Jim Nantz dishes on the score needed … to say you’re good at golf

Ninety? That’s bogey golf. But that’s not enough. 

Eighty? That’s around single digits over par. That’s close. 

But for a golfer to call themselves ‘good’ at golf, according to Jim Nantz, they must go lower. 

Is the subject a bit frivolous? Sure. Engaging? That, too. All of it was part of a back-and-forth between the longtime CBS announcer and the network’s social media team — and you can watch the video by scrolling immediately below or by clicking here. 

There was a question on the golf rule that Nantz would change if he could — to which Nantz said the out of bounds one. The rule says if a player hits out of bounds, “the player must take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing the original ball or another ball from where the previous stroke was made.”

“It’s too severe,” Nantz said on the video. “You hit it out of bounds, you got to go back to the tee, penalty shot. Of course, I’m playing my hand here. I’ve obviously hit it O.B. quite a bit, so that’s why there’s angst for that rule.”

There was also a question on the advice Nantz would give a beginning golfer. 

One word, he said. 

“Patience,” Nantz said on the video. “A lot of patience. It takes time and practice to get good at the game but it is worth it.”

The par-3 hole he’d love to ace? The 16th at Cypress Point. The swing he’d pick to emulate? The one of his son, Jameson. 

“He’s got the most perfect golf swing I’ve ever seen,” Nantz said on the video. “And he didn’t get it from me. Now, I tried to coach him on it and teach him, but it’s freakishly good. I wish I could swing the club like that.”

But what about the score needed to call yourself good at golf?

“Seventy-two,” Nantz said.