who has actually played with a legit scratch golfer/pro level player?

[ThinkingPlus]

Practically every time I tee it up, I'm playing with other scratch or below golfers or tour pros. scratch/below golfers and pros tend to play golf together, for the most part....

Obes, you are so lucky. If it isn't a state tournament I never play with anyone near scratch, much less pro level. That is one of the reasons I play at least one tournament with the kids each year. I get torched, but it is a fun 3 days of golf with some real good players.

 

Bummer. Why is that? Are there just not very many scratch/below guys where you play?

The women's groups down here have a few high single digits, but that is it. I can probably arrange some rounds with the local college girls, but that feels a little like I might be interfering with their golf season now that they are back in school. There is a lady pro in the area, but I haven't crossed paths yet. Just not alot to work with. I suspect it will get better the longer we are here (just moved here in January).

[andrue]

I played nine holes with our ex-pro, Mark McGeehan. He's a pro- currently competing on circuit I believe. I've also played with Tom Jones (no, not the singer) but I think he'd basically retired at the time.

 

What I noticed:

* They hit the ball a long way - but I've known amateurs that could do that.

* They are very accurate with their approaches.

* Most interestingly:Although their drives can be wayward they are are remarkably good at getting out of trouble. In situations where I'd struggle just to get the ball back into play they almost ignore the problem and continue progressing toward the green almost as if they were in the fairway.

[Hit em good]

I love to play with these type of players. I'm amazed at the level these guys can play at. My lowest cap was 4.9's, and I was light years away from a scratch player's skill level at that point.

 

I've played long enough that I maintain my 6 cap, on cruise control. I don't have to practice to maintain it, although I enjoy practice. I don't think I could lower my cap without making a swing change, or other type of change to my game. I think I've pretty much optimized my game at my current level.

 

Hit em good

[BenSeattle]

It's often been said that the difference between a Tour player and a scratch golfer is very much like the difference between a scratch golfer and a 15-handicapper. In other words, there's a WORLD of difference.

 

18 years ago while on my honeymoon in Mexico, I paired up with a Canadian professional who was looking for a teaching job one of the resorts. He was a fine player but he said that he had played a lot of golf with Mike Weir -- long before Weir hit the Tour -- and apparently the difference in their games was ridiculous. The pro said that Weir's game, even back then, was so flawless and so efficient that you barely noticed he was shooting 65 virtually every time out.

 

That's the thing about the excellent players with whom I've bee paired: they hit it longer than you and sometimes by a lot but they're always in or near the fairway. (OB? Water balls? Never.) They flush second shots on the green, usually in the 15 to 30 foot range so it's easy to bang out 6 or 8 unspectacular pars in a row. Ball in the sand? Up and down. Now and then they'll roll in a 10 footer or make birdies on 2 or 3 par-fives. Bingo... a very quiet 67. Meanwhile, I'm playing spectacular golf to just shoot 75. Sigh....

[wrmiller]

Speaking of perception:

 

I have always been amazed at what skill level the average weekend player considers 'good enough to be on tour'.

 

The last time for me was playing up in CO at my favorite course. I was a single of course, so got paired up with a couple of nice older guys riding together in a cart.

 

We were on the 9th hole, a slightly uphill dogleg right par 4. My cut shot off the tee didn't, so I'm just out of the fairway on the left and on a bit of a slope with the ball a bit above my feet. I'm getting ready to hit when the old guys drive up. One of the guys asked me "why aren't you on tour somewhere?" He said that they have watched me hit high shots, low shots, left-to-right shots, and right-to-left shots. At that time I think I was one under. A decent score for me, but not great at all for a good stick.

 

I looked at them and said that the difference between my game and that of someone on a 'tour somewhere' is about the same as the difference between their game and mine (they were probably between a 10-15 if I had to guess). I then described what a pro would be looking at for this next shot:

 

Elevated green (blind shot from where I am), kidney shaped right to left with the pin tucked in the back left (sucker pin), that would benefit from a high soft draw that lands about 3/4 of the way back and releases towards the hole. Over was dead.

 

Then miraculously, I proceeded to hit the very shot I just described, and looked over to the guys and said "kinda like that". Both guys now had their mouth hanging open. When we got to the green, we could see that indeed the ball had landed short of the pin and released to about 7'. I was a bit surprised that I managed to pull that shot off with the lie/stance that I had, and told the guys that I was very, very lucky with that shot. I managed to lip out the putt on the low side. Took my standard kick-in par, and I looked at the guys and told them that a pro wouldn't have missed that.

