7 Proven Lessons 3 SCGA Tournaments Taught Me About Competing After 50

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Palm Valley. Desert Falls. Soboba Springs. Three SCGA tournaments, three very different days, and more lessons than I expected.

I did not play perfect golf in any of these rounds. I made doubles. I three-putted my way through a tournament that haunted me for twelve months. I hooked a drive in the rain and stood behind a tree with 168 yards to the green. What these three SCGA tournaments gave me, more than scores or plaques, was a clearer picture of what competitive golf after 50 actually requires.

This is not a recap. Those are published separately. This is what actually stuck.

Lesson 1: Don’t give up. Anything can happen.

This is the thread that runs through every single round.

At Desert Falls, I opened with three over through two holes and finished at 76 — plus one the rest of the way. It is not how you start, it is how you finish. On hole 11, a 501-yard par 5 dogleg right, I caught my driver flush and walked up to find my ball 356 yards from the tee. I had 145 yards to the pin. I pulled my 60-degree, hit a 30-yard pitch, watched it bounce twice — and it dropped straight into the hole. Eagle. On a day that started badly in the rain.

At Soboba Springs, the same thing. My first competitive eagle came on hole 5, a par 5 at 518 yards. That is a hole I do not eagle without fourteen months of Stack System training in my legs. After that eagle, I made birdie on 17 — a 347-yard par 4 — the craftiest shot of the day. Low Gross. Low Net. First place at a golf course that has hosted PGA Tour Champions qualifying and a Korn Ferry Tour event.

The lesson is simple and it is easy to forget in the middle of a bad stretch: stay in it. That is what SCGA tournaments demand. Every hole is a new hole.

Lesson 2: Let the last shot go. Right now.

Soboba Springs has been in my head for a year. Three-putts. Multiple ones, on a course that does not forgive soft mental effort. I carried those putts around for twelve months. They were always somewhere in the back of my mind.

This time, I learned to let it go on the course — not in the parking lot afterward.

At Palm Valley, I shanked a layup OB for a double. Then I made pars. After a triple on a par 3, I did not spiral. I kept playing. I finished with 27 putts, zero three-putts, and nine one-putts. The round was not clean. But the round did not fall apart because of the blow-ups, because I stopped carrying them to the next tee.

At Desert Falls, I hooked my drive on 18 and stood behind a tree. I did not compound the mistake. I took my medicine, hit a pitching wedge to the front of the green, and played from there. One bad swing does not have to become two.

A lot of amateurs — and I have been one of them — let one bad hole become four. You carry the anger to the next tee, start pressing, and suddenly 78 becomes 85. The skill is not avoiding bad shots. The skill is what you do in the ten seconds after them.

Lesson 3: The speed training shows up in competition.

I train with the Stack System because I want longer drives that hold up under pressure. After fourteen months, I can tell you: it works, and it shows up in SCGA tournaments when it counts.

Desert Falls, hole 11: 356 yards. That drive does not happen at 89 miles per hour, which is where I started.

Palm Valley: six measured drives averaged 284.5 yards with a long of 298. On hole 14, a par 5 at 538 yards, I hit a 298-yard drive, pulled 3-wood, caught it flush, and had eighteen feet for eagle. The distance I have added is the reason that hole became a birdie opportunity at all.

Soboba, hole 5: the eagle. Par 5, 518 yards, and I got home in two. That shot is the whole point of the program. You can read my full training journey on the Speed Training page.

I am not saying every long drive is a Stack drive. What I am saying is that when the distance shows up in competition — not on a launch monitor, not on the range, but in a real scored round — that is validation you cannot manufacture.

Lesson 4: Know the course. Course management is a stroke.

One thing SCGA tournaments will expose fast is poor course management. Desert Falls has water off the tee on hole 10. I knew that from the previous year. I forgot it in the moment and hit it in the water. That is a stroke I gave back for no reason other than a memory lapse.

On hole 18, I had a tree blocking my line. I was not confident I could carry it with a 9-iron, so I went with a full pitching wedge to the front of the green. That is the right decision. Take what the situation gives you instead of trying to be a hero. The lesson is not just to know the course — it is to trust your honest assessment of what you can actually execute when it matters.

Lesson 5: Your pre-round routine is a competitive advantage.

I go to Starbucks the morning of a tournament. I do fifteen minutes of yoga on my foam mat to warm up. It sounds simple, and maybe it is. But it is mine, and it works.

On tournament days, my mind is already in a settled place before I hit the first tee. I am not scrambling, not rushed, not stiff. The fifteen minutes of yoga is not about flexibility — it is about arriving at the first hole in a state I recognize. It keeps me focused, and focus compounds over eighteen holes.

If you do not have a pre-round routine, build one. Keep it consistent. The variables in SCGA tournaments are already enormous — your routine should not be one of them.

Lesson 6: Embrace the conditions. Everyone plays the same course.

Desert Falls was played in the rain. My plantar fasciitis flared up. My driver felt constricted in my rain jacket — note to self: practice a few swings with the jacket on before you step up to the tee in foul weather, because it affects your swing more than you expect.

Here is what I kept reminding myself: the rain falls on everyone. If you are complaining about the weather, you are burning energy that could go toward your next shot. If you embrace it — rain gloves, a rain cover on your bag, stay loose, accept the conditions — you have a real edge over the player who is still thinking about how wet his grips are.

Also: Stableford scoring changes the calculus. In a net Stableford format, a par is a good score. Do not chase. Take your points and move on. Understanding the scoring format is part of competing well.

Lesson 7: Soboba Springs is legitimate. So is showing up there.

Soboba Springs has been a pre-qualifier for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. It hosted PGA Tour Champions qualifying in 2025. It ran the Soboba Springs Classic, a past Korn Ferry Tour event. It is a hard golf course on a hot day — I played in 90-plus degree heat. A cooling towel around your neck between holes is not optional out there, it is survival.

Winning low gross and low net there, on that course, in that heat, after a year of carrying three-putts in my memory — that meant something. Not because of the trophy, but because of what it confirmed: the training is working, the mental game is improving, and I belong out there competing.

That matters.

Three SCGA tournaments. Seven proven lessons. The ones worth remembering are not about swing mechanics. They are about what happens between shots, between holes, and between tournaments — when you decide whether you are actually building something or just playing golf on the weekends.

I am building something.