What to do when playing with hacks?

[MikekiM]

What to do when you get paired with players that are clearly terrible, and have no business playing in the tournament?  This was a qualifier tournament where only top 5 spots go to the actual tournament.  There isn't any reason to play this other than to try to qualify for the 2day event. 

Two of the guys we were paired with shot a combined +51.  One of them after +7 thru 9 said it was the best he's ever played.  It didn't continue as he shot +21 the back nine. They were constantly playing out of turn, hitting and putting just as my player and the other guy were just about to hit in turn.  The kids were ducking for cover all over the place.  Course played 6619y and was supposed to be 15-18yo.  One kid hit it no further than 180y off the tee.  Where do these parents get the ideas to sign kids up for these events?   Admittedly my player wasn't playing great, but its hard to focus when the players are so bad, especially when one kid accidentally hits your ball for you, ON THE GREEN. 

We ending up walking off the course.  What would you do?

 

[Pepperturbo]

Age is secondary.   At that age, all sorts of skill levels sign up for events that they are more than likely not competitive in, yet the experience is preparatory for later.   I get the same experience playing in Championship +/Scratch level events, though I was -2.  Playing with a hack is the same; a challenge that tests skilled kids as well as adults. 

 

We just got back from a golf trip.  One of the courses was the second most difficult on the island, and we got paired up with two young people that at best were 25-30+ handi's.  Both those noodles saw me walk to the Blue tees, so they followed.  I said play the tees your game is suited for; of course, they didn't listen.  Neither of them had much distance, nor a straight ball, couldn't cover the distances to reach the 220yd + start of fairways or stay in our fairways.  Plenty of lost balls, time spent looking and waiting for them.   IMO, it's fundamental that every child and adult playing golf to exhibit patience and coping skills and play their own game, alongside people that have far less understanding or skill.

 

Yes, it's frustrating, but controlling that is also part of the game.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Pepperturbo

[leezer99]

Ah yes, I call that The Qualifier Conundrum. Just have to keep your head down and work through it. If you ask me, the tournament director should pull people that are +xx over after nine. 

[kekoa]

It's good for juniors to learn and play with golfers of all abilities.

 

 

what would I do?   walk off the course!!! 🙂

[kiwigolf72]

This topic is not just relevant to this forum, apart from playing in tournaments the majority of club golf I play is with higher handicaps of differing abilities. You need to develop the ability to block out what others are doing and just play your own game, it is definitely easier if I am playing with players of similar ability, but you can still play good golf playing with higher handicap players.

 

[TroyB123]

Use it as motivation to get better so you can play better tournaments and get exemptions.   My son started as a number 6 on a strong high school golf team.   That meant having to play against #6 on other teams.   He shoots in the 70s, and when playing mediocre to bad schools, the #6s can be in the 120s-130s or worse.   It just made him more motivated to move up the order, which he has.  You can't walk off of a high school match, so it's something you need to learn to deal with and block out of your mind.   (and I guess make sure you mark your ball quickly before someone hits it 🙂!

[MahalNeneng]

Tell the kids to go to their happy place 🙂 Keep focused on their process and relax. It gets better as they climb up in age and tournament strength.

[Mike_C]

A few years ago I was paired with a real vanity handicap in a senior state golf association regional tournament.  You were supposed to have an 8 or better handicap to play.  I got paired with a guy who parred the first hole, and went on to shoot 110. He had a big improvement on day 2, shot 96. 

 

I played OK, shot 75, and pretty much just had to ignore him.  The other guy we were paired with on the first day started with a double, then shot one under the rest of the day for a 73, we both ended up in the top 10 after 2 days.   It was spring, a bit cool and windy, but come on, 110-96?

 

Later that year that same guy entered the state Sr. Am, went 103-WD. ( at the time, entries were by by lowest handicap first).   I looked him up, he was supposedly carrying a plus handicap.  I saw he posted 3 rounds in the 60s later than year. 

 

A few years later he is entered again in the state Sr Am, goes 94-NC, he hadn't posted a score since the Sr. Am a few years before.   

 

Unbelievable. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Mike_C

[Tugu]

My kids decide within 3 holes whether they going to keep watching to help locate errant shots and keep score. 

 

If the answer is no, they literally just write down the score reported and get on with their day.

 

My youngest learnt from 2 rounds that ran almost 7 hours in the Asia pacific. He was a few under til he'd just had enough by the 16th and ended up over par both rounds.

 

After those experiences it was strictly keep the kids score, that's it.

