Tournament/non-sandbagging sandbagging question

Tomorrow I am actually playing in a tournament. It is a tournament I have zero chance of winning and a really, really, really good chance of coming in dead last. See, I keep a handicap...but it is only for my own amazement and amusement. I don't bother to have rounds attested. I know my own integrity or lack thereof, and I want to know the real progress I have made, so to the best of my ability it is neither a vanity cap nor a sandbaggers cap, it is a pretty genuine look at my actual ability. However, since it is not attested, it is not a legal handicap, thus I will be entered as scratch. I am over a 17 so...yeah. I might play out of my mind, I genuinely believe I have the ability to break 80 on "one of those days" but I also, especially on this course, have the capability of being north of 100.

Upshot is, I am going out to A) play a course much cheaper than I could otherwise, B) hang with a buddy and C) experiment with some winter golf.

Knowing that, I actually intend to sign up with this group and start building a "legal" handicap. But therein lies the problem.

Inside me are two golfers. One is the one that...I was golfing with a vendor one time at Red Tail, my tee shot drifted right and I had about 75 yards to a short sided green. Short is sand, long is a hillside, and I was blocked off by some fairly tall trees. But I know my game. I told him I was just going over the trees, should be on the green. He laughed knowing I would hit the trees. Except I did not. I went over them just like I said, landed on the edge of the green and barely bounced off. I had the confidence I knew I could and probably would execute the shot, many people would probably consider it a hero shot. I did not, but I did consider it a fun shot. (and also, if I punched out, because of the layout it would have been about 100 yards left, then back up towards a narrow green with trouble short, right, and long.)

I like to play hyper aggressive. I have tracked my scores and they match the research of guys like Broadie...my lowest scores come when I am getting as close to the green as possible every shot unless it is extreme trouble. Once close, I try to get as close to pin as possible without missing green...if flag is tucked right, knowing I currently fade, I am aiming center or left center of green, if it is tucked left I am going straight at it. I tend to have a score dispersion with a couple really low (for me) scores, a couple really high scores, and a sprinkling across average scores.

There is slightly less volatility when I play conservatively and play to a number, but far less chance of going low. I tend toward the mid-high end of my range when I do that.

At the same time, right now due to health issues, I frequently lose grip on the club with 2 fingers of my left hand so a lot of stuff is fading right. That means right now I am doing a lot of teeing off with my 6i just to keep it in play, my distances are all off, my wedge game is $%^&....

Going into this tournament, again, knowing I am not going to be competitive for the foreseeable until I get a cap established, knowing I am playing one of the higher end courses in Portland...probably the most high-end local, definitely public and possibly private, I plan to play "for fun" which in my specific case is not necessarily related to overall score so much as it is to my opportunity on any given hole...

Knowing I plan to build a handicap and maybe play in a few of these, would you as a potential future opponent find me more legit if I:
a) Played the way I will long-term score best but right now has a good chance to be higher; if I can grip the club and my swing is on, an 83 is my PR, a 98 is more likely right now. As I heal, I will be high 80s fairly consistently.
B) played the way that currently will give me the best chance at a modest score but long term will mean I have a higher cap. I will probably be somewhere between an 88 and a 95, tending more towards 92/93.


I am willing to sacrifice a bit of my own desire in service to the golfing world at large and am really curious which is the more "fair" approach to my fellow golfers. And I genuinely don't know.

FYI - you don't have to enter as a scratch tomorrow. They have a mechanism for accommodating players w/out official handicaps.

My two cents re keeping an official index. Just golf your ball however your fancy sees fit that day. The numbers will be what the numbers will be. You don't have to choose between your Jekyl and Hyde golf personas just because of the index. Law of big numbers...it all works out in the end.

I say go out and try to win it. Whatever happens will happen, and as you improve/heal/live your handicap will float with your game at the time. It’s always going to lag behind some, and it’s meant to be a mark of your potential, not an average. So golf your ball, and if it works, Great! If not, well that’s ok too.

As long as you're always trying to make the best score possible then your handicap will work out to where it should be. There are definitely people of similar handicaps who play vastly different games, and I don't see any problem with that.

Just play the best you can and have fun. All that matters.

Hit the ball and have fun, don't play with establishing a handicap in mind. Handicaps will take care of themselves. Enjoyment is way more important than a handicap number.

dazeedmonds said:

I say go out and try to win it. Whatever happens will happen, and as you improve/heal/live your handicap will float with your game at the time. It’s always going to lag behind some, and it’s meant to be a mark of your potential, not an average. So golf your ball, and if it works, Great! If not, well that’s ok too.

Click to expand...

there are some guys pretty close to scratch. I could hit my personal best and be 15 strokes off the pace

I have a great playing partner tomorrow and am thinking of slagging off work early in...thirtyish seconds to go sneak in nine today so should be fun regardless

You are way over thinking this. Go play golf. If you are playing off scratch play fast and don't spend all day reading greens to shoot 90.

Just get out there and try to shoot the lowest score you can. The rest is just out of your control.

Went out, Frank and I got paired with a couple guys, I don't know their caps but they were 7.2 or better flight. Got me in a little trouble early as I tried to play their game instead of mine. On a completely unrelated note I went bogey-triple-triple to start. Then I started playing my game. Went 8 over for the last 9, shot a net even par, was quite pleased. Had some rough moments...was not prepared to play a quality rough and left a LOT of strokes real close to the green. Had a chance to shoot low 80s on a slope 136, which considering my personal best is an 83 I thought was outstanding, but my short game was honestly awful by my standards and horrifically awful by anybodies.

One hole I laughed at myself as I planned to take 6i off tee, watched everyone else go driver and gave in to the silent pressure. Sure enough, faded, had a tree to go over or a punch shot that would hit a long sand trap or I could hit backwards. Despite not hitting a single decent wedge all day, thought to myself, "At some point you have to regain your confidence. You have the skill to hit over that tree easily, make the shot." Instead, as I did often on the day, started it right, hit the tree, landed in the sand. Promptly hit as good a sand shot as I have ever hit, leaving it about 2' from the cup for the easy tap-in par. Had I just gone with my game plan of the 6i would likely have missed the green, with my chipping woes on the day would not have been bottom tier and would have struggled to a six or so. I need to remember that and play the math instead of playing scared.

Regardless, had a great time with fun partner, Frank played well and was in contention until a late unfortunate break. Would do it again in a heartbeat.