Sandbaggers should die

[spro]

Vanity handicappers are reverse sandbaggers and it sucks when you get them on your team. Sandbaggers are cheaters and need to be banned from tournament and mioney play, it is that simple.

 

 

We have this at our Club too. Guys who only post their personal best, and sometimes their "fantasy round." Is there any other appeal for doing this other than trying to make yourself look better than you are?

 

I don't see the appeal in entering tournaments with a +4, and shooting a smooth 78.

[NPVWhiz]

Vanity handicappers are reverse sandbaggers and it sucks when you get them on your team. Sandbaggers are cheaters and need to be banned from tournament and mioney play, it is that simple.

 

 

We have this at our Club too. Guys who only post their personal best, and sometimes their "fantasy round." Is there any other appeal for doing this other than trying to make yourself look better than you are?

 

I don't see the appeal in entering tournaments with a +4, and shooting a smooth 78.

 

I actually think vanity handicappers are great....everyone that plays the game hopes to run across one of these folks for a game every once in a while. I have zero regret in looking at GHIN cards and working out strokes on the first tee with them. It helps the pain of running into the other type.

 

But at some point it could be problematic in a blind pairing scenario. Our local GA is supposed to bar entry to folks that can't return a score within some number of strokes based on handicap and course rating.

 

But I see some of the same old faces each year at some of the tournaments.

 

I think a lot of the local Golf Associations are implementing pre-qualifying to weed out some of the folks. It can be difficult to shoot 74 when someone in your group is grinding for 87. And I say that having been the grinder on an occasion or two.

 

I'm sure there is a subset of these people who live their lives in a bit of a fantasy with respect to their golf ability, but I figure that's a pretty benign form of mental illness.

[ryanpgm]

Vanity golfers, while not cheating are the lowest of the low in my opinion. The handicap service is there to help all players compete on a level playing field. For someone to be so hung up on showing your GHIN card to their buddies saying look at me, I'm a +4 is not the way the game is supposed to be played. And 9 times out of 10 they b**** about the lack of shots they get because their handicap is too low. Just disgraceful.

[DemolitionMan]

Vanity golfers, while not cheating are the lowest of the low in my opinion. The handicap service is there to help all players compete on a level playing field. For someone to be so hung up on showing your GHIN card to their buddies saying look at me, I'm a +4 is not the way the game is supposed to be played. And 9 times out of 10 they b**** about the lack of shots they get because their handicap is too low. Just disgraceful.

 

True, but what does a vanity golfer win? Nothing. They lose to everyone in bets and in tournaments because they can never live up to their so called potential.

 

Sandbaggers on the other hand win often. They win cash. They win prizes. And on top of all this, they sometimes brag and sometimes b****.

 

What I don't understand is, what kind of friends/fellow players do they have anyway to let them get away with that? I can speak for the regulars I plays with - rarely will you get your full index so you better come to play, and a vanity indexer is going to get laughed at the entire round and when they pay money.

[TheVelvetCat]

In my men's club, we had one "11" handicap this past summer who was carding some 72's, and 73's in tournaments. Amazingly, these scores "somehow" were never entered into the GHIN system. He will NOT be back next year. In fact, he and a partner backed out of a two-man best ball championship match against my team. They knew they had worn out their welcome at our course, so they made a quiet phone call to the pro shop and backed out. But --- even by conceeding the championship match to me and my buddy, they still got 180 bucks in the pro shop for second place. It's sickening.

[MojoEd]

My brother's club has a good approach to folks who don't post their score - if you don't post your score within 24 hours, they post a par score for you.

 

I am relatively new to the game and have only played in one charity outing, but the level of cheating and sandbagging displayed in that event was horrendous.

[jscw]

In my men's club, we had one "11" handicap this past summer who was carding some 72's, and 73's in tournaments. Amazingly, these scores "somehow" were never entered into the GHIN system. He will NOT be back next year. In fact, he and a partner backed out of a two-man best ball championship match against my team. They knew they had worn out their welcome at our course, so they made a quiet phone call to the pro shop and backed out. But --- even by conceeding the championship match to me and my buddy, they still got 180 bucks in the pro shop for second place. It's sickening.

180 cash for a "life ban of a course"? I don't think it's a deal.

[slicktry]

I agree that sandbagging is done by lowlife's. But I have also seen the otherside of the spectrum as well.

