I just posted my 2006 schedule. US Open qualifying and Q-School are excluded because the dates are not yet available. The Tar Heel Tour schedule isn’t completely solidified yet, so some dates and courses may change. But, I plan to play their entire 25 event schedule. I also plan to play 9 Nationwide Tour qualifiers.
I submitted a letter to Editors of Golfweek, Golf Digest and Golf World magazines. Follow this link to see the letter. I am hopeful that this will put some focus on recent PGA Tour policy decisions that I believe are not in the best interest of our sport.
In this week’s Golfweek Magazine (”The Forecaddie”, page 2), there is a short article describing a new PGA Tour policy regarding Monday qualifiers. I’ve confirmed the new policy through a contact at PGA Tour headquarters. Effective for the 2006 season, if you do not have the appropriate status on the PGA or Nationwide Tour, you will be required to pre-qualify for PGA Tour Monday qualifiers. “Appropriate status” generally means you have either conditional or exempt status one of these tours. This means the hundreds of mini tour players, myself included, that have a legitimate shot at qualifying for an event now have to make it through a pre-qualifier as well.
Adding an extra day - potentially at a course other than the qualifier course, requiring an extra practice round - is bad enough. If the pre-qualifier were the day before the Monday qualifier, this alone would make it impossible for a huge number of talented golfers to participate because certain mini tours have events that play their final round on Sunday. However, the PGA Tour has added an extra level of absolute lunacy to the new policy. The pre-qualifier is to be conducted the Wednesday before the Monday qualifier. This means that a mini tour golfer would need to:
Hopefully you’re starting to see the unrealistic barriers the PGA Tour has placed between a mini tour player and a PGA Tour Monday qualifier. However, this is only part of the issue.
The general opinion of mini tour players over the last few years is that Nationwide Tour events are becoming more difficult to Monday qualify for than PGA Tour events. This is an amazing trend since Nationwide Tour qualifiers usually have 14 spots available compared to 4 for PGA Tour qualifiers. I believe the fields play better in the Nationwide Tour qualifiers because:
Now, with the new PGA Tour policy, a significant number of good mini tour players who would have played the PGA Tour qualifier will now enter the Nationwide Tour qualifier because they either can’t or don’t want to play the PGA Tour pre-qualifier. This means the Nationwide Tour qualifiers will have larger fields and deeper competition. So, now the mini tour player is logistically denied the opportunity to qualify for the PGA Tour and is up against longer odds in the Nationwide Tour qualifiers.
In addition, the PGA Tour is preparing to significantly decrease the number of events on its schedule. So, there will be even fewer opportunities for those who are able to manage the scheduling and try to participate. And, many of the PGA Tour Monday qualifiers are reducing - if not completely eliminating - the number of spots available from 4 to 3 or 2.
Also, consider that if a Nationwide Tour player - exempt or conditional - has a choice between a Nationwide or PGA Tour Monday qualifier, the player is almost always going to play the Nationwide Tour event. This is because the incremental dollars on the Nationwide Tour are more valuable to improving your status on that Tour and securing status via your year-end position on the money list. Because of this, few Nationwide Tour players will play the PGA Tour Monday qualifiers. The PGA Tour has created an absurd condition where only PGA Tour non-exempt members and (generally non-competitive) local golfers will compete in their qualifiers, not the mini tour players for whom the qualifiers are most appropriate. The system has been closed down significantly with this new policy.
A mini tour player already faced an uphill, expensive challenge to make it to the PGA or Nationwide Tours. Now, the PGA Tour has succeeded in making it even more difficult for anybody except those who are already there. I know I’m barking at the moon because the PGA Tour seems to make decisions that are not in the best interest of the game and without input from those whose careers they impact the most. Still, I feel the absurdity of the policy needs to be voiced.
What does this mean for the game? Well, the Q-School promotion system already is flawed in that it does not promote the players who play well for an entire year. It promotes the players who have a good week and don’t have a bad bounce during Q-School. The new Monday qualifier policy means that the players who are “hottest” at the time aren’t necessarily going to make it into a given tournament through the weekly qualifier. These hot players simply won’t be competing because its logistically not possible. I won’t even get into the financial barriers that exclude less privileged players from competing…there’s a reason you don’t see athletic inner city kids competing on the tour. As a fan you should realize that the Tour’s policies result in a product that does not showcase the best and deepest pool of talent in their events.
