How many strokes should you get from an American open winner?

Wyndham Clark is looking at a shot

Wyndham Clark, 2023 US Open Champ, plays a lot of golf with non-professional. This is how he deals with the matches.

Getty Images

Let’s say you are a scratch golfer and that you are paired in a match against an American open winner in his prime. How many strokes do you think you should get?

Wyndham Clark says he would give you “four to six.”

For Clark, 2023 US Open Champ, this is not a long -term hypothetical. Unlike many Tour Pros, the 31-year-old, three-time tour winner enjoys what the hard-blown two-time US open wins Curtis Strange once dismissed as “Jolly Golf.” That is, Clark likes to play golf for fun with non-professional, something he does during the peak season when taking Buddies’ trips with many years of friends.

Some of Clark’s friends are former collegial players and mini-tour veterans. They are good at golf. But they are not to Well, otherwise they wouldn’t need their day job. Which does not mean that Clark goes easy on them.

Over time, he says, he has found that giving four to six shots is the fairest way to go.

Wouldn’t it be easier, maybe you ask if Clark just held a disability? In fact, he has one. The trip holds it for him. According to the figures, Clark says he is a plus-9 that he claims makes him a “reverse sandbags.” (Do you Do you have a disability? If not, you can get a here.)

All this and more came up in conversation at the forefront of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Monterey, California, where Clark sat down to chat with Destination Golf, Golf.com’s new weekly golf and travel podcast. Clark was ready to defend his title on Pebble Beach. But he was also busy promoting a partnership with Bourbon Brand Blades and Bow and a deal involving him playing Jolly Golf. The core is this: magazines and Bow holds a competition. The winner will play a round of Clark in an advanced private club that has not yet been revealed, followed by drinks at the bar.

Clark competes to live. But he recognizes that Jolly Golf is the lifeblood of the game. To hear him discuss its virtues you can listen to the whole interview hereWhere Clark also goes deep on the travel stroke in the tour life, his favorite Buddies’ trip destination and why, no matter where he goes, he always packs a Gizmo called a grounding.

Listen and subscribe to Destination golf No matter where you get your podcasts: APPLE | Spotify | IHeart | Amazon