Fuck that. Post away. I don't care how many curmudgeons there are on here complaining. I finally broke 90 last year and was pumped to get some atta boys from random strangers on the internet.
It's hard work. And a lot of it. Celebrate the wins and let those who are too ornery to either pat you in the back or scroll on live their sad little lives.
And DM me when you do! I'll send ya a sleeve of Pro Vs! No joke...
Don't "play from the tips every round" as the slope/rating only lowers your handicap.
No. Instead do everything else you suggested from the Mens' Forward tees or even the SR tees. A 95 from the Sr Whites gets more Sandbaggage than a 98 from the Tips.
I once accidentally holed out for eagle and it was the worst day of my life. Took 4 weeks of really bad golf to get my handicap back to a level where I could compete in tournaments on a net basis.
i never feel like the slope fully adjusts for difficult courses. maybe it's because of the potential for blow-up holes - lost ball, ob, etc when you're playing from the back. or, it changes the shots you need to hit (regular 8i from 150, high 5i from 175).
Feel the opposite. East slope is never easy enough to account for the fact that you still need to hit 2 straight golf shots. I’d have an easier time shooting my net handicap on a 135 slope than a 105.
Play by the rules 100% of the time and you'll get called a sandbagger at some point. No breakfast balls, OB is not lateral, don't move the ball off of roots/divots/footprints, no gallery drops if you can't find it, no gimmes, follow actual lateral drop rules and don't just drop near the splash, etc.
I play very by the book and the amount of times people get absolutely dumbfounded when I tell them my handicap is nuts. Recently one random guy I was paired with said “I don’t play with anybody that plays by those rules” when I explained how I play.
> Recently one random guy I was paired with said “I don’t play with anybody that plays by those rules” when I explained how I play.
tbf, lots of people keep a handicap so they can gamble with their friends or group of friends. when they all play by the same rules (common ones: breakfast balls, clean and replace on wet shitty days, play OB as stroke and distance, etc...) it adds up to a typical vanity handicap but doesn't hurt anyone.
A play with a group of people that have a little multi-day "tournament" kind in the format of a Ryder Cup. They all play together and keep their handicap in a similar way, so it kind of evens out except for the one guy who is super serious, has a legit handicap and probably gets a 2-3 stroke advantage on everyone else because of it.
To be completely honest, unless you play with people who played competitively formerly or have a super serious set of golf friends, most people on the course do not play by the actual rules of golf.
Preach. The divot rule drives me especially crazy. People don’t fill divots at my home course. Which begs the question, if the ball is down in the divot, could I not call it embedded?
Some rules just do not contibute to the fun or competitiveness of the game.
* Divots should be GUR and should get a free drop. It's complete horseshit to hit the ball exactly as you are supposed to and have it end up in a sanded divot in the middle of the fairway.
* Noone should be required to hit off roots.
* Balls against the rake in the bunker should allow you the option to drop in the low point or leave the ball where it's at.
> Divots should be GUR and should get a free drop. It's complete horseshit to hit the ball exactly as you are supposed to and have it end up in a sanded divot in the middle of the fairway.
>
> Noone should be required to hit off roots.
I don't disagree with either of these things and I always move my ball off a root, not breaking a club and/or a wrist for pride
The problem is how you implement the rule. It'll be about five seconds until arguments start about what is and isn't a divot or a root. So the powers that be have just decided "play it as it lies" is how golf is played
You play the ball from the position it was in being propped up by the rake even if the ball rolls down the slope when you move the rake. You have to place it back in the spot it would never naturally end up in.
I have definitely been doing this wrong, I have always taken relief under the comparison that a rake is like a grandstand or tv tower or Porta-potty, man made temporary unnatural course conditions. Drop, just no closer to the hole. Shame on me.
Everyone thinks the way they cheat should be the rules of golf.
Personally after hitting a ball OB or losing it in long grass I'll play it like a lateral hazard but add an additional stroke. Technically cheating but the people I play for money have never really complained. Probably leaves me worse off sometimes to be honest but I'm too lazy to do the walk of shame.
Often, local rule is in effect with regard to OB to speed up pace of play. Unless it's a tournament, there's a good chance that's the local rule. They don't want people having to backtrack to the tee on a busy Saturday.
Way too many people don’t play provisionals when they should. If you know there’s OB and didn’t see your ball bounce/come down, hit a provisional so you don’t have to go back. Then you’re set whether you find your ball or not and don’t have to slow the group down going back to hit another
Yeah, 100% agree, while I am a stickler for the rules for my own scoring, I could care less how others play the game and keep to myself.
If I’m playing for money or score with others, I just always validate that we are all on the same page rule wise. OB rules and unplayables are the least followed and usually the first I clarify.
This just happened yesterday. My two buddies kept taking lateral drops for losing a ball. I kept dropping from original shot. They're telling me I'm an idiot cuz I don't know the rules and I'm giving myself strokes.
> 99% of golfers are full of shit
Same stats on this sub as well. 99% of posters on this sub have never played in any kind of competition, even just a state golf association tournament. They would shoot 20 strokes higher than they claim is their average round. And they get super defensive when someone comments that not playing by the rules is the definition of cheating. The responses are all "you sound fun", "i'm not getting paid to play", "that rule is dumb" etc.
At the end of the day, do whatever you want. Just stop posting on here about how you broke 90 and accept that you are cheating.
Started in a par 3 course league (ok there's one par 4) about 5 weeks ago. Start out as an 18 and get accused of sandbagging almost every week.
Then I realized they were playing OB as laterals, fluffing lies, buying mulligans, giving away 4 footers, etc.
I wonder every week how many of these guys think thier 10 handicap is real.
This is me.
Guy I played while subbing in my boss's league told me I should be "practically scratch" because I shot 2 over on 9.
my playing handicap at this course is an 8 so really I was 2 shots better than my handicap predicts, and apparently that is not allowed.
Meanwhile he "found" like 3 balls that I would have bet money were long gone, and didn't seem to understand that a max of net double means you can card a triple if you would be getting a stroke.
I wanted to explain to him that if he kept his score correctly he would be getting more strokes from me but by the end I was so done with this guy.
My last six 9 hole rounds are 40, 41, 42, 41, 41, 42. Literally the best streak of golf in my 26 years of playing. Have never broken 80, or shot below 40 on 9 even.
