silly question, but if you had to guess what Patrick Cantlay's handicap is what would you say it is? Is he better than the average PGA tour player?

Im just trying to get an idea for how competitive the amateur field is compared to the tour.

probably +7 or 8...maybe lower. its hard to tell how he stands compared to an average tour player. last summer i would say that he was, i think it will be interesting to see how he follows things up this spring and summer with higher expectations from others since people know who he is. he is playing at riviera next week so we will see.

Ive had the luxury of caddying for Cantlay once. It was first round of qualifying for the US Am about 3 years ago. You play 36 holes that day and he had just finished his first round when I took over for the second 18. I believe he has shot 2 or 3 under the first round and shot even on his 2nd round. As far as I remember he made it through but I know he didnt fare so well after that. When I first started playing with him I knew he was on another level. Every single swing was the same, he never deviated from it. What he has cant be taught, you either have it or you dont. I remember him being sooooo clutch in certain spots. He never had any holes in his game, everything was pretty top notch. He wasnt a big driver of the ball, although this was back in 07, so we gave him a hard time for that but we all knew he was going to be huge. I really do hope in the future I have the privelage of saying Ive played golf with the #1 ranked player in the world.

Stadler - have a friend on a D3 team that gets rather nice discounts on TM equipment. Offered to get me a new driver with said discount but is afraid of any ramifications etc of passing it along to me. Any idea if this is a huge deal ?

This is something I am always cautious about. Through my team we are able to get most equipment for free. Taylormade came and fit everyone last November and I think everyone got a driver and some got woods/hybrids. However at a tournament earlier this month me and a couple teammates (the three of us get hooked up from Titleist) didnt have our R11's and the Taylormade rep was there. He didn't say anything to us that day, but the next day my coach told everyone on the team that they needed to return unused Taylormade clubs. The rep asked for it back cause they would rather have it returned than have players give it to other people who they could instead sell equipment to.

So moral of the story, your friend could hook you up but if he gets a club from the guy and then sees him again soon after and your friend isn't playing it the rep may be curious and ask. It's unlikely, but I'm always cautious with all the reps...its better to be friends with all of them and not do anything to jeopardize your deal with them imo. Since it sounds like he is paying something for equipment then it might not be such a big deal, but usually when companies give you product support they are very clear the equipment is to be used by you only.