The 2025 Travelers Championship is underway at the TPC River Highlands in Connecticut. For the PGA Tour, it seems business as usual. But there is one small catch. CBS is not involved in the broadcast this time around. So, ESPN is taking care of the broadcast for the last signature event of the 2025 PGA Tour season, which means several beloved commentators and interviewers are on a hiatus this week.

With a very small break at hand, CBS Sports decided to pick the brain of their beloved sportscaster Jim Nantz. In a quick-fire golf Q&A, Nantz laid bare his innermost thoughts. There were a few surprising answers to a few surprising questions. One such question was quite interesting. Nantz was asked, “If you could change one golf rule, what would it be?”

“The Out of Bounds Rule.” Nantz stated without skipping a beat. Rule 18.2b of the USGA Handbook states that, “If a ball is lost or 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.” This rule is extremely tedious for golfers with difficulty controlling their range shots. 

“It’s too severe. You hit it out of bounds, you gotta go back to the tee, penalty shot.” The CBS reporter further added. If the drive on a hole ends up falling out of bounds, the ball has to be brought back to the tee with another penalty shot incurred. In totality, the player ends up adding two shots to the card, without ever having moved the ball from the tee relatively. That means that the next tee shot would be technically the third shot on the scorecard.

Sp, Nantz’s choice is not a hard one for the sportscaster. It is one borne out of experience.”Of course, I am playing my hand here. I have obviously hit it OB quite a bit. So that’s why there is angst for that rule.” Nantz explained sheepishly.

There were a few more interesting questions that Nantz was asked, of which one was, “What does the average golfer need to shoot to be able to tell people, they’re ‘good at golf”? Nantz had another interesting, quick answer that might be on point.

Nantz’s view on the average golfer

“72”. That’s the bare minimum that a golfer needs to score on a course to qualify as average in the eyes of CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz. Mind you, Nantz has seen his fair share of great golfers on the course. So, these are not futile words. However, what Nantz describes is also not an easy task. If you think you can achieve it, understand that to shoot 72 at a course requires immense preparation and practice.

Just ask, Scottie Scheffler. “Professional golf is different than amateur golf. We get a lot of time to prepare to go out and play. And the guys out here are really good at golf. Like, if you stand out on the driving range and you watch a range session, that ball doesn’t go off line very often.” The World No.1 explained ahead of the Travelers Championship. These are professionals who have been practicing the sport from a very young age.

Even Caitlin Clark summed it up best after watching the U.S. Open at the treacherous Oakmont Country Club. “Is Oakmont even fun to play? I’d shoot 130 easily.” The WNBA phenom tweeted after seeing the high scores in Pennsylvania. Of the 156 golfers who took the field, 155 failed to make par. The only one who did was JJ Spaun, who managed to clinch the trophy, his first-ever major title.

What do you think of the average golf score for a good golfer? Is it apt from Nantz?