What’s the solution? Well, the PGA Tour only fields about 400 players in its “major league” (PGA Tour) and its “farm system” (Nationwide Tour). Compare this to the other major professional sports who all have significantly more players in the “system” and a relatively clear promotion path that is based mostly on performance - not mostly on luck. The Tour needs to cultivate and tie into probably 3-5 mini tours. These would feed into the Nationwide and PGA Tours based on performance over an entire season. Keep the PGA and Nationwide Tour sponsor exemptions for outstanding talent not otherwise exempt and expand Q-School. The new Q-School would provide a way to rank participants for all of the tours including the newly tied in mini tours (this accommodates the college kids). It would also give players a final shot at improving their ranking and moving up to a higher tour than what they qualified for with their seasonal performance. It would be appropriate for the mini tours to be relatively regional requiring some travel to approximate conditions on the PGA Tour. EVERY mini tour is chomping at the bit to build this kind of relationship with the PGA Tour. All that is required is for the PGA Tour to see the logic of this kind of system compared to the current one and take action.
Comments, questions…feel free to email me.
I’ve been working on my game this week at Club Golf in Gaithersburg, MD. I last visited this facility in 2004 before it transferred ownership. Since the transition, they have lost the physical therapy rooms, but they have gained tremendously in all other aspects of the facility. The greatest improvement is the full-swing practice and teaching areas. There are now 3 bays where you can utilize the V1 Golf video training system. Each bay has multiple camera angles available, video recording and playback and real-time feedback via a monitor located next to the ball. This is the best video training setup I have ever seen that is available to the average golfer. In addition to the video training, they have a great indoor putting green and short game area. The short game area has been expanded significantly. They have added some launch monitors in several of the other full-swing bays and the functional training area is expanded significantly. All of this has given them the space to organize and clean up the cardio and strength machine areas.
So, how has this helped me? I’ve had two of my best practice sessions ever using the video system. The full swing changes I started working on with Jack Lumpkin are very clear in my mind now. I’m making significant improvements. I have also seen how some inflexibility in my hips are impacting my backswing. Dave Maloney and I are working on the flexibility as part of my regular workout routine. I’ve also made a lot of progress getting used to the new setup with my putter.
I’ve drawn up a tentative schedule for 2006 and assigned a budget to it. I won’t post the schedule and budget until the Nationwide Tour schedule is released over the next few weeks. In general, the season will start in late February on the Tar Heel Tour. I plan to play all 25 Tar Heel Tour events, about 10-15 PGA/Nationwide Tour Monday qualifiers, the US Open qualifiers and Q-School. This will keep me very busy through Q-School at the end of the season.
I’m very excited about the upcoming season. I feel like I’ve made a great partnership working with Jack Lumpkin. Because of this, I feel very clear about what my golf swing and putting stroke should look like and how I should get there. I also feel like I am doing the right things in the gym with Dave Maloney. I’m not as “hard core” in the gym as I have been, but I am definitely addressing the things that my game requires. We have designed a simple, repeatable program that I should be able to take on the road better than previous programs.
Finally, over the next month, I am looking to build up my sponsorship funding for the season. Based on my preliminary budget, I will need to raise $57,000 to be fully funded for the year. I will continue my partnership with the Capital Hospice by donating 10\% of my tournament earnings. Please contact me if you are interested in sponsorship for the year.
I’ve seen this story a couple of times over the last few weeks and again tonight on Geraldo At Large (don’t ask me why I’m watching this show, ok!). The story is about 15 year old Stephanie Quackenbush of Albany, NY. She was attacked while walking to school by a rapist. He threw a towel over her head, put a knife to her and told her to shut up. Instead of submitting, she challenged the knife (cutting her hand in the process) and screamed like hell until somebody came to chase off the rapist. The guy ran off, but left the towel complete with his DNA.
So, the police used to DNA to track him down and arrested him. He pleaded guilty but later changed his plea to innocent. Stephanie showed up in court to face her attacker and delivered a victim’s impact statement that was crucial in a guilty verdict and sentencing. What an incredibly brave girl!
The police also discovered a link between her attacker and two other rapes. Stephanie’s bravery in resisting the attacker made it possible to find this link and bring him to justice for these crimes as well.
