Tom Brady's 8 handicap

[bbedell]

he's a 12...on a good day. Peyton's hdcp, on the other hand, seemed more than legit

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Not quite right. You need someone to attest all your rounds. Best 8 of the last 20 are counted towards your handicap. Just punch in the score into GHIN account and your handicap pops out.

[Joe85]

Didn't he hole out from the fairway? And stick one to within a foot on that par 3? He's allw the way legit. I played to about an 8 for several years and Brady looked all the way legit 8.

[tsecor]

Brady is a solid 8.....why would he lie?

[net_worth]

I could see him being an 8. Take any of the 5-10 caps on this forum and put them on a new course, with Tiger and Phil, televised, in the pouring rain. How many play better than Brady did? Not one.

[Outlier]

The problem with your logic is I also saw Peyton play. at the same time, same course, same conditions....in golf, Brady doesn't look to be within 10 shots of Manning. To my eye playing by actual golf rules, Manning prolly about a 8-10 index.....Brady definately more than that. 7 more? 7 more a side? As pointed out by someone earlier, Brady hit like 3 shots crisply 1 was a put and one went in from down the fairway.

[Shilgy]

You appear to be a 9.7 currently....with a 102 a few months back. How do you determine he is not an 8.

[iBanesto]

Have any of you guys played with Tiger and Phil?

Pretty intense pressure right there...

[Old Tom Morris]

Can’t really tell from one round. If you understand how the index is calculated, and how a data set and normal distribution work, you’d realize that you can’t draw a conclusion from one round. The round he played was in the realm of possibility for someone with an 8 index, that’s all.

[Sean2]

And, he hit some very nice shots that you normally wouldn't see a high handicap execute. Ask any 8 HI and I will bet they have shot some scores in the low 90's. This is golf, s**t happens, lol.

[976-Evil]

Did you really go back and look through his posts?

[ebrasmus21]

So I played yesterday, in my normal game, at my club, with no pressure whatsoever.. my swing and my game felt like I’d stayed up all night long smoking crystal meth. Twitchy, jerky, no tempo or rhythm whatsoever. In other words I had no game and no swing. I was playing so poorly I stopped keeping score to protect my delicate ego. If I had kept score I’m sure it’d have been 85 or so...

My point is that sometimes we can really suck. I don’t shoot score like that very often but it happens sometimes.

Ive never played on TV but I could see there being quite a bit of pressure involved.

[Shilgy]

Nope, I am in Arizona as well and looked him up on GHIN. Point being one round shows nothing. Especially when on national television with two of the best tour players ever.

 

[MUNIGRIT]

He probably is with how he wrotes in his scores but they obviously have a lot of vanity drops and gimmes. If he scored correctly absolutely not but he doesn't even know how to take a drop.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

There are plenty of 7-8 who are just naturally talented at playing. They don't even know all half rules. They effectively “hit the ball in as few shots as possible to get it into the hole”, and do it quite well for a beginner.

Don’t you absolutely hate that type of player? I laugh with my buddies and the years of pain we’ve gone through only to be upended by some new hot shot player. At least, this one is a world famous professional athlete LOL

[Golfjack]

Yup, natural (not even elite like Tom Brady) athletes have huge advantages over normal athlete golfer playing the game. Look at Brodie Smith, who's elite in his own sport, and could get to single digits pretty easily. He can easily smash it further than any normal person can. You can see the unevenness when you don't play golf all your life since you were a kid, but that's just how golf is. Tom Brady if he had more time to practice and hone his swing for better mechanics I bet would be pretty good like Tony Romo level. He has all the speed and money to hire the best coaches to get there.

[bogiii]

Judging by what we saw I would say no! But I'm a 4 handicap when no one is looking!

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Given the opportunity, while no one is looking, I might putt a couple more times than if something were at stake? Lol

Seriously though, when I play, it’s just relaxing fun. It’s not like I have an arch rival in my vocation, but if I did, I’d certainly feel the pressure to beat him.

Tom likely normally plays with his friends to “relax”. While against Manning, he might have felt more pressure to perform?