 

They still claimed that I should be on a tour somewhere. *sigh*

[snoilr1]

Legit scratch and Pro level are 2 very different things. I am a legit scratch, have a few under par rounds this year on a 75/140 course and 7-8 other 72's.

 

This couldn’t be more true. I have two friends who played college golf ( one D3 and the other D1) and both are scratch golfers. They’re both capable of shooting aything from high 60s to high 70s any time out playing from the same tees the rest of us hackers play. Both outdrive the rest of us by 20-40 yards.

 

I once got paired with a Web.com Tour player on a course in Miami for 9 holes. There was a tour event at the course later in the year, and he was playing a casual round to scout it out with his caddy. Riding in a cart and having a couple beers, the guy was playing from a closed tee box at the very back of every hole while we played from the whites. He outdrove us by About 50 yards on every driver hole, despite teeing off nearly 50 yards back. On one one par 3 we all hit fairway woods while he hit 3 iron from 30 yards farther. I looked him up after, and he was just barely top 100 on that tour.

[vbb]

Played with a plus 4 capper minitour guy. He's won our club championship at least 3x. He has all the shots. Super long off the tee. Deadly with his wedges. It's cool to watch. Yet he hasn't really come close to even making the web.com much less the TOUR. Shows you how good those guys are.

[BenSeattle]

One more note, slightly off-topic.

 

It's been 22 years since Tiger Woods took the Tour by storm. Turning pro after winning his third straight U.S. Amateur, winning twice that fall, etc. Not long after, he became perhaps THE most dominant player in Tour history... so much so that even other greats were awed and intimidated. Think about this. We often used to talk about how Michael Jordan was not only the best player in the NBA, but that he was waaaay better than anyone else. Same with Tiger. Here are multiple major winners such as Ernie Els shaking their heads at Tiger's ability, the fact that he, too, was waaaay better than anyone else. Those who know me are clear that I have a LOT of problems with Woods behavior, attitude, fan and media interaction,etc. over the years but the quality of his golf isn't one of them. Ten times Leading Money Winner, Eleven times Player of the Year. (Need I go on?)

 

Is it fair to say that in his prime Tiger vs, the Tour is about the same as a scratch golfer vs. that 15-handicapper?

[BenSeattle]

on the first tee we were joined by a golfer whom goes by the initial's T H. An rather un opposing figure of a man, friendly, not an over bearing personality. We all shook hands and gave our first names, off we went. pars all around til the fourth, a long par five T H birdied the rest took boogies. On the next teeing ground one of the players in our group had an ah ha moment. As we watch the birdie holder address his tee shot he leaned over and whispered " he's a pro" I said " well hell ya he just flushed his 3 wood 270"... "no he's a PGA pro ..... I've seen him on t v" he said. My game went in the shytt#r after that.

 

Todd Hamilton? Tim Herron? Tyrell Hatton? Tom Hoge? Why the big secret? Who are we talking about?

[theothertwo]

I used to play regularly with a scratch player who tried to qualify for the US Open a few times. Long ball hitter, excellent iron game, great wedge game and very good putter. What's holding him back? Very hot tempered and impatient when playing, a true gentleman everywhere else.

[mikedejong]

There are 3 or 4 plus handicaps at the course I play at. All played college golf in the states and all hit it very far. The thing that sticks out to me is, they all hit driver everywhere. They simply don't see any trouble and rip it on every hole. They play very aggressively and make tons of birdies. Whereas I will hit 3 woods and irons on short tight holes and make pars, they just hammer driver and make piles of birdies. All I see is the trouble and play away from it, they don't even notice the trouble. Oh yeah, and they make a lot of putts too. Must be nice!

[GMR]

There are 3 or 4 plus handicaps at the course I play at. All played college golf in the states and all hit it very far. The thing that sticks out to me is, they all hit driver everywhere. They simply don't see any trouble and rip it on every hole. They play very aggressively and make tons of birdies. Whereas I will hit 3 woods and irons on short tight holes and make pars, they just hammer driver and make piles of birdies. All I see is the trouble and play away from it, they don't even notice the trouble. Oh yeah, and they make a lot of putts too. Must be nice!

