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Vanity handicaps. AKA Screw Balls


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Trump has an ugly swing but gets through it pretty well. Typically modestly, he also describes himself as "the best putter." I've seen him written up as a scratch golfer, which I think is pushing it, but a 4 is certainly possible.

For a double dose of dickheads, check out the video below.

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Stretch.

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Originally Posted by Stretch

Trump has an ugly swing but gets through it pretty well. Typically modestly, he also describes himself as "the best putter." I've seen him written up as a scratch golfer, which I think is pushing it, but a 4 is certainly possible.

I think my real gripe with Trump is that he leaps off the page as somebody who would break several rules each hole and then claim to have birdied it, and then ask all of his yes-men if it were a birdie or a par (really a bogie) and watch as they scramble to write down a 3 on his card.

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I think my real gripe with Trump is that he leaps off the page as somebody who would break several rules each hole and then claim to have birdied it, and then ask all of his yes-men if it were a birdie or a par (really a bogie) and watch as they scramble to write down a 3 on his card.

So who would win in a match between Trump and Kim Jong Il???

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Originally Posted by bplewis24

I think my real gripe with Trump is that he leaps off the page as somebody who would break several rules each hole and then claim to have birdied it, and then ask all of his yes-men if it were a birdie or a par (really a bogie) and watch as they scramble to write down a 3 on his card.

This, of course, is occurring on a par 5 lol.

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

So who would win in a match between Trump and Kim Jong Il???

That's hardly a fair competition, Trump may have "f**k you" money but he doesn't have supernatural powers.

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Originally Posted by bplewis24

I think my real gripe with Trump is that he leaps off the page as somebody who would break several rules each hole and then claim to have birdied it, and then ask all of his yes-men if it were a birdie or a par (really a bogie) and watch as they scramble to write down a 3 on his card.

Hahaha. I thought that too at the end where he's making a big deal about giving the head greenskeeper a $500 bonus and slips in: "I shot 72 today!" