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What is a Hacker?

Tadashi70

Tadashi70

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I hear and read that people want to stop being a hacker. I wonder what exactly a hacker is? What makes one a hack? I mean the obvious answer is high scores or a bad swing. But when people move from the 100s to the 90s they aren't hackers any longer. So is being a hacker just a state of mind?
 
To me it seems hacker is a term that is thrown around loosely. I typically shoot anywhere from 77-83 but when part of my game is off I have referred to myself as a hacker. I think it is used as classifying a high handicap player as well as when part of someone's game is off and everything in between.
 
I'm used to making triples or higher even on a 100 yard hole at a par 3.So I am a hacker, but I'm taking lessons to not be associated with this term.I want to play respectable and have people enjoy playing golf with me.Versus looking for my ball on every hole/ or telling me to pick it up and go to the next tee.I hate holding people up, 90 is respectable golf
 
I am almost the perfect definition of a Hacker Freddie.A hacker is someone who loves the game and can play the game pretty well for the first couple or 3 holes then the wheels fall off for a couple more holes and then like magic the game comes back for the next 3-4 holes. Repeat the entire process for the back nine and you have a hacker on your hands.
 
From what I have seen and heard from different people I play with who use the term it's a generic term used for amateurs. I have heard guys say they hacked it around the course but still shot in the low mid 80s.
 
To me a hacker is someone who enjoys the game but doesn't have high aspirations as far as winning club championships, taking their game on the road, that sort of thing. Like, if a hacker was good enough to do that, they'd absolutely seize the chance, but that's not what drives them. It's more a state of mind than anything else, going out there and having fun regardless of what you shoot. Doesn't mean you don't want to get better by any means, but it's still a fun pasttime and not something that consumes you.
 
I will always be known as a Hacker thanks to the Morgan Cup.

If an image helps to define a Hacker, here you go. :)

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To me, a gamer or a player is a person who makes the game look easier than it is...so the flip side of that is a hacker or a duffer, someone who makes the game look harder or more frustrating than it has to be.
 
To me it's a state of mind. A hacker is the exact opposite of the golf snob. No matter what score I am able to shoot, I'll always consider myself a hacker. I despise the eletism that golf snobs show on and off the golf course.
 
I know I may be repeating a comment, however IMO I feel the term "hacker" is used to refer to a high handicapped golfer. While at the same time I've made the same statement about myself after a horrible round. The term seems to be used quite commonly in the sport of golf.

Have we all been there or been referred to as a "hacker"?


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Cookie now why do we see a selfie of you as the header on Tapatalk for this thread?


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I think being a hacker is more a state of mind than a certain range of scores. A hacker is anyone who is not playing golf at the level he thinks he should be.
 
I'm a Hacker and proud of it. I think anyone who plays a few times a month or so, doesn't practice often and loves the game could be considered a hacker. I've also heard the term weekend warrior.
 
I don't think it has any given "value" but just an expression. I think just about any bogey golfer can be a hacker. A few strikes here and there that chop up the grass and sends a few balls astray to me is hacking. I think of it as a sort of humorous type of togetherness thing. When discussing things we (or at least I) use the term "us hackers" or "weekend hackers" etc... but really just means us who are far from perfect and can hack things up now and then and sometimes too often. But still cant place a given value of score on it.
 
If your drive often doesn't clear the red tees you are a hacker. If your usual second shot means hitting under or around trees you are a hacker. When it takes more than one swing to advance the ball out of a sand bunker you are a hacker. If you routinely use your putter from 10 yards off the green you are a hacker. If you find yourself needing to buy balls in bulk in order be able to eat you are a hacker.

So by this description I find that pretty much every time I play I exhibit some hacker tendencies. :D
 
I almost feel like it's a blanket statement for when things don't always go our way on the golf course. "I really hacked it around out there."

I also think it could mean 100 different thing to 100 different people.
 
I found a bunch
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Well, we all think we are hackers, I feel. But objectively, I would have to say it's someone who routinely shoots over 100.
 
I think the term hacker is used loosely and doesn't always mean the same thing. If I'm talking to Rory I might call myself a hacker. Although when I look at other golfers and who I would consider a hacker isn't based purely on what they might shoot but how their attitude is towards the game and course.
 
I think a hacker is someone who does not really practice the game and only plays it here and there a few times a year. They show up swing however hard they want, drink what they want, drop a ball when and where they want. There goal is to not get better but to play because they want to be out of the house or its a buddies party type kind of thing.
 
I'm a hacker.

I definitely think it's a state of mind.
 
Aside from the obvious of shooting 9 hole scores of 60 or over, there are other reasons for being a hacker. When you play "fun golf," you're a hacker. Fun golf involves that you realize you're never going to play in a state or possibly even in a local tournament and are just out there because you're retired and enjoy the sunshine.... and it's about the only sport left that you can play. If you've modified some of the rules among other things, you're a hacker - some examples are:

1) first hole mulligans - while it's nice to play it strict, sometimes you arrive at the course an hour early to warm up, and you get called to the tee an hour early because a few groups cancelled. No warm up time. You dribble your first shot less than 10 yds off the tee or don't even see where it went. You take your do over. It's a game. I'm retired. If you do this you're a hacker.

2) If your ball lands in the middle of the fairway but in a divot or on the right side of the fairway directly behind a root, you move it. No nearer the hole, but you move it. You don't want to spend the medical bills for hitting the tree root. You don't take a stroke penalty. You're a hacker.

3) You dunk your ball in the water. You dunk the next ball in the hazard. You drop your next ball on the other side. Why not? You already spent $7 on that hole. Or you pull out your trusty scuffed up Noodle shag ball you found in the woods a few holes back and hit it onto the green, then putt out with your Callaway without regard to that rule. You're a hacker.

4) You're a hacker if it's summer and you still fluff your lies.

5) If you use a foot or hand-wedge you're a hacker.

6) If you don't hit a provisional ball when you think your ball may be lost in the woods, and instead drop a ball with a 2 stroke penalty approximately where you think you lost it, you're a hacker.

7) You're a hacker if you hit more than one provisional ball off the same tee for the same reason.

8) You're a hacker if two or more clubs in your bag are "free trial" clubs from a mail order company.

9) You're a hacker if you've identified every single French drain or drain field on your home course so you can get a free drop.

10) You're a hacker when you know that playing up the adjacent fairway is the shortest path to the green.

11) You're a hacker when you have to triangulate the NPR from the parking lot.
 
Den60 said:
If your drive often doesn't clear the red tees you are a hacker. If your usual second shot means hitting under or around trees you are a hacker. When it takes more than one swing to advance the ball out of a sand bunker you are a hacker. If you routinely use your putter from 10 yards off the green you are a hacker. If you find yourself needing to buy balls in bulk in order be able to eat you are a hacker.

So by this description I find that pretty much every time I play I exhibit some hacker tendencies. :D
Click to expand...
. This is me and possibly worse.But I try,just a hard game and maybe to hard for me

I feel embarrassed to say but I am a hacker
 
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