I played in a pro-am for the Latin American tour yesterday, which was fun and humbling at the same time. Our pro was Evan Harmeling, who is somewhat famous for winning a car in an event and giving it to his caddy.
https://www.pgatour.com/la/en/news/2...argentina.html
I am a five handicap right now, and played pretty well despite the fact that the wind was screaming and there was free beer. The biggest takeaway for me was the fact that to improve right now, I have to work on consistency. My good shots were fine, but my bad shots were horrible. He was about 50 yards longer than me off the tee, and on a par 3 he hit a 5 iron from 233 and I hit a 6 iron from 175 (thus the humbling part.) But at my age and skill level is seems like trying to add distance would be a dumb idea, and I should just focus on eliminating bad misses. One the other hand, I parred 18 (a super difficult par 4 that was playing dead into the wind) after seven beers, so maybe that's a winning strategy.
As far as his game, he was solid all around, and hit two or three wow shots, one of which was a hybrid from 290 to the left side of the green on a par 5, when he had to be on the left side of the green to have any shot at birdie/eagle.
One thing about pro golf is that the talent gap between the top guys and the ones like him is much smaller than the money gap. I could easily see him on the pga tour in two or three years, or he could just as easily be going to grad school. The margins are that slim from a talent perspective. But the money differences are obviously massive. It would drive me nuts to be that good, and yet a putt or two per round away from having a solid pro career.