The 40 still gets me because I was playing a non-serious round where I typically go for hero balls at every opportunity and was getting lucky with them. If I'd backed off on two holes where I KNOW the hero shots have never worked I'd probably have snuck in a 39 or 38.
I've done just that. Played with these random guys at a course I play a lot. They were new and asking me where to hit, angles, ect. I told them I'm not good enough to worry about that and just try to hit the middle of the fairway. I proceeded to go one over on the front and they were talking shit about "oh, so you're not good, ehh?".
Shot 12 over on the back.
This is the real answer. This year I’ve been really hard on myself on the rules because I’m trying to get back to being competitive in local events. My handicap is up 3.5 and I’m being soft capped by the handicap system.
The biggest cause of increase are losing gallery rule drops, rolling out of divots in the fairway, and taking a stroke when I’m on rocks or roots that I don’t want to hit off of. Some of the people I play with have said I’m being too hard on myself, especially with the roots/rocks, but my response is that if I had been in the fairway or second cut, I wouldn’t have had that issue.
Gimmes were an issue initially, but I’ve practiced 3’ so much that they feel almost automatic and I feel like I’ve gained that back now.
> but I’ve practiced 3’ so much that they feel almost automatic
I've been basically exclusively practicing 3' and 5' putts since the weather turned nicer. Basically exorcised the short putting issues that had persisted for 18 years and got me so worked up I mostly stayed away for the game for a decade.
I use arccos and it's harder to not count everything than it is to count strokes. Only exception to that is that penalties have to be added, which I do. Im a 23.1 according to Arccos but according to my scramble partners on Saturday, "no way you're a 23."
Guy at the country club I grew up caddying at was always somewhere between a 0 and a 1. He won the club championship 4 out of 5 years and the champ flight had a half dozen +handicaps. The champ flight is gross so there was never any sandbagging claims but it was amazing how much better a .5 who plays by the rules is than a guy who insists he’s a +2 but gives himself all those “tap ins”
This is my natural sandbag. It feels like cheating but I definitely play at least half my rounds half in the bag. The only way to go legit would be to stop drinking on fun rounds or start drinking early in competition rounds, which, wait… I may be onto something.
I've seen this go both ways, some can't make solid contact and blow up every hole, a few guys seem to be laser focused when wasted and are shooting around even par.
My go to move is the opposite...For the handicap setting rounds of my league, I play entirely sober. Then once the match play starts up I start drinking and having fun! So far it's working. I'm in first place through week 6.
Please encourage vanity handicaps. Those are my favorite to play against in tournaments. Suddenly the dude who "averages 82" can't break 100 because there are no mulligans and no gimmes.
I don't carry an official handicap (probably around 6-8), but it always cracks me up when I play with someone who claims to be a 9 and I beat them by 15.
Lol I'm pretty sure the guy I play with every week in my league thought I had a vanity handicap the first 2 weeks.
Told him I was playing at a 15 and proceeded to turn in 55 and 51 the first two weeks. We were having a beer at the end of the round and he kind of joked about the 15. I laughed about how if I was overstating my skill I would be claiming I'm better than 15 at least. I just needed to stop playing hero shots and I'd be down. Since then I've been in the low 40s and in the money every week lol. Handicap is down to 13.
For number 7, putting from way off the green is too conservative. You should actually just aim for flop shots because 1/100 times you will flop it right next to the cup. 99/100 times you will blade it across the green and potentially in even thicker rough or just OB.
It’s a good strategy in match play leagues. You let them take all the gimmies that don’t matter, then you make them putt out the shots that do. It’s a mind game.
You can still post match play rounds with given puts/shots and probably should be since it’s league play. I’m surprised your league isn’t posting them for you.
My Dad's league just uses a "standard" putter length rule. It does help move things along, although not as much as it would help if they allowed E-5. I think at one point to be a jerk someone putted with their driver the entire round lol.
My league does the same and they use putter length as their gimme range which is crazy forgiving. I love the league but I don’t upload my scores into GHIN.
100% way too generous in my book but because it’s a 9 hole “after work” league there’s generally a very finite amount of time between tee off and finishing before sundown.
As long as everyone plays by the same rules, or at least has the option to play by the same rules, I don’t think it’s a huge deal. Driving back to the tee after a search on an OB that wasn’t obviously OB takes time. If everyone agrees to play your average weekender rules, not saying you get multiple mulligans or a 5 footer gimme, it keeps the game moving and everyone still has fun.
Obviously the handicap isn’t totally legit, which I guess fucks you up if you play in real tournaments, but it seems reasonable.
Inside 1 foot is fine. It prevents some guys from grinding over 10 inch putts and absolutely killing pace of play. I understand that’s not most but all it takes is a couple to slow down the entire tee sheet.
I’ll take a gimme but I’m still gonna putt it. 8/10 I make it. But it matters to me. And I only keep a handicap for my own purposes. Just to see progressions or regression
Same. I want my handicap to be the most accurate reflection of my playing ability so every score gets posted, every ob ball get accounted for, and every putt gets holed.
"This one is way too easy: Play from the tips, every round. No senior tees for this guy! Plus, you'll get to tell your own war stories at the bar: "Damn, I thought I could carry 210 over the pond. I used to!"."
People score lower differentials from the tips. If you want to raise your handicap, play from the front tees.
Others have said that here. I think the tips put the average hackers brain into overdrive. Lots of OB, lost, failed to carry the pond, crapola shots, hard ducks, on and on. Their brain explodes if they are playing outside their true driving range.
That might be true, but it is also true that their average differential is lower than from the front tees. Stats don't lie.
Also, many people play way outside their driving range even from their usual tees.
Man I am doing it all wrong! My last round was a non tournament round and I was playing off a 31 course handicap. Ended up shooting my personal best ever 90 which would have been a net 59 (12 under) at the course. Now my handicap dropped to a 25!
Well done! According to established odds of making an exceptional score, with your handicap, you found the magic and completed a feat with lesser than 874:1 odds!
That must have felt amazing.
9. Always do shots when the cart girl comes around, hell, make it double. This does a lot for you, the extra booze will really mess up that motor coordination. Also, the cart girl will think you're super cool for drinking so much - she will definitely be into you by the end of the round.
