Vanity handicapper!

I have been playing golf for 5 years now. Today, I played with a very obvious vanity handicapper for the first time. I only played the back nine, but I saw him chunk a pitch into the 9th green, and figured that his ability level would about match mine.

We get on the 10th tee, and I overhear him saying that he is a 2 handicap. I pipe my drive down the middle (best shot all day for me), and he hooks his drive into the trees.

He kinda made a mess of 10, 11, and 12. Then on 13, he hits a beautiful drive- about 265 or so. I pull up next to him on the fairway and compliment him on his nice drive. Of course, he takes the opportunity to tell me that he usually hits his driver "300 or 340 or so". He also tells me that he is a "2 or 4 handicap". He tells me that he is playing horribly today. I say, "that's what equitable stroke control is for!" He did not respond. He went on to eagle the hole (par 5) with a great putt of 50 feet or so. At this point I'm thinking, "okay, maybe he's not full of it". Then he says that's the first eagle he's ever had. My question is this: can you get down to a low single digit handicap and not have at least one eagle on your resume'?

We go on and he starts to simply hit a second ball when something he doesn't like happens, and he doesn't hole out all of his putts.

Now, I'm okay with recreational golfers who pick up 3-footers and take mulligans, but if you are keeping a handicap, let alone a low one, let alone one that you brag about to your playing partners, PLEASE play the game by the rules! I'm a 25.3 (not a "23 or a 26") and I hole out every putt and do my best to play by the rules and penalize myself appropriately when it is called for. I feel like the minority in that regard.

Thanks for reading my rant!

The "vanity-capper" is the least offensive person in the pantheon of golfing persona's. I know it bugs the hell out of a high capper who takes pains to play by all the rules, but in any format that matters or has consequences the vanity capper is only making him or herself look foolish and placing themself at an extreme disadvantage. My advice is to play your own game and learn to laugh at other players who require their own fictions to make themself feel worthwhile.

In my opinion, no friggin way......

Well im around a 2, and i can tell you we do hit shanks, chunk pitch shots, flub chips, and snap hook drives OB. Sometimes, we don't even break 80! When im playing a casual round, i will often hit 2 or more shots if im the only guy out there. Sometimes ill be out on the course just trying to dial my ballstriking, and i wont putt at all. So i wouldn't judge a player based on 9 holes of play.

I still have yet to putt an eagle on a par 5. Ive holed eagle putts on short par 4's i was able to drive, but ive never got to a green in two, and then made the eagle putt.

No way...it takes a LOT of years to get to a 2 handicap. If he hasn;t made one eagle in that time...he is not a 2 handicap...and from what I gather from above, he pretty much plays best ball with himself...hence the handicap he claims to have.

My friend who is around a 15 handicap got his first eagle on Sunday, second shot stuck it within a foot. It was great for him and he was really happy....plus he bought us a beer when the cart girl came.

I have only been playing since September and have had 2 eagle chances in that time...so he is pure BS

From the white tees! Come back where i play, homey!

Point taken, but you do have an eagle (and it sounds like multiple)....I will amend my answer from "no friggin way" to "highly friggen unlikely"

I would say just probable. You see touring pros that have never had a hole in one before. What if the guy was just a birdie machine?

I'm at risk of being a vanity capper. I can shoot the same 78-82 on a course rated 68 or 74. Not sure why, but I'm working on it. If I want a vanity index, I just play all my rounds at Alberta Springs which is rated as way harder than it actually is since long hitters can cut the corner on all four par-5s and a couple of the par 4s as well. It's kind of lame actually.

LOL...I haven't played white tees in a long time...I would never feel good if I got an eagle on whites...it would bug me for life.

That's just nuts. You play the tees which are appropriate for your length. If you do that then any eagle you make is just as legitimate as one made by a 300 yard bomber from the tips. I can no longer reach any of the par 5 holes on my home course from the mid tees unless I just accidentally smash 2 perfect shots. Are you trying to tell me that I'm supposed to feel bad about making an eagle from those tees? Get real.

I've eagled 7 holes on my home course over the years (and the 4 par 5's each more than once), 2 of those were aces on par 3 holes one was holed out from the fairway on a par 4. We don't have a single par 4 that's drivable even from the middle tees (the shortest par 4 you'd have to carry more than 300 yards over water to make the 340 yards to the green), and the shortest par 5 is just shy of 500 yards. I guess that since I was playing the tees (6500 yards) which are appropriate for my handicap and length, I'm supposed to just forget about it? Some people need to get out and see the whole world, not just their little piece of it.

This last weekend I played with a couple of nice dudes probably 12 cappers or so. First tee they tell me they're playing back tees and I say that's cool I usually do anyways. They ask me what my cap is and I say 1-2 then I proceed to hook and 3-putt my way to an 86. Granted I didn't cheat or complain the whole time but I'm sure they questioned my claim.

Just sayin it's possible for a low cap to have an off day like that but the guy, as you describe him, is a clown.

I never said you, I said 'I"...as in, we probably don't play the same type of golf. I try to get close to 6800 yards on all courses I play, some of them are only 6000 from blues. But I prefer never to play whites. Even if it isn't appropriate for my handicap, no par 5 isn't reachable in 3, and I don't have a problem with it....if a par 5 is a straight 560 yards, I won't make it unless I hit a 300 yard drive and then flush my 3 wood, but would never try that. Par 4's may play longer on blues, some maybe 450 yards, but that is fine with me, it's a good challenge and great practice, and still only a 6/7/8 iron in depending on the drive I never said you should feel bad, please don't take it as a personal insult.... I just play blues

Don't get me wrong- I'm not losing sleep over this guy. It's just ridiculous to see someone like that.

I understand that everyone has bad days on the course (see my handicap), I just got a wacky vibe from this guy. It was clear that he had GREAT shots in his bag, he just wasn't playing golf today, IMHO. He could have just been practicing, I guess, but he got waaaay too excited about the eagle for someone who wasn't documenting/posting the score. You know what I mean.

I have been known to overthink things (like my swing- see my handicap ), so maybe I'm just talking out of my butt...

You're a 10 and you've been playing less than a year? how?

What do you mean?