Some day I hope I am that good

[Ballgofarboy]

you know it is interesting to see a 9 HCP playing a pro Am 4 days for a course set up for the Pros to play and under green conditions that you normally don't see. I mean when the Pro plays to 10 under that is pretty good. When you beat your Pro by 11 strokes, wow, you should consider a career move!

 

Perhaps professional bagger :dntknw: I mean, really, you shoot how many under your HCP? 5 under each day or there abouts. Something is not quite right with this picture. If your HCP is your potential and is a counting of your best 10 of your last 20 with a percentage of that in play, HMMMM, someone had a really hot week. OR they are a pretty legit 4 HCP .

[Guia]

They don't play the same tees.

[tbarlow11]

[quote name='Guia' timestamp='1391997287' post='8633123']
They don't play the same tees.
[/quote]

Regardless, handicap stroke allocation is most likely adjusted based on the slope rating from those tees. Is it lower? Probably. Is it much lower? Probably not.

OP: You also have to realize that, while they are playing a typical round of golf, it's the better ball of partners. So when the amateur makes a bogey, it's usually not counted due to the pro's par. And, often the amateur's birdies are normally gross pars for net birdies.

I'm not sure who you're specifically referring to, and I didn't pay much attention to the pro-am results as I did the regular professional results, just really followed highlights of guys I particularly knew and wanted to watch.

[HiSpeed48]

Also they make adjustments to the handicaps based on other factors, such as recent frequency of play. For example, I bet the NFL guys play a lot in the spring and summer but get very rust in the fall and winter, so the tournament organizers add some strokes to account for that.

[martinbns]

You are seeing very busy avid golfers play in some of these Pro-ams, if they played regularly and practised they would be really good.

I suspect when they know they are going to be on National TV, they practise way more than they normally would.

It seems unreal to me that my handicap is lower than Wayne Gretzky's, that guy probably has the best eye/hand coordination for a stick game in the history of the world but plays to an 11. Can only be he hardly ever plays, and never practises.

[BrianL99]

[quote name='Ballgofarboy' timestamp='1391994267' post='8632653']
you know it is interesting to see a 9 HCP playing a pro Am 4 days for a course set up for the Pros to play and under green conditions that you normally don't see. I mean when the Pro plays to 10 under that is pretty good. When you beat your Pro by 11 strokes, wow, you should consider a career move!

Perhaps professional bagger I mean, really, you shoot how many under your HCP? 5 under each day or there abouts. Something is not quite right with this picture. If your HCP is your potential and is a counting of your best 10 of your last 20 with a percentage of that in play, HMMMM, someone had a really hot week. OR they are a pretty legit 4 HCP .
[/quote]

The AT&T has a history of the worse sandbagging you could imagine. It's been going on for 30 years. There have been episodes where guys have packed their handicaps 10-12 and even more strokes, in the run up to the tournament.

DO NOT believe any handicaps you see at PGA Tour Pro Ams, especially at the AT&T.

(At the Outback Pro Am a few years ago (Sr. Tour), I watched an Am who played with a friend of mine. On every single hole, without exception, he out drove the 2 Pros in the group. He was 20 yards longer and much straighter than either of them. I think he shot something like 73/74 on a TPC course, set up for the Tour. He was playing with a 6 Index.)

[deadsolid...shank]

The guy who won the AM portion had a really nice looking move for a nine handicap.

[lumberman2462]

I played in a Pro-Am last fall with a guy who had a 10 handicap. He naturally birdied every par 5 on day 1 and his "pickup/blowup" holes just happened to be when his Pro was sitting about 3 feet for birdie. It was well coordinated.

[cardoustie]

yup, it is all about hamming and egging it

The Gretzky Nationwide one I played in had my team at -11 after day 1 and my pro was 1 or 2 under. We were 4 back after that day, I think Wayne's wife was winning or it was someone else who's pro had shot 62 (10 under). Only 5 teams got to play on the weekend so it was a bummer we didn't play as well on day 2.

I was off a 5 and made 5 birdies for a 73. To be fair some of the pars were picked up three footers when the pro had the par already.
Two of them for net eagles, The par 5's were playing too short (I remember hitting a GW into one of them)

[DavePelz4]

For the first round of the AT&T...

Payton Manning played off a 7 and his index is 4.5.
Chris Berman played off an 18 (the highest allowed) and his index is 14.2.
Don Cheadle played off as a 13 and his index is 8.5.
Toby Wilt, last year's winner, played off as a 6 and his index is 8.2.
Ray Romano played off as a 17 and his index is 14.8.

Knowing that this is an extremely expensive pro-am to play in, I'm sure there is scrutinization/handicap look up to insure players are competing on relative terms.

[2putttom]

[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1392054054' post='8637271']
For the first round of the AT&T...

Payton Manning played off a 7 and his index is 4.5.
Chris Berman played off an 18 (the highest allowed) and his index is 14.2.
Don Cheadle played off as a 13 and his index is 8.5.
Toby Wilt, last year's winner, played off as a 6 and his index is 8.2.
Ray Romano played off as a 17 and his index is 14.8.

Knowing that this is an extremely expensive pro-am to play in, I'm sure there is scrutinization/handicap look up to insure players are competing on relative terms.
[/quote]Wow! they only gave Berman 4 strokes?

[Ballgofarboy]

[quote name='tbarlow11' timestamp='1392016164' post='8634889']
[quote name='Guia' timestamp='1391997287' post='8633123']
They don't play the same tees.
[/quote]

Regardless, handicap stroke allocation is most likely adjusted based on the slope rating from those tees. Is it lower? Probably. Is it much lower? Probably not.

OP: You also have to realize that, while they are playing a typical round of golf, it's the better ball of partners. So when the amateur makes a bogey, it's usually not counted due to the pro's par. And, often the amateur's birdies are normally gross pars for net birdies.

I'm not sure who you're specifically referring to, and I didn't pay much attention to the pro-am results as I did the regular professional results, just really followed highlights of guys I particularly knew and wanted to watch.
[/quote]

Am makes a bogey or not, if the Team is -31 and the pro is -10 that only leaves his Am partner to make up the other 21 strokes for the team.

[DavePelz4]

[quote name='2putttom' timestamp='1392055987' post='8637527']
[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1392054054' post='8637271']
For the first round of the AT&T...

Payton Manning played off a 7 and his index is 4.5.
Chris Berman played off an 18 (the highest allowed) and his index is 14.2.
Don Cheadle played off as a 13 and his index is 8.5.
Toby Wilt, last year's winner, played off as a 6 and his index is 8.2.
Ray Romano played off as a 17 and his index is 14.8.

Knowing that this is an extremely expensive pro-am to play in, I'm sure there is scrutinization/handicap look up to insure players are competing on relative terms.
[/quote]Wow! they only gave Berman 4 strokes?
[/quote]

Please don't take this as gospel as I can't confirm it but there is some "consideration" for the recent frequency of play. For Berman Tom, I'm not sure that they could give him enough strokes to really make a difference.

[FairwaysToHeaven]

i'm not saying that sandbagging didn't happen at Pebble this past weekend....but as another mentioned finishing the day -8 for the team while the pro shot -4, does not mean the amateur finished -4 net. it means that the amateur birdied 4 holes net that the pro shot par or better. all this would take would be for the amateur to par 4 holes that he was getting a stroke on while the pro shot par or worse on those 4 holes. the amateur could've shot 95 for the day and still helped significantly by playing well on the right holes.

it would be a pretty big coincidence to do this each day over 4 days, but hard to tell without them releasing that actual gross score of amateur, yet this really can't be done as many amateurs pick up once they can't help the team.