How good is a +4.2?

[bones75]

A friend is playing with a +4.2 index player in a few weeks. He's a Korean player in his early 20's who plays in Jeju, S. Korea. 9 Bridges is his home course that he established his index on (it's a pro tour stop in Asia). He does wants to go pro.

How good is that again?  Like what would you guess he'd shoot on a 7000 yard muni, rated 73/130?  They're playing 9 bridges together, but I was more interested in what a +4.2 shoots on my course.

[Buckeyebowman]

There's really no way to know until he would play it. All I can say is a +4.2 is damn good! 

Your question puts me in mind of something I read quite some time ago. Some guys asked Trevino about backing some local hotshot for a try at the Tour. How could they tell if he was good enough? Trevino told them to take the kid to 10 really good courses that he had never seen. And don't pay all that much attention to the tee to green game. Anybody that plays to that handicap can hit the full shots! Pay more attention to how quickly they adapt to the speed and breaks of the greens. 

A plus handicapper might be all the rage on their home turf. A real Tour pro is that on any course he sets foot on! And even they have bad weeks! 

[David in FL]

A +4 is STUPID good.  

Have you ever played against a genuine scratch golfer?  As a 9 hcp, a +4 is as much better than that scratch golfer as that scratch golfer was to you...

[LMoore]

That’s mini tour good. Compared to scratch, it’s another solar system.

[Old Pro]

There's not too many. When you can spot a scratch player 4/5 shots,... well you get it!!!

[rkim291968]

  On 4/10/2019 at 2:30 AM, bones75 said:

A friend is playing with a +4.2 index player in a few weeks. He's a Korean player in his early 20's who plays in Jeju, S. Korea. 9 Bridges is his home course that he established his index on (it's a pro tour stop in Asia). He does wants to go pro.

How good is that again?  Like what would you guess he'd shoot on a 7000 yard muni, rated 73/130?  They're playing 9 bridges together, but I was more interested in what a +4.2 shoots on my course.

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I think he must up his game if he wants to play at Korean or Asian tour.    I knew a guy with +5 HI and he could not even make it to Web.com tour.   Actually, he was no way near making it.

[boogielicious]

  On 4/10/2019 at 2:30 AM, bones75 said:

A friend is playing with a +4.2 index player in a few weeks. He's a Korean player in his early 20's who plays in Jeju, S. Korea. 9 Bridges is his home course that he established his index on (it's a pro tour stop in Asia). He does wants to go pro.

How good is that again?  Like what would you guess he'd shoot on a 7000 yard muni, rated 73/130?  They're playing 9 bridges together, but I was more interested in what a +4.2 shoots on my course.

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Wicked good. 

[Nagah]

Zac Murray a local golfer in Albury/Wodonga ( border towns) played off +5 at my home course.

He’s a pro golfer who won the 100th New Zealand open.

He holds our course record at 62 off The the stick. 

Our course is 6400 yards off the back tees.

[colin007]

Lama good.

Edited April 10, 2019 by colin007
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[boogielicious]

  On 4/10/2019 at 12:23 PM, colin007 said:

Lama good.

 

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Big hitter, the Lama.

[Vinsk]

  On 4/10/2019 at 2:30 AM, bones75 said:

A friend is playing with a +4.2 index player in a few weeks. He's a Korean player in his early 20's who plays in Jeju, S. Korea. 9 Bridges is his home course that he established his index on (it's a pro tour stop in Asia). He does wants to go pro.

How good is that again?  Like what would you guess he'd shoot on a 7000 yard muni, rated 73/130?  They're playing 9 bridges together, but I was more interested in what a +4.2 shoots on my course.

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Yeah that’s sick good. I used to play with my cousin who had an unsuccessful run on the PGA Tour. Any Muni we played he would kill it. Low-mid 60’s with chatter and beers.

[Groucho Valentine]

+4.2 is pretty much maxed out. I think it only goes down to +4.5. You can reasonably expect him to shoot around even par. But even plus handicaps are still amateurs, so you never really know. Even in my days when i was playing +3 golf, id still have rounds where i shot like 80 or something. 

[LMoore]

Not sure

  On 4/10/2019 at 1:42 PM, Groucho Valentine said:

+4.2 is pretty much maxed out. I think it only goes down to +4.5. You can reasonably expect him to shoot around even par. But even plus handicaps are still amateurs, so you never really know. Even in my days when i was playing +3 golf, id still have rounds where i shot like 80 or something. 

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Scott Parel played to a +7 at our course. 72.9 rating 139 slope. 6900 yards.

answers.com verifies as a general rule what you said, +4.5 - 36.5, but also said theoretically, there is no limit on the plus side. 

Even having the +7, he still beat us well over half the time. If he shot 68, he had the flu.

Edited April 10, 2019 by LMoore
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[Vinsk]

  On 4/10/2019 at 1:42 PM, Groucho Valentine said:

+4.2 is pretty much maxed out. I think it only goes down to +4.5. You can reasonably expect him to shoot around even par. But even plus handicaps are still amateurs, so you never really know. Even in my days when i was playing +3 golf, id still have rounds where i shot like 80 or something. 

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I think it matters when you’ve got those guys who play the same short easy Muni who post their scores religiously ( and disregard the local acceptance of rules violations). I knew guys from a group who did this. They were all (+) handicaps but when we’d go play at an invite where the rules were actually respected and the course was much more difficult they’d be lucky to break 80. Of course it happens with amateurs like you said but a  true +4 hcp shouldn’t fire 80+ anytime they play a course outside their local stomping ground.

[Groucho Valentine]

  On 4/10/2019 at 2:20 PM, Vinsk said:

I think it matters when you’ve got those guys who play the same short easy Muni who post their scores religiously ( and disregard the local acceptance of rules violations). I knew guys from a group who did this. They were all (+) handicaps but when we’d go play at an invite where the rules were actually respected and the course was much more difficult they’d be lucky to break 80. Of course it happens with amateurs like you said but a  true +4 hcp shouldn’t fire 80+ anytime they play a course outside their local stomping ground.

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Oh, believe me it happens. Especially from mid-ams. Its just not there some days. Ive seen many elite players shoot some really head scratching scores. 

[pganapathy]

It is an impressive handicap, especially if it is taken cos the guy has played multiple courses.  The one risk with a great player on one or two courses is potentially their lack of adaptability.

[LMoore]

  On 4/10/2019 at 2:20 PM, Vinsk said:

I think it matters when you’ve got those guys who play the same short easy Muni who post their scores religiously ( and disregard the local acceptance of rules violations). I knew guys from a group who did this. They were all (+) handicaps but when we’d go play at an invite where the rules were actually respected and the course was much more difficult they’d be lucky to break 80. Of course it happens with amateurs like you said but a  true +4 hcp shouldn’t fire 80+ anytime they play a course outside their local stomping ground.

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Agree 100%. Vanity handicaps are revealed under pressure.

[Sandy Divot]

A few years ago I was a 2, and I played with a guy that was +2. I couldn't believe how much better than me he was. A +4.2 would be really good.