Giving the State Mid-Am Another Shot

Next week is the annual MGA State Mid-Amateur golf tournament, being held at Minnesota Valley Country Club and Montgomery Golf Club. I entered last year and placed 133rd out of 240 golfers (including withdrawals and DQs). My goals going into these things is always to 1) not finish last, and 2) not embarrass myself.

This year I'm going to add one more goal: to hit every shot with complete focus and dedication. With my mental game, I don't think I have a prayer of accomplishing that, but I'm going to try.

Last year, out of 240 entrants, I ranked tied for 225th in handicap. This year I'm taking a 5.6 index into the tournament, good enough for a tie for 198th with one other out of 213 entrants. I hope the drop in field size (the last two years both had full fields of 240) isn't a trend, like the corporate softball tournaments I wrote about last month. I think it's likely due to how far apart the two host courses are, and how un-"famous" the Montgomery course is. Not that the MVCC is famous, but it is a nice, private club, which is often the appeal of these tournaments - you get to play a course you otherwise couldn't without connections.

The contestants include at least one former Minnesota Gopher Hockey star, the brother of a British Open champion, a former Drake University golf teammate of Masters Champion Zach Johnson, numerous past and present Minnesota Gopher golf team members, the 2004 Twin Cities Golf Tour Player of the Year (heh heh), and the namesake of the guy who composed the music to the Toy Story movies and the 1970s hit "Short People."

I would love to set a goal of making the cut (top 60 plus ties make the cut and play the final round), but the problem with that is it would put my focus on my cumulative score, instead of each shot at hand, which is a surefire way to play horribly.

The guys I'm matched with for the two days have handicap indexes of 0.0 and 2.1. Even if I don't play well, at least I can maybe learn a thing or two.

One other goal: I love these tournaments, but this year I vow to enjoy it more than any other MGA tournament I've played in.

The first tee jitters start next Monday at 12:30 PM at the MVCC. On the plus side, there is no OB or hazard in play on hole one - only trees. My nerves can handle the prospect of starting the tournament by blasting one in the wrong fairway or into the woods. OB stakes are an entirely different story.