Just wandering what it might be like to play a round with a really good pro. Anyone here had the privilige of playing 18 with someone that good. I'd love to do that but would probably spend the entire round in awe of the shot-making and standard. Always amazes me when you watch the 'playing lessons with the pro's' type program but must be even better in the flesh. stories anyone
My first experience was with a future pro while I was in college. The player was Homero Blancos, then a student at Houston. We were paired together for the first two rounds of a tournament in Ocala, FL. He started out par, double bogie. Then he proceeded to shoot 66 - 69 in those rounds. My scores were 73 - 71, even par 144 and good enough to win most weekend tournaments around home (Murray, KY at the time). I was all alone in 17th place going into the third round. Homero had every shot in the book and a few that I'd never imagined. He had marvelous ability off the tee, from the fairway, out of the rough, from bunkers and on the green. I've played a lot of good amateur competition since then and teed it up with some fine pros, but those two days with Homero stick in my mind.
Not current, but a future pro. I went to school with Fred Funk. He was a year behind me and I played with him a couple of times when we were 15-16. It was on a par 31, 9 hole goat ranch, where all of us kids played. I think it was $3 for 9. I know that he now says that he wasn't very good back then, but he was a legend amongst the few of us who played in our crowd.
I got to play 9 holes with Peter Oosterhuis while he was the pro at Forsgate CC in NJ. It must be 15-20 years ago. He was giving a playing lesson to a consultant, who invited me and another guy along to fill out the foursome. Peter did play in a few Ryder Cups, and I think he was fairly successful on the European tour.
Besides giving a lesson, he played his own ball and shot the most boring -3 for 9 holes (maybe -2 my memory fails). Straight driver, around 250 - 260 yards, accurate irons and a good putting stroke. He made it look SOOOO easy.
Yea i play with myself a lot!!!! haha JK...no when I play with some of the nations best its crazy...I really dont feel like they do too many things different than I do....They par most every hole, and birdie the easy ones, and BOOM 66 or 68...Its really crazy......one thing i do notice is that every putt they even stroke, has a chance to go in, regardless of the length or difficulty!
I've had the good fortune to play with several. The biggest thing different from me to them is they don't make very many mistakes. I might make 5-6 birdies but I would balance it out where they don't have the lapses in concentration. In fact, their game is pretty boring until their score is posted...
I played with Mark Roe a couple of years ago. He's pretty good. Shot 66 (-5) in the middle of winter on dodgy greens. He made it look so easy too most of the way round. On the 8th hole (our 17th), which is a par five, he hit his drive into the right hand trees (easily done, it's only about 10 yards off the fairway which is itself only about 20 yards wide). He got in there to find he had a line at the flag and what he thought was a free swing. Clipped a branch with his backswing and skewered it into thick grass near brambles. As we were walking down to it he said "if I find it, I'll make par." We found it. He proceeded to dig it out of the long grass over the fairway into rough on the other side, still about 170 yards from the green. "I'll still make par" he said as we walked across the fairway. He didn't even need to putt. Stuffed it in to a foot.
Tremendous fun to play with. He doesn't hit it all that long, but for the most part he's accurate and the most impressive thing I thought was his distance control. He was always pin high. That meant if he hit it straight, he was tapping in and he never had more than 30' to go even if he hit a wild one. This was done entirely by sight, no yardage books, just 150 posts to the middle of the green.
I've caddied for a guy who was playing in a four-ball pro-am with Steve Webster (European Tour pro - 2005 Italian Open Winner) - the other pro is a club pro that was making-up the numbers.
The guy I caddied for plays off plus 1, I thought he was pretty good. The club-pro had a game alright and struck the ball as well as anyone I had seen, Steve Webster was a completely different player with a game that is totally different to the golf I play. Even the sound of the impact was different - a sort of soft thud, difficult to describe. It did become a little boring to see him hit fairway, green - fairway, green - fairway, green - time after time. On the odd occasion he missed the green, he got up & down. Only two birdies, but no bogies... very impressive.
I also had the pleasure in watching Colin Montgomerie on a practice fairway this autumn. Must have hit 30 7 irons to a green 180 yards away... all the balls were within a ten foot radius of the pin. I overheard him say to one of the other spectators, "easy really, but when the US Open was within reach I managed to fat it 30 yards right"
I've been fortunate to play with some really fine professional golfers in the last 25 years...2 former tour players (Hal Underwood, Laird Finch), 2 who were on the tour at the time (Steve Elkington and John Riegger), and 1 LPGA tour player (Lori Poling). Elkington, Riegger, and Lori Poling were all studying with my pro. All were tremendously talented, and just in a different golfing world than I can imagine.
I had the pleasure of playing about a month ago with a young pro who is now studying with my pro. He is currently on one of the smaller tours and is a tremendous ball striker and putter. Wedge game seems to be the one holder-backer at the moment. The day I played with this young man I played very well, but he was consistently 80-100 yards longer off the tee.
Playing with a professional is very much an education.
Last edited by jwaldrop : December 5th, 2006 at 05:57 PM.
The day I played with this young man I played very well, but he was consistently 80-100 yards longer off the tee.
For me, this is probably the most important difference between the good players and the ordinary golfer. I regularly play with a couple of scratch golfers, their tee shots are more accurate and so much longer than mine. It makes such a difference going into a green with a short iron, instead of the four iron out of the right rough
The better players also tend not to make many mistakes, no fluffed chips, no putts left tooooo short, no time making sand-castles in the hazards. If they do make a mistake, they usually manage to restrict it to just one stroke lost - then bounce back with a birdie at the next!!
I think I have played with about 20 guys who went on to play on tour. First was Lyn Lott, who was a senior in high school when I was a freshman, but since I was #2 man on my team I got to play in his group (#1 and 2 vs. #1 and #2). I know I shot 73 (par 70), but I don't remember for sure his score, tho I think it was 71. His team was deep and beat mine badly.
Next, as a sophomore, I played three rounds with Andy Bean, also a soph. We tied in our HS match, then that summer he and his partner played with me and my partner in a 4-ball (2 man better ball score) tourney. I remember both our teams shot 69 the first day, then paired again the next day we beat them 68-69, but finished like 5th overall. He moved to Florida that summer and I never saw him again til once at the Masters, I was in his gallery and he took a really long look at me - I am sure he recognized me but couldn't place me. I didn't interrupt his play with a greeting.
When I was 27 (1981) Dave Hill gave an exhibition at my course - I was club champion, and was drawn in a lottery to play three holes with him (6 different groups of 3 players were to play 3 holes with him). I played #7-8-9 with him, on the back tees with him. We both went par, par, birdie - I recall that he made an awesome up and down from short-sided behind a bunker on 8, then on 9 he asked my advice on club from the tee (a par 5 that requires a layup to a creek). Turned out I was really lucky, too, because a violent rainstorm came up and washed out the back nine.
Most of the other pros I played with were when I was grown and they were teenagers, usually in amateur tournaments where we got paired. The most notable of these that plays today would be Vaughn Taylor, who grew up as a member at my club in South Augusta. He is a golfer that wasn't exactly outstanding as a youth, but just persevered and continued to improve thru his college days and as a young pro. You would be hard pressed to find a nicer young man than Vaughn - and I believe he will make a bigger mark on tour than just his brief Ryder Cup experience.
Last edited by mr_bogey : December 5th, 2006 at 05:42 PM.
December 5th, 2006, 11:09 AM
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