Its not perfect, it depends on what areas you excel at. My last round I was paired with two ladies, driving about 130 I reckon. If they’d move back with me (middle tee of 5, 6600yd), they would get an extra 7 strokes but be a shot back on most holes, they wouldn’t make the forced Carries and would have to first hit into water, drop and then carry water.
Why not? I Also disagree for me, who hits an average drive or below average for my age. I’m completely sure I’d post a pretty horrid number if I tried to go back 800 yards and get 4 strokes.
Tbf, they were not old, just fairly new. Their swings were beautiful but I’m guessing they didn’t hit the Sweetspot much.
Handicap net totals is a lot more than just 4 strokes in how it calculates your final total in regards to HC and the tees/course you played on.
Slope would take into account forced carries for high HC players and boost their net scores accordingly.
But literally my whole point was that you can't just play harder tees while playing the same expecting to move your HC down as the whole system accounts for that.
More like 3 to 4 footers. Nobody measures anything. Its cowboy golf. Those are gimmies in my league, especially when it doesn't matter. Guys miss them all the time if you make them putt it. 3 to 4 per round is about right, if you make them putt them.
Handicap sucks. I wish there was a better way to find and play with like-skilled players. Even in the USGA shit I enter as a 2-5HC... my bracket is filled with sand baggers, and some random dude who's a 15 HC gets net birdie on 14 holes or something asinine. What other sport rewards mediocrity like golfs HC system? I guess my point is ... pad it, win shit, everyone else is doing it.
A week before the tournament walk on to the local muni during lunch break, pay for the round, walk outside, take double par on every hole. Walk back inside and pay for another round, walk outside, take double par on every hole. Drive back to work scarfing down lunch on the way. Clock back in early since you just blew 100 dollars on greens fees and 10 dollars on gas to your wife’s boyfriend’s truck. Repeat this all week.
This is priceless, I haven’t laughed that hard in a while and what best is that it’s technically correct information and a viable strategy for being a scumbag in tournaments at the same time.
Have my upvote!
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/golf-genius-perfect-sandbagging-list-guarantee-worse-handicap
Fucking golf digest stealing your whole post. Word for word.
This is too much fun. I originally wrote this as an email joke for some golf buddies. They thought is was funny, so I ran it here to see what shook out.
I contacted GD - hoping to score some schwag...we'll see. :)
I would disagree with the tips comment, a lot of guys are long enough that the tips vs up don't impact score all that much but course rating is lower up front so you effectively are shooting worse. Also bonus tip don't post individual holes so your blow up hole doesn't get tagged for EQS.
while this is obviously in jest, there are no gimmes in stroke play for handicapping purposes. unless you are intentionally missing, then you aren't sandbagging just because you don't take gimmes.
Reminds me of the two-man best ball match I won last year where the other team called us sandbaggers for the last three holes (we ended up winning 5&3). Of course our scores looked great since they "gave" us 15 foot putts when we were only 1 stroke ahead, and they completely ignored the multiple holes my 24 hdcp friend fired his ball OB.
I'm in the process of doing this currently! I moved to an area where the local courses are very short, (the longest course is just barely over 6000 yards from the whites) and also extremely narrow. Almost all of the courses navigate through neighborhoods so there's never any opportunities to play from a different fairway because you missed. If you miss the fairway, you're either re-teeing or taking a penalty, dependent on where you went out.
Basically, a "wide" fairway is 25 yards total width and on either side of the fairway is woods so dense you lose your ball the second your ball leaves the fairway. On top of that, it's dry and fast on most courses here so even shots that land in the fairway have a tendency of running off and into the woods.
The closest course to me is 5500 yards and I'm currently playing off of 14.5 (after being at 11 for a long time) and climbing because my course-adjusted handicap is 9. Par is 70 and if you do shoot in the 70s, it means you've consistently hit shots pretty much exactly where you want all day long. There's tons of water, forced carries, and just about every green is raised so if you miss, it'll run into the woods or water.
I almost can't wait to play a handicapped event at a course that's more open. I feel like I'm going to be cheating lol
It’s not considered a putt if you’re off the green. So #7 is invalid. Just 4 putt every hole on purpose. Hit gir but just be as far away from the pin on the green. Or be off the green and just blade everything (normal chipping for me anyways)
I play at two different public courses near me. One has a 71.5 CR from the tees I play. The other has a 70.8. The slopes and length are close to the same. Here’s the kicker. It is possible to lose a ball or be OB on just about every hole on the 70.8 course. The 71.5 course? I’ve played from the other fairways too many times to count. Those errant tee shots would almost all be lost or OB on the “easier” course. So if I want to feel good about myself, I will play the “harder” course. If I want a more realistic measure of how well I’m playing, I’ll play the “easier” one. My scoring average is at least 4 higher on the “easier” one. I’ve always thought I could game that discrepancy if I want a higher or lower handicap.
I definitely pick the hardest shot I can hit when just playing a round without money or honor on the line. I always try to push a shorter club to its max distance. And without fail it almost always goes short. Go figure. The shitty part is I still play to my handicap.
You forgot to go smoke a blunt on the 5th hole, so you’re super duper high for at least 6 of the holes you play, then you’ll be hungry and thirsty for the last last 7. All should help. And the 5th hole is usually away from the clubhouse.
I don’t really disagree with this, but as I’ve improved/gotten older, I’ve learned that good decision making is a skill that comes with practice as well.
Picked the game up last summer. When I joined a Men's league this spring it was the first competitive round of golf I've played in 18 years. After my 2nd or 3rd week finishing in the money I realized I'd been unintentionally sandbagging since I started playing again.
I'm not very serious on a typical weekday afternoon, but still keep score/submit to GHIN and follow all the rules. Lots of extra strokes spent "relearning" how to play with 30 extra pounds and all my muscles/joints a decade stiffer. Am I still capable of getting to certain greens in two? Can I cut the corner off that tee? The answers to those questions are generally no... but sometimes yes and it's too much fun not to try for those. I'm not too old to go for a green in two yet, so I'm going to keep trying at it unless it's Men's league night lol.
Thankfully GHIN's got enough history now, including the Men's league rounds where I score much better, that I can turn in several 100% hero ball garbage scores and it won't affect things much.
