Anyone here ever play in the same group with a tour player?

[BNGL]

West Florida, Florida Pro Golf Tour, even practices with Frank in Central Florida I’m also known to show up to one day ProAms basically if there’s golf and money involved I’ll probably be there in central Florida. I didn’t really go to south Florida until I was older, and at that time it was the Fuzion golf tour? Which I think is just the minor league golf tour now. but you name it I probably played it at some point dakotas, Tar Heel, Adams, never went west of Rockies except to go to Asia for a year with buddy (that was a huge favor I had lived in japan previously , and he’d never been north of the mason dixon but it worked out I guess we played golf nearly every day it seemed.) I played full time for the better part of 3-4 years (just played golf, turned carts 1 day a month to get playing privileges). Wasn’t seeing good results, 5 wins (never more the 7500) basically net even on investment (.98) my boss in college called with a job offer and I took it, been managing golf courses until recently.

i was never ever going to be a stud pga tour player. I always thought my ceiling was 12-15 year fully exempt professional <6 wins, get hot in a US Open contend but not win. My game was never stringing 63s together, it was/is 68-73 very rarely more or less. That being said, I found myself a shot out of the Honda a few times, playoffs for Jax and Miccosukee Opens. The game isn’t the hard part, it’s everything else. How to practice what to practice when to practice, where to practice. Where to travel, how to travel, when to travel. Where you going to eat and stay? The golf almost becomes the escape from all the other ancillary BS (BS to me).

im not Sure which thread I read it in, but one guy said that he was playing a Monday and a guy told him, “you’re a great ball striker but your wedges are trash” was that at a miccosukee Monday qualifier? I remember playing with someone and said something similar. Apologies it stuck with you lol but I do remember that round because you could flat stripe it...but your wedges were trash. Gotta be able to wedge it.

[wobgon]

Played with Ben Crenshaw , Scott Verplank , Mark Carnavale , and Curtis Strange...….What struck me the most about playing with each of these guys was how they controlled their iron distances.

Also, two of these guys where just like one of the guys.....Carnavale liked to drink and play cards......Verplank could not walk past a pond without talking about fishing.........….When he wasn't talking fishing, it was Oklahoma State football.

[iNeedMoreGolf]

Must be fun playing with pro pros.

[Outlier]

Yeah, but no lights, camera, action , no crowds, to TV.

[BB28403]

Never played with any but I’m always surprised how chill the Thursday of a tournament is. Your walking outside the ropes and those guys are just relaxed and shooting the sh... with each other.

Come Saturday it’s much more game face.

[Kgglonghorn]

All depends on who you get and how you approach it. Most people want to go in and "show their stuff" to the pro. That is the fastest way to derail the day. They know you are not a pro so dont act like it. Play your game and engage in casual conversation and you will have a blast. Go in like a DB acting like you got screwed out of your tour card and they will shut you down and the day will suck.

[Irishman1979]

Absolutely agree about wedges.

120 yards and in you gotta be able to stick it to 15 feet at the most every single time. Those are your scoring clubs and they have to be the best part of your game.

If a guy has any aspirations of making it he's wasting his time unless he gets his wedge game in order.

[Irishman1979]

No one should feel ashamed either about them at a different level. That ability they have is something you cannot teach, its something they are born with. That is why they do it for a living. Take a guy on tour and put them as a member on any golf course in the country such as Butler National. Do you realize that from the back tee's these guys would be plus 5 or plus 6 handicaps easily? If guys like Justin Thomas can shoot 61 at Medinah in the BMW, imagine what they would do to that golf course playing a casual round with their buddies every weekend. I know Justin plays out at Bears Club in Jupiter and I would love to know if he has ever broke 60 out there, as it wouldn't surprise me if he's done it multiple times.

[Outlier]

Played with Woody Austin here in Charlotte, NC at Pro-Am for web.com play-off event a few years back when he was 49 yrs. old. Impressions of the day:

 

he flew in from west coast, landed at about noon we tee'd off at about 1:20;he was "salty" that big show events he had been loyal to weren't giving him any reciprocity in the form of sponsors invites;Kay Cockerel is infinitely better looking in person than TV and as such caught me off guard, she and Woody busted my chops for being obviously taken with her;Woody really hated that our group had a couple of vanity HC's who took us out of the money (who knew they cared that much about pro-am money);absolutely nothing special about his game, EXCEPT in hindsight he was just off a 4 hour plane ride, never saw the course before, caddy was a pro guy he knew but not his regular jock, he never came close to messing up a hole.....exactly what you see on TV: an old school , smooth tempo swing- when he's "on" and makes puts gonna shoot 67, when he's off and doesn't -gonna shoot 74....his game is soooo plain vanilla, hard to imagine anything outside those parameters (except the odd 59)he has the exact kind of game that needs his quirky personality to distract you from how boring 265 down the middle, GIR and a 2 put can be.....:)

[Irishman1979]

Yes he's never been a Justin Thomas type of player and yes if his game is off he's not all that special.

The only difference is he knows how to shoot 65 back to back when it matters.