That's really the big difference that happens once you get to the stage of needing to shoot in the 60s, vs. simply trying to stay at or near par. Everyone's going to make a bad swing or two a day, even at the top levels, and bogeys will happen, so to get the score down into the consistent under-pars you need to be making birdies which means you need to be giving yourself a lot of looks. There's a lot of ways to make a par on a hole, and the easiest way is simply staying away from trouble. With the exception of par 5s, there's really only one way to make a birdie: hit an approach close enough to make a putt. If you're worried about not hitting it into that bunker on every hole and pulling 2i, you'll never give yourself enough good looks to shoot the kinds of scores those guys do. To me, that's really what makes guys who play the game at that level so impressive.

[uitar9]

Had struck up a conversation with a guy I met at the indoor driving range two winters ago.

 

My wife and I played with he and his wife last summer, a challenging (for me) forest course.

 

I was struck by his putting ands scrambling. On one uphill, dogleg left, he cleared the corner and when we got up past the dogleg, there's his ball, middle of the fairway , 75 yards away. He shot even par.He plays local tourneys but is a bean counter full time.

 

I can't imagine a +6

[EKELLY]

Nobody is a "natural" in any sport. "It's hard work becoming a natural", as my father says. Some people just grasp, or were taught, the fundamentals easier/better. I play with a ridiculous arsenal of advanced golfers, a few don't seem to be human at times. It's just a game, and like any game, there are always those that make it look easy.

 

Anyone who can grasp the fundamentals of any sport "easier/better" than everyone else would be called a natural in my book. But that's just me. :)

Not really! It's the mental side that puts guys on Tour. You ever see Trevino swing a club? That wasn't fundamentals.......LOL

[wrmiller]

Nobody is a "natural" in any sport. "It's hard work becoming a natural", as my father says. Some people just grasp, or were taught, the fundamentals easier/better. I play with a ridiculous arsenal of advanced golfers, a few don't seem to be human at times. It's just a game, and like any game, there are always those that make it look easy.

 

Anyone who can grasp the fundamentals of any sport "easier/better" than everyone else would be called a natural in my book. But that's just me. :)

Not really! It's the mental side that puts guys on Tour. You ever see Trevino swing a club? That wasn't fundamentals.......LOL

 

I said fundamentals of a sport, not a swing. It's all about getting a ball into a hole. How, is irrelevant. No style points in golf that I know of.

 

Lots of silly looking swings have made it on tour. :)

[DLiver]

As has been said before, the really good sticks are playing with other really good sticks. They aren't hanging around as singles at the local muni hoping to be paired up.

[extrastiff]

As has been said before, the really good sticks are playing with other really good sticks. They aren't hanging around as singles at the local muni hoping to be paired up.

and now all of these stories are irrelevant :sleep:

[North Texas]

Back in the early 80's we were members at a club in North Texas where Dwight Nevil, who played on the PGA Tour in the 70's, was the head pro. Played numerous times with him and have never seen anyone who hit the ball like he did. Remember one day he shot a 6 under par 30 on the front nine and never had a birdie putt over about 15 feet. A bad day for him was 1 or 2 under par. Saw him shoot rounds in the low 60's and numerous mid-60's rounds that he made look like a walk in the park.

[ChristopherMcDonald]

I have several times. Lots of great young Korean players trained at the club I used to work at. Their skill ranged between scratch to PGA pro. I was invited out for several rounds with them, including a couple of rounds in the same group as Si Woo Kim.

 

The control they have of the ball and the sounds they produce when hitting the ball is just insane. They can do anything they want with the ball at will. truly a spectacle to behold.

[fbang]

I saw someone shoot 63 on a 6,800 yard course and he three putted 18 being aggressive trying to shoot 62 (course record).

[North Texas]

I saw someone shoot 63 on a 6,800 yard course and he three putted 18 being aggressive trying to shoot 62 (course record).

 

Yep, I should have just lagged the putt up there. But no, I got greedy :taunt:

[FourTops]

Played...aka paired up by the starter with a young Lexi Thompson by chance in Rancho Mirage CA. Believe me....it was not even worth trying to keep up. She was 3 under after 6 from the back tees.

[walter2312]

Play with a local kid probably 10 times and he never has shoot over 69 when we have played. He has made some Monday qualifiers web.com stuff but still trying to figure it out. One day he turned at nine with a 29 and stopped because he had dinner reservations. He said i already hold the course record at 60 and i want to go to dinner.....WOW...

