In 1996 Gary was sitting on the veranda at Doral having lunch after his round. He was at a table with a number of players, including Dennis Paulson. At the time Gary was developing his idea about a Saturday pro-am, and he got the table talking about pro-am formats. None of the players liked the standard one or two best ball of foursome format employed by most of the TOUR tournaments. One of their chief criticisms was that if a team got off to a slow start the team would realize that they were out of the competition and the day lost much of the fun competitive atmosphere for that group. The other problem with the standard format was that because the teams could only count one birdie per hole there were times when more than one birdie would be made on a hole and birdies were “wasted” because they couldn’t be counted. The TOUR players around that table agreed that making every birdie count would make for a better format.
The TOUR pros also talked at length about different ways to speed up the pace of play in pro-ams. They all agreed that one of the biggest factors contributing to slow play was when their amateur partners continued to play out holes when their score couldn’t help the team.
The Saturday Series Pro-Am employs a format where par is your partner and every net birdie and eagle counts –and you can’t make worse than par. This format allows members of the team to pick up once par is out of the question and lend their support to the members of the team who are still in the hole for a net birdie or better. One point is awarded for a birdie and two for an eagle.
The Saturday Series Pro-Am format is fast and fun. And, it keeps your team in the game because one good hole can turn the day around.
For example, in 2002 Gary joined a group as its second TOUR pro for the day. The group and its first TOUR player had struggled a bit on the front nine and had only racked up 3 points. The group was pretty depressed, but Gary convinced them there was still hope. Gary put a point on that argument by making eagle on the next hole. The eagle provided the spark and the group started making birdies like crazy. They picked up 4 points on #11 and 3 more points on #12. The 13 th was a par five and the group took full advantage of the opportunity and walked off that hole with 7 more points. Gary did his part for the rest of that back nine, carding a seven under 29, and the team kept making birdies. The team picked up a Saturday Series Pro-Am record 28 points on the back nine!!! Even better, their 31 total points was good enough to win by one shot! |
