peterpan
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Post by peterpan on Jan 19, 2016 11:02:15 GMT -5
I recently joined the TGC Tours for the fun of playing with people close to my own scoring. I've played a couple of tournaments so far, and I'm really wondering about players whose scores are waaay below average, like -50 or -56 for the 4 rounds. What are they doing in CC-D? They should be ranked up to PGA, no?! I'm wondering if I'll be able to achieve those scores. My dream is to move on the first scoring page. OK, I admit I don't play 10-15 hours a day... I have a life to run Still, I would love to play with people near, a bit above or below my own average. Or maybe I should have been ranked at CC-Z... err, that's - minus Z What are the criteria to move to CC-B, CC-A, or even PGA. From what I can deduct, I'll have to birdie 15 holes, and eagle the 3 last ones ... per game! I don't understand the ranking system.... Do you?
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Post by peterpan on Jan 19, 2016 11:24:59 GMT -5
Part of the answer came in on a previous post "How do they do it???" Thanks for some great tips!
Though, my question still remains... How to move from D to C to B to A... all the way to PGA?
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Post by code3 on Jan 19, 2016 11:39:07 GMT -5
Im on the CC_C circuit. Don't be discouraged. I would encourage you to look at it another way. Don't look for a result as so much, but the "process" of getting better. Set yourself small goals, (don't three putt, don't make a bogey etc). This is what I do, and just enjoy making myself better based on my own standards not everyone elses. Also the "tourney golf" just allows your ball to count for something. Or you'd always just be playing to be playing. Play the course just as you would as if you were playing for fun. Don't change how you play expecting a result (win) because then your not playing how you want because of tourney and not getting the "result" you want (win). Process; mini goals. This is very enjoyable for me this way.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2016 11:43:08 GMT -5
I asked myself the same questions but have just accepted things as they are. I don't know why people shooting pro scores are in E let alone D. I have my theories but I'll leave them unsaid because I don't want to stir up the hornet's nest again.
Just do the best you can. Eventually, your game will improve as mine has. The current tournament I shot 28 under. Not 40 under, but a lot better than I did when I first started. And I don't play 15 hours a day either. I maybe play an hour a day as I have a life too.
It will come. Just be patient.
As for how to move up the ladders, they are printed in the rules. Essentially, to move up in the Class brackets (A through E) you have to make the top 10. This gives you an exemption to the next class. To make it to PGA, not sure. Would have to read it again. But it's tough. You have to be really good to make it to there and stay there.
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Post by ABU_Bear on Jan 19, 2016 14:22:18 GMT -5
People are scoring low this week because it is quite possibly the easiest course we've play so far this season. Wait until next week...the cream will rise to the top again. This week in CC-D you'll need somewhere around -30 just to even sniff a top 30 finish.
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Post by Roberto Busatto on Jan 19, 2016 14:31:54 GMT -5
peterpan look at my scores... I have a family, kids, a work, a full time hobby (photography) so I'm not a full time virtual golf player... when I made the Q-School I had as 2 hours of gameplay... I did a few rounds in maybe easy courses and I was able to score around par so I said to myself that this was not much more difficult than other golf games...why shouldn't I play the TGCTours After the Q-School I was placed on CC-D but I immediately realized that tournament conditions and winds were much more difficult than the "play round". I've got 6 strikes in 6 tours falling from D to E to Z in 6 weeks... not a great result I decided to spend a few days practicing my putt and the swing and I understood what was ok and what was not so good in my gaming: after that week I played the CC-Z tourney and did a brilliant 3rd place and immediate promotion to CC-E. I played 6 weeks in CC-D putting together 6 "top 30" tournaments where the 6th one was a 9th place earning an exemption to CC-D 2 weeks ago: 1st week in CC-D I got the card with a T12 and last week I did a T16 @ Beirut. This week I hope I will close around 40th position as the last round was poor and the course was very easy. Believe me that you don't need to spend many hours playing...in my opinion the most important aspect of the game is to understand how the wind influence your shots, than all the other things will come together. I'm still learning to fine tune approaches and the pitching game but I'm really close now...and I'm not a genius at all Take care Roberto
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Post by coggin66 on Jan 20, 2016 1:17:33 GMT -5
I recently joined the TGC Tours for the fun of playing with people close to my own scoring. I've played a couple of tournaments so far, and I'm really wondering about players whose scores are waaay below average, like -50 or -56 for the 4 rounds. What are they doing in CC-D? They should be ranked up to PGA, no?! I'm wondering if I'll be able to achieve those scores. My dream is to move on the first scoring page. OK, I admit I don't play 10-15 hours a day... I have a life to run Still, I would love to play with people near, a bit above or below my own average. Or maybe I should have been ranked at CC-Z... err, that's - minus Z What are the criteria to move to CC-B, CC-A, or even PGA. From what I can deduct, I'll have to birdie 15 holes, and eagle the 3 last ones ... per game! I don't understand the ranking system.... Do you? Hi peterpan. Your post made me smile because they are the same thoughts I had a few weeks into my TGCT "career". I started in CC-D and narrowly averted a drop to CC-E in my first month. I then plugged away for three months in CC-D with my game gradually improving. In the last three months I have fairly quickly gone from CC-D to CC-A and this week I am one of those people scoring -44. I have a career and large family so I don't have time to practice and I only play my main rounds and TST. I do a bit of designing too which is also a good place to experiment with your play. So my main advice is to be patient and enjoy it. You will find your level but it takes a few weeks. Your game will either improve to match your fellow CC-D players or you will drop down to those lower levels. Apart from learning the various ratios to adjust for height changes and winds that can be found elsewhere on this and HB's forums, a couple of other gameplay areas that have helped me improve are: - Turn off follow cam. It makes it much easier to see how much the wind is affecting the flight. - Learn the pitch shot. I think this has helped me improve more than anything else.
