Could a 5 handicap putt better than Adam Scott?

[dlygrisse]

So there was the infamous "can a 2 handicap male beat a LPGA pro" thread. But could a mid to low handicap golfer, one who maybe isn't the greatest ball striker, but has a solid short game, beat Adam Scott or another top level pro who struggles with putting in a putting contest? Day- in -day-out putting from the same spots on the same greens if they were allowed to putt for him on the PGA tour? (theoretically of course)

 

Not many think they could strike the ball like AS, but when you watch him putt, you gotta think, man I could putt better than that. BUT, he is on the worlds stage, playing faster greens, more pressure and under a magnifying glass, pressure not many of us know.

 

what say you?

[TheGeekGolfer]

Yes

[golfnhack]

LOL. No. Period.

 

It's like asking if a scratch golfer can beat a PGA pro. A +5... maybe... on an off day.

[dlygrisse]

I'm personally in the 50/50 crowd. Sure with the pressure off I see Adam kicking their butt on occasion, but I have seen some pretty salty putters in my day roll the table. To me this is more mental than anything, the pressure of AS losing to a guy who shoots in the 80's just might get to him.

[oz dee cee]

No way. Maybe the best amateur putters at State level could give him a run. That’s about it. Everyone can keep dreaming.

[deadsolid...shank]

I’ve seen guys who can’t hit it worth a lick with a full swing but put a damn near perfect roll on the ball everytime.

[SavageCy]

No way. Maybe the best amateur putters at State level could give him a run. That’s about it. Everyone can keep dreaming.

 

I couldn’t disagree more. Why couldn’t a 5 putt better than him?

[CMCSGolf]

Two answers.

 

For a 10 hole putting contest, absolutely. Almost any competent golfer could get hot for a short period of time and catch a pro missing a few. When your sample sizes are small, you can get some funky results. It's not implausible that a pro would 3 putt twice or the amateur could hole a few.

 

As for putting from the same spots over a season, absolutely not. If you let a 5 handicapper take all of Scott's putts for a season, he would probably miss every cut. Adam Scott is universally thought of as a terrible putter, but he is only a half shot per round worse than the tour average for strokes gained. He is still incredibly good. I doubt there are many 5 handicap players who could even putt as well as low level college golfers. It is underappreciated how good those guys are from short range compared to solid weekend players.

 

Asked another way, do you think the average 5 handicap is only a half stroke worse per round than the average tour player? Everyone knows the answer to this question.

[Buzzkill]

Negative!

[BNGL]

Ahhhh no.

 

For a tour season absolutely not.

[Naptime]

If they both use putters that are 35" max.

[oz dee cee]

No way. Maybe the best amateur putters at State level could give him a run. That’s about it. Everyone can keep dreaming.

 

I couldn’t disagree more. Why couldn’t a 5 putt better than him?

 

CMCSgolf covered it. Not sure how we’d really find out hence the discussion which is fun.... but I can’t see how a bloke who’s won 50 million plus, a major on Augusta greens and plays the game for a living would be worse than a 5 marker given the same conditions. I know right now he does look very shaky on the greens, but all in all I’m still with AS being better.

[CasualLie]

My god...it is not even close. Adam Scott on his worse day putts better than anyone any of you know (unless of course you happen to be a mini tour or better player yourself lurking on golfwrx).

 

Do you guys realize that if you look at putts per round stats that even though AS is ranked last, it is less than 3 strokes per round than the guy who is first on the list - Phil Mickelson. Does a 5 handicap putt nearly as good as Phil? Within three strokes of Phil over the course of a round on PGA Tour greens????!!!!

 

AS spotting the field 2 -3 strokes a round with bad putting is a problem over the course of 4 rounds...for him. But by no means does it make a 5 handicap anywhere near his universe.

[dg_1983]

Ha!

 

Do folks realize how terrible at golf (including putting) a 5 handicapper is?!?!

 

I don't care what anyone says about "this guy and that guy roll the ball well" if you are a 5 handicapper, you aren't holing enough putts to compete with a scratch golfer, never mind a +3 golfer, never mind a mini tour player, never mind a guy that played on the PGA tour once, never mind a guy that has played on global tours for 10+ years, never mind a PGA tour winner, never mind a Major winner.

 

Anyone who things otherwise is utterly delusional about the game of golf and the performance of 5 handicapper weekend hacks!

[Dean21]

I'm a 5 handicap, so I feel qualified to answer this....

 

The answer is no.

[fawley]

It’s not like you have to guess whether this could happen or not. Anyone who measures their strokes gained putting could compare to Adam Scott’s numbers and see who is a better putter.

 

Scott is ranked 196th in putting this year (a couple of spots behind Speith) and his strokes gained putting are -0.53 per round. All you need to do is find some good putting 5 handicappers who track strokes gained and you’ll have your answer.

 

For what it’s worth, I spent about half a season last year tracking strokes gained before I gave up on it. I was a 5 index at the time and had a decent putting season. I’m generally a very good putter, but last year, while I still putted well, I wasn’t absolutely at the top of my game. For the few months I tracked, I was a little more that 0.5 shots per round worse than Adam Scott’s numbers for this year.

