Spokane Area’s Pro-Am Has Its Cons

For years the Pro-Am golf series played on Mondays around the Spokane area was put on for the benefit of the amateur golfer. The past couple of years, it has changed dramatically for the low- to mid-handicap player.

Under the old format, amateurs were awarded points according to the scores they shot in the tournaments. At the end of the year, the top 10 amateur point-getters in the low-handicap division would play the top 10 golf professionals in the pro division. This year-end event was held at Spokane Country Club, followed by a dinner and awards.

This event was looked on by the low- and mid-handicap players as a very special occasion. It was our reward for supporting the professionals in the Pro-Am series. Today’s new format leaves many questions. This format consists of the top five amateurs with the best scoring average after playing in 10 pro-ams. The other five players are chosen by an amateur who apparently has been appointed by the professionals to choose the rest of the team. The players that are chosen are usually players that do not play in the Pro-Am series. This new format has come about because some of the professionals do not believe that the top 10 amateurs in the old format are competitive enough for the pros to play. It is my belief that the Pro-Am series was started with the amateur golfer in mind, not for the professionals to have competition in the matches at the end of the year. You could hand-pick the 10 best amateurs in the city and they could not beat the professionals 99 times out of 100.

In the old format, the amateurs worked very hard for their points so they could make the team at the end of the year. Now, the last five amateurs are hand-picked whether they all played in even one Pro-Am. It doesn’t seem right that you could go all year without playing in any Pro-Ams and get picked just because the “designated amateur” has the power to choose who he wants to choose. It seems that the professionals have lost sight of what this event is all about. It is about rewarding the amateurs for their support in this event over the year. So what if the bottom five amateurs are not as competitive as the upper five? At least they played in the Pro-Am series to support the event. They deserve to be rewarded.

The professionals need to go back to the old format and reward the amateurs for their support. After all, if it weren’t for amateur golfers, professionals would be in a different career.