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I hate to be a crybaby...

Bucketsofjoy

Bucketsofjoy

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7.2 USGA
... but... (thanks in advance for listening to me gripe. You guys get it)

So I was playing the exhibition match of our club tournament a few days ago (members tee champ vs forward tee champ). Winner gets pride, and $40.

I play as a 14 handicap, and had to play a 22 handicap who also played from the red tees. No big deal, I've been playing well. Not well enough as it would turn out. This 22 handicap, who has a reputation for being a horrible person in general, shoots 2 over through the first 10 holes and I'm 7 down. I make it to 16 before I lose 3 & 2, but I think he was toying with me.

We finished out, and both ended up shooting 80. Thats my lowest round this year, and puts me at -7 net. He shoots -15 net. He's griping about how he couldn't get off the tee... Not at all excited that he just shot 15 strokes below his handicap.

This guy has 'won' the exhibition match for several years in a row with his sandbagging. My question is what should be done about this? I know this same situation gets discussed a lot, and happens a lot more, but seriously?

I hate to whine and complain, but this was ridiculous. What would you guys do?
 
Sadly that is the landscape of handicapped events. One idiot ruins it for the rest. Probably the biggest reason I don't play in my home course handicapped events for the most part.

Have a beer and be glad you're alive. Works for me!
 
Sounds like he forgot he was a "22" for a moment there. Heck yeah I'd complain to the Director of Golf and maybe you can get other members to join you too. All you want is a fair club tournament and one guy being selfish can mess that up. I can't stand dishonest people.
 
Some courses will have a committee that will review situations like this. If it's a common theme it's worth an extra look. I've heard of committees electing to have all scorecards be submitted for verification and even go so far as to having a committee member joining the offender for the occasional round. Regardless, it's frustrating to have to deal with this. Rant allowed!
 
The only way to counteract this is to have a very strong club handicap committee that understands its job is to make sure everyone is appropriately submitting scores for handicap. Even then it's tough.

The reality is a guy can shoot below his handicap, but statistics would tell us a legit 22 shooting a net -15 would be extremely rare. I don't know the odds, but extremely long. The fact he's won a couple times would indicate a problem.

If you play handicap events you'll see this. If your club doesn't police it at all, you'll see it every year. Bummer.
 
I hate to be a crybaby...

Nothing.

When I was young at our CC there was a dentist who was club champion probably 4 or so years we belonged there.

He was more famous for being a sandbagging douchenozzle. He routinely shot mid 70s but only reported his bad rounds.

Don't sweat it dude you played great that's all that should matter .

Great round !


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JRod said:
Nothing.

When I was young at our CC there was a dentist who was club champion probably 4 or so years we belonged there.

He was more famous for being a sandbagging douchenozzle. He routinely shot mid 70s but only reported his bad rounds.

Don't sweat it dude you played great that's all that should matter .

Great round !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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All true - and those guys get the reputation pretty fast. People know.
 
Nothing you can do except publicly ridicule him.

The local Mini-tour I play on has a policy that only your rounds played on Tour count towards your handicap on Tour. You can't prize in your first 3.
It actually works AMAZINGLY well and it provides a great level playing field for those involved.
 
Canadan said:
Sadly that is the landscape of handicapped events. One idiot ruins it for the rest. Probably the biggest reason I don't play in my home course handicapped events for the most part.

Have a beer and be glad you're alive. Works for me!
Click to expand...

Pretty much sums it up for me as well Canadaline.
 
Take it up with the handicap committee. If you just let it go, he's just going to do it again to someone else (maybe you) next time.
 
Canadan said:
Sadly that is the landscape of handicapped events. One idiot ruins it for the rest. Probably the biggest reason I don't play in my home course handicapped events for the most part.

Have a beer and be glad you're alive. Works for me!
Click to expand...

Canadan hit it on the head. Nothing has changed in home course handicapped events in my 30+ years of playing golf. I'm having another beer and am glad to be alive!
 