[Pepperturbo]

T.Brady using 3 wood only off tees and elsewhere suggests he has NO confidence in driver and his 3wd slices bear witness. He played more like a 18 handi. I don't doubt at some juncture TB may have been an 8 handi, but I suspect that was sometime back.

I know a few guys that haven't played golf in 2-3 yrs yet their index still show from back when they were playing as 14 & 16 indexes. Last, given TB's exposure to microphones before and after football games, including Superbowl's, I am not inclined to cut his performance much slack. It was like watching a bad pro-am player. I am sure it's going to take him sometime to live that exhibition down. Though I enjoyed watching the event, I was up to watching just about anything golf related, even a hacker.

[Shilgy]

Tom Brady played like a 8 handicap whose main job is football and plays very little golf. Kudos to him for putting it out there on live tv to support a good cause. No one, “knows” what a players true cap is from seeing one round.

[Sean2]

I wonder how the average 8 HI would do playing with Woods and Mickelson , and millions of people watching?

[Shilgy]

And on Medalist? I reckon... oh...about what Brady did. Less the holed shot from the fairway and good putt of course.

 

We have all seen 8’s at our home course fail to break 90 in club championships and such. How was this easier?

[MtlJeff]

If I recall the golf digest US open challenge used to have guys in the 6-10 range most years and they often shot 95+ on US open courses. The pro athletes held up better but if I recall those guys (like Rothlesberger and Tony Romo) were low single digits. Romo obviously was a competitive scratch or thereabouts and shot 84 one year i think

I think Pepper probably called it, Brady was probably a legit 8 who hasn't been playing much. He has a day job after all and I doubt cares about golf the same way Romo did. How much has he been playing?

I hadn't hit a ball in 3 months due to Covid and my first few rounds I probably played like someone 3-4 shots higher easily.

I don't think anyone lies to be an 8. Brady is probably a legit 8 who hasn't been playing

 

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

The lack of a driver and slicing a 3W, not a good situation for anyone.

I don’t recall the last time it took me to reach a green in more than 3 to 4 strokes, but I do remember 3 putting and making only one scramble two weeks ago for a 91.

We all have weaknesses, that’s why were 8s.

[tsecor]

i have. They were not that good and i got in their heads.....they are not as mentally strong as the TV broadcasts like to portray......i think they felt pressure more than me.....i won by 3.....

[Qqq123xx]

I remember watching that match, you were literally like, in the Eye of the Tiger.

[SkeetShooter]

So I didn't read the entire thread, but I will say two things one in favor and one against his reported HCP.

In Favor and how I see he could be a legitimate 8... His putting was excellent. I mean he was very consistent and didn't make any real big errors. Putting like that can make up for a lot of strokes lost off the tee. Yes, Phil talked him through the reads, but executing speed and face control was on point.

Against the 8 HCP... I have played with several low handicap golfers, and as the resident crappy golfer I usually see them make much better shot selections than I do depending on how the course is laid out. I have never seen them not hit a Driver, especially at a place that has some pretty receptive and wide fairways, even if their swing was off. They just can't afford playing from the back tees to loose that much distance. Tom not bringing a driver and literally handcuffing him and Phil in alternate shot not being able to carry certain hazards makes me question it.

The entire front 9 both he (and quite frankly Phil) hit some absolutely horrible tee shots. To be fair Peyton hit some bad ones as well but he started to come around.

As I understand it Tom used to be (or maybe he still is) a member of Boston Golf Club. A pretty difficult course. I wonder if anyone here is a member and or knows a way to pull up his HCP from there.

[Pepperturbo]

Sorry, I've played against a lot of 6-12 handicaps in Inter-club team match and stroke play events. Never seen even ONE repeatedly blast a hard slice into the right junk, driver maybe but not using 3wd or long iron. Three putt doesn't IMO put 6-12 index in the same category as what TB demonstrated so eloquently. But you're welcome to commiserate if needed.

[Smada962]

In pouring rain, with nearly the entire sporting world watching, and a guy who presumably has been spending the majority of his time prepping for the upcoming football season, playing with two of the all time greats? Didn't think so.

[MUNIGRIT]

Tom might be the first 8 handicap or even player that I have seen after holding out you see him look back pointing and counting strokes.