My 2017 golf season has been filled with qualifiers for PGA Tour events and Web.com events. I've only played a few regular mini-tour events. My thinking behind this scheduling was that I have the financial security to "bet big" on these qualifiers without the need to make money in the small mini-tour events. Half way through the year I've only been able to make it through one qualifier, but it was a good one. I played in the PGA Tour event down in Puerto Rico in March. I missed the cut, but the week was very special and I was able to walk away from the tournament with some strong motivation to get into another PGA Tour event.
The rest of the summer will be a mix of qualifiers and 3-4 days tournaments. I love the idea of qualifying for Web.com or PGA Tour events, but I also need to make sure my game is prepared for longer tournaments - most notably Web.com Q-School in the fall. The qualifiers are 1 day shootouts. Sprints to the finish line. Your chances of qualifying can be serious hurt with one bad hole. On the other hand, the 3-4 day events are marathons where you have time to rebound from one bad hole or a bad start. My schedule is posted along the right side of my website.
This has been a completely different type of golf for me than any other year. In the past, I was all about scheduling tournaments where I could make money and if there happened to be a Monday qualifier nearby, maybe I would add that to my schedule. I had always been concerned about my finances and doing everything I could to afford my entry fees and my travel costs. At the start of this year, I realized that I could spend nearly $50,000 chasing Monday qualifiers, without making a single dime in other golf tournaments, and I'd still have enough money to pay for Q-school in the fall and have enough to get started in 2018.
So here we are on June 1st, and I've only made $2,000 playing golf tournaments this year. Haha. That number sounds horrible on its own, but I know I'm working hard on my game and making sure that I'm mentally fresh for Q-School. From now until the end of the year, about half of my tournaments are qualifiers and half are money making events. That's a good mix of tourneys that will help me assess where my game is and what I need to work out.
Until next time,
Neil
The rest of the summer will be a mix of qualifiers and 3-4 days tournaments. I love the idea of qualifying for Web.com or PGA Tour events, but I also need to make sure my game is prepared for longer tournaments - most notably Web.com Q-School in the fall. The qualifiers are 1 day shootouts. Sprints to the finish line. Your chances of qualifying can be serious hurt with one bad hole. On the other hand, the 3-4 day events are marathons where you have time to rebound from one bad hole or a bad start. My schedule is posted along the right side of my website.
This has been a completely different type of golf for me than any other year. In the past, I was all about scheduling tournaments where I could make money and if there happened to be a Monday qualifier nearby, maybe I would add that to my schedule. I had always been concerned about my finances and doing everything I could to afford my entry fees and my travel costs. At the start of this year, I realized that I could spend nearly $50,000 chasing Monday qualifiers, without making a single dime in other golf tournaments, and I'd still have enough money to pay for Q-school in the fall and have enough to get started in 2018.
So here we are on June 1st, and I've only made $2,000 playing golf tournaments this year. Haha. That number sounds horrible on its own, but I know I'm working hard on my game and making sure that I'm mentally fresh for Q-School. From now until the end of the year, about half of my tournaments are qualifiers and half are money making events. That's a good mix of tourneys that will help me assess where my game is and what I need to work out.
Until next time,
Neil