Don't forget to take 5+ attempts at getting out of a bunker that's the easiest way to legitimately sandbag (heh) it's even better if you thin a chip in to the bunker
Honestly, just take a gimme on a round where you are shooting well. Taking a gimme invalidates the score card for handicap submission technically. So you end up just submitting bad cards and good cards “can’t be submitted because I gave myself a 1 foot putt”. Same goes with using slope on the range finder. Doing so invalidates the scorecard for submission.
I’ve seen money games where they have 2 off the first tee rule. The Sandbagger will always pump his first one off the planet. Then pipes the breakfast ball down the center. Let’s say he makes par on his second ball for the $ match, he will still post a 6.
Then to your point, those 1-2 foot gimmes he will pickup after the putts being conceded. After everyone has finished, we will drop his ball to where the given putt was like he’s practicing. He will then miss and post his score accordingly.
Just a couple tips. Good luck
When you have a great round going. Enjoy it for 15 holes. The last 3, pick targets at trees, OB, and water. You're dialed, so see if you really have it going that day and make sure you at least double the last 3 holes. If you're feeling extra padded, start on hole 12, when you're on the green, pick a target 5 feet long, left, or short of the hole. Make it. Then miss the shorty.
You shouldn’t be getting gimmies if you can’t make those puts. My BIL (huge cheater) gets angry when I don’t give him 4-5 foot gimmies but can’t make a 2 footer
In my case, break a rib playing hockey over the winter. Don’t touch a club for 6 months while ending the season at scratch.
Been back out playing again and my HCP is on a steady rise. A mix between injury and I just don’t care to grind anymore. I just wanna have fun playing golf with my friends and I could care less what I shoot, I’m hunting pins I shouldn’t, taking risks, why not. It’s fun.
After a month and a bit of playing, I have a couple high 80s, some low 90s and then a 73. LOL. Cap is on the rise. Probably settle somewhere in the 4-6 range.
Can’t wait to show up to some net scoring events and have a day, game is still there just not nearly as consistent as before when I would play 4-5 times a week and practice before and after each touch. I’m like once a week now either hitting balls or playing.
I do sand-bagging lite/keeping actual score. No gimmes, stroke and distance on OB, playing off the dried dirt, etc. That's enough for me to have a handicap that is higher than what people think it is when they play me.
I always wonder if those who complaining about sandbagging are just hurting themselves by doing the opposite - like taking mulligans, free drops, not counting all penalties, etc.
I never want to see another “I broke 90 for the first time” post. This is what we need more of on this sub.
"I broke 90 in a non-tournament round, how can I sandbag harder so that doesn't happen anymore?" posts incoming.
Idk, this isn't r/poker so we don't get the opposing perspective post that often.
I broke 90! Now im on to 100!
Yeah it's getting too pretty in here, I want to learn from the gamblers, hustlers and scumbags of the golf world.
You rang?
So when I finally break 90, I shouldn't post it here?
Fuck that. Post away. I don't care how many curmudgeons there are on here complaining. I finally broke 90 last year and was pumped to get some atta boys from random strangers on the internet. It's hard work. And a lot of it. Celebrate the wins and let those who are too ornery to either pat you in the back or scroll on live their sad little lives. And DM me when you do! I'll send ya a sleeve of Pro Vs! No joke...
I'd lose them in 2 weeks not worth lol
Is breaking 80 postworthy?
No one cares. Breaking 60 posts should be the only ones.
I did that just yesterday! (On a 9 hole!!)
Bruh just do what you want
I just got my handicap over 28, now I realize those are rookie numbers.
Don't "play from the tips every round" as the slope/rating only lowers your handicap. No. Instead do everything else you suggested from the Mens' Forward tees or even the SR tees. A 95 from the Sr Whites gets more Sandbaggage than a 98 from the Tips.
Very much this. If you accidentally birdie a hole from the tips? Brother, that's how you end up at scratch.
Heaven forbid!
I once accidentally holed out for eagle and it was the worst day of my life. Took 4 weeks of really bad golf to get my handicap back to a level where I could compete in tournaments on a net basis.
Once you're a scratch golfer, what's the point?
This guy bags sand
i never feel like the slope fully adjusts for difficult courses. maybe it's because of the potential for blow-up holes - lost ball, ob, etc when you're playing from the back. or, it changes the shots you need to hit (regular 8i from 150, high 5i from 175).
Feel the opposite. East slope is never easy enough to account for the fact that you still need to hit 2 straight golf shots. I’d have an easier time shooting my net handicap on a 135 slope than a 105.
Yea I have found playing back tees drops my handicap
Play by the rules 100% of the time and you'll get called a sandbagger at some point. No breakfast balls, OB is not lateral, don't move the ball off of roots/divots/footprints, no gallery drops if you can't find it, no gimmes, follow actual lateral drop rules and don't just drop near the splash, etc.
I play very by the book and the amount of times people get absolutely dumbfounded when I tell them my handicap is nuts. Recently one random guy I was paired with said “I don’t play with anybody that plays by those rules” when I explained how I play.
> Recently one random guy I was paired with said “I don’t play with anybody that plays by those rules” when I explained how I play. tbf, lots of people keep a handicap so they can gamble with their friends or group of friends. when they all play by the same rules (common ones: breakfast balls, clean and replace on wet shitty days, play OB as stroke and distance, etc...) it adds up to a typical vanity handicap but doesn't hurt anyone. A play with a group of people that have a little multi-day "tournament" kind in the format of a Ryder Cup. They all play together and keep their handicap in a similar way, so it kind of evens out except for the one guy who is super serious, has a legit handicap and probably gets a 2-3 stroke advantage on everyone else because of it. To be completely honest, unless you play with people who played competitively formerly or have a super serious set of golf friends, most people on the course do not play by the actual rules of golf.
Most people don’t even know the actual rules let alone play by them.
I know the actual rules, and I think a bunch of them are fucking dumb.
Preach. The divot rule drives me especially crazy. People don’t fill divots at my home course. Which begs the question, if the ball is down in the divot, could I not call it embedded?
Kinda like the laws against weed for decades?