A supposed 7 handicap shooting mid 90's. In order to try to qualify for the majority the amateur events here, you have to have an 8 handicap or better. Guys lie big time to get into these qualifiers.

my little rant...lol

 

God Bless

Jer

[ColinMB]

Interesting read. I've never been in a tournament period (I started late in life) but I always thought this would be the sort of format for someone like myself. This really turns me off of the idea though.

[Grimace45]

I played in one handicap event this year and got beat since the guy I was playing had an index of 21.2 and shot gross 80 net 58 to my gross 74 net 69. I knew it was going to happen, but still annoyed none the less. We have a group of about 8 guys at my club that win just about every tournament that involves a handicap since they will intentially four putt every green on the back side and top and chunk shots to keep their handicaps up. Then tournament time comes and suddenly they play like a 6 handicap. I know it is possible to shoot a career round every once in a while, I just find it hard to believe that it always happens in a tournament. This is the big reason that I only play in the club championship and the events that are played straight up without handicaps.

[glcoach]

Most people will not stand up to sandbaggers either. Most of the time, they are big time members of the club, have reputations for violence, etc. IOW, they are low lifes in every sense of the phrase.

 

Most guys just don't have the time to wage war against these types of people, the best tournaments are often ones at a smaller club where they keep track of your points over a period of time. Other tournaments are flighted after the first round score, I think that curtails it a little bit because you never know where the cut is going to come in from flight to flight. If you sandbag and shoot 81 instead of 77 and the second flight is 77-81, you have done yourself no favors, but if the 3rd flight starts at 81, you will probably win. A sandbagger still wins, but only because it was the luck of the draw.

 

I agree, sandbagging must be stopped.

[nunee]

We played recently in a 4-man best ball NET tournament at a local, VERY NICE course. This tournamnet was on a drizzly rainy Monday. The sun never came out all day. In the morning on the range, the sky opened up and DUMPED for about 20 minutes. 40-50% of the day was a light mist. NOT ideal conditions, and the greens were still lightning fast.

 

We missed a few putts, but thought we may have a chance to at least be competative. Came in at -6 or -5. Not great but decent given the conditions, and dwindling light. We figure we are out, and a 62/62 wins it. Then we hear someone came in with a 58!!! A frigging 58 in that crap with those greens. We are ready to eat and run.

 

They announce the winners.....Third place: 58.....WHAT? Second 57. First was a 55. A Net 55 on a dreary Monday. The winning group was what looked like two BIG Korean guys. (Big for anyone, but to see an Asian guy that big is sometimes shocking.) A smaller asian guy, and a tiny little Asian girl. All in their mid twenties I would guess. How they got that score I have NO idea. There is no way they could shoot a -17.

 

I didn't expect to win, I wanted to play the course, since it is a tough one to get on. It is fun to have a chance. But to hear scores like THAT just pisses you off.

 

Good news though. Closest to the Pin proses each got a Comp Round for 2. The winners got $100 to the pro shop. That would buy them 40% of a green fee, or one of the nice $100 that were in there. There wasn't much to get with the hundred bucks at that buck up place. ;) Suckas!

[larrybud]

If the system worked properly though, sandbaggers wouldn't be able to exist. If the USGA made T scores permanent, or at least had some adjustment so that people that miraculously shoot in the 70s when it means something had a "tournament adjustment" to their index, these folks would be exposed.

 

There IS a tournament reduction built into the USGA handicap system. The problem is, there's no way to force someone to enter their good scores into the system.

 

I played in the Michigan Publinx tournaments for the last 2 years, and this was the last one. I complained to the committee about 4 or 5 guys that did NOT post scores, even the Publinx tournaments! The committee couldn't have cared less, so they won't get my money next year. "Surprisingly" the same couple of guys were ALWAYS in the top 10.

 

That's the real problem. The tournament organizers MUST review to make sure everyone posts their scores. The Golf Association of Michigan is taking step in that they post your score for you when you play in a GAM tournament.

[larrybud]

I agree that sandbagging is done by lowlife's. But I have also seen the otherside of the spectrum as well.

A supposed 7 handicap shooting mid 90's. In order to try to qualify for the majority the amateur events here, you have to have an 8 handicap or better. Guys lie big time to get into these qualifiers.

my little rant...lol

 

Those guys are OK though, because they're just adding to the prize money.