I can no longer have fun playing for nothing<\/p>\n
Tuesdays out here on the PGA Tour are typically when guys like to get money games in. Wednesdays, too. It depends how schedules line up, when guys get in and how they are feeling about their games. There are also guys who stick to themselves and prefer to prepare alone, but for many of us, the best way to get tournament-ready is to put something on the line, even if it\u2019s just for nine holes.\u202f<\/p>\n
\u202fI think back to my time on the Korn Ferry Tour. I remember very specifically an event where I played a practice round by myself, and I just putted mindlessly, and then I got on the first hole the next day and realised, I never even read a putt yesterday. I had no idea how the grain was affecting the roll. When I play against someone for money, even if it\u2019s just for $20, I am reading that putt from both sides like my life depends on it. That\u2019s just the way golf works for me. \u202f<\/p>\n
\u202fAre there times when I enjoy going out and playing with the family? Sure, but only very occasionally. Maybe this sounds bad, but if there\u2019s nothing on the line, what\u2019s the point? I\u2019ve played so much tournament golf in my life that I can\u2019t have any fun playing for nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joe Highsmith and Neal Shipley are two guys who\u2019ve both won for the first time recently and love big money games with each other. Those guys know playing for some \u2018scratch\u2019 keeps them sharp. Whether it\u2019s a few thousand or a few hundred bucks on the line, they are going to treat it like a tournament. \u202f<\/p>\n
\u202fThe games we play are like the ones you probably play at your home course: Nassaus, closeouts, some side action. At the Players, I played a random game with Keith Mitchell. I can\u2019t even remember the rules, but it had a lot of automatic presses. When Keith calculated it all at the end of the round, I was like, Daaaang! but I was happy to pay him because it got me ready for that week. I made the cut at that very hard golf course for the first time in my career. Now I need to get \u201cCashmere\u201d lined up for another round to get him back. Out here, it\u2019s always cash or Venmo. I don\u2019t like settling up at the end of year, and I don\u2019t think many guys do, either.<\/p>\n
\u202fA lot of players have games with their caddies, too. I know Wyndham Clark and his guy John Ellis get pretty wild with it. From what I understand, Wyndham has to shoot three-under or better for nine holes, and in addition, get up and down seven of nine times from spots that Ellis chooses. Wyndham also must make six out of nine putts from 10 feet. Those are three $100\u202fbets\u202fbetween him and Ellis. That\u2019ll get the juices flowing, especially for Ellis, who\u2019s got to just stand there and watch. It\u2019s about motivation. John wants Wyndham to keep that same chip on his shoulder that he had when he was outside the top 100 of the world ranking. If that means the caddie must fork over some cash for it, so be it.<\/p>\n
\u202fWhat might really surprise you is how mini-tour guys aren\u2019t afraid to play for a lot. I was like that back then, too. I remember having only a few thousand in the bank, all borrowed from backers and supporters, and I\u2019d play for more money than I do now. Talk about learning to play under pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For me now, though, it\u2019s less about the amount and more about giving my buddies a hard time. A dollar might not get me going, but a twenty looks nice. Hundreds are nicer. It being your money in my pocket makes it look really nice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I can no longer have fun playing for nothing Tuesdays out here on the PGA Tour are typically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-19629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}