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Players that only hand in "good" cards.

SaffaClint

SaffaClint

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Apr 27, 2013
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Location
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
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+2.3
I'v played golf for a long time and have come across all kinds of golfers. The ones that always confuse me are the ones that only hand in their "good" scores for handicapping purposes. I just don't get this? IMO it's done so that they can say to people' "Yea I play off scratch" yet have no way of playing to that regularly. In the end they go out and play to well over their handicap in a competition and only put extra pressure on themselves.
A perfect example of this is a guy I've started playing golf with recently. He was a playing off +2 a couple years ago before he was forced to take 2 years off. In the 3 rounds we've played he's handed in 1 card and that was for a 69. The other 2 rounds have been mid to high 70's, nearing 80. I've handed in 3 cards for those rounds, 78/79/71. I was playing off scratch when I stopped playing but know I'm not playing to that at the moment and won't be for some time but this guy seems to struggle with the fact he's not still playing to a +2, if in fact he ever was based on his habit of only handing in good cards.
Do any of you know a person like this and what's your take on this practice?
Cheers
 
Ego sometimes makes people do stupid and counterproductive things.
 
Reverse sandbagging only hurts the person keeping the vanity handicap. As much as it hurt my feelings, I had to post the 101 I shot today.
 
Exactly, it's all about EGO. I don't get it though, if you're not capable of playing to that handicap it becomes obvious to people pretty quickly.
 
Actually, I think it's more common to see the other way around: players handing in only the bad rounds and not turning in their good rounds so their handicap stays high and they get more strokes in MGA or tournaments. Recently my club caught a few guys red handed doing it. They of course were boasting about a good round so they went and checked what he posted in the handicap. This guy shot a 76 and put in an 85. Some guys even only post their scores from the rounds they play at the club and not other courses. These guys are professional business men but I guess there is something about claiming you won 1st place and collecting $80 with a false handicap.
 
unfortunately, I'm guilty of this myself. fortunately, though, I realized It only hurts me and if I actually want to see those scores I have to do it honestly. And, I hate to be the hypocrite who asked everybody who I knew lied about their score what they actual score was.
 
I haven't really seen this much at my club, but its not to say it doesn't happen. My goal is to reach single figures for the first time and I have been having some good scores but every now and then a bad one will rear its head and I hate it, but I still put it in, even though it will not help my goal. At least when I play I know my handicap is true to me and im not fudging my cards. All my 18 hole rounds I play I put my cards in good or bad.
 
Exactly lopsta5, I could have not handed in my first 2 rounds back which were 88 & 91. Now for a person who's played off scratch and better that's hard to stomach but I still handed them in. My last 2 rounds have been 78 & 71 so it's coming back thankfully but still not nearly close to playing like I know I can. I would honestly be surprised to have a single figure handicap when I get my first handicap but that's ok.
 
Few guys at our club have very artificial single figure handicaps. On club days when grouped with them they never break 80 and they are the same guys who say they hit the ball 280m but when you gps there drives they are around 210m !
 
As has been said.... it's all about ego and counter-productive. The flip side is those who only hand in bad scores. We have a few of those at my home course. Basically they are padding their handicap for the club championship. I think it's nonsense. When a guy goes in with a 32 handicap and scores an 81 or less during the tournament, there's something very wrong.
 
HAHA, I played with the same guy the thread is about a couple days ago and I've never seen a person hit the ball that far. I hit a long ball bu on one par5 he BOMBED a drive down the middle with a draw, used the GPS measure shot function and he hit it 298m! He's a good golfer but gives up super easy.
 
SaffaClint said:
HAHA, I played with the same guy the thread is about a couple days ago and I've never seen a person hit the ball that far. I hit a long ball bu on one par5 he BOMBED a drive down the middle with a draw, used the GPS measure shot function and he hit it 298m! He's a good golfer but gives up super easy.
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298m is bombed !! I hit one yesterday on our par 5 9th with a gentle tale wind out to 281m and that was as flush as I could get it ! Long drives don't mean much though - i had 6 iron in hand for 2nd to the par 5 and made a 6 :banghead:
 
Players that only hand in "good" cards.

Shouldn't ESC help against that sandbagging? It's why it's there. At least to a degree

I love vanity cappers. I loath sandbaggers
 
Agreed Blu, sandbagging, farming a handicap etc pisses me off no end. There's a guy that wins fairly often at our course and he plays off 16, yet has shot 77 a couple times recently and scored god knows how many points to win good prizes. It annoys the hell out of me and it's blatantly obvious that he's farming his handicap.
 
SaffaClint said:
Agreed Blu, sandbagging, farming a handicap etc pisses me off no end. There's a guy that wins fairly often at our course and he plays off 16, yet has shot 77 a couple times recently and scored god knows how many points to win good prizes. It annoys the hell out of me and it's blatantly obvious that he's farming his handicap.
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If he is so sad of an individual that he needs to lie to win a club championship, maybe he needs it more than you do. Since he is dead inside
 
I just don't get why people do it? The same as I can't understand people that fluff their lies in the rough etc.
 
I try and turn in everything, as that's how I was told the system works best for you. But around here, few people turn in the good scores when out playing, and turn in bad scores, so they are much higher handicap than what they really play. I'll play in tournaments with guys that regularly shoot 73-75, yet they are the same handicap I am. Never the reverse.
 
While I know a ton of sandbaggers, I only know one reverse SBer. He used to do exactly what you say. He always wanted to be an 'A' golfer so only put in those scores, or more often, would just 'practice' once he had a few bad holes and stop taking score entirely. He finally stopped (so far as I can tell). He's been a 'C' golfer (16-20 cap) for a few years now, though occasionally jumps up to 'B'.
 
Drives me crazy that people do this...totally defeats the purpose of having an index
 
Nate said:
Actually, I think it's more common to see the other way around: players handing in only the bad rounds and not turning in their good rounds so their handicap stays high and they get more strokes in MGA or tournaments. Recently my club caught a few guys red handed doing it. They of course were boasting about a good round so they went and checked what he posted in the handicap. This guy shot a 76 and put in an 85. Some guys even only post their scores from the rounds they play at the club and not other courses. These guys are professional business men but I guess there is something about claiming you won 1st place and collecting $80 with a false handicap.
Click to expand...

My men's club played against another local club in a Ryder cup type event. It was very suspicious that several of their high twenties handicappers shot in the low to mid 80s. It frustrated a lot of guys and some of them talked about not playing next year, which is a shame because it's a good event.


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never understood it when guys say "oh it won't effect my handicap so why bother"
 
I'll admit I used to do this. About 10 years ago I had my handicap down at around 3 and then life got in the way of my practicing so when I would have a really bad round I wouldn't turn it it in. After a season of this I figured out I was only hurting myself and quit but as we all know there can be a big ego factor in golf and it got the best of me. I still hate those big scores, but turn them in.
 
I'm perfectly OK with vanity capping as it only hurts the individual doing it, but sandbagging is the worst. I played with a guy a few weeks ago who shot an impressive 69 but then on the last hole he purposefully swapped out his ball for a different brand/model on the green so that his round was "illegal" and wouldn't be posted. I say purposefully because he announced it to the group as he did it.
Prior to the round he said he was currently playing to a 10. Loser.
 
They're cheating themselves. :bulgy-eyes: Everybody screws up now and then so live with it.
 
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