioned above, it’s always been a dream of mine to play lots of competitive amateur events. I can always play in amateur events no matter what my game is like, but I would like to be able to post respective rounds in these tournaments. I will surely keep track of my progress here on Front9Back9.com and post updates on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
[…] be more excited. The U.S. Open is my favorite golf tournament played each year. Starting with Golf’s Longest Day, the hype has been building-and-building for over a week now. It’s time to play some […]