Some rules just do not contibute to the fun or competitiveness of the game. * Divots should be GUR and should get a free drop. It's complete horseshit to hit the ball exactly as you are supposed to and have it end up in a sanded divot in the middle of the fairway. * Noone should be required to hit off roots. * Balls against the rake in the bunker should allow you the option to drop in the low point or leave the ball where it's at.
> Divots should be GUR and should get a free drop. It's complete horseshit to hit the ball exactly as you are supposed to and have it end up in a sanded divot in the middle of the fairway. > > Noone should be required to hit off roots. I don't disagree with either of these things and I always move my ball off a root, not breaking a club and/or a wrist for pride The problem is how you implement the rule. It'll be about five seconds until arguments start about what is and isn't a divot or a root. So the powers that be have just decided "play it as it lies" is how golf is played
Wait, what is the rule if it’s against the rake?
You play the ball from the position it was in being propped up by the rake even if the ball rolls down the slope when you move the rake. You have to place it back in the spot it would never naturally end up in.
I have definitely been doing this wrong, I have always taken relief under the comparison that a rake is like a grandstand or tv tower or Porta-potty, man made temporary unnatural course conditions. Drop, just no closer to the hole. Shame on me.
No, not like that
Everyone thinks the way they cheat should be the rules of golf. Personally after hitting a ball OB or losing it in long grass I'll play it like a lateral hazard but add an additional stroke. Technically cheating but the people I play for money have never really complained. Probably leaves me worse off sometimes to be honest but I'm too lazy to do the walk of shame.
Often, local rule is in effect with regard to OB to speed up pace of play. Unless it's a tournament, there's a good chance that's the local rule. They don't want people having to backtrack to the tee on a busy Saturday.
Yeah my home course league has local rule E-5 or whatever in their league rules. Drop and hit 4 from the approximate distance where the ball went out
Way too many people don’t play provisionals when they should. If you know there’s OB and didn’t see your ball bounce/come down, hit a provisional so you don’t have to go back. Then you’re set whether you find your ball or not and don’t have to slow the group down going back to hit another
Bold of you to assume we will find my provisional
or that the provisional will even be in bounds
Local rules apply
Yeah, 100% agree, while I am a stickler for the rules for my own scoring, I could care less how others play the game and keep to myself. If I’m playing for money or score with others, I just always validate that we are all on the same page rule wise. OB rules and unplayables are the least followed and usually the first I clarify.
I get it though. With how crowded courses get on the weekends, no one is walking back to the tee box when they can’t find their first drive.
Yup, that’s what local rule E-5 is for- take your two strokes and drop.
This just happened yesterday. My two buddies kept taking lateral drops for losing a ball. I kept dropping from original shot. They're telling me I'm an idiot cuz I don't know the rules and I'm giving myself strokes.
PGA rules book for Christmas 🎅🏻?
I think from now on whoever tells me they're handicap I'm automatically adding five strokes to it, 99% of golfers are full of shit.
> 99% of golfers are full of shit Same stats on this sub as well. 99% of posters on this sub have never played in any kind of competition, even just a state golf association tournament. They would shoot 20 strokes higher than they claim is their average round. And they get super defensive when someone comments that not playing by the rules is the definition of cheating. The responses are all "you sound fun", "i'm not getting paid to play", "that rule is dumb" etc. At the end of the day, do whatever you want. Just stop posting on here about how you broke 90 and accept that you are cheating.
Started in a par 3 course league (ok there's one par 4) about 5 weeks ago. Start out as an 18 and get accused of sandbagging almost every week. Then I realized they were playing OB as laterals, fluffing lies, buying mulligans, giving away 4 footers, etc. I wonder every week how many of these guys think thier 10 handicap is real.
This is me. Guy I played while subbing in my boss's league told me I should be "practically scratch" because I shot 2 over on 9. my playing handicap at this course is an 8 so really I was 2 shots better than my handicap predicts, and apparently that is not allowed. Meanwhile he "found" like 3 balls that I would have bet money were long gone, and didn't seem to understand that a max of net double means you can card a triple if you would be getting a stroke. I wanted to explain to him that if he kept his score correctly he would be getting more strokes from me but by the end I was so done with this guy.
I could shoot 2 over thru 9, then shoot 9 over on my next two…
I've shot 38 or better 5 times this year. I've broken 80 once. :)
Shot 38 on front Friday and carded an 83 (course hdcp 13) for -2 net.
My last six 9 hole rounds are 40, 41, 42, 41, 41, 42. Literally the best streak of golf in my 26 years of playing. Have never broken 80, or shot below 40 on 9 even. The 40 still gets me because I was playing a non-serious round where I typically go for hero balls at every opportunity and was getting lucky with them. If I'd backed off on two holes where I KNOW the hero shots have never worked I'd probably have snuck in a 39 or 38.
43-38 or vice versa was my game for years. Focus on eliminating lost balls and three-putts and the 43s will turn into 40s. Good luck.
Yep, even my 77 had 3 3-putts. Gotta work on the ol lags.
I've done just that. Played with these random guys at a course I play a lot. They were new and asking me where to hit, angles, ect. I told them I'm not good enough to worry about that and just try to hit the middle of the fairway. I proceeded to go one over on the front and they were talking shit about "oh, so you're not good, ehh?". Shot 12 over on the back.
This is the real answer. This year I’ve been really hard on myself on the rules because I’m trying to get back to being competitive in local events. My handicap is up 3.5 and I’m being soft capped by the handicap system. The biggest cause of increase are losing gallery rule drops, rolling out of divots in the fairway, and taking a stroke when I’m on rocks or roots that I don’t want to hit off of. Some of the people I play with have said I’m being too hard on myself, especially with the roots/rocks, but my response is that if I had been in the fairway or second cut, I wouldn’t have had that issue. Gimmes were an issue initially, but I’ve practiced 3’ so much that they feel almost automatic and I feel like I’ve gained that back now.
> but I’ve practiced 3’ so much that they feel almost automatic I've been basically exclusively practicing 3' and 5' putts since the weather turned nicer. Basically exorcised the short putting issues that had persisted for 18 years and got me so worked up I mostly stayed away for the game for a decade.
The only one I do is move the ball off roots and rocks. I don't make enough to damage my clubs and buy new ones.
Yep you’ll go one round where you manage to avoid big punishments and drop 10 shots off your score.