[Ty_Webb]

There seems to be a quite over-inflated opinion of how well PGA Tour players putt and how poorly some 5 handicappers putt. 5 handicappers are miles away from tour players no doubt, but the vast majority of that difference is long game. There are plenty of 5 handicappers out there who hit it poorly but putt well. Some of them will putt better than Adam Scott does. You've never heard of them because they either can't hit it out of their shadow or because they hit it all over the place. That doesn't mean they can't putt though. There is no reason that a great putter among the universe of 5 handicappers can't putt better than a rubbish putter by tour pro standards.

 

To put that another way, the list of people who hit it like DJ, but aren't on tour is very short indeed. The list of people who putt like Adam Scott, but aren't on tour is muuuuuuuuuuch longer.

 

If there was a world putting championship, which included everyone on the planet who plays golf at let's say 10 handicap or better, do you think it likely or unlikely that the winner would be one of the 200 or so people with a PGA Tour card? I say that would be very unlikely. If you did the same thing over 4 rounds of golf, I think it would be very likely that the winner would have a PGA Tour card (or at least is good enough to have one if they wanted one - European players may not)

[jerebear21]

only on GOLFWRX!

[jasonfish11]

My wife who doesn't play golf can beat me at putt putt about half the time, so why not.

[juststeve]

Given an infinite number of contests anyone can beat anyone in a putting competition. In a single contest my money is on Scott against any 5. Scott is a poor putter relative to his competition, not relative to a 5.

 

Steve

[bladehunter]

im in the 50/50 crowd... depends on the "5"...a 5 at my club is around +2 if he posted all his scores and played on less grainy greens.. so alot of variables to consider.. But adam scott is pretty terrible ... I know if several that could no doubt hang with him easy on a 10-18 hole putting match , IF you could erase the pressure of facing a famous guy like that ... But on stats alone..yes... i know several who are easily in the +2-4 strokes gained a round territory...

[arbitrage]

So the 5 capper who putts on 9.5 stimp greens at their local muni is going to beat Scott on 13-14 stimp greens. Riiiiight.

[double_d]

someone competing here could putt better than him, and they are all kids, so the answer is YES

 

http://futurechampio...ntests/putting/

 

The best putters in the world aren't even on the PGA tour.

 

https://msop.com/

 

it's like long drive, a whole different sport.

[jerebear21]

you put a 5 in tournament conditions with 50K eyeballs watching you against a tour player of his caliber. Think about it.

 

Everyone is scratch when no one is watching.

[bladehunter]

So the 5 capper who putts on 9.5 stimp greens at their local muni is going to beat Scott on 13-14 stimp greens. Riiiiight.

 

where does it say anything about taking the 5 to greens running 14? ..by the way most of the greens he putts on arent near 14.

[arbitrage]

So the 5 capper who putts on 9.5 stimp greens at their local muni is going to beat Scott on 13-14 stimp greens. Riiiiight.

 

where does it say anything about taking the 5 to greens running 14? ..by the way most of the greens he putts on arent near 14.

 

The point is that we are comparing, as some said earlier, apples to watermelons. The 5 capper playing with no pressure at their country club or local muni vs a pro with tons of eyes watching him (live and on TV), where every stroke is made or lost money, on greens that have been triple rolled, with devilish pin positions. It's not the same thing. We are playing a completely different game than the pros.

[PowderedToastMan]

So a guy who shoots double digits under par in a lot of tournaments is being compared to a 5 handicap, who is lucky to shoot 77 at his home course?

 

Are we just pretending that Adam Scott sinks all his approach shots from the fairway?

[gentles]

Interesting topic - the question was "could", not "does the average 5 handicap", and I think the answer to that is not quite, but not that far off. I've got plenty of buddies who are in the low single digits who are fantastic putters who I think would give AS a run for his money based on his current form.

 

Setting aside tournament pressure which can't be controlled for, I think if you gave the best putters at your club the average proximity to the hole that a tour pro has, they wouldn't be too far off score wise. Having looks inside 15" on a bunch of holes is going to lead to a good score no matter how bad you are.

 

IMO, the biggest difference between the 5 cap and the tour pro isn't putting ability, but the fact that the 5 cap hits 8 greens and has 2-3 realistic birdie putts a round, whereas the average tour pro hits 13 greens and has 6-7 good opportunities, and is pitching and chipping the ball much closer too. Don't quote me on those numbers, but based on strokes gained research I would say it's not too far off.

[double_d]

The best putters in the world aren't even on the PGA tour.

 

https://msop.com/

 

I guarantee a few of the competitors in the Major Series of Putting aren't 5 handicaps. Heck I bet some don't even play real golf that often.

 

They would smoke Scott. They would smoke the top putters on the tour.

 

It's like saying could a long drive competitor who is a 5 handicap out drive Scott? The answer is YES to that and the answer is YES to the putting question.

 

Based on some of the answers I am seeing I assume most of you didn't even know MSOP (Major Series of Putting) existed.

[BottleCap]

I'll add that the championship greens that we see on the Tour are a different animal than what most amateurs play.

 

I play Torrey Pines once in a while and a GIR there doesn't mean anything since the greens are so big. It's a different game once you're on the greens.