[TroyB123]

4 minutes ago, Mike_C said:

A few years ago I was paired with a real vanity handicap in a senior state golf association regional tournament.  You were supposed to have an 8 or better handicap to play.  I got paired with a guy who parred the first hole, and went on to shoot 110. He had a big improvement on day 2, shot 96. 

 

I played OK, shot 75, and pretty much just had to ignore him.  The other guy we were paired with on the first day started with a double, then shot one under the rest of the day for a 73, we both ended up in the top 10 after 2 days.   I was spring, a bit cool and windy, but come on, 110-96?

 

Later that year that same guy entered the state Sr. Am, went 103-WD. ( at the time, entries were by by lowest handicap first).   I looked him up, he was supposedly carrying a plus handicap.  I saw he posted 3 rounds in the 60s later than year. 

 

A few years later he is entered again in the state Sr Am, goes 94-NC, he hadn't posted a score since the Sr. Am a few years before.   

 

Unbelievable. 

We had our first taste playing with adults in a state open qualifier this year.   My son was paired with 3 men whose handicaps varied from .9 to +2.  Not one of them broke 80 or I have a hard time imagining they could ever break 80 from the tips playing by the rules.  So many low handicap adults out there who don't come close to playing by the rules and taking 10 foot gimmes.   They barely even knew a lot of basic rules about what to do about a lost ball, or how to take an unplayable lie and one guy probably missed 10 2-3 foot putts that you know he never putts out.

[hangontight]

I used to complain about it , then wised up and finally learned my sons attitude would follow suit and he would typically play down to level of play in bad pairings.  He since has learned to play his own game.  Like @Tugu said, he has learned to better conserve his mental energy by not getting sucked into the shenanigans.    This falls into the "things that are OUT Of your control" category.

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

22 hours ago, Mike_C said:

A few years ago I was paired with a real vanity handicap in a senior state golf association regional tournament.  You were supposed to have an 8 or better handicap to play.  I got paired with a guy who parred the first hole, and went on to shoot 110. He had a big improvement on day 2, shot 96. 

 

I played OK, shot 75, and pretty much just had to ignore him.  The other guy we were paired with on the first day started with a double, then shot one under the rest of the day for a 73, we both ended up in the top 10 after 2 days.   It was spring, a bit cool and windy, but come on, 110-96?

 

Later that year that same guy entered the state Sr. Am, went 103-WD. ( at the time, entries were by by lowest handicap first).   I looked him up, he was supposedly carrying a plus handicap.  I saw he posted 3 rounds in the 60s later than year. 

 

A few years later he is entered again in the state Sr Am, goes 94-NC, he hadn't posted a score since the Sr. Am a few years before.   

 

Unbelievable. 

I thought we weren't going to speak about this event again? 😉

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

On 10/9/2023 at 1:42 PM, MikekiM said:

What to do when you get paired with players that are clearly terrible, and have no business playing in the tournament?  This was a qualifier tournament where only top 5 spots go to the actual tournament.  There isn't any reason to play this other than to try to qualify for the 2day event. 

Two of the guys we were paired with shot a combined +51.  One of them after +7 thru 9 said it was the best he's ever played.  It didn't continue as he shot +21 the back nine. They were constantly playing out of turn, hitting and putting just as my player and the other guy were just about to hit in turn.  The kids were ducking for cover all over the place.  Course played 6619y and was supposed to be 15-18yo.  One kid hit it no further than 180y off the tee.  Where do these parents get the ideas to sign kids up for these events?   Admittedly my player wasn't playing great, but its hard to focus when the players are so bad, especially when one kid accidentally hits your ball for you, ON THE GREEN. 

We ending up walking off the course.  What would you do?

 

I am not defending the kids, but everyone starts somewhere.  Parents have a certain idea of abilities and hopefully seeing the other kids they know they need to seek lesser tournaments.  Someone is always that kid.  If my kids were beating yours by 5 shots maybe I roll my eyes and think WHY?

 

Just saying its a two way street.

 

 

[MikeW2]

Many years ago in my very first “real” qualifying tournament my inexperience and nerves really took over and I shot an embarrassing 50 on my first 9 and luckily pulled it together to shoot 35 on the back. One player in our group was phenomenal shooting an 11 under 61, a couple of loose shots on the front 9 probably cost him a 59. I felt like the amount of time I was taking threw him off his rhythm and felt bad. Afterwards I apologized to him hoping that my poor play hadn’t thrown him off. He was not my marker and had zero idea what I’d shot, no need to apologize. He’d been completely focused on himself and what he needed to do. That is without question how to handle playing with players of lesser abilities in a tournament setting.