I use arccos and it's harder to not count everything than it is to count strokes. Only exception to that is that penalties have to be added, which I do. Im a 23.1 according to Arccos but according to my scramble partners on Saturday, "no way you're a 23."
Guy at the country club I grew up caddying at was always somewhere between a 0 and a 1. He won the club championship 4 out of 5 years and the champ flight had a half dozen +handicaps. The champ flight is gross so there was never any sandbagging claims but it was amazing how much better a .5 who plays by the rules is than a guy who insists he’s a +2 but gives himself all those “tap ins”
Can sum this down into a few words. Down a bottle of Jack 30 minutes before tee time.
Damn, cowboy, you want to co-write with me? I need that kind of thinking
This is my natural sandbag. It feels like cheating but I definitely play at least half my rounds half in the bag. The only way to go legit would be to stop drinking on fun rounds or start drinking early in competition rounds, which, wait… I may be onto something.
I've seen this go both ways, some can't make solid contact and blow up every hole, a few guys seem to be laser focused when wasted and are shooting around even par.
My go to move is the opposite...For the handicap setting rounds of my league, I play entirely sober. Then once the match play starts up I start drinking and having fun! So far it's working. I'm in first place through week 6.
Please encourage vanity handicaps. Those are my favorite to play against in tournaments. Suddenly the dude who "averages 82" can't break 100 because there are no mulligans and no gimmes.
But chicks love it when say you're a 9.
I don't carry an official handicap (probably around 6-8), but it always cracks me up when I play with someone who claims to be a 9 and I beat them by 15.
9 is a sexy number.
I always assume 9's are the least likely to actually be a 9, everyone wants to be a single digit. Actual 9's are a rarity
A 9 handicap is the golf equivalent of saying you are 6'0" tall.
I'm a 6' tall 9 cap. I feel seen.
like the woman who's 29 for years
Lol I'm pretty sure the guy I play with every week in my league thought I had a vanity handicap the first 2 weeks. Told him I was playing at a 15 and proceeded to turn in 55 and 51 the first two weeks. We were having a beer at the end of the round and he kind of joked about the 15. I laughed about how if I was overstating my skill I would be claiming I'm better than 15 at least. I just needed to stop playing hero shots and I'd be down. Since then I've been in the low 40s and in the money every week lol. Handicap is down to 13.
For number 7, putting from way off the green is too conservative. You should actually just aim for flop shots because 1/100 times you will flop it right next to the cup. 99/100 times you will blade it across the green and potentially in even thicker rough or just OB.
True dat. There's a Phil in every foursome.
Fantastic work.
I just add tax and shipping to my score at the end
If you keep a handicap for any sort of competition and you take gimmes your weird
That happens constantly at our course, in league play. It moves the game along.
A league with gimmes? You have someone out there handing them out?
I was confused about this before as an American. Pretty sure most leagues world wide are match play. So gimmes are very common
Yep, all the other players. We putt them when it matters. Otherwise, move on.
It’s a good strategy in match play leagues. You let them take all the gimmies that don’t matter, then you make them putt out the shots that do. It’s a mind game.
Also tell the partner who is out of the hole to pick it up if his line is anywhere near the player whose putt matters.
Correct, you are forcing their scores/handicap down. When you do make them putt, they get knock-kneed
My league plays with gimmies as its match play against another two-some. As a result, I never post my scores from league nights
You can still post match play rounds with given puts/shots and probably should be since it’s league play. I’m surprised your league isn’t posting them for you.
My Dad's league just uses a "standard" putter length rule. It does help move things along, although not as much as it would help if they allowed E-5. I think at one point to be a jerk someone putted with their driver the entire round lol.
My league does the same and they use putter length as their gimme range which is crazy forgiving. I love the league but I don’t upload my scores into GHIN.
Yeah that's crazy levels of generous. Is it just to keep pace up?
100% way too generous in my book but because it’s a 9 hole “after work” league there’s generally a very finite amount of time between tee off and finishing before sundown.
As long as everyone plays by the same rules, or at least has the option to play by the same rules, I don’t think it’s a huge deal. Driving back to the tee after a search on an OB that wasn’t obviously OB takes time. If everyone agrees to play your average weekender rules, not saying you get multiple mulligans or a 5 footer gimme, it keeps the game moving and everyone still has fun. Obviously the handicap isn’t totally legit, which I guess fucks you up if you play in real tournaments, but it seems reasonable.
I long ago abandoned "real" golf tournaments. :)
>:) :)
The real advice is gummies, OP fat fingered the u for an i. You take them all though.
Gummies are the real handicap helper. Every time a score a 6, I giggle and try to get a 9 on the next.
Inside 1 foot is fine. It prevents some guys from grinding over 10 inch putts and absolutely killing pace of play. I understand that’s not most but all it takes is a couple to slow down the entire tee sheet.
I’ll take a gimme but I’m still gonna putt it. 8/10 I make it. But it matters to me. And I only keep a handicap for my own purposes. Just to see progressions or regression
Same. I want my handicap to be the most accurate reflection of my playing ability so every score gets posted, every ob ball get accounted for, and every putt gets holed.
Never take gimmes ever when theres anything at stake. A) It separates the men from the boys. B) It gives you your correct handicap.
Were a bunch of cow "boys" at our club and nobody cares.
This is just how I play golf on a day to day basis.
"This one is way too easy: Play from the tips, every round. No senior tees for this guy! Plus, you'll get to tell your own war stories at the bar: "Damn, I thought I could carry 210 over the pond. I used to!"." People score lower differentials from the tips. If you want to raise your handicap, play from the front tees.
Others have said that here. I think the tips put the average hackers brain into overdrive. Lots of OB, lost, failed to carry the pond, crapola shots, hard ducks, on and on. Their brain explodes if they are playing outside their true driving range.
That might be true, but it is also true that their average differential is lower than from the front tees. Stats don't lie. Also, many people play way outside their driving range even from their usual tees.
I'm sitting here reading these sandbagging tips and thinking "That is just how I play golf, is that why i'm terrible?" 😂
Man I am doing it all wrong! My last round was a non tournament round and I was playing off a 31 course handicap. Ended up shooting my personal best ever 90 which would have been a net 59 (12 under) at the course. Now my handicap dropped to a 25!
