Playing on amateur tours can be a lot of fun and gives us weekend hackers a little taste of competition.  This year on the Golf Galaxy Amateur Tour in Chicago, some of the players were complaining that ringers were playing on the tour.  The problem I had with suggesting there were ringers on the tour is that a ringer, in my mind, is a professional player playing with amateurs.  Now, sometimes a ringer is associated with a collegiate player or a semi-pro.

The so-called "ringers" were single digit handicaps.  Pro's there were not!  They are very good amateur players.  If you don't know about the Golf Galaxy tour, this year 1st place could pay out upwards of over $300 per player.  Not bad, right?  It's enough coin to get the attention of better amateur golfers.  The bottom line was that some of the complainers wanted to win 1st place with a mid to upper 70's score in a best ball format.

The word "ringer" has been abused when referencing good players.  Please look at the big picture.