Vanity handicaps. AKA Screw Balls

I know as a golfer we all like to see how low of a handicap we can achieve. I know golfers that tend to mistake there adjusted handicap scores as there real scores for a round. As an example I play with a good golfer who is around a 10 handicap and he always tells me he likes when his handicap goes below 10 because then he only has to take a double bogey. When he gets to the double bogey situation he picks the ball up.

In a case of vanity handicaps run amuck we have a guy who plays his round and only writes down the holes he gets a par or better. Then he fills the blank holes with scores he feels he should have made. Meaning his logic is "I never 3 putt so that doesn't count or I never chili dip a shot so that doesn't count, etc..... The long story short he has managed a 5 handicap. Now here is where the story gets real comical. Every year he plays the club championship where the score cards are exchanged with other golfers. He has averaged between a 95 and 105 for every round. He is the laughing stock of the club. We call him the Blizzard of 78 because he usually never writes down more than a 78 on the handicap computer.

There's usually not a good payoff for reverse sandbagging. Ha ha!

These guys I refer to hate to play for money needless to say.  I guess it could be worse they could be sand baggers.

Oh interesting indeed. I hate the sandbaggers at work golf events and tournaments.

Now somebody just brags about his 5 handicap, that is really a 20 is just funny. I bet he smiles every time too. Let the poor bastard think he's good, it doesn't really hurt anybody except his ego.

LOL, this is crazy.  I thought my dad and his 22 vanity cap - that I estimate should be about 28 or 29 - was bad.  Holy moly!

I did play with a guy last year that claimed to be a 7, but had a swing that was a lot more indicative of a 16 at least.  On one hole, I hopped into the driver seat and so I asked him what he got there and he said something like "well, without those 2 (tee balls astray) I got a 4" with the clear inference that he would like me to write a down a 4.  Okie dokie.

I never understood why people claim lower handicaps than they really are.  I rarely play for money - and when I do, it's for very small amounts straight-up (ie - no handicaps) - but there's a guy at work whose been telling me he is around a 10 handicap . . "Used to be a 4 but haven't played much recently . .yada yada".   Well, we played golf the other week and I could tell by his very first tee shot that he was closer to a 20 than a 10.

Sure enough - he ends up shooting a 90-something . .complaining after every shot about being rusty . . looking confused after bad shots, etc.  10 handicap.  Sure, man . .sure.

There is nothing terribly out of the ordinary about a 10 cap not breaking 90. Heck, I'm under 8 now (legitimately) and have shot over 90 2 or 3 times in the last year or so.

I agree. There was a whole week, last month, that I couldn't get the ball in the air (mental block) that resulted in a couple of 100+ rounds that I hacked through and I have been shooting in the 80's consistently for the past 5 years.

I remember when I was an 8...........

I probably had a couple rounds in the 90s in my most recent 20 scores at all times.

That's true - but if you play enough golf with enough different players . .you can tell a 10 capper from a 20 capper by the way they swing and approach the game.  I could tell by the first hole that this guy wasn't going to break 90.  The funniest thing was I could care less.  I didn't break 90, either - so far, never have.

I don't play with anyone enough to be able to guess what their handicap is based on a few rounds. The system allows for some bad golf to be played, the 10 lowest and .96 thing. I'd wager I only shoot my index on the number about 25% of the time. The rest of the scores vary as much as 8-12 strokes per 18 holes, either way but usually higher on the biggest variation.

I don't think visuals are much of a gauge either and some of it is opinion. Example would be I know some older women that swing odd but hit it short and straight on their way to better than bogey golf. Some of the senior men have similar odd looking swings but again they don't get into trouble and they putt well enough to overcome taking 3 shots to get to the green on most par 4's so they see par often enough to keep it somewhat low. Sometimes it's very obvious but sometimes not.

All I know is my index is legit and that's all I care about. But there are days when I score far worse than someone I am playing with that I suspect usually doesn't play that well. I can tell by their comments and mannerisms when it's a better than usual day. Not so much when it's going the other way because everyone has really bad days.

My game is build upon driving and up-and-down. This means that when the driver is out of order I easily play a round of 95-100 strokes. Last week a 100+ round on thursday and next day 88 under heavy conditions.

I see a lot of high single handicappers who swing like they are 20-cappers. But they play a very consistant round and bring in no tripples and a rare double.

Wow, that must hurt.

We here have it the other way around most times. If i play a business competition or something like that.

It's always the same person winning. I now know why that is ( he is a member at the same club as i )

He reports a hdc off 21. at our local course he plays 12.

well with 9 shots more it's easy to win. Last time i asked him what he was playing off, he said 19. just told him to change that

and showed him my mobile with his hdc on it. ( we have a online scoring system at our course )

He posted a round off 98, maybe i scared him off a bit.

The opposite happens also we have a member at our man's league he's registered at hdc 6.8 and never ever comes close to this score

always in the mid to end 80's. Than he plays a q-card at an other course and posts a score off 72-73

i just hate people like that. If we play club championships i get paired with him almost every time, because we have the same playing hdc.

Just hate it, he has an awful swing and sometimes it brings my game down

I play with guys whose swing looks like they honed it chopping wood. However, they get the ball up and down 80% plus from around the green and they are mid to high single figure handicappers. I'd rather have a better short game than a prettier swing.

Question, which is slightly off-topic, but I need clarification.

I'm a 5. A legit 5. Watch me make one swing & you'll agree. But if I am playing a round for handicap purposes & I hack up a hole, say a triple, I can only post double-bogey on that hole if I'm turning the round in for my handicap, right?

Correct. It's worth noting that the ESC thresholds are based on course handicap , not handicap index, but that won't change your ESC at a 5. Something to consider for those whose index hovers around 10/20/30 though.....

Yes that is the Equitable Stroke Control. It prevents the blow-up holes from telling a different story than your true ability. From the USGA site:

"Equitable Stroke Control" (ESC) is the downward adjustment of individual hole scores for handicap purposes in order to make handicaps more representative of a player's potential ability. ESC sets a maximum number that a player can post on any hole depending on the player's Course Handicap . ESC is used only when a player's actual or most likely score exceeds the player's maximum number based on the table in Section 4-3 .