Tournament Preview: 2022 Massachusetts Mid-Am Qualifier`

August 8th, 2022 | Hopkinton Country Club

It’s now been two and a half weeks since my last competitive round and I am itching to get back out there. July was an incredibly busy month with a lot of golf and I was happy to get a mini-break, but I think it is a good sign that I am desperate to compete again.

From a practice perspective, I’ve made the most of this little break. I’ve put in a ton of hours focused on getting back to the basics of golf. I had a bit of “come to Jesus” moment after the New England Am (actually, during that event) that I was just not doing myself any favors with the inconsistency and lack of focus on how I was getting ready to hit the ball. This sounds really silly … and for those of you reading who aren’t necessarily golfers, I can understand why you might think “umm you’re literally standing still before you swing, how can you not do it correctly?” … but consistency in setup is hard and something even the best pros in the world have to work at every day.

I’ve been able to do just that the last couple of weeks (in addition to slowing myself down throughout my practice sessions in an effort to put extreme focus into every single shot I hit) and it has me in a really good spot. I am the most confident I’ve ever been standing over the ball in all three phases of the game (full swing, short game, putting).

Now, the question is … will it all translate to competitive golf? We’ll find out on Monday when I attempt to qualify for the Mass Mid-Am Proper.

The Mid-Am portion of the schedule is nice because you get rid of those pesky high school and college kids from the field (no jobs, no kids, no real responsibility … little b@stards … kidding!) and compete instead against guys who are at least 25 years old (the designated cut off to be considered a “mid-am”) and play golf as a secondary endeavor. I like the mid-am stuff not just because it has historically been a bit easier to compete successfully, but you get a chance to play with guys who are a little easier to connect with. Most guys have families and have worked for a number of years so it makes for easier conversation out there. Sometimes with the younger kids, I find myself getting frustrated with how “cool” they are trying to be (which by the way was TOTALLY me when I was that age so I get it).

The Event

Tournament: 2022 Massachusetts Mid-Am Qualifier
Golf Course: Hopkinton Country Club
Location: Hopkinton, MA
Live Scoring: Link Here

This is an 18-hole qualifier for the Mass Mid-Am Proper taking place at Marlborough Country Club in late September. No different from the Mass Open, Mass Am, and New England Am qualifiers I made it through successfully earlier this year … the goal is to just survive and advance. The qualifier is simple stroke play … lowest score wins.

This year, the top twelve (plus ties) qualify for the Mid-Am proper. Looking back at some previous year’s scores at different qualifying sites, that probably means that shooting three-over (74 at Hopkinton CC) gets you through to the finals. If wind picks up a bit (and it does look like it will be gusty), that might go to four-over.

The Course

The first word that came to mind after playing my practice round at Hopkinton CC was “quirky”. The course is situated on a hill with the holes near the peak of the hill (in the middle of the property) being fairly “standard” and the holes around the edges on the lower part of the property being a bit quirkier. There are six blind tee shots (always a bit disconcerting) and a handful approach shots where you can’t see where the ball has ended up. You’re also forced to play in and around a number of different doglegs which force you to be strategic about the clubs you hit off the tee.

At just over 6800 yards and a par of 71, the course is not crazy-long on paper, but you’re really only able to hit driver on eight of the fourteen par 4’s and 5’s (and even that is a little aggressive) so it plays longer than the card because you’re hitting shorter clubs off tees. I personally like that because long-iron play is a strength of my game and it will be a relative advantage. The par 5’s are all scorable with good tee shots and the par 3’s are varied with one playing over 230 yards and two under 150 yards.

The course is REALLY dry right now due to the drought and they were watering the sh*t out of it when I was there for my practice round. That could mean one of two things come tournament time … they either play it super safe and continue to saturate the course (meaning greens and fairways will be slow) or they hold off on the water, let it dry out, and get it hard and fast. If I had to guess, I would say they’ll keep it soft just to preserve the course for the membership … but we shall see. If it gets hard and fast, scores will absolutely go up.

The Field

I’ll keep this short … I barely recognize anyone here. This sometimes happens with Mid-am events because the usual college kids that play everything aren’t allowed to play. Most of the time though you’ll get some of the older amateur stalwarts at your qualifying site … but doesn’t seem to be the case this year. Doesn’t mean these guys I’m competing against can’t play, just means I’m not familiar with who is good and who isn’t from this group of players.

The Preparation

I alluded to it earlier, but I’ve spent a solid two weeks focused on the absolute basics of the golf swing, and it’s probably been the best golf I’ve ever played (at least in a practice setting).

In addition to the range work, I’ve played eighteen holes twice (shot 69 both times in tough conditions) and nine holes twice (one of which I shot a 5-under 30 on the front nine of The Ridge) … so I’m confident the practice work is going to carry over to the course. With that said, tournament golf is a different beast and you just never know … but I'm at least doing all of the right things to improve my performance on-course.

The practice round I played at Hopkinton CC last week was also incredibly valuable. This is not a course you want to have to play blind and I learned a lot going around there. Specifically, I learned I can be slightly more aggressive than I thought on some of the blind doglegs where I hit a lot of 4-irons off tees but there is room for something a bit longer (hybrid or 3-wood).

My body also feels good right now. I was pretty sore after playing so many rounds of golf in that crazy 15 day stretch in early July … but feeling good now and I’ve put in a lot of stretching and off-course fitness work.

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Kaylie is going to come out and watch on Monday so hopefully we can get some good photos and videos of the round that I’ll post to my instagram (@hazardsascent).

We are also leaving for a mini-vacation (I’m still playing a ton of golf so I’m not slacking!!) on Tuesday morning, but I’ll still aim to get a round recap up at some point later in the week. From there, it will be total focus on Q-School coming up at the end of the month.

I got a really great response from y’all on my Q-School post, really appreciate the love and support … thank you thank you. Don’t hesitate to reach out (colin@hazardsascent.com) or just reply to this mail if you want to chat.

Keep climbing y’all!