Practice Round vs. Actual Tournament

How different is your Practice Round from your Tournament?

Warmup?
Tee Game?
Approach Game?
Putting?

and maybe most importantly, how about the mental side of it?

and finally what does scoring look like?

Been a while since I played in tournaments but when I was this is what I did:

Warmup:

Exact same warmup that I would do for the tournament is what I did during practice. I usually gave myself an hour before tee time. Started with PW and hit about 5 shots to get loose. Then I hit 2 7 irons 2 hybrids 2 fw and 2 drivers. Just wanted to see what my ball flight was going to be like so I could accomodate it on the course. Then if they had it I would hit about 5-10 balls from the sand so I could figure out if it was wet/dry/soft/hard. Then off to the practice green until about 10 minutes before teeing off. On the green I would work on 4 footers and 10 footers as well as a few lag putts with break. That way I had the speed ready and knew how I was putting.

Tee Game:

During the practice round I would generally try to play "smart" golf. On par 3s I would go center green so I knew what clubs would be best during the tournament. On Par 5s I would hit driver and then see if I could reach in two. Regardless of if I could go for it in 2 I would layup so I could be ready incase I had to layup during the tournament. Par 4s I would generally try to see where trouble was during the practice round. If there was a bunker or other hazard I would learn if it was reachable or in play during the practice round so I could avoid trouble during the tournament.

Approach Game:

Center green all day during the practice round. I wanted to be comfortable knowing which clubs I was going to be hitting into greens during the tournament. During the tournament, I could see if I wanted to be more aggressive depending on pin placement but I always made sure I knew the shape of the green.

Putting:

I tended to be much more conservative during the practice rounds when I was putting. I was really just trying to get used to green speeds so that I wouldn't get in trouble during the tournament round.

Mental side:

Just wanted to have fun and know that I could control my game on the course.

Scoring side:

Generally, a few shots higher because I was surveying.

c0ncept said:

Been a while since I played in tournaments but when I was this is what I did:

Warmup:

Exact same warmup that I would do for the tournament is what I did during practice. I usually gave myself an hour before tee time. Started with PW and hit about 5 shots to get loose. Then I hit 2 7 irons 2 hybrids 2 fw and 2 drivers. Just wanted to see what my ball flight was going to be like so I could accomodate it on the course. Then if they had it I would hit about 5-10 balls from the sand so I could figure out if it was wet/dry/soft/hard. Then off to the practice green until about 10 minutes before teeing off. On the green I would work on 4 footers and 10 footers as well as a few lag putts with break. That way I had the speed ready and knew how I was putting.

Tee Game:

During the practice round I would generally try to play "smart" golf. On par 3s I would go center green so I knew what clubs would be best during the tournament. On Par 5s I would hit driver and then see if I could reach in two. Regardless of if I could go for it in 2 I would layup so I could be ready incase I had to layup during the tournament. Par 4s I would generally try to see where trouble was during the practice round. If there was a bunker or other hazard I would learn if it was reachable or in play during the practice round so I could avoid trouble during the tournament.

Approach Game:

Center green all day during the practice round. I wanted to be comfortable knowing which clubs I was going to be hitting into greens during the tournament. During the tournament, I could see if I wanted to be more aggressive depending on pin placement but I always made sure I knew the shape of the green.

Putting:

I tended to be much more conservative during the practice rounds when I was putting. I was really just trying to get used to green speeds so that I wouldn't get in trouble during the tournament round.

Mental side:

Just wanted to have fun and know that I could control my game on the course.

Scoring side:

Generally, a few shots higher because I was surveying.

Click to expand...

so you played tournament a few shots less?

Mtdream said:

so you played tournament a few shots less?

Click to expand...

My practice rounds were higher than average scores. I was almost always playing for par at best.

If I'm playing a true warm up round, I'm playing a few balls from the spot to gauge the shot I would want to hit, how the ball will react when it lands, roll out, etc, so I'm not really keeping score. T

I don't do anything different.

Always much more aggressive on practice rounds to see which holes are worth pushing the boundaries. After each hole or maybe at the end of the round, stop and re-evaluate how you played the hole and then play each hole backwards. What kind of shot do you want into every green? If you have to miss a green (depending on pin locations), where is the best place to miss? Then you have a blue print of what shots you want to have.

Of course you’ll get out of position at some point, but that’s when you go to ultra conservative mode. Take your medicine and move on without the big number.




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