[phil75070]

I was fortunate enough years ago to play in some Champions Tour Pro-Ams. I've played with Bob Eastwood, Larry Mowry, Hubert Green and JC Snead.

[golfer07840]

I play a decent amount of public course golf in the south Jersey area(usually one or two rounds a week and one on the weekend). I play a lot of my weekday rounds as a walk on single. I've been paired with all types. I am a mid capper and on a good day can get the ball out there pretty deep but i have never been paired with one who blew me away. I've seen guy hit the ball my distance, seen good putters, seen plotters that shoot in the low 80s, old guys that make a ton of pars,etc. But I've still have yet to see someone shoot within 5 of par let alone 60's or even close. Just wondering if you guys have seen the same or if its just same run of bad luck for me to not catch someone super good.

 

I played Ballyowen here in North Jersey once with a kid who was going to Morehead State on a golf scholarship (For those who are saying "where?" Morehead state is the same college Giants QB Phil Simms attended) .

 

He was 6'4 and about 200 lbs of lean and flexible muscle. Played from the tips and and wasn't even taking his round all that seriously "Just getting ready for a match play thing for school in a few weeks." and he probably shot mid 70's. If he did take his round seriously, he could have broken par. His ball speed and putting were amazing. His ability to spin the ball out of deep rough was also eye opening. On a par 3 he chunked his tee shot. Left it 100 yards short of the pin in very deep rough. He knocked it stiff for a tap in par. On his 2nd shot into the par 5 17th, he had 245 yards left. He hit a 4i onto the green.

 

I will never forget that experience for as long as I live.

[llewol007]

I was able to play with a legit plus player and it put my perspective in place and that is why I am happy with where my game is and probably will ever be. To say the game is different is not enough. The sound of the ball on impact sounds like a hammer hitting a nail, very muted but one can tell is with a lot of force on one spot on the face. I always wonder why the faces have that browning in the center of clubs and now i understood why. Also the distance is pretty crazy. Now I can hit it out there pretty well but to say the distance between my ball and his ball was about 10-20 yards. The other thing I noticed was the shot options a good player has. He is able to call the shot shape and with no doubt, he is able to create it. From cuts to draws to fades. It is always a treat to play a round with him. I remember playing with a college player and he was good but my friend is a step above that guy. His perspective on the game is always positive. He never looked at things negative which humbled me a lot. He played some mini tour events but financial backing made it hard for him to survive on the mini mini tour circuits. I always look forward to a round with him. Makes me appreciate just how good the web and pga tour players truly are.

[Ray5592]

I was able to play with a legit plus player and it put my perspective in place and that is why I am happy with where my game is and probably will ever be. To say the game is different is not enough. The sound of the ball on impact sounds like a hammer hitting a nail, very muted but one can tell is with a lot of force on one spot on the face. I always wonder why the faces have that browning in the center of clubs and now i understood why. Also the distance is pretty crazy. Now I can hit it out there pretty well but to say the distance between my ball and his ball was about 10-20 yards. The other thing I noticed was the shot options a good player has. He is able to call the shot shape and with no doubt, he is able to create it. From cuts to draws to fades. It is always a treat to play a round with him. I remember playing with a college player and he was good but my friend is a step above that guy. His perspective on the game is always positive. He never looked at things negative which humbled me a lot. He played some mini tour events but financial backing made it hard for him to survive on the mini mini tour circuits. I always look forward to a round with him. Makes me appreciate just how good the web and pga tour players truly are.

great post

[theboypinoy]

Played in tournament rounds with a few touring professionals.

 

Off the top of my head:

 

Kurt Kitayama (Web.com Tour and Asian Tour)

Austin Smotherman (Winner on Latinoamerica Tour this year, will be Web.com Tour next year)

 

 

Also Cameron Champ

[Titleist 670]

Play with a local kid probably 10 times and he never has shoot over 69 when we have played. He has made some Monday qualifiers web.com stuff but still trying to figure it out. One day he turned at nine with a 29 and stopped because he had dinner reservations. He said i already hold the course record at 60 and i want to go to dinner.....WOW...

 

I was hungry.

[tatertot]

Played with a heavyset guy that used to work at our course ... Fresh out of college, wife was still in school, was teaching school and working part time at the course. He shot a 63 - and parred both par 5s on the front after being on the fringe in 2. Used a belly putter, and was so-so with it. Drove multiple par 4s. Ball just sounded different. It was strange (and humbling) to shoot in the low 70s and just get demolished.