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Do you think you can beat a tour pro?

Space Bandito

Space Bandito

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Let's say, hypothetically, you met Average Joe Tour Pro at YOUR course. You decide to play a round where he will give you 10 strokes and you can play from whichever tees you feel the most comfortable (he'll play the tips.)

Do you think you have a chance to win?

If not, what would it take?

Here are some stats from PGA.com

Average scoring: 72.0
Average driving distance: 299.4 yards
Average driving accuracy: 50.25%
Average GIR: 66.82%
Average putts: 1.467
Scrambling: 57.45%

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I can play the ladies tees and 10 strokes? He's gonna have to go low to beat me.

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Those average scores are all in PGA tour conditions on top courses around the country. The courses I play the average tour pro's score would be well below par. No - I don't think I could do it.
 
I would think a pro might struggle is less than stellar conditions....

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I still lose. Short game is just not where it needs to be to make it happen.
 
Nope. I think I'd need about 5 more strokes.

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10 strokes highly unlikely. 13 or 14 I may be able to give him a scare. He'd be playing from 7114, I'd play from about 6200.

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pmm21 said:
You're allowed to play from wherever

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Then I'll take on anyone.

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pmm21 said:
I would think a pro might struggle is less than stellar conditions....

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Not at all. Perfect ball striking is perfect ball striking. The courses I play the most tip at 6,600 or less for the most part. They would tear them apart.
 
cbaker2882 said:
Not at all. Perfect ball striking is perfect ball striking. The courses I play the most tip at 6,600 or less for the most part. They would tear them apart.
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But with only a 50% driving accuracy, not all rough is equal. Half the courses I play have very patchy rough and a lot of dead areas.

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There are some shorter par 4's on my course that even from the tips a tour pro could likely hit with less than driver. This and the superior short game would make this really tough for poor old me.
 
Howzat said:
There are some shorter par 4's on my course that even from the tips a tour pro could likely hit with less than driver. This and the superior short game would make this really tough for poor old me.
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Do the green complexes make up for lack in distance?

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pmm21 said:
But with only a 50% driving accuracy, not all rough is equal. Half the courses I play have very patchy rough and a lot of dead areas.

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That's 50% driving accuracy in tournament conditions and in a tournament atmosphere. They might play from better groomed conditions, but I'm willing to bet the rough they typically play out of is thicker and harder to swing through.

Think of it this way - do you play significantly better on a nicer course? I know I don't. It's nicer for sure, but it doesn't seem to impact scoring much at all, unless you're typically playing on horrendous courses. I doubt they struggle at all. Then you take the tournament atmosphere out of the way and it's essentially a practice round with nothing to lose? I'd be willing to bet most tour pros would go 5-8 under par at least on the courses I tend to play.
 
Now that there's an LPGA event in town, I have a little better idea of how I might fare.

I've played the same course (in very similar conditions) from the same tee boxes and shot a 74.

It would take an incredibly solid round on my part, but I think I could at least make it competitive.
 
cbaker2882 said:
That's 50% driving accuracy in tournament conditions and in a tournament atmosphere. They might play from better groomed conditions, but I'm willing to bet the rough they typically play out of is thicker and harder to swing through.

Think of it this way - do you play significantly better on a nicer course? I know I don't. It's nicer for sure, but it doesn't seem to impact scoring much at all, unless you're typically playing on horrendous courses. I doubt they struggle at all. Then you take the tournament atmosphere out of the way and it's essentially a practice round with nothing to lose? I'd be willing to bet most tour pros would go 5-8 under par at least on the courses I tend to play.
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That's a fair argument. To answer your question, I do feel I strike the ball much better on a well maintained course. I'm used to hot and dry, which can severely penalize a mis-hit

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Nope, not even close.
 
I'll take the the ten strokes and like my chances.


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cbaker2882 said:
Not at all. Perfect ball striking is perfect ball striking. The courses I play the most tip at 6,600 or less for the most part. They would tear them apart.
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Let's see how they putt on greens full of unhealed pitch marks, un raked bunkers, un filled divots, etc. I think tour pros are spoiled and would be shocked to play a Muni. They would be complaining the entire time.

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pmm21 said:
Do the green complexes make up for lack in distance?

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Not at all and they just upgraded the sand traps to play very much like on tour. Even an average tour pro would have a great shot at the course record. I may not have a chance with 20 strokes.
 
For me- there's literally 0.00000000001% chance that I could beat a tour pro at any of the courses I play. My game while improving, is not nearly consistent enough to beat a tour pro even if I was playing from the forward tees. I'd have an errant tee ball, or chunk a wedge and end up getting double or triple, which while manageable isn't going to overcome a pro who should generally shoot even par at most of the courses I'm playing.
 
pmm21 said:
Let's say, hypothetically, you met Average Joe Tour Pro at YOUR course. You decide to play a round where he will give you 10 strokes and you can play from whichever tees you feel the most comfortable (he'll play the tips.)

Do you think you have a chance to win?

If not, what would it take?

Here are some stats from PGA.com

Average scoring: 72.0
Average driving distance: 299.4 yards
Average driving accuracy: 50.25%
Average GIR: 66.82%
Average putts: 1.467
Scrambling: 57.45%

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Click to expand...

Only 10 strokes? Ha ha ha ... I'd stand no chance.

pmm21 said:
I would think a pro might struggle is less than stellar conditions....
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I imagine most golfers grew up playing regularly on such conditions. I don't think it'd phase them in the slightest. I don't think you're going to see scores in the 50's, but I imagine a 64 or 65 or thereabouts would be a do-able score. If you can regularly shoot in the low 70's, chances are you'd be able to beat the pro. I can't, so I wouldn't.

This article covers one such example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/01/AR2007070101221.html

He played "ugly" and by ugly, he shot a 68.
 
mesaman777 said:
Let's see how they putt on greens full of unhealed pitch marks, un raked bunkers, un filled divots, etc. I think tour pros are spoiled and would be shocked to play a Muni. They would be complaining the entire time.

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I'd bet all of my money that a tour pro still putts better than the average hack on bad greens. Conditions equal during the round, you have to be a damn good player to come close in this scenario. You're probably going to need to average a score of 75 or less to beat a tour pro head to head even with 10 strokes on the courses we typically play. If you do in fact play a very difficult course normally and shoot high 70's low 80's you might have a chance, but most of us don't play those regularly enough to have those courses be our average scores to base off of. I actually fully believe Canadan and T2GRN could do it, but on average most of us could not. I think it would take 15 strokes for me and to be a good round in order for me to do it, and I'm around a 7HC. I just don't see a tour pro shooting much over 65 on the courses I've played.
 
I couldn't do it with 20 strokes, pro not allowed to use their driver and pro being required to carry both our bags. Not a chance! But it would be fun to try though.
 
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