How different is tournament golf? These are the 7 mistakes I made

Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers is on a one-year mission to see how good he can get at golf through daily training, practice and playing. Read more from his “Late Scratch? ” series here .

Ben Hogan famously said, “Golf and tournament golf are about as different as tennis and ice hockey. ” And after playing in a recent tournament, I can confirm he was onto something. Having never played competitive golf on any official level, I’m still a novice at tournament golf.

Sure, I have my annual buddies trips, which bring out more nerves than I’d like to admit, but as I found out at a recent Metropolitan Golf Association Public Links qualifier that also doubled as the Westchester Golf Association Publinks Championship, this is a whole other level. In the days since I posted a humbling 85 at Hudson Hills Golf Course, I’ve continually flip-flopped over whether to call the experiment a success or failure. I did finish right in the middle of the pack (T-26 of the 54 players who teed it up) on a day of high scores while battling to par six of my last eight holes.

But I also shot what had to be my worst opening nine in decades and lamented that it only would have taken a 78—a score I’ve bettered there many times—to advance. What I am sure of, however, is that I made a lot of avoidable mistakes. So I’m going to try to avoid doing these seven things the next time I try playing tournament golf—and I suggest you do as well.