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Do what I did. Stop playing league, skins and in the club championship...........

Sandbagging has ruined all forms of of "official" golf at my old home course.
 
I've yet to play in an event where there wasn't a case of this to some degree. Luckily my home course has started loading scores automatically after events, so it has somewhat fixed the problem. But it's amazing how many people show up to events with XS shafts w/ blades and 110 mph swing speeds, and then say they're an 18 handicap. One look at their swing and you just know it's BS.

Frankly I think there should be some cutoff where a ridiculous score vs handicap is just thrown out due to the improbability.
 
Have seen that in many hdcp events. Like dan said, drink a beer, relax and think you about your 80
 
This is why I believe in flights instead of straight handicap.
 
"Sweep the leg!"
 
It seems like the best way to go is if you shoot too far under your handicap in an event, you get moved up a flight / score gets adjusted / whatever.

I wish more people had vanity handicaps instead of sandbag handicaps.
 
People cheat. Welcome to life.
 
Move on. Find another match where you think you'll get a fair shake. It's a pathetic guy who needs to pad the odds to get a win. Red tees? Really? Who was that who said to a guy who wanted to hit from the red tees - "Fine, you can hit from the red tees, as long as you'll wear a skirt."

It feels sweet to get validation of our golf skills every now and then from a won match or trophy, but it's not a lock that we will win based on our skills, there's always a few stealth sandbaggers out there. But if we play with the group whose company we enjoy, and play by the rules, the cred that we have on each other is validation enough of our golf skills.
 
Hate to say it, but something like this will most probably happen to everyone if they are playing events like this.

I have only had it once luckily, and our tournaments here are mainly based on flighting (due to probably 70% of the golfers here not maintaining any sort of handicap). The trouble we see more often is tanking intentionally for a better seeding in an easier flight.
 
Martsy said:
I've yet to play in an event where there wasn't a case of this to some degree. Luckily my home course has started loading scores automatically after events, so it has somewhat fixed the problem. But it's amazing how many people show up to events with XS shafts w/ blades and 110 mph swing speeds, and then say they're an 18 handicap. One look at their swing and you just know it's BS.

Frankly I think there should be some cutoff where a ridiculous score vs handicap is just thrown out due to the improbability.
Click to expand...

There are a few exceptions to this - I am one. Hcp is 29.9 legit and I am taking lessons to retool into a players swing to fix it. Look at my bag (see signature) and I am the guy you described - except every tourney this year I have shot +31 or worse. Clubs are fitted, so it's my over swinging that kills me lol.
 
Canadan said:
Sadly that is the landscape of handicapped events. One idiot ruins it for the rest. Probably the biggest reason I don't play in my home course handicapped events for the most part.

Have a beer and be glad you're alive. Works for me!
Click to expand...

Dan- could this situation be similar to the thread you started about the inherent flaws in the way the handicap system is applied to different sets of tees?

my 9.5 travels well to shorter tracks. but the 81-83 I'm supposed to shoot QUICKLY blows up to struggling to break 90 with a couple/few hundred yards added. so I wonder if the 22 cap excels from shorter tees, but plays from longer tees to maintain his cap.


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I've never played in any type of tournament...but I had no idea this was that common an occurrence!

If I'm a legit 14 handicap, and enter a tournie as such, if I play out of my mind and shoot a 4 over on that day, there's no way I would even think I should get the full 'benefit' of entering as a 14.

Im surprised that there isn't some type of scoring system to adjust for that.

I do second the 'sweep his legs' comment though.
 
Erky said:
This is why I believe in flights instead of straight handicap.
Click to expand...
I am agreeing with you, but it is also possible for someone to sandbag into a flight.
 
I'm going to be that guy.


If somebody needs to be dishonest in order to win an amateur golf tournament at a club, just to give their life purpose and meaning, let them keep winning. They need it more than you
 
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