{"id":144,"date":"2026-05-22T17:27:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/144\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T17:27:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:27:40","slug":"how-different-is-tournament-golf-these-are-the-7-mistakes-i-made-how-to-play-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/144\/","title":{"rendered":"How different is tournament golf? These are the 7 mistakes I made | How To Play Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers is on a one-year mission to see how good he can get at golf through daily training, practice and playing. Read more from his \u201cLate Scratch?\u201d series here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ben Hogan famously said, \u201cGolf and tournament golf are about as different as tennis and ice hockey.\u201d And after playing in a recent tournament, I can confirm he was onto something.<\/p>\n

Having never played competitive golf on any official level, I\u2019m still a novice at tournament golf. Sure, I have my annual buddies trips, which bring out more nerves than I\u2019d like to admit, but as I found out at a recent Metropolitan Golf Association Public Links qualifier that also doubled as the Westchester Golf Association Publinks Championship, this is a whole other level.<\/p>\n

In the days since I posted a humbling 85 at Hudson Hills Golf Course, I\u2019ve continually flip-flopped over whether to call the experiment a success or failure. I did finish right in the middle of the pack (T-26 of the 54 players who teed it up) on a day of high scores while battling to par six of my last eight holes. But I also shot what had to be my worst opening nine in decades and lamented that it only would have taken a 78\u2014a score I\u2019ve bettered there many times\u2014to advance.<\/p>\n

What I am sure of, however, is that I made a lot of avoidable mistakes. So I\u2019m going to try to avoid doing these seven things the next time I try playing tournament golf\u2014and I suggest you do as well.<\/p>\n

I should have brought a pushcart or caddie<\/p>\n

A few days before the tournament, I received an email with tournament info and pairings, which was really cool. That email also notified competitors that this would be a WALKING ONLY event. As someone who likes to walk and carry my bag for a good amount of my rounds, I planned to do that, but this is one of the courses where I\u2019ve never done that.<\/p>\n

The place is called Hudson HILLS, after all. And in all the years I\u2019ve played there, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen anyone walking. So what were my other options? Either procure a pushcart somehow (I don\u2019t think that would have made that much difference with some of the inclines you\u2019d have to push that thing) or procure a caddie for a course that doesn\u2019t provide caddies.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Are you playing the right golf ball? An easy way to find out<\/a><\/p>\n

Neither were simple options, but I ended up jealous of the people in the field who did one or the other\u2014especially on a day when the temperatures rose into the 90s. No excuses, but that was an absolute slog.<\/p>\n

I shouldn’t have skimped on sleep<\/p>\n

Look, Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and Thunder was an instant classic, but I probably shouldn’t have stayed up for the double-overtime thriller. Just ask my Oura:<\/p>\n

You don’t want to be “Mr. 58” when it comes to sleep. Sam Weinman has written about how wearable devices don\u2019t have to dictate our performance<\/a>, but it wouldn\u2019t have hurt to arrive at the course fresher. Again, no excuses, but I was running on empty those last few holes, so I would advise you to do everything in your power to get a good night\u2019s rest before teeing it up in a tournament.<\/p>\n

I should have played a practice round<\/p>\n

As mentioned, I\u2019ve played Hudson Hills too many times to remember, but I\u2019ve never played the course from the back tees, which made the course feel a lot different. Of course, so did walking up to that first tee and being greeted by tournament administrators and a proper setup that even featured a clock that Garrick Higgo could have used at last week\u2019s PGA Championship:<\/p>\n

Also, my only time playing there this year had come more than a month before, when the conditions were a lot different. The greens were rolling much fasterm and the rough\u2014especially in certain places\u2014was much, much thicker. As I learned from playing with Quaker Ridge head pro Mario Guerra as he played a practice round at another course a few weeks back, the more info at your disposal, the better.<\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t have changed my first-tee plan<\/p>\n

However, sometimes familiarity can hurt you. As I discussed with Guerra, I actually felt more nervous playing at a course I knew well\u2014and knew had so many trouble spots. \u201cThat\u2019s because you\u2019ve got scar tissue from finding those spots before,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

But with a chance to avoid one of those trouble spots\u2014missing right on No. 1 and being blocked out by trees for my approach\u2014I blew it. After deciding I\u2019d hit 5-wood instead of driver the day before, I changed my mind when I got to the first tee and we were into the wind. I was also influenced by the fact that both my playing partners, Mike and Peter (who were a pleasure to play with), chose driver as well.<\/p>\n

As I stood over the ball, hands shaking, I thought to myself about how I was going to do anything other than hit it right. What did I do instead? Hit a dead pull left and out of play unlike any shot I\u2019ve ever hit there. I re-teed and then hit my normal right tee shot and made my normal bogey with my second ball for an opening triple. Fun!<\/p>\n

