What would a PGA pro shoot on a "goat track" course?

TMax14

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Something that often comes up between me and my golf buddies is how well a PGA tour pro would fare playing the type of course many of us may play to save money? The closest course to my house I can play for $17 with a cart and sometimes free for playing often. The fairways aren't terrible, but the edges may have tree roots, dirt and small rocks, and the grass can be sparse in areas. The greens are normally super slow and the last few weeks some have gotten burnt spots from lack of watering. Also the back tees only play 6200 yards and the greens are very small and most elevated.

My question is that if your favorite pro played your local budget friendly course, would they tear it up and shoot 12 under par easily, or struggle with inconsistent conditions and rolls?
 
If they got a feel for the greens before the round, I imagine they'd destroy any course they were playing if they were so motivated.
 
Tee to green, they'd tear it up. On the green could depend on mood and general fussiness.
 
I say they'd tear it up. Not something they'd want to play on if millions of dollars were at stake, but for an exhibition or casual round, they'd tear it up even with the inconsistent conditions and bumpy rolls. They are pros for a reason. Not like they didn't play on lesser courses coming up as juniors and in high school and in college on occasion, so I think they'd do just fine.
 
If a pro played the cheaper course I normally play, I would be shocked if they weren't at least 15 under. Most of the par 4's would be drive able or dang near drive able to almost every tour pro, and the par 5's would all be reachable. Only thing that would throw a pro off is how slow the greens can be.
 
I think the slow greens might hurt a few lol *cough* TIGER *cough*
 
I think the whining about the conditions might be the only thing that could slow them down. As an 11 handicap, I have shot 73 on the course I was originally referring to. If I can manage a 73 on my best day I'm sure they're good for upper 50's. Would be interesting to watch though.
 
A goat track near me has a course record set by Woody Austin of 58.

It'll all depend on how they do when they get on the greens. Most of them probably shoot upper 60's with no problem, and lower the quicker they get the feel of the greens.
 
There's actually a really good article about this exact topic. I don't have it handy ATM.

The PGA pro shot like a 68 and said he would never be able to go super low with the inconsistent conditions.

I'm not sure they'd "tear it up" on most the courses I try to play. Not because the courses are hard/PGA level but because the inconsistency all over the course would prevent super low scores. I would bet mid 60s would be the average. Some might say that is tearing it up but I say it's them playing to their handicap.
 
Been fortunate enough to do this on a number of occasions both on my home course and others.
My local course I watched a couple of 62s without blinking an eye. Heck, I watched some LPGA players drop a 70 and 69 on me at the course while joking around the entire time. In serious mode, they easily could have dropped a 65.

They play a different game...
 
It doesn't get more goat track than Chambers Bay this year. I think you'd see that kind of performance from a pro.

Now if by "goat track" you mean "nice muni course", I'd expect them to go super low.
 
Only thing that would throw them off would be the inconsistent / slow greens....

Or the concrete-hard tee boxes...

Outside of that, I think they would go very low...
 
mid to high 60s if it's the first time they've played it, and it's a casual round. and it would be the most boring round in the 60s you've ever seen. if there's something to keep them focused, and they know the course/have a really good caddie, low to mid 60s.
 
this is like that "Steve Marino plays a torn up muni" article from back in 2011. He shot a 68 mostly because the greens were horrible, bumpy and slow.........was nearly driving all the par 4's easily getting on par 5's but was continually finding his ball in some leaves/branches or horrible divots.... :clap:
 
I don't think they would shoot as well as many thing, due to the greens being so different from what they normally putt on. It would take time to get used to it.
 
There was a true goat track in my hometown that we always wondered what Tiger in his prime would shoot on it. I shot under par there numerous times, mostly because I could drive several par 4s and the longest par 5 was driver/6iron (for me). The greens were small, but rolled pretty well considering the amount of play and quality of players. I'd guess that a good pro, on his game, could go 15-18 under on that course, just based on driving the greens and hitting short shots very close.


Give 'em hell!
 
6200 yards? If they're motivated at all? Low 60s, perhaps upper 50s. These guys are GOOD.

Only caveat is if the greens are truly so horrible that anything outside of 2 feet has a decent chance of getting knocked offline. While these guys don't like slow greens that aren't super true, they are still going to bang home a bunch of the 5-10 footers they have for birdie all day because they're hitting wedge (or less) into every green.
 
How well would they putt on some freshly punched greens without nice sandfill...I think it could vary greatly based on what you consider a "goat track". Im not saying they would shoot over 80 but they wouldnt shoot under 60 either on what I would consider a goat track in rough shape

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I'll add, I always laughed at my dad who used to say, "These guys should come out and try to play our conditions."

We played winter rules all year round on a 2900 yard par 35 course with relatively flat, slow but true greens. And nothing even resembling trouble if you didn't hit a duck hook. Driver, pitch, putt (birdie). Wedge, putt (birdie). Driver, pitch, putt (birdie). 3W, putt (eagle). Driver, pitch, putt (birdie). LW, putt (birdie). Driver, chip, putt (birdie). Driver, 9 iron, putt (eagle). Driver, wedge, putt (birdie).

Every single hole is a birdie hole, several are eagle opportunities. Sure, they'd miss a couple putts getting around, but 27 would be very doable.
 
goat track or not I gather it would just depend on length and layout. Poor conditions would probably hurt some of anyone's game a little imo. And for the rare errant shot that goes astray they wont have the 200 sets of eyes to find there couple of balls they may send too far off target. lol
 
Well the local country club here in town use to have a head pro named Steve Gotsche, he was born and raised here and went and played D1 at the University of Nebraska. Steve has qualified and played in 6 or 8 US Opens, and he even won a few Nike Tour events, too. Here's his PGA Bio...http://www.pgatour.com/players/player.06088.html So, he was the head pro here for YEARS, until about 2 years ago he moved to be the Head Pro at Colbert Hills in Manhattan, KS. About the course, it's now called Stoneridge Country Club, it's a Par 72, plays JUST under 6500 yards from the "tips". It's 72.5 Rating and a 128 Slope. It's pretty flat but there are some good tree lined fairways and some dog legs, but it's not long or hard for a good player. OK........Story goes, one day he set out to break his old course record which WAS a 59. He just went completely lights out insane. Driver, wedge, putter birdie...just completely destroyed the course and shots a 56...and he missed a few putts for eagle.

SOOOOO...that's all you might need to know! lol
 
I would enjoy seeing a tour pro play it down at my old stomping grounds (Lake Jonesco) and see what they could do. It could be quite entertaining :D
 
My home course i think they would be high 50's low 60's. Maybe the slower greens might put them off for a while though.
 
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