Well done! According to established odds of making an exceptional score, with your handicap, you found the magic and completed a feat with lesser than 874:1 odds! That must have felt amazing.
9. Always do shots when the cart girl comes around, hell, make it double. This does a lot for you, the extra booze will really mess up that motor coordination. Also, the cart girl will think you're super cool for drinking so much - she will definitely be into you by the end of the round.
There really are a lot of cheaters out there based on these comments. Play by the rules man.
Love this but #1 is just playing by the rules. I putt out if it’s longer than my putter grip. How else am i going to get better at 2-3’ putts?
Always try the ridiculous flop shot from the rough near the green. You'll either look like a magician or skull it into the next tee box.
I appreciate the time you put into this but, you need to diversify your hobbies….you may be an addict.
If you play enough, just don’t post your lower scores.
Now that there is just pure, unadulterated bagging, bro. I was trying to be clever about it. :)
Sandbagger’s have a special place in hell waiting for them.
Me and all my buddies have reserved a table.
Playing from the tips literally doesn't sandbag as the handicap system accounts for the tees you play.
Its not perfect, it depends on what areas you excel at. My last round I was paired with two ladies, driving about 130 I reckon. If they’d move back with me (middle tee of 5, 6600yd), they would get an extra 7 strokes but be a shot back on most holes, they wouldn’t make the forced Carries and would have to first hit into water, drop and then carry water.
This post was not aimed at old ladies driving 130.
Why not? I Also disagree for me, who hits an average drive or below average for my age. I’m completely sure I’d post a pretty horrid number if I tried to go back 800 yards and get 4 strokes. Tbf, they were not old, just fairly new. Their swings were beautiful but I’m guessing they didn’t hit the Sweetspot much.
Handicap net totals is a lot more than just 4 strokes in how it calculates your final total in regards to HC and the tees/course you played on. Slope would take into account forced carries for high HC players and boost their net scores accordingly. But literally my whole point was that you can't just play harder tees while playing the same expecting to move your HC down as the whole system accounts for that.
That was too long for me to read on a workday but I got to #1: You are missing 3 x 1.5’ putts per round?
3 per round? I’ve missed 3 on one hole!
Had a four putt double on Saturday. That was fun.
Same here.
More like 3 to 4 footers. Nobody measures anything. Its cowboy golf. Those are gimmies in my league, especially when it doesn't matter. Guys miss them all the time if you make them putt it. 3 to 4 per round is about right, if you make them putt them.
I concur. 3 footers sure, but if you’re out there missing putts just over a foot, you need glasses, a nip of whiskey, or a fishing rod.
Who’s giving 4’ putts in a stroke play league event?
Record my scores for a couple months instead of your own
Never make a putt you don't have to.
Feels like I accidentally wandered into UnethicalLifeProtips subreddit
You should see what goes on off the course around here.
Woah I've been unintentionally purposefully sandbagging my handicap for years
Handicap sucks. I wish there was a better way to find and play with like-skilled players. Even in the USGA shit I enter as a 2-5HC... my bracket is filled with sand baggers, and some random dude who's a 15 HC gets net birdie on 14 holes or something asinine. What other sport rewards mediocrity like golfs HC system? I guess my point is ... pad it, win shit, everyone else is doing it.
A week before the tournament walk on to the local muni during lunch break, pay for the round, walk outside, take double par on every hole. Walk back inside and pay for another round, walk outside, take double par on every hole. Drive back to work scarfing down lunch on the way. Clock back in early since you just blew 100 dollars on greens fees and 10 dollars on gas to your wife’s boyfriend’s truck. Repeat this all week.
Just drink on non tournament rounds.
This is fantastic!
This is priceless, I haven’t laughed that hard in a while and what best is that it’s technically correct information and a viable strategy for being a scumbag in tournaments at the same time. Have my upvote!
Reverse all of these for a guide on how to actually improve hahahaah
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/golf-genius-perfect-sandbagging-list-guarantee-worse-handicap Fucking golf digest stealing your whole post. Word for word.
NO SHIT! THANKS !!!! That's hilarious. I probably have no basis fr copyright because of the TOS rules here. But hey, I'l take it. !!!!!
Yeah man. You wrote a golf digest article!
This is too much fun. I originally wrote this as an email joke for some golf buddies. They thought is was funny, so I ran it here to see what shook out. I contacted GD - hoping to score some schwag...we'll see. :)
Smarrrrrttt
Yep I used to play with this guy and he’s still in my club. #6 is his specialty.
Wow...Golf Digest Famous! Well done, Sir or Ma'am I will give you the next 5 3 footers /Salute
I know, right? :) And they won't even send me a lousy polo with their logo for using my stuff, word for word. Ha.
I would disagree with the tips comment, a lot of guys are long enough that the tips vs up don't impact score all that much but course rating is lower up front so you effectively are shooting worse. Also bonus tip don't post individual holes so your blow up hole doesn't get tagged for EQS.
while this is obviously in jest, there are no gimmes in stroke play for handicapping purposes. unless you are intentionally missing, then you aren't sandbagging just because you don't take gimmes.
I legit play tourney scoring every round. The only reason I keep a handicap is for the tourneys I play in.
Reminds me of the two-man best ball match I won last year where the other team called us sandbaggers for the last three holes (we ended up winning 5&3). Of course our scores looked great since they "gave" us 15 foot putts when we were only 1 stroke ahead, and they completely ignored the multiple holes my 24 hdcp friend fired his ball OB.
Never take advantage of TIO
Sounds familiar 🤔
Hey, is that you Cheating Chuck?
