Roger Steele, a scratch golfer known on Instagram and YouTube, recently tested his skills on the supposedly easiest PGA Championship course ever, Valhalla.
Let’s get one thing straight: Valhalla is not easy by any normal golfer’s standards. It just played easier than any of the 105 previous PGA Championship venues. Damp, soft conditions contributed to this, leading to the lowest Friday cut line ever seen at a U.S.-based major, at one under. Only four of the 78 players who played over the weekend failed to break par. Xander Schauffele won with a record 21 under, while Bryson DeChambeau became the first player to shoot 20 under and not win.
To put these numbers into perspective, Roger Steele, a scratch amateur, decided to take on Valhalla under similar conditions: tournament tees, Sunday pins, no gimmes, and no moving balls out of divot holes. Steele, who has a Handicap Index of 0.7, admitted that his recent scores haven’t reflected his abilities due to the recent birth of his baby. “I’ve been playing terribly this year,” he confessed. However, he took his round seriously to see how he would fare.
Steele’s game plan included playing from the tipped-out tournament tees on almost all holes and putting out everything. Notably, one of his tees played up was the 500-yard par-4 opener, where he nearly drove the green and made birdie. The other was the 590-yard par-5 10th, where he made par. Even with these adjustments, Steele aimed to score under the worst round posted during the tournament, which was an 87 by club pro Jeff Kellen.
Steele’s round started with a par on the second hole, followed by a bogey on the third. He managed another birdie on the short par-4 fourth. By the sixth hole, he encountered more challenges, playing his way out of the rough several times to save bogey. Despite these difficulties, he felt that hitting fairways made the course more manageable. “When you hit the fairways, the course kind of became scorable,” he said. He continued, “The rough was not as daunting as I thought it was.”
His best shot came on the 14th hole with a 4-iron to 15 feet. Although he missed the putt, he carried that momentum to make closing birdies at 17 and 18, ending his round with an even-par 71. “It was a little easier than I expected,” he admitted. But he added, “The softness kind of took a little of the teeth out of it, and there was no wind, obviously.” Still, he emphasized that he was expecting a tougher challenge overall.
Comparing Valhalla to other courses, Steele recently played Pinehurst No. 2, the next men’s major venue for the U.S. Open in June. Under similar conditions — playing from the tips with no gimmes — Steele shot a 79. This experience highlighted the unique challenges each course presents.
Steele’s round at Valhalla offered fascinating insights into how a scratch amateur would fare on a major-grade course. Despite his solid play, he acknowledged that conditions played a significant role in his performance.
Roger Steele’s experience at Valhalla reveals that even in softer conditions, major courses present unique challenges that test even the most skilled amateurs.