[isaacbm]

Once or twice... ;)

[BNGL]

Lmfao if I remember correctly it was 64 by Luke Donald BUT that was a few years ago so it could have changed. A random bit of trivia Donald holds (held maybe they have been broken/tied) the course record at Jupiter Hills too with 5 under 65. Two of the tougher courses in the area; Jup Hills and Bears Luke Donald held/holds the record at both. Course record at Medalist is 62 by Tiger and Rickie. Course record at Jupiter Island Club is 62 by Norman and someone other hack...

[Aaronwilson_95]

Btw from what I’ve heard Golden Bear use to be a damn good tour and jealous you guys got to play that tour !

[timbodtc]

Never played with an actual tour player but took lessons in high school from a guy that went thru qualifying and played in 2 U.S. Opens. Caddied for him at a U.S. Senior Open Qualifier in San Antonio and got a reality check. He didn't have the mental game as he blew up after one bogey on the back. The shot I will always remember was a old Ping Eye 2 2 iron he had from 260ish uphill over a ravine to a mounded green surrounded by bunkers. He actually asked me what i thought so i nervously said to lay up. He proceeded to stick it pin high bout 15ft. At 16 I didnt realize that could be done. Also played with Hunter Mahan and Martin Flores a few times in high school tournaments. Hunter was the #1 junior in the world at the time. Well at our home tournament I fired a 78 and was pretty proud as it was a tough course. Hunter and Martin came in both shooting 67's. Martin won in a scorecard playoff. Those 2 won everything around DFW back then.

[DukeOfChinoHills]

Caddied for my boss at a Web.com Pro Am (Soboba) in 2011. Luke List was the pro in his group. Watched him carry a drive 313 over water into a small tree. He was super cool to talk to. In 2012 I finally was able to play too and we played with Alex Prugh. He was nice, but not as engaging as List had been.

I recently played with a Pepperdine freshman who quickly making a name for himself. I was sure to snap a picture with him so I can frame it in the future.

[ArtMBgolf]

I played in a Pro Am with Ed Dougherty. https://www.pgatour.com/players/player.01288.ed-dougherty.html

 

I was on a plane with Julie Inkster, headed to Myrtle Beach. They had a LPGA stop there around 2000.

[ptjn1201]

As a kid about 45 years ago, played with Gene Borek, who was one of the top players of the local pros in the New York Met section. Played in a bunch of US Opens and PGAs, actually held the course record at Oakmont with a 65 for a couple of days before Miller closed with a 63.

[Irishman1979]

Hell of a player shooting 65 on that course. Did he ever have any aspirations of playing on tour?

[fillwelix]

Caddied for my dad in a pro-am and Hideki was in his group. His translator is a great guy and so is his caddie. Didn't get to interact much with Hideki because he was preparing for the event (it was a playoff event)

[ptjn1201]

He stayed mostly close to home. He was head pro at a few clubs here, in the NY metro area. Won a lot of regional tournaments as well. He made some cuts on tour. But he had a family and younger kids.

[aenemated]

Heh that reminds me of when I played Pebble last October. I forget how it came up but one of the caddies noted he'd carried for Freddie Couples a handful of times. Being a huge Boom Boom fan, I was like "Is he as chill as he seems?" and he was like "Man, he's not even thinking about golf when he's out here. All he does is talk about Seattle sports. And chicks."

[Obee]

A few:

Phil Mickelson ($$$ match!)

Annika Sorenstam (briefly)

Rickie Fowler ($$$ matches!)

Kenny Perry (briefly)

Brendan Steele ($20 match!)

Tom Pernice, Jr. (many, many times)

Paul Goydos ($20 match!)

John Chin (Web.com and PGA Tour) Many times

Kevin Dougherty (Web.com) Many times

Norman Xiong (Web.com and Walker Cupper)

Brent Grant (Web.com) Many times

Ryann O'Toole (LPGA) ($20 match)

 

 

 

 

[isaacbm]

How much are you up?

[DLev45]

Would love to hear how you came about these money matches with your pros. I know you are a high-AM in Cali. Did they give you strokes? Mutual acquaintances?

[Obee]

Good times... :-)https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/1273358/a-scratch-player-against-phil-mickelson-with-a-700-yard-advantage

[cardia10]

Same here. Play occasionally with a part time LPGA'r. Typically plays in a group at my club with a +3 and a +5 and she plays the tips at 7,300 and it is always a close solid match. I played with her on a course that has hosted majors and a ryder cup with another major upcoming. She shot 73 from the men's tees the first time seeing the course. Burned the edge on at least 5 birdies. So boring to play with as every drive is perfect, plays to the middle of greens and 2 putts a ton. She also plays fast and is just fun to play with.

[Sean2]

I know, right? The consistency is unbelievable.

[rblmp32]

To that end regarding their handicaps. Back in the early 2000’s one of the Golf magazines calculated Tigers handicap based on course ratings from the tips of the courses he was playing on tour and corresponding scores that year. it was +10 at worst and as high as +13. I know he’s in a different world than other tour players and especially that year. But someone checked his handicap the same way for 2015 season. By far his worst on tour. It was still +5.9. So +5 or +6 is probably accurate or even a shade low! Haha. Crazy.

[Chico]

Played with Brent Grant a ton when he was a teenager in Hawaii. Kid was a stud. Always knew he would do great things. Excited to see him on the leaderboard this week in the Bahamas.

[TServos]

No