Breaking par before hitting puberty :(

[chrisronline]

I never really thought about it before, but this is crazy to actually read:

http://www.pga.com/grandslam/2010/ne...ns_players.cfm

Check out the notes about when they first broke par...

[Easy]

Don't know when you hit puberty but mine was well before 15 :P

This sounds about right, they are professional golfers after all.

[James_Black]

Don't know when you hit puberty but mine was well before 15 :P

I was thinking the same thing lol

A few friends of mine are 15/16 and they've broken par a load of times

[right handed phil mickelson]

I broke par about 2 months ago. I was still 16.

[jamo]

I was 17 the first time. Where does that put me, mini-tours?

[Sing Golfer]

There are gun junior golfers all over the world shooting low scores. A 14 year old kid in Singapore just won the National Open Amateur and will get a start in the $5m+ Singapore Open next month.

If you look at the David Leadbetter Academy there are plenty of kids who can shoot low. Very few actually make it though.

At the other end of the scale, Greg Norman didn't pick up a club until he was 16 and he had a pretty handy career.

[MJP]

I have a buddy who started when he was 15 and now plays at UNLV to a +4.

I sure hope he makes it. He's an awesome guy and a fantastic player. Has the long game for the PGA tour too. 290 carry distance. Has all of sohpomore, junior and senior year to get up to a ~+6 where he can contend in Q School.

I'd imagine about +6-8 are most of the guys going deep into Q school.

[James_Black]

rory mcllroy turned pro off +6.
Most of the top pro's turned pro off +4 (Ian poulter turned pro off of a 4 handicap).

A low handicap isn't everything, it's being able to play off of it under the kind of pressure the pro's are under, one put can be worth 300k

[LongballGer]

Handicap or breaking par doesn´t mean much.

You can have a +4 handicap only playing a 6200yard muni course with your buddies everyday. Play a different, harder course and you won´t be able to break 80.

[MJP]

Handicap or breaking par doesn´t mean much.

What you don't seem to understand about the handicap system (I'm sure you do but it's evading you?) is that courses are rated to make the system fair.

When I played with my +4 buddy at a 70.0/131 course 6600 yards, he shot a -4 66. Which plays him to about a +3.2 that day. He missed a 4 foot birdie putt that would've put him exactly at +4 differential. Then, in a tournament round where the course rating is 74.0/135+ or something 7200yards, he shoots 69 or 70 and plays to that +4 there as well. By no means does he go out and shoot 80 on a "hard course". Hell, his highest tournament round was a 79 at the 77.0 (or mayeb even slightly higher, it's insane) rated Chambers Bay at the U.S. Amateur, probably the most pressure tournament he's played in. I honestly prefer to play very high course ratings because even if I miss the green with my long irons I know my short game is pretty good. Off the green from 180y or from 120y is the exact same thing...

[MJP]

rory mcllroy turned pro off +6.

Very true. But a low handicap playing all touranment rounds (collegiate at that) is very impressive.

Playing to a +4 at the exact same course over and over as casual rounds is a lot different than moving around and playing many different courses in tournaments.