I'm playing in my first one next weekend and I would like some advice on how you think I should play.

The club champs is a scratch competition (i.e. no hc's) for hc 12 and below. The most likely outcome is that I'm going to my butt handed to me on a plate by the lower hc players in the club as I'm effectively giving them a bunch of strokes over each of the two rounds.

I know I can only go out there and play my own game but should I be aggressive and attack the pins or play a little more conservatively and plot my way around? I don't want to tighten up like I was playing in a major but I also don't want to go out there and smash balls into next week and rack up a big score playing stupidly.

How have you been successful in competitions and how did you play?

Use the shot that you are most confident in alot. Meaning which club will consistantly keep the ball in play off of the tee. Only play shots you have practiced, if you have not practiced FW bunker shots over 150yds, use a wedge to get out. Shoot the middle of greens, all 18 of them. Know your yardages. If you make a bad swing, rememeber that shot has happended, nothing you do will bring it back, so focus and play your next shot. But most importantly, have fun!

Go out and play golf. Don't worry about anything. Have a good time. You'll learn something about your game.

From your post it sounds like you have not played much competitive golf. It is a little different animal. You will feel pressure. You probably will respond differently than you normally do.

Slow down. Think through your shots. When you find yourself wanting to do something crazy and/or stupid. Don't do it. Play to your game. Fire at pins you are comfortable with and play conservative when they shots do not fit your eye (or game).

Most of all ... have fun and let us know how you did. Good luck.

Played in my first club championship 3 years ago. Learned a lot, as it was my first real golf competition. Bombed...improved greatly since then.
Slow down. Play your own game. Play safe shots and make pars by hitting greens in regulation...you are bound to roll in a couple of birdie putts.
Last...take deep breaths and think positive to calm your nerves.

Don't try too hard.

Thanks guys for all the comments.

The stupid thing is I have played sport in front of thousands of people so I don't know why I'm nervous about a simple club championship!
I guess it's that you're out there on your own and one bad shot can really wreck your card and this time there's something at stake as opposed to a fiver in the morning fourball.

I guess I have to concentrate on playing shots I know I can play with confidence rather than trying that 200 yard hooking 3 iron from the rough which has worked once in about 3 years. That and play at my own pace and take my medicine when I get into a bad position.

Play for par...make birdies, play for birdies....make bogey. This is usually my train of thought when playing in a tournament. I like to play for the middle of the greens and let the birdies happen instead of forcing it going for sucker pins. Last of all......relax, you are out there enjoying yourself, no one else cares what your score is.

i say focus, on the shot, just the shot, not the tournament or the other people or any of that, just focus on making the shot at hand, but dont get too caught up in that, i mean that only really get into it when your hitting your shot, when your walking to your ball, just take sometime to look around and realize how fortunate you are to be able to have an experience like playing in the tournament, just take it easy, play your game, i say first few holes go conservative, and then if you find the greens to be receptive, and you have confidince in your game, then you can start to go for flags, and start to attack the par 5's
good luck friend!

I'm going to say the opposite. From what you say there a bunch of people off lower handicaps who are expected to shoot better than you. So the pressure is on them.

You may beat an individual off a lower handicap by playing conservatively, but you are not going to beat a group of them.

So go out and be aggressive. If you are lucky everything may come together and you'll shoo the lights out. If not, you were going to lose anyway.

Well the club championship was this weekend and I thought I'd post an update.

The champs was a 2 round single day event with a cut at half way. My object was to beat my handicap of 12 and if I could, make the cut.

I decided that I was going to be conservative off the tee and aggressive at the flag unless it was a sucker pin . This meant lots of irons off the tee unless the hole was more than 400 yards. I was also determined to take my time over important shots and not be rushed by my playing partners so I looked at every putt from behind the hole and the side as well as lining it up from behind the ball. I also paced out chips if I was less than 50 yards as I have been reading the Peltz short game bible and been trying the tips in there.

Well the first hole didn't go to plan as I pushed my tee shot straight into some trees and I had to chip out sideways. Following a miss from 4 feet it meant I started with a double bogey.

Suddenly by chipping game kicked in. I up and downed 5 times in a row on the front nine, although only one was for a birdie,the rest for pars.

Playing smartly at the flags meant that I rarely short-sided myself when I missed the green and my short game held together to get me though when I did miss.

Concentrating on my putting meant that I was lagging long putts to within tap in distance more often than not and while I didn't get myself into decent birdie position as often as I would have liked, I was making par easily rather than having to save it.

I ended up scoring 74! My best ever score and one which comically put me as the clubhouse leader for half an hour! When the better players started rolling in, I thought I would be knocked down the leaderboard fairly quickly but when everyone was in, I was in joint 6th, 7 shots behind the leader! The cut was 76 so I made it!

The second round was played in appalling conditions as the heavens opened and rain came down. Play was even suspended for lightening at one point. Having played so carefully in the morning, I played quite thoughtlessly in the afternoon and that and the bad weather meant I blew up and played pretty badly especially when I followed a birdie at the first with a double then a triple.

All in all, I had a great time. I did what I came to do and had a blast doing it. One of the guys I was playing with had a caddy (really one of his mates who is a little too old to play in the champs nowadays) and when he saw how well I was doing was incredibly supportive. No advice or anything untoward but just very complimentary and steadying. I can really understand the importance of a caddy to a players psychological outlook, not just as a yardage caller and helper in club selection.

As an aside, this was the first time I played with a Srixon Z-URS. I hit quite a heavy ball and usually go for something slightly harder but as I received a dozen as a gift I thought that I would give them a go. The control around the green was excellent and putting them was a dream. Their durability was phenomenal - I played that same ball for 21 holes until a duck hook OB at the 213 yard par 3 third (for that triple bogey) and it was completely unscuffed. ProV1's or Nike Ones would have looked as though they had had been put through a grater but this one ball stayed in great shape. I have no affiliation to Srixon and before yesterday wasn't much of a fan, having tried and discarded the AD333, but I would recommend them to anyone with a good short game. Even for faster swingers as there was no ballooning on drivers either.

So thanks to everyone who commented here. I took away a lot from the posts and learned a massive amount about my own game.

Bring on next year!

Great Job!!

I think you've inspired me to play in our club championship. Unfortuanatly our course has been flooded for about a month and 9 holes have been unplayable with 3 green getting killed. YEAH, I love a wet cycle of weather. I don't know if we are playing the club championship due to this, but if it's on, I'm going to give it a try.

Our format is qualifing on Wednesday (anytime). Then we are flighted out and the championship flight is seeded and match play friday and saturday. Since it's matchplay we rarely see the scratch guys winning. It's usually a 3-5 that gets hot and wins.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that the club championship is played at your home club. There is no need to play the course any differently for a tournament than you would do for any other round that you play there. In our club championship last year I played with a guy that shot 103 in the first round and he played off of a solid index of 3. He started to overthink the golf course and it started on the first tee when he hit 3 wood instead of the 4 iron he has hit there for the last year and a half.

That's one heck of a first round. Sounded like you had a good time and played pretty well.

I missed our club championship last year because it was the same weekend as my wedding. Two of my friends and myself will be playing in it this year. It will the first club championship for all three of us. They're both single digit handicaps, with the one being a 4-5. He has a descent chance of winning. Usually the winner is only a couple under par through the two rounds, if not even.

It's open to anyone that plays better than bogey golf, so I'll be able to play with my 15 handicap. After the first day, it's flighted, so I'll probably end up in the "B" flight, but it should still be fun anyway. I look foreward to it.

At our club, the winner gets their own parking spot for the next season with a special club champion sign with their name on it at the spot. Would be cool to have someday.