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Post by yaters on Jan 20, 2016 1:50:35 GMT -5
I'll chime in because I had similar thoughts my first few official tournaments. I played for about a week before I heard about this site and took on Q-School. I had maybe 10 rounds under my belt on the Season mode and was scoring pretty well (between 5 to 10 under par). Q-School I did decent enough to land in CC-A. I thought I'd quickly climb the ladder once I figured out a few things. Boy was I wrong. I struggled the first 6 weeks just getting into the top 50. I couldn't believe the scoring. I tried playing with a few ghost balls to see what people were doing. I read through the tips and tricks section a ton. And I saw some of the top players Twitching their rounds and would tune in. A couple of things came together for me eventually.
1. I started to understand much better how to judge the wind. 2. It was hard for me to adjust to the indicators of where my ball would land and to plan my shot short of the pin, letting it roll out a bit. Still working to understand that fully. 3. Side lies in the fairway affect your ball and I learned to take that into account. 4. Grasping the small details around chipping, pitching, and the flop shot let me recover much better. This took a lot of practice. 5. Getting a feel for putting...that's still a thorn in my side. It takes time and patience and practice. 6. I got comfortable with the 'math' in this game. I can't understate that - there isn't a shot I take now where I don't make some type of adjustment to loft or fade/draw. I don't use a calculator but I do quickly calculate how everything affects the shot. Driving the ball is easy in this game for the most part. Your approach shots are where scoring happens.
I read a post about setting goals and tried to manage my own. I started with really simple things like someone already mentioned - stop 3 putting, if I get in trouble try not to make it worse, try to play a round without a bogey, etc. For scoring, I tried to just make the cut each week. Like most here, I have a family and a career, so I don't play all that much. But I tried to practice the course once or twice before playing the tournament. This really helped.
I barely scraped into the Web.com tour at the conclusion to the first season. Again it was a struggle. The talent there was really high and I had to reset my goals. I started playing more consistent and then had one really good tournament which allowed me a chance at exemption into the big show - PGA. Somehow I managed to get that card. (Top 5 from web.com tournaments get a shot at PGA or Euro tours. You have to make the cut to earn your card.)
I've been on the PGA now for 3 weeks. The guys there are out of this world with how they play. I'm honestly in awe how technical they are, the precision shot making, and very little mistakes. And the courses are really tough for the most part (this week not so much). Again I'm back to just trying to make the cut and learn a few things here or there. As an example, with higher winds I noticed a lot of players using the shot shaping to take the wind out of play. I have been practicing that quite a bit and it has improved my game. Lots of risk reward of course (the more you adjust, the smaller the 'cone' is). Putting still haunts me as the green can be like glass in our setups.
One thing that I started doing prior to making the PGA was to play the tournament (or a few rounds) each week on either the PGA or Euro. You are free to do that, but of course it doesn't count unless you are on that tour. I played with ghosts of the top guys just to get a sense. It will humble you for sure, but started to give me a sense for where my game was really weak.
Sorry for the long reply. This is a common theme at TGCT and I thought I'd share my thoughts. CC-E and CC-D are tough tours to start because players tend to improve and that gets reflected in the scoring quick. But the system is really solid is designed to get you into the proper tour...eventually.
My last bit of unsolicited advice - don't get discouraged. A lot of players here have been playing this game for well over a year now. If you enjoy it and want to get better, it will happen.
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peterpan
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Post by peterpan on Jan 25, 2016 13:31:12 GMT -5
Those are all good answers for a newbie! Thanks for sharing (and taking the time to write it down!) So, back to the drawing board for me.... and practice time.
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