Showing posts with label Senior Golf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senior Golf. Show all posts

Friday, November 2, 2007

The Senior Golf Tour Spectator Rules and Amateur Qualifying To Play

If you are following your favorite player and want an autograph, you can do this whenever he player is not playing a round. It is strongly enforced that no senior golf player be bothered when trying to play the game. All their attention is dedicated to the play. Volunteer's watch over the crowds to make sure all the rules are followed. Security is at it strongest during the all the days leading up to the final few days when things heat up. You can bring cameras onto the golf courses in the days leading up to the Championship days. Cameras are forbidden during the Championship rounds as well as workers are forbidden to have cell phones on the greens.

Senior golf, which is for those fifty and older also, has vendors set up around the course where you can purchase food and drinks. They do have bleachers at some holes where you can rest for a while before moving onto the next hole. These do fill up quickly, so you should plan to stand the entire time. This can be of some concerns to the many senior golf followers. The do provide some handicap services such as scooters for mobility around the course. The Senior Open is set up to allow everyone to participate as the audience. Many people from everywhere head to the tournaments to see what all the excitement is about during the year.

Qualifying To Play The Senior Golf Open

If you have a Senior Golf Open coming to your city, you can jump up to the tee and try your hand at qualifying to play in the tour. Many times the tours need to fill some open spots and they have qualifying times for any senior golf player over the age of fifty. To even consider qualifying you need to an USGA handicap index of fewer than 3.4. You can apply to qualify and if you meet the requirements, you can be the next senior golf your participant. You will then play a few full rounds of golf and if you succeed, you can play with the pros.

For an amateur senior golf player, this is a dream come true. Many people do however apply to qualify but they usually only need a couple of people for each location. You can find more information about qualifying on the PGA website that gives you all the information you need to know about dates and times of qualifying. This is a stiff competition because there are so many entries and only a handful of openings.

Whether you are a spectator or interested in qualifying, you will enjoy your time. You have a chance to meet the senior gold pros and learn more about them and their techniques. It is after all a great way to learn a few tips about golfing. Keep in mind the rules that are in place and you should enjoy a great day of watching some of the best senior golfers around from around the country.

Senior Golf Injuries Are Common

Senior golf does have advantages and some disadvantages. The most common disadvantage is the injury rate. Seniors over fifty have more of a chance of injury than a golfer who is younger. To understand and treat your injury is important. Preventing an injury is even more important. Sometimes no matter how careful you are, you can sustain an injury. The most common injury is tendonitis of the wrist as well as the hamate fracture. Back and ankle injuries are also seen with senior golfers. Prevention is the key to a successful season of golf.

Sometimes preventing the hamate fracture condition is not easy. The symptoms of a hamate fracture are pain around the wrist area and the heel of the hand. You might also have no feeling in your fingers, mostly the little finger. For the most part, an x-ray will not reveal the fracture, but a MRI will show the hamate fracture. As you may know already, the MRI is very expensive. Early detection is crucial for a senior golfer. If it is left untreated, it will hinder your performance on the course and cause more pain than you can tolerate.

If you think you have a hamate fracture, you should see a doctor for treatment. The treatment is a simple process where the hook is removed and the wrist is then able to have blood flow to it again. The surgery works better than just simple immobilizing the wrist. It could take weeks to recover when and the golfer will need to refrain from golf.

You can prevent a wrist problem by changing the way you grip and hold your club. A different club design and style may also prevent the wrist problem. If you have a tight hold on the golf club, you are more prone to a hamate fracture. Adjust your grip will help prevent a hamate fracture and prevent tendonitis as well. Senior golf does also affect your overall body. Staying fit will help prevent injuries and allow you to keep with the game.

Some senior golf players experience back pain. This is common if you put your entire body into the swing. Some golfers will wear a back brace to keep the back straighter when completing the swing. They make braces that are more comfortable than the old styled braces that were bulky and stiff. Another complaint is ankle injuries. As you swing, you are not only twisting the back, but also the ankle. This can cause a sprain, which will hurt more so than if you would break your ankle and may take longer to heal.

Senior golf pros are just as prone to injury as the seasoned players. If you keep your body limber, take precautions with your grip, swing, and follow through, you can prevent injury. Use the right equipment as well. You can enjoy playing senior golf up to any age as long as you adjust your game as you age. Preventing back, wrist and ankle injuries are important so you can keep playing the game.

Meet Senior Golf Pro Tommy Bolt And More

Tommy Bolt also known as "Thunder" or "Terrible Tommy" got his nicknames because on the green he had quite a temper. Tommy had fifteen tour wins and one major win in a championship game back in 1958. Tommy was born in 1918 and made it into the World Golf Hall of fame and was a member of the Ryder Cup team twice. His senior golf years were spent winning the PGA Seniors Golf Championship in 1969 after which he became a key player in the creation of the Champion Tour formerly the Senior PGA. He had a temper and through his clubs, but he knew the game. At the age of eighty, Bolt was still playing senior golf.

Gene Littler was born in 1930 and became pro golfer. Gene had twenty-nine tour wins with the PGA and eight wins with the Senior PGA. In 1961, he gained one win in the U.S. Open. He also took a win in the Amateur in 1953. He was a member of the World Golf Hall of fame, Walker Cup Team as well as eight Ryder Cup teams. He was voted Comeback Player of the Year in 1973. After taking a break from senior golf in 1972, Gene came back and won in Saint Louis. He did have a great career in the golfing circle.

