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hello everyone,

im new to golf but am going to start playing in tournaments next year in the american challenge golf tour. but before i sign up i need some help.

i know as an amature you can only win gift cards up to a certain amount and not take any cash winnings. so my question is are there any benifits to taking the amature ranking or woulod it be ok to skip it to go for the cash....(the tour has a handicapped division). any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Richard

well 20 views and no advise guess ill just have to go with my gut and not take the amature status.

Firstly, I don't know about anyone else, but expecting a response in less than 2 hours is kind of ridiculous. People have lives, we aren't just sitting here waiting to answer every single question. Give people a break.

Secondly, 20 views doesn't mean crud. There are a lot of lurkers who aren't registered members who couldn't write in anyway. These include the search engines (Google, yahoo, etc.) that periodically check forums so they can catalog every thread. A 'view' doesn't mean it is actually a person. Also, maybe some of the people who looked at the thread, didn't know. Not everyone is going to know, do you want a bunch of responses that say nothing but "I don't know"?

Thirdly, I think that some more information on your part is needed. How old are you? What kind of scores are you shooting? What is your handicap? How "new to golf" are you? Have you won any amateur (please note the correct spelling of amateur here) events? How familiar are you with all of the rules of golf -- not just "play it as it lies" because tournament golf is whole different beast than playing with your buddies... there are many, many little rules that you have to know about when you have to call a penalty on yourself and when you can legally move your ball, etc. Not following the rules normally results in a DQ, and then it won't matter if you are an amateur or declared yourself pro because you don't win anything if you are DQ'd.

Lots of questions, but if you give us some answers I think that we can give you some better advice.

1st i would love to awnser your questions to get your advice and mabey i was quick with follow my own advice remark.

2nd please dont try to correct my spelling or grammar. i have been and emergency medical tech, realestate broker, mortgage loan oficer, and truck driver, but i never graduated highschool and dont need to feel like someone is looking down there nose at me because of my bad spelling habits.

3rd. im in the mid to low 90's i have only been playing about 6months and i have not yet had any lessons. this will be the first year playing tournaments i have not played any yet but have the off season to read the rule book for the tour and familliarize myself with the rules(i dont know anything about tournament play) the tour has a handicapped division.

i cant remember if that was most of your questions or not...but hope that helps some.

I don't think that you should entertain even the notion of thinking about turning pro until you can consistently shoot in the 70's. Go out an play in some tournaments first -- win some amateur events first. Then you can think about declaring yourself a pro.

Also, I wasn't looking down on you, I was just pointing out the correct way to spell a word. The written word has its rules so that communication between people can be as clear as possible. If you don't communicate well, misunderstanding occur, and you may get bad answers and bad advice because people are confused. It is as simple as that. It has nothing to do with me judging you in anyway whatsoever, it has everything to do with effective efficient clear communication.

Let me give you an example very pertinent to your situation. The rules of golf are pretty complex. If they weren't written correctly -- bad spelling, bad grammar, bad punctuation -- they would be even much harder to understand. Making things as clear as possible -- that's why the rules are there.

i haven't checked into the qualifications for pro status recently, but i do recall that a certain USGA handicap must be met to officially go pro.

the american challenge golf tour is the tournaments im going to be playing in they havent stated that a certain handicap must be met. they only give you the option of declaring yourself an amateur when you pay the yearly dues. i was just wondering if there were any benefits to declaring myself an amateur. the only thing i see that it does is keeps me from winning cash prizes. the handicapped division of the tour has different flights for diferent handicaps....so as to keep everything even. so is it just a difference in what you win?

Harper- Win some local stuff first. Get a taste for competition before you jump into something like a golf tour. I "THINK" (means I'm not sure) that if you declare pro your cannot regain amateur status for 2 years.......... I may be WAY off but I think I remember hearing that somewhere.

Why "declare" anything?? Just go play some golf man. ADRIFTER maybe right about a handicap requirement to "declare" pro status. If he's not, I would laugh at someone who told me they were pro status and couldn't break 90.... or 80.... or.... 70...

I shoot 68-74 almost every time on a 73.9 rated 7200 yard course and I haven't "declared" pro status.... Just some food for thought. I think you are putting the buggy before the horse. Just an opinion. Good luck in whatever you choose.


PS- Don't get your feelings hurt about having views and no responses. I posted a thread honoring an American Navy Seal hero that earned the congressional medal of honor the other day for sacrificing his life for his men... A lot of views... One comment.

thanks mizuno. i know by no means am i "pro" status but i was just wandering the pros and cons of both sides......i want to play on the tour cause i like competition. (it drives me to improve) and its got a handicapped division so even though im still in the 90's ill be playing others that are in the 90's. but being so new to it i didnt know how it might affect me if i didnt declare amateur status when i signed up.....the difference in this tour (and of course ill have to have a really good day on the course) is they have a 1,000$ guarranty for 1st place for those who dont declare amateur but if i do declare all i can win is gift cards up to 750$ that is why i was asking in the first place.....lol.....thanks to everyone so far for the help hope to hear from others

I don't understand the idea of turning pro as a 90's shooter, but scoring in the 90's, I'm sure you're not thinking about the US Ameteur. Why not, give it a shot.

BTW, I didn't reply until now because the question was very unclear and I didn't have the best answer for you anyway.

thanks martini.....yeah i guess it took me too long to explain....and your right im not actually trying to go pro but if the only difference in this tour between the two is what you can win then i would rather win the cash.

The first lesson is learning how to spell "amateur"....then go with your gut.