how low do you need to go

[wull]

it's probably been talked about on here before and it's been talked about at our club before....

how low do you need to be to make it on tour,or get through the final stages of Q school?

it seems the general consensus is that you need a handicap of +4 to make it and this seems plausible as most tour pro's had this handicap before turning pro.

however a lot of people reckon it's not necessarily that low as a few tour pros were off as high as scratch when they turned pro and i know that craig lee of stirling made it through Q school back in 2007.

i personally think it all depends on your scoring average and how consistent you are.you could shoot level par all day long and never get any lower than scratch.but you could have moments of genius and shoot really low scores and end up having a handicap of +2 or lower.

you could then play quite a few rounds over par and only go up .1 but have the occasional -4,-5 or -6 round and come down half a stroke or so.

what do you's all think!!!!

 

[USER1999]

Poults had a handicap of 4. Not plus four, 4.

Sergio was plus 5 I think.

What has he ever won?

 

[wull]

Poults had a handicap of 4. Not plus four, 4.

Sergio was plus 5 I think.

What has he ever won?

that's right,i forgot about poulter.....he was just a club pro at one point wasn't he?

seen as though they have both done well and won then does this prove it doesn't matter whether you are as low as +4 or not?

 

[Toad]

I don't know what the limit is but would go with others that think you would need to be +4 or better to survive on tour.
I can think of one exception in that Poulter's handicap was around 4 when he turned pro, just goes to show what you can do with a lot of hard work and poor dress sense.

 

[Region3]

I know someone that tried off of +3 and struggled. It's not like he's a bad +3 either as he's been plus figures for years and at different clubs.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

At the end of the day the handicap figure they turn pro with is to all intents and purpose redundant. If they can't find a way to score well week in and week out and miss cuts then you lose your card simples. I think Sam Hutsby was a good case in point. Pretty good record and decent player but couldn't find a way to make enough cash to retain full privileges. Its hard out there and just because you were +3, 4 or 5 doesn't earn you the right to stay on tour

 

[bluetoon]

A chap from our club is at Qschool and plays Off +4.
Holds the club record of 63 which he has equalled 3 times.
Obviously is a top golfer, but has said when he is playing amongst his peers he doesn't stand out from the crowd.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Harrington said at the Footjoy day that a tour pro would have a h'cap of about +6. But he also said if he was playing his brother and Paddy chose the course and it was setup for a tour event it wouldn't matter how many shots he gave his brother, Paddy would win. There is a big difference between being a plus handicapper and being a tour pro.

I'm pretty sure I have a book somewhere that says Tiger was +8 as an amateur

 

[wull]

i just checked number 115 on the race to dubai to see what his handicap would of been from his rounds this year.he currently sits 115th which gets him his card for next year and his earnings are £258.513 from 25 events.

markus brier 2011 scoring average 71.51

now his handicap when he turned pro in 1995 was +3

now i've worked out that if he was playing off scratch at the start of the year his handicap would now be +1.7(+2)

but that's based on the css being the par of the course,which it wouldn't be but i can't make up a number from nowhere because it could be as high as 3 over the ss of the course.

but i think it's safe to say it would of been lower than this because on the majority of the occasions the css would be higher than the par of the course.

obviously poulter is the exception but it also means nothing as some of you have said......many players have been as low as +4 or +5 but struggled on tour or at Q school.