3-round tournaments vs 4-round tournaments

[Jaysauls]

Just taking 'the pulse' of tournament players on what you prefer. For me, hands-down 4-round tournaments. If I'm driving hours to play and investing in motel rooms, gas, food etc, by golly I want the FULL experience. I ALWAYS fall apart one round and need the other 3 to carry me! Plus, what I lack in ability, I excel in stamina. So I need the 4th round to make that final push up the leader board. And tournaments aren't getting cheaper, so why are we playing less golf? Just curious as to what folks think.

 

[scarpfish]

Often depends on the tournament and the course. If the event has traditionally been a four rounder, I'd just as soon it stay that way. That being said, when you're a travelling player, there's something to be said about being done by 3pm on Sunday.

 

[Discette]

Just taking 'the pulse' of tournament players on what you prefer. For me, hands-down 4-round tournaments. If I'm driving hours to play and investing in motel rooms, gas, food etc, by golly I want the FULL experience. I ALWAYS fall apart one round and need the other 3 to carry me! Plus, what I lack in ability, I excel in stamina. So I need the 4th round to make that final push up the leader board. And tournaments aren't getting cheaper, so why are we playing less golf? Just curious as to what folks think.

Well, I don't live in your area, but I prefer three rounds so I can hit the road early Sunday afternoon and get home at a reasonable hour. I avoid out of town events that end late on Sunday for this reason.

However, I would expect an A-Tier event to have four rounds, B-Tier to be 3 or 4 rounds and a C-Tier to be only two rounds (preferable only one day).

 

[biscoe]

Depends almost entirely on the course. On a big course I definitely prefer 3 rounds to 4.

 

[DavidSauls]

Generally speaking, anything less than 4 rounds feels a little incomplete to me.

But nowadays, with limited time, I'm a little more accepting of that trade-off than I used to be.

And there are other considerations: If that final round is 24 or 27 holes, it might suffice. Or if it's on a long and epic course.

One drawback to the single round on Sunday is that, if I played badly on Saturday and am way off the pace, it means possibly staying overnight, and going back the next day, for a pointless last round, since the event is already 2/3 over. In a 4-round event, the tournament's only half-over, and there's more chance for redemption.

One other thought: there used to be two tournaments in South Carolina that were 3 rounds---one on Saturday, two on Sunday.
The original Charleston Classics at Hampton Park (a terrific temp course) started Saturday afternoon, so you could drive in that morning, even from a distance, and practice the course if you wanted to. The S.C. Flying Disc Championships at Crooked Creek, at one time, started Saturday morning but then had Saturday afternoon for field events, back when that sort of thing was done, which were optional; you could participate in them, or do something else (i.e., attend a college football game). In both cases, Saturday was an appetizer, with the bulk of competition remaining for Sunday.

 

[cheesethin]

I have limited tourney experience, but, I'm with you. If I'm committing a whole weekend anyway, and all the travel, hotels etc, I want to play lots of golf. Only one Sunday round feels like I'm being short changed. It's all over a bit too quick.

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[roggenb3]

I don't think I've ever even heard of a tournament more than 3 rounds besides Worlds and huge events like that. All the A tiers around here are 3 rounds.

I would enjoy 4, if it was close to me. But with, say, a 3 hr drive afterwards and work Monday morning, no thanks.

 

[DavidSauls]

4 rounds have been common around here, since I started almost 25 years ago. Even for some C-tiers.

Keep in mind that we have a lot of shorter courses...and a lot of courses, so a 3-hour drive is a pretty distant location. You could play almost every weekend, without having to drive that far.

 

[roggenb3]

4 rounds have been common around here, since I started almost 25 years ago. Even for some C-tiers.

Keep in mind that we have a lot of shorter courses...and a lot of courses, so a 3-hour drive is a pretty distant location. You could play almost every weekend, without having to drive that far.

I've never seen anything more than 3 rounds in WI, besides Am Worlds. Maybe there are, and they are just events I don't play?

A 2-3 hour drive is pretty typical for any big event in WI.
Anything up north is 4+ hrs from the 2 biggest cities.

 

[DavidSauls]

If not clear, I was speaking of "we" here in South Carolina. A regional difference, that might explain the prevalence of 4-round events here, as opposed to certain other regions.

 

[Smigles]

I like the 3 days, 3 rounds format with golfstart.

Yesterday i played an event in the swiss alps, 3 rounds in one day on a steep mountain course. We played from 9 to 14:30 before lunch and continued playing till almost 18:00. I am broken. Will not do this again. This is not supposed to be an endurance sport.

 

[Streets]

I played a 3 round tournament for the first time a two weekends ago. It was held at a larger course (27 permanent holes and 9 temps for the tourney). Played two 18 hole rounds day 1 and then the 27 permanent holes on Sunday. I felt like I got my money's worth. I had roughly a 1 hour drive to the course.

 

[JC17393]

I like the 3 days, 3 rounds format with golfstart.

Yesterday i played an event in the swiss alps, 3 rounds in one day on a steep mountain course. We played from 9 to 14:30 before lunch and continued playing till almost 18:00. I am broken. Will not do this again. This is not supposed to be an endurance sport.

Funny, I strongly dislike the 3 days, 3 rounds format. I have no issues with it at the elite level where many of the participants are playing tournaments for a living, but I find it entirely incompatible with more localized tournaments where the vast majority of participants have regular jobs. Unfortunately (IMO), it's starting to crop up more and more for tournaments that have no realistic expectation of drawing in *name* players other than the usual local *names*. And on courses that are not particularly grueling or difficult to play twice in a day. Just strikes me as an inefficient use of time.

Three rounds in one day is actually more appealing to me, but it still has to be on the right course(s) and with an appropriate number of players in the field. It can be reasonably done with 54 players on a 5000-6000 foot course...overkill to do it with 90 players on an 8000+ foot course.

To the OP question, I'm in favor of more golf for my time. If I'm committing two days to play, I'd rather play four rounds than three. However, depending on where the tournament is and how far I have to travel to get to it, I can certainly appreciate playing one round and getting on the road on Sunday. But if I'm within 2 hours of home, I can deal with getting back at 7 or 8pm instead of 3pm.

 

[ScottyLove]

Fri-Sun 1 per day is awesome... 2 on Sat and 1 on Sun is awesome. 4 rounds just finished too lated. I play all over the country and travel more than most and I don't feel cheated in the least. I go for the experience and the good time more than the golf. I need to get back home at some point... so I really don't like a late Sunday round and getting home after midnight.

My $0.02.

 

[DavidSauls]

I guess it's just as well that TDs have latitude to format their events in many different ways. With the great growth of the tournament scene, hopefully everyone can find a timetable that suits them.

 

[jvphobic]

I am sure that everything is regional. But personally, for a B-tier I prefer 1 day (2 round) events. I will take a 2 day B-tier if it is a fantastic course and destination.

I like A-tiers being 2 days or 3 days. But I doubt I would ever attend a 4 day A-tier, unless it was tied into a NT/DGPT event.

 

[araytx]

I don't think I've ever even heard of a tournament more than 3 rounds besides Worlds and huge events like that. All the A tiers around here are 3 rounds.

I would enjoy 4, if it was close to me. But with, say, a 3 hr drive afterwards and work Monday morning, no thanks.

Wow.

When I started playing competitively, not too much different from when you did, two-day tournaments were typically 4 round events, with 2 each day. It has evolved to fewer (imho) recently. It may have been tied to the pretty standard, around 54 SSA, what we today call "shorter" course.

That being said, I now would say that I prefer getting on the road Sunday afternoon. Having a demanding job is always gonna be a factor.