\u200a\u201dIt\u2019s understandable that you would be so nervous because the contrast between the feeling you normally get when you go to this course in a very casual setting, not feeling the pressure, and then all of a sudden there’s a tent, and there’s pressure and there’s importance and then a real outcome that you want and consequences for if you don’t get it,\u201d golf psychology coach Josh Nichols says. \u201cAll these things add up to nerves.\u201d<\/p>\n

I should have practiced more short putts<\/p>\n

My normal group is pretty fair when it comes to gimmes. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re too egregious with scooping up putts, but, admittedly, we also don\u2019t fully play ball-in-hole golf. Other than that opening tee shot, I felt most nervous over putts inside two feet. Even tap-ins. Medal play just hits different.<\/p>\n

I also felt awkward with them because you have to be careful about stepping on someone else\u2019s line. So for the most part, I\u2019d mark and wait to putt out. And, despite the nerves, I converted them all. Except for one. And that came when I lost focus at the end of that disastrous front nine, walked up to one, didn\u2019t take my time, and lipped it out. Which leads me to my next mistake . . .<\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t have let my guard down<\/p>\n

I certainly lost focus on that short missed putt, but the main mistake happened on the tee box. For days, I\u2019d been dreading playing the seventh and eighth holes, which are both littered with landmines. If something can go wrong on those two holes, it will.<\/p>\n

On No. 7, a par-5 where you\u2019re forced to lay up with something less than driver before having to carry an environmentally protected area on your second shot, I made bogey while my playing partners made double and triple. On No. 8, our threesome hit SEVEN tee shots and no one made better than double. One guy made an all-time up-and-down from a hazard behind the green . . . for a quad!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m telling you all of this because it was actually moments later on the short, par-3 ninth, that I actually hit my worst shot of the day, a bladed 9-iron that just ran through the long green and lodged between two rocks in a hazard. Not wanting to damage a club, I took a drop, hit a poor pitch, missed the bogey putt and then missed the aforementioned short comebacker for a hideous triple bogey.<\/p>\n

\u200a\u201dA tournament shows you like nothing else the intensity of needing to remain focused at the same level,\u201d Nichols says. \u201cMy coach always said, ‘Give every shot the same low level of importance for an entire round.’ Your every shot requires that same low level, which for you, that means on the really hard gauntlet holes is lowering the relative level of importance. And then on the seemingly easy ones is raising the level of importance. So finding a better equilibrium is a learned skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

I should have approached the experience differently<\/p>\n

I knew going in that playing a real tournament would feel different, but I was wrong in thinking I could talk myself out of those nerves. I tried telling myself I was excited for the opportunity. I tried telling myself to enjoy the experience and not worry about the result. I tried convincing myself that this was just like any other round. None of it worked.<\/p>\n

\u200a\u201dWhere something can go wrong is when you have an expectation for how you want to feel and no matter what you do it’s just not happening,\u201d Nichols says. \u201cAnd then you’re going to be self-critical of how you feel and you’re not going to be very accepting of, OK, I\u2019m anxious and this is not as fun as I would hope it is. You know what? That\u2019s OK. I’m not playing this necessarily for the fun of it, I’m playing this for some alternate purpose. And that’s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve written about, that alternate purpose is to feel more comfortable shooting lower scores in my normal, casual rounds, part of my preseason plan with Guerra. And when I shot 10 shots lower the next day at a different course to help a Golf Digest foursome win a member-guest, it certainly seemed like that plan is already working.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Six things I learned playing with the ‘CEO of Golf’ at the Golf Digest Open<\/a><\/p>\n

My ultimate goal isn\u2019t to become a better tournament golfer, just a better golfer. But playing more tournament golf can help me get there. Plus, it was cool feeling like a real golfer at points\u2014like when we went over our scorecards at the end before signing them\u2014even if there were a lot of anxiety-filled moments throughout the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that you know you’re going to feel that way ahead of time is an extremely valuable data point, and now you have that,\u201d Nichols tells me. \u201cSo you’ve kind of chopped the anxiety in half. Because now there’s less uncertainty of how it might go. Now there’s still the anxiety of performing, but also you’ve experienced that before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nichols, a former standout at Appalachian State, says he still feels out of his element when he plays in tournaments. And this is a guy who made it all the way to the championship match of the 2017 U.S. Mid-Am Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way to simulate the pressure of tournament golf,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Just like there\u2019s no way to compare those 78s that qualified to my usual scores there. It\u2019s apples to oranges. Or tennis and ice hockey. And, hopefully, more tournament reps I get, the less foreign it will feel.<\/p>\n

RELATED: The 7-iron speed rule you’re probably not following<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers is on a one-year mission to see how good he can get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[167,166,44,163,82,165,164],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-7-mistakes-i-made-playing-in-my-first-real-golf-tournament-and-how-you-can-avoid-them","tag-game-improvement","tag-golf","tag-late-scratch","tag-story","tag-tournaments","tag-usga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}