Unless you've been there, you just don't know what it's like

Editor's note: John Maginnes, a 10-year PGA TOUR veteran who now works as an analyst for the PGA TOUR Network on XM Satellite Radio, has been sharing his expertise on PGATOUR.com. He now tries to try to put into perspective the overwhelming pressure players feel at the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament.

John Maginnes had three top-25 finishes in 2001 on the Nationwide Tour. (Getty)

I used to get asked all the time in pro-ams what it was like to have a putt on the last hole that was worth a lot of money. I always tried to explain to my partners that the emotions in golf are the same at every level.

If you have a putt to win your club championship you feel the same way a player does who has that same putt to win a PGA TOUR event. As a matter of fact, the pro may feel a little bit more at peace than his amateur counterpart because he has prepared himself for that situation. I understand that this is an oversimplification but it is generally true. The emotional parity within the game is the root of golf's popularity.

However, unless you have participated in the PGA TOUR's qualifying school you can never understand how that feels. Until you have put the peg in the ground with all the anonymous hopefuls there are no words that can convey the feeling. Most golf tournaments are just that, tournaments. Most tournaments are not life-changing events, except maybe Ben Curtis winning the British Open. Earning your PGA TOUR card at q-school, though, is a life-changing event. Finishing in the top 20 on the Nationwide Tour money list comes with the same result and, in most ways, is a greater accomplishment but doesn't build to the same climax.

Many writers have tried in vain to express the emotions of qualifying school. Conversations about it, even among the players, fall short as well because of the fundamental nature of the event. There are examples throughout mainstream golf of players succumbing to pressure. Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie at the U.S. Open were this year's most vivid examples. At qualifying school, though, these stories are commonplace because q-school isn't about other players. Q-school is an inner struggle unlike anything I have experienced in my life. Although I never contended in a major I can tell you that the most pressure that I ever felt in golf happened at qualifying school. Unfortunately for players like me, most of the years of my career ended at q-school.

Some of the things that I saw there I still can not believe. Many of the things that I accomplished there I consider my finest moments in golf. I first attended q-school in 1991, the fall after I got out of college. Looking back, I realize that I had no idea what I was doing. I slipped through the first stage without much trouble, and that it the thing that people don't realize about q-school. About 20 percent of the participants at each stage advance to the next round. You do not have to play your best golf, you just have to survive -- and survival is not something that we strive for in golf. As a professional golfer you have to believe that if you bring your best to the course every day you are going to win the golf tournament. In q-school, though, there is the tendency to be cautious. A bit of caution can be a good thing until it leads to being tentative.

I went to the second stage that year at a course called Jacaranda in Fort Lauderdale, and I was paired the first two days with Bruce Zabriski. The reason I remember this so vividly so many years later is because Bruce's caddy was Jim Albus who had won the Ford Senior Players Championship that year. After I advanced from the second stage, Jim pulled me aside and gave me some words of encouragement. I have never forgotten that moment, although the exact words he spoke have faded from memory. What he was trying to convey, though, was that I had my entire career ahead of me. Perseverance is more important than talent.

The finals that year were a predictable failure. At that time in golf, I don't think that players like me, fresh out of college, really thought that we were ready to play on the PGA TOUR. Kids come out of college much more prepared today. Brett Quigley and I were the only two recent college players who made it to the finals that year. It was four qualifying schools later that I finally made it to the PGA TOUR.

In the coming days and weeks I will try to convey some stories from q-schools past. I will tell you about a player making a 9 on the final hole at the second stage yet still advancing to the finals -- and taking several players with him. I will tell you about a current PGA TOUR caddy who missed his card by a shot and never made it to the TOUR as a player. As a caddy, though, he has numerous PGA TOUR victories and several of those really cool Ryder Cup rain suits.

Some of these stories are funny and some are sad. I hope you will enjoy them. Most of all, though, I hope they'll give you a better picture of the angst the guys will be experiencing at q-school over the next three weeks. Boy, am I glad I'm not there.