2014 WORLD AMATEUR HANDICAP CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW

Scene from 2013 World Am

Wanting redemption and getting it are two quite different things, but I am hoping that the two will converge over the next week in Myrtle Beach. That’s right, a year of waiting for redemption (one needs redemption after choking, doesn’t one?) is finally just about over! The World Amateur Handicap Championship (World Am) kicks off this coming Monday (8/25), and the course assignments have been made (see below).

Steph- my favorite photographer

Steph and I will likely be on the way or in Myrtle Beach by the time you get this, and we fully intend to bore you with our escapades over the next week…unless of course you opt out by sending us an email to cease and desist. My verbiage might get a bit dull, but the courses we play are usually beautiful and Steph does a fantastic job of capturing that beauty. Give us a look see before sending that cease and desist order, huh?

June Wang
2007 World Am Champion

In case you don’t know what the World Am is, it is probably the world’s largest golf tournament, featuring 3405 players at last count for this year’s 31^st edition of the event. One of the very cool things about golf is that players of varied abilities can compete in the same event, using the United States Golf Association’s (USGA) Handicap System. Theoretically, anyone can win this thing, and in fact, a woman with a 27.5 handicap index won it in 2007!

This year there are 76 flights, with six of these being women’s, 10 of them men over 70, 25 flights of men age 60-69, 21 flights in my age group (50-59), 13 of men under 49, and one “Gross” flight, which means no handicap involved. 

First time atop a leaderboard!

Holding up the Championship Trophy in this event, as I’m planning on doing, is quite a feat! In my flight (#25) alone, there are 44 players from 25 states and four countries. Last year I led my flight after Day 2, before the third round derailed me and the fourth round dismantled me (finished 4^th).

World Am 2013- Opening day at Tiger's Eye

Our flight, being a “senior” flight, will be playing white tees on the first three days and blues on the final day of flight competition. Of course they saved the longest course for last, but I’m not sure whether it will be the best or the hardest. Only teeing it up will tell me that.

Day 1 we’ll be teeing it up at Pearl Golf Links, East (6091 yards, 69.7/122) in Calabash, North Carolina, about 45 minutes north of where we will be staying (Gazebo Inn). Nothing like waking up to ocean sounds with your favorite person in the world and knowing that all you have to do is go play golf. Too bad I have to work for a living the rest of the year :)!

T. A. & Nolan Henke at Cypress Lake Country Club

The Pearl promises to be no picnic to start the event, so I’m hoping those tips I got from Nolan Henke (Touring Pro at Cypress Lake Country Club), Sean Balliet (Head Pro at The Hideaway Country Club), and playing partner Chris Capps will pay off from the first tee.

Willbrook Plantation- photo courtesy of website

The fun continues on Day 2 at Willbrook Plantation (6292 yards, 70.3/129) on Pawley’s Island, the south end of the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand, about 32 minutes in the other direction. Given the accolades this track has received, I can’t wait to swing the sticks on this old plantation of rice! Let’s just hope it treats us nice. Hitting it straight off the tee appears to be a premium on this course, and if I can manage to do that, perhaps we’ll have some more Day-2 good news.

I hope to have a better Day-3 performance on the Hackler Course (6305 yards, 71.1/125) at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, than I did last year at TPC Myrtle Beach (click here for last year’s debacle). A mere 20 minutes to the northwest for this day’s play will seem like a quick jaunt compared to the first two days, but the course rating suggests that this might be the most difficult of the tracks we’ll play.

Oyster Bay at Legends- photo courtesy of website

The final day of flight competition will be at the Oyster Bay course (6325 yards, 69.8/130) at the Legends Golf & Resort in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, another 45-minute journey north. 

Stoneybrook Golf Course

I don’t think the fact that this course is the longest we’ll play will influence the play as much as the island greens and massive bunkers. The course description promises some treacherous greens for the final day of flight play. Hopefully time spent at Old Corkscrew, Verandah’s Whispering Oaks, and Stoneybrook will pay off.  

Okay, that’s the lineup for the World Am, but prior to that Monday morning start, we’ll be teeing it up on Sunday in The Duel at Dye Club, a one-day tournament on the course that will host the championship round of the World Am. We figure it would be good to get some tourney practice on the course I plan to play in the championship round on Friday. How about that for positive thinking?

Anyway, according to the Club’s website, The Dye Club at Barefoot Resort & Golf  won the 2013 Myrtle Beach “Course of the Year” award and also was named the 2013 SC Golf Course of the Year by the South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association Board of Directors. Bottom line is that this is a course to play, and we’ll be there on Sunday before the World Am begins. Let’s hope for good things right off the bat!

Mike Thompson & playing partner at 2013 World Am

Okay, that’s it for the prelims. We’ll be back with you Sunday night with photos and results of the first competitive round of the trip at The Dye Club. Don’t forget, let us know if you don’t want to be included. Hey Michael, Chip, you guys ready? Grip it and Rip it!  

T.  A. & Steph