Cary Middlecoff was born in 1921 and died in 1998. Cary had forty tour wins and three major wins. He was a member of the World Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and in 1956 he won the Vardon Trophy. Cary was a great senior golf pro and was dentist before joining the PGA. He wrote a book called the "Golf Swing" as well as did some broadcasting before he died. He was known as slow paced senior golf pro.

Harry Cooper was born in 1904 and died in 2000. He Cooper took thirty-one tour wins, but had no championship wins in the majors. In 1937, he won the Vardon trophy and was a leader in money win with the PGA. He was a member of the World Hall of Fame. Cooper went on to teach golfing lessons in New York for twenty-six years. He then moved to the Westchester Country Club were he continued teaching until he was ninety-three years old. This shows you that you can be a senior golfer for as long as you want.

Ben Hogan was another great senior golf pro who was born in 1912 and died in 1997. Hogan had sixty-four tour wins and nine major championship wins. Hogan was also a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and won the Vardon Trophy in 1940, 1948 and 1941. Ben Hogan played his first tour event in 1932 and won the money purse of $8.50. In 1927, Hogan turned pro at the age of seventeen. Hogan also had golf clubs that bore his name and were considered some of the best clubs one could buy for many years.

Five Top Female Senior Golf Pros

Dorothy Campbell was born in 1883 and died in 1845. She was known as Dorothy Howe and Dorothy Hurd as she was married and divorced a few times in her career as a senior golf pro. Dorothy only had five major championship wins in the amateurs. She won the British Women's and the U.S> Women's Amateur in the same year, which was 1909. She came from a family of golfers as her sisters and uncles play the game as well as her father. Campbell's last win was the U.S. Senior Amateur in 1938. She died in a car accident at the young age of sixty-one.

Glenna Collett Vare was born in 1903 and died in 1989. She had no known tour wins but had six major championship wins. She started playing golf at the age of fourteen and by the time she was nineteen in 1922, she won the U.S Women's Amateur and continued to do it five more times. She played until her late fifties, Vare wrote two books in the 10920's. She was well respected as a woman golfer and had a great game play when it came to making the green. She has a trophy given out every year to junior girls, it is call the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy.

Joyce Wethered was born in 1901 and died in 1991. She had four major championship wins and was a member of the British Curtis Cup team. When Wethered and Vare came to play together three times in their golfing history, Wethered beat Vare all three times. Although she never competed in the senior golf tours, she could however drive the ball two hundred and forty yards with precision. Wethered was known more in the British circles more so than in the United States. She married and became Lady Heathcoat-Amory.

Patty Berg was a top leader in the senior golf circle. She was born in 1918 and died in 2006. She had sixty tour wins, which includes wins before the LPGA was even formed. Patty also had fifteen major championship wins to add to her golfing career. She was successful in winning the first U.S. Women's Open back in 1946. She set a record for being the only woman to win fifteen major championship tours. Patty turned pro in the year 1940 but joined the Navy until 1945. The "Patty Berg" award is given out every year to the woman who makes the greatest contribution to the game of golf for women. This tradition was started in 1978.

There are many great senior golf pros and they have been made members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, as have these ladies. They have contributed to the golfing circuit and have become well known by many of the men senior golf pros. Many women still compete in the senior golf tournaments and have made a name for themselves. Some are good at the long drive and some are famous for their short game. These women have made way for the new generation of golfers.

8 Things To Becoming A Great Senior Golf Pro

Eight things will help make you a great senior golf player. There is attitude, concentration and focus, recovery of the game, practice, fitness, technique and foundation, balance and distance. Keep in mind that these are the foundation to becoming a seasoned golf player and will help you become as good as the pros and maybe even a pro. You need to play the game of golf with determination and stay with what works for you the best.

Your attitude about the game has to be focused on the win. Having a positive, "I can do it" attitude is the only way to succeed as a professional golf player. If you want to play the senior golf tournaments, you have to work up to it and dedicate your time to enhancing your game. Your concentration and focus, plan your shot before you even reach the tee. Never change your mind once you are over the ball. Second-guessing yourself does not make a pro golfer. When you address the ball, you already know where the ball is going and how you are going to get there without any hesitation.

Talent and recovery are what help you win the game. If you have a talent for thinking and hitting the ball right where you need it to be, you have a better chance of coming in with a scratch shot, however even the senior golf pros do have an eagle or a bogy here and there. If you do have a bad hit, you need to know how to recover from that shot and make your next play make up for the previous bad shot. This is all apart of golfing. If you have a two over par on the previous hole, try to go under par on the next hole. It is all in the recovery and the planning.

To become a senior golf pro, you need to be fit and practice. Just because you have been playing golf for years does not mean, as you get older you do not need a little more fitness in your day. You need to stay in shape and practice your game regularly. Keep in mind, you might need different equipment as you get older and this is going to require plenty of practice time with the new equipment to improve your game.

You need to learn techniques that lead to a solid foundation in your game. A senior golf pro does not stop learning and improving their techniques. You want to change as your age changes to get the same distance that you were getting before you started reaching the senior age. You are going to need your balance and your Zen for golfing to play with the pros. If you keep practicing and stay fit, you should be able to play golf well into your nineties if you wish. Most importantly, keep your distance or enhance your distance to stay in the game and compete on the same level as the rest of the senior golf players.