How many strokes should you get from a U.S. Open winner? We asked one

Let’s say you’re a scratch golfer and you’re paired in a match against a U.S. Open winner in his prime. How many strokes do you think you should get?

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

For Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champ, this is not a far-fetched hypothetical. Unlike many Tour pros, the 31-year-old, three-time Tour winner enjoys what the hard-bitten two-time U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange once dismissed as “jolly golf.” That is, Clark likes playing golf for fun, with non-professionals, something he does in the offseason when he takes buddies’ trips with longtime friends.

Some of Clark’s pals are former collegiate players and mini-tour veterans. They’re good at golf. But they’re not that good, or they wouldn’t need their day jobs. Which doesn’t mean that Clark goes easy on them.

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

Wouldn’t it be easier, you might ask, if Clark simply kept a handicap? Actually, he has one. The Tour keeps it for him. According to the numbers, Clark says that he’s a plus-9, which he claims makes him a “reverse sandbagger.” (Do you have a handicap? If not, you can get one here.)

All of this, and more, came up in conversation in advance of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, in Monterey, Calif., where Clark sat down to chat with Destination Golf, GOLF.com’s new weekly golf and travel podcast. Clark was getting ready to defend his title at Pebble Beach. But he was also busy promoting a partnership with the bourbon brand Blade and Bow and a deal that involves him playing jolly golf. The gist is this: Blade and Bow is holding a sweepstakes. The winner will get to play a round with Clark at a high-end private club that has yet to be disclosed, followed by drinks at the bar.

Clark competes for a living. But he recognizes that jolly golf is the lifeblood of the game. To hear him discuss its virtues, you can listen to the entire interview here, in which Clark also goes deep on the travel rigors of Tour life, his favorite buddies’ trip destination and why, no matter where he goes, he always packs a gizmo called a grounding mat.

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