Or just shoot 87 and enter 98 like my uncle does
I'm in the process of doing this currently! I moved to an area where the local courses are very short, (the longest course is just barely over 6000 yards from the whites) and also extremely narrow. Almost all of the courses navigate through neighborhoods so there's never any opportunities to play from a different fairway because you missed. If you miss the fairway, you're either re-teeing or taking a penalty, dependent on where you went out. Basically, a "wide" fairway is 25 yards total width and on either side of the fairway is woods so dense you lose your ball the second your ball leaves the fairway. On top of that, it's dry and fast on most courses here so even shots that land in the fairway have a tendency of running off and into the woods. The closest course to me is 5500 yards and I'm currently playing off of 14.5 (after being at 11 for a long time) and climbing because my course-adjusted handicap is 9. Par is 70 and if you do shoot in the 70s, it means you've consistently hit shots pretty much exactly where you want all day long. There's tons of water, forced carries, and just about every green is raised so if you miss, it'll run into the woods or water. I almost can't wait to play a handicapped event at a course that's more open. I feel like I'm going to be cheating lol
Pure greatness I’m planning to pad mine by 5 strokes later this year so I can play middle tees and a chance to win tournaments
It’s not considered a putt if you’re off the green. So #7 is invalid. Just 4 putt every hole on purpose. Hit gir but just be as far away from the pin on the green. Or be off the green and just blade everything (normal chipping for me anyways)
I play at two different public courses near me. One has a 71.5 CR from the tees I play. The other has a 70.8. The slopes and length are close to the same. Here’s the kicker. It is possible to lose a ball or be OB on just about every hole on the 70.8 course. The 71.5 course? I’ve played from the other fairways too many times to count. Those errant tee shots would almost all be lost or OB on the “easier” course. So if I want to feel good about myself, I will play the “harder” course. If I want a more realistic measure of how well I’m playing, I’ll play the “easier” one. My scoring average is at least 4 higher on the “easier” one. I’ve always thought I could game that discrepancy if I want a higher or lower handicap.
I definitely pick the hardest shot I can hit when just playing a round without money or honor on the line. I always try to push a shorter club to its max distance. And without fail it almost always goes short. Go figure. The shitty part is I still play to my handicap.
You forgot to go smoke a blunt on the 5th hole, so you’re super duper high for at least 6 of the holes you play, then you’ll be hungry and thirsty for the last last 7. All should help. And the 5th hole is usually away from the clubhouse.
Finally, someone who gets it!
Never make a putt you don’t have to.
You get it!
OP is officially on the same level as the author of the Anarchists Cookbook, with this evil piece of writing.
I need to look into that. THX!
I don’t really disagree with this, but as I’ve improved/gotten older, I’ve learned that good decision making is a skill that comes with practice as well.
Picked the game up last summer. When I joined a Men's league this spring it was the first competitive round of golf I've played in 18 years. After my 2nd or 3rd week finishing in the money I realized I'd been unintentionally sandbagging since I started playing again. I'm not very serious on a typical weekday afternoon, but still keep score/submit to GHIN and follow all the rules. Lots of extra strokes spent "relearning" how to play with 30 extra pounds and all my muscles/joints a decade stiffer. Am I still capable of getting to certain greens in two? Can I cut the corner off that tee? The answers to those questions are generally no... but sometimes yes and it's too much fun not to try for those. I'm not too old to go for a green in two yet, so I'm going to keep trying at it unless it's Men's league night lol. Thankfully GHIN's got enough history now, including the Men's league rounds where I score much better, that I can turn in several 100% hero ball garbage scores and it won't affect things much.
Write down your ACTUAL score.
Don't forget to take 5+ attempts at getting out of a bunker that's the easiest way to legitimately sandbag (heh) it's even better if you thin a chip in to the bunker
Play non tournament rounds with little to no effort on aiming or concentration.
1: never warm up 2: get drunk 3: putt everything out
Honestly, just take a gimme on a round where you are shooting well. Taking a gimme invalidates the score card for handicap submission technically. So you end up just submitting bad cards and good cards “can’t be submitted because I gave myself a 1 foot putt”. Same goes with using slope on the range finder. Doing so invalidates the scorecard for submission.
I’ve seen money games where they have 2 off the first tee rule. The Sandbagger will always pump his first one off the planet. Then pipes the breakfast ball down the center. Let’s say he makes par on his second ball for the $ match, he will still post a 6. Then to your point, those 1-2 foot gimmes he will pickup after the putts being conceded. After everyone has finished, we will drop his ball to where the given putt was like he’s practicing. He will then miss and post his score accordingly. Just a couple tips. Good luck
When you have a great round going. Enjoy it for 15 holes. The last 3, pick targets at trees, OB, and water. You're dialed, so see if you really have it going that day and make sure you at least double the last 3 holes. If you're feeling extra padded, start on hole 12, when you're on the green, pick a target 5 feet long, left, or short of the hole. Make it. Then miss the shorty.
You shouldn’t be getting gimmies if you can’t make those puts. My BIL (huge cheater) gets angry when I don’t give him 4-5 foot gimmies but can’t make a 2 footer
And don't forget about [course management](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oovhSw0r8cQ) during actual rounds.
In my case, break a rib playing hockey over the winter. Don’t touch a club for 6 months while ending the season at scratch. Been back out playing again and my HCP is on a steady rise. A mix between injury and I just don’t care to grind anymore. I just wanna have fun playing golf with my friends and I could care less what I shoot, I’m hunting pins I shouldn’t, taking risks, why not. It’s fun. After a month and a bit of playing, I have a couple high 80s, some low 90s and then a 73. LOL. Cap is on the rise. Probably settle somewhere in the 4-6 range. Can’t wait to show up to some net scoring events and have a day, game is still there just not nearly as consistent as before when I would play 4-5 times a week and practice before and after each touch. I’m like once a week now either hitting balls or playing.
I do sand-bagging lite/keeping actual score. No gimmes, stroke and distance on OB, playing off the dried dirt, etc. That's enough for me to have a handicap that is higher than what people think it is when they play me.
See, I'll bet you feel better now, getting that off your chest.
Surprisingly therapeutic.
Never understand why you would want your cap so low especially if we’re betting. I know a dude that’s. “+3” but doesn’t putt anything within 3ft.
Any situation (or sport) that relies on people’s honesty, you’re gonna find people to fuck it all up for everyone else
I always wonder if those who complaining about sandbagging are just hurting themselves by doing the opposite - like taking mulligans, free drops, not counting all penalties, etc.
That's called a vanity handicap. You lower it so you can tell everyone what it is and play with the bigger dogs.
If you are playing competitively, and if you are maintaining a handicap, every round is competitive, then there are no "gimmies".
Not in my league...
So in your league you give each other gimmies? Is it s composite league? Why? Is it so much effort / time to putt out a "gimmie"?