PGA Tour Pros Say They Rarely Give Strokes to Competitors, Even In Leisure Matches

The season-ending Tour Championship is the only PGA Tour event with a "starting strokes" format that gave Scottie Scheffler a two-shot lead before his first tee shot. Many pros say they typically don't offer free shots to competitors, even at their home courses.

Scheffler and Schauffele entered the week 1-2 in the standings, but Scheffler began the event with a two-shot edge. / Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

ATLANTA – Scottie Scheffler began his quest for the FedEx Cup title on Thursday with a two-shot lead over Xander Schauffele and as many as 10 strokes over five players in the 30-player field at the Tour Championship.

It is the unique nature of the tournament format that sees a “starting strokes’’ staggered system to help determine the end-of-season winner.

Keegan Bradley chuckled at the notion of having to “give’’ Scheffler four shots over the course of four rounds at East Lake Golf Club, given his fourth-place position in the standings.

The notion of a pro giving shots to another pro is somewhat humorous in context, and so Scheffler was asked this week if he actually carries a handicap index at his home club, Royal Oaks, in Dallas.

And his answer was not only enlightening but the subject of considerable conjecture.

“I think that's one of the great parts about our game, is I can go out there with whoever it is and we can come up with some sort of a fair match just based on the handicap system,’’ Scheffler said.

So Scottie has a handicap stroke index and uses it in matches with others?

“Depends on the game, but at home I'm typically playing to a plus-7,’’ said Scheffler, which means on a par-72 course he’d need to shoot 65 to match his handicap and net out to zero. “I used to be a plus-5. They moved me to a plus-7.

“So now we've got guys in the group that are getting like two strokes a hole. I typically still will win more often than not, I feel like, but it's just fun. It's just entertaining.’’

Wow. We’re talking about the Olympic Golf Medalist, Masters champion and No. 1-ranked player in the Official World Ranking. Some think a plus-7 is actually too low for Scheffler. And perhaps it is.

So think about this. If you’re a 10-handicap golfer, and you were to play Scheffler in a match from the same set of tees, in theory, you’d be getting 17 shots from the best player in the world. Good luck with that.

“If I'm at home, pretty much either Friday or Saturday, I'm playing with somebody that I'm giving 20 strokes,’’ Scheffler said. “I think we're up to 20 strokes now. And he takes them all. I think if we kept my handicap throughout the year—it's tough. It's a tough thing to figure out.’’

It’s true that the tees you play from, the course rating, the slope can all be factored into a handicap rating and how it applies to a match.

But trying to play against the elite of the elite seems a tough task.

“Most of the time I’m going to win,’’ Bradley said of his matches against non-tour pros. “They’re not always used to playing from the back tees or having to take proper drops. But if a single-digit handicap player shoots even par, I’m going to have a hard time winning. It means I likely have to shoot like 62.’’

That’s because Bradley has a plus-6 handicap at The Grove 23, Michael Jordan’s Florida golf club where Bradley said all of the pros are given a plus-6 rating. When he plays against Jordan, the former NBA star, Bradley says he typically will give him 10 to 11 shots per round.

A cursory check of the Golf Handicap Index Number (GHIN) shows some interesting handicaps among Tour pros.

Wyndham Clark, who plays out of both Whisper Rock in Arizona and Cherry Hills in Denver, has a plus-7.1 index. Max Homa is 8.4 at Whisper Rock, where Jon Rahm is 9.5 and Phil Mickelson is a 6.6.

Patrick Cantlay carries a plus-5.3 at his home club in California, Virginia Country Club. And Jack Nicklaus, 84, still posts his limited scores and is now a 6.4 handicap (meaning he typically shoots around the low 80s) at the Bear’s Club in Florida.

A long-ago story had Billy Mayfair, now a PGA Tour Champions golfer, as having the “lowest” handicap at Whisper Rock when he around a plus-5. In an interview more than a decade ago, he lamented the fact that he had to give Mickelson shots when they played.

“I had to give Phil two shots a side there for a while, and I was not happy about that one,” Mayfair said. “I don't know where that one came from at all. But I think I did have the lowest handicap there for a while.”

The idea of giving another pro shots is almost sacrilege to Justin Thomas, who said he does not carry a handicap index.

“I think it would be pretty—I don't want to say disrespectful, but I'd be pretty pissed if Scottie and I played a practice round and he's like, do you want a stroke on this nine?” Thomas said. “It would be like, what do I think of myself and what does he think of me. Honestly, it would be a pretty good intimidation factor.

“I definitely have some buddies that I play with at home that are maybe mini-tours or stuff like that, people that I'm close enough with where I feel like I can say that and I'll just—I'll be like, do you want some strokes or what do you want, and they kind of look at me. And I know right then that I've already won the match because that's what I think of them, kind of thing.”

Schauffele is another Tour player who does not have a handicap index but also isn't charitable with strokes in his leisure golf games.

“No, I just beat them. I don't give them shots. It's just not fair,’’ said Schauffele, who won two major championships this year. “They just have to suck it up for the day and play golf with me.

Schauffele added: “I try not to give out any shots unless I really have to or I know the person or trust them. I mean, I have a pretty small circle of people that I play golf with. It sounds like Scottie has a bigger crew that he'll play with. But for the most part, if he's giving someone 10 or 12 shots, he obviously knows that guy very well, and he either wants him on his team or he doesn't, depending on the day.’’

Back in his prime when Tiger Woods lived at Isleworth in Orlando, he would routinely take on the golf staff in games at the course. All of the players were scratch handicaps or better and no shots were given.

But the game they played saw Woods playing his ball against the best ball of the others—which would routinely be up to five or six players. And if Woods arrived late, say on the second or third hole, he’d be down that number of holes. Despite the disadvantage, it’s fair to say that Woods won his share of those matches.

It is an example of how pro golfers can be just as competitive outside of the ropes as in, even if the game is meant to be played at a more leisurely pace.

“I give shots to my friends every day at home, but my friends are not Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele,” a joking Shane Lowry said, knowing that he was seven behind Scheffler to start the Tour Championship.

It might seem silly to give Scheffler any advantage at all, but that is the tiny bonus he got for getting to Atlanta with the FedEx Cup points lead.

And when Schauffele birdied the first hole on Thursday at East Lake and Scheffler bogeyed it, for one hole at least, that lead was gone. By day's end, however, Scheffler led by seven shots at 16 under, having shot 65 to add six shots to his 10-under start. Collin Morikawa and Schauffele are second at 9 under.