GOLF:

The amateur golf season usually starts slowly in April and picks up steadily throughout the summer.

The SCGA has several tournaments, including the SCGA mid-Amateur, the Amateur Net, and the SCGA Amateur.

Then there is USGA Events, the U.S. Amateur, Mid-Amateur and U.S. Open qualifying.

Throw in a couple of other prestigious events amateurs look to get into, like the California Amateur and the Stocker Cup, and it can make for one busy summer for a golfer, who has a full-time job.

Besides, Will Tipton has the added dates of the Jones Cup and two country club member championships.

But Tipton, 40, doesn’t have a lot of dates circled on his amateur calendar.

He prefers quality over quantity. Well actually, he has little choice.

Tipton, a Corona del Mar resident, works for a local real estate development firm and unlike someone like, Kemp Richardson, who owns his own business, can’t take time off whenever he needs to.

Plus Tipton has a wife and two small children, so when he isn’t working, his days are pretty full.

Despite all the distractions to his golf game, Tipton has still managed to become one of the area’s best amateur golfers.

He teamed with Newport Beach’s Don DuBois to win the SCGA Foursomes Championship in 2006 and last year he finished second in the Costa Mesa City Championship.

He has been club champion at both Big Canyon and Toscana Country Club, where he is one of 100 or so charter members.

That is why when the SCGA Mid-Amateur was scheduled to be at the Indian Wells private club, where Tipton has won the club championship the last two years, he thought it was an ideal situation, though he didn’t have many expectations.

“I stayed at a friend’s house and didn’t really even think I was going to play past the first two days,” Tipton said. “I ended up having to borrow some of my friend’s clothes.”

Tipton found himself in the last group on the final day and ended up finishing third in the event.

“I played pretty well,” Tipton said. “It is the first time I had played in this event in a long time, so I was happy how I finished.”

Because of the third place finish, Tipton receives exemptions to the State Amateur and the SCGA Amateur, so his golf calendar is going to be fuller than usual.

“I usually pick one big event and play in it,” Tipton said. “I’m happy with the one-a-summer I play.”

Golf is not the obsession it once was when he was on USC’s golf team from 1985-89. Tipton passed on the Jones Cup with Big Canyon last year because he was fulfilling another golf dream.

Through a friend of a friend, Tipton got an invitation to play prestigious Pine Valley. It is one of the most exclusive clubs in the country.

When Tipton got the call he knew where he was going.

“It was like a trip of the century,” Tipton said. “There’s no way I am getting this chance again. I had to go.

“It was a nice 40th birthday present. It’s all that they say it is. I don’t want to say too much, because I want to get invited back.”

If Tipton keeps up his strong, consistent play in local amateur events, he may find more scheduling conflicts for this and future summers.

JOHN REGER’S golf column appears Thursdays.