Anyone read the “100% legal ways to inflate your handicap” article on Golf.com?

11 ways to inflate your handicap that are 100% legal

What a dingus. He probably should have put a caveat in there of, “If you do any of these things with the intention of inflating your cap, do not post those scores.”

Moron.

Of his suggestions, I already do most of them. But I do them every round, so I’m not manipulating. Playing with friends or tourneys. No warm up, no practice, putt everything out, play by the rules, play in the rain, etc. etc.

One of the worst articles I’ve read and Golf.com has some doozies.

Honest question - Im a LH golfer. Could I only record rounds I play RH for index sake but then when it came to tourney time, play LH, thus essentially "cheating" my way into strokes? Not that I'd want to ever do that but is there any rules saying you have to have a handicap per dexterity?

Seemed like a clickbait attempt at humor and kind of dumb.

“If you do any of these things with the intention of inflating your cap, do not post those scores.”If someone starts putting out and playing by the rules, even knowing that it will inflate the cap, they should post the scores.

9 & 10 are the most bothersome to me, as that is an obvious attempt to not play your best. Plenty of peeps don't play any worse by not practicing or warming up.

Overall, I agree with you. The premise doesn't sit well with me, either.

Seems more like satire, largely taking a jab at vanity caps. Sans 2 or 3 of things on the list, most of them are not disingenuous IMO

r/woosh

Yep that was definitely a lost cause reading that.

I really detest the whole handicap thing, especially this aspect of it. I know a couple of guys who get disappointed when they play a great round under their cap. Drives me nuts that they'd rather remain mediocre while always wishing they were better players...completely illogical!!

I agree 100% with you. If the average player plays by all the rules and putts everything out, he’ll see his cap inflate legally. Or maybe his cap will be his actual cap he should be using come tourney time.

To the above poster, you’d establish a LH cap and a RH cap. Vijay Singh is a plus cap playing LH.

Maybe it is satire. Or an attempt.

(i)Player

A player is expected to:Act with integrity by following the Rules of Handicapping and to refrain from using, or circumventing, the Rules of Handicapping for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage,Attempt to make the best score possible at each hole,Submit acceptable scores for handicap purposes as soon as possible after the round is completed and before midnight local time,Submit acceptable scores to provide reasonable evidence of their demonstrated ability,Play by the Rules of Golf, andCertify the scores of fellow players.

So much wrong with the article.

Nope.

If there are rules somebody is going to try and stretch them, period. BB

If someone wants to inflate their handicap, they don’t really care to get better at the game.

So inflate away.

I say this as net games do me no good personally... but I stand by the comment that trying to sound worse than you are is a mindset that won’t lead to actually getting better.

I saw that article and thought it is stupid clickbait. BTW if I could I'd give you an extra like for using the term "dingus."

I agree with the lads that saw it as a satire/humour attempt.

Playing by the rules isn’t inflating your cap. It’s literally the correct way to do it.

The first 5 are legit.

Easiest legal way to inflate not listed is play from the most forward tees that you can. Unless you have to hit driver to reach all par threes many people can't play any better from the front tees than the middle/back tees.

The best way to inflate your scores is to pretend Phil "The Thrill" Mickelson is your caddie telling you to take risky shots with tight pins, forced carries, hitting out of the rough (or trees), etc. Basically constantly trying to pull off the miracle shot. Plus, it's a lot of fun.

(for record - I don't even carry a handicap so the person above is not me)

I inflate my handicap by playing my local cow pasture. 5800 yds, par 68, CR of 64. The greens are like bumpy shag carpet and fairways are spotty.

I played my whole life like Phil was my caddie. I've finally learned to settle down and play safer.

I would say definitely an attempt. To quote Homer Simpson: "Son, you tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson to learn is to never try."

This whole sandbagging is a bit of an alien thing here. Do you guys play for money even at the club comps or what? Don't think here in Australia anybody has ever suggested to play for money. At most we play for the after-round coffees but even that is with friends only, wouldn't suggest that to a stranger I am paired with.

I would add one thing: rely on your friends for the knowlege on the rules of golf, especially on where to drop with lost balls, balls in penalty areas, etc. Bound to be a penalties galore, then you just have to take those penalties ("you know what guys, I think that drop was illegal. Here's how it should have been done. Man, that's a lot of penalties for me.") and the HC is bound to sky rocket. Just try to avoid violating the rules where the penalty is disqualification.

That’s my standard game. No encouragement necessary. ??

Generally speaking, most of the sandbagging complaints (not all) are in the context of organized events where there are prizes of value or some level of recognition associated with the event. Playing for money against a truly unknown stranger is probably done, but not the norm in most circles. Guy who do this successfully are historically called hustlers. Lee Trevino in his early years being a prime example.

dave

I play for money every single round outside of the rare qualifier I play. And the qualifiers are played off of gross so no worries about sandbaggers.

I don’t play with many random people. You are correct about that. When paired up with randos, money or a bet is very rarely brought up in my experience. Only when I would travel, by myself, would that be the case.

In every other round, even with randos paired in my group, I’ll have a game of some sort with my friend.

But every club event has money for team placement and gross and net skins and nearies.

Mhmm.

Mmmhmm.

Mhmm...

With the exceptions of 3, 6, 7, and 8, I do all of those things already.

My personal favorite way to inflate my handicap was moving to a golf course that actually has trees. Everyone back at my home course thinks I'm a sandbagger, everyone at my new course now thinks I can't play to my handicap. And so far both crowds are right, I wish we could keep a separate handicap 2 different courses. I honestly thought the article was funny, to each their own though.

That's what Course Rating, Slope and Course Handicaps are for.

Exactly. On GHIN there’s a place to lookup a course handicap for wherever you’re playing and it does the calculations for you based on the tees you’re playing and adjusts up or down accordingly.

I don't play the tips at my home course for this exact reason. I basically score about the same, yet it will always impact my handicap more back there. I NEVER mind playing the whites with co-workers or older players. SURE, NO PROBLEM!!! ;-)

-ZA

Just remember;

Magazines are in the business to make moneyMagazines make more money if they entertain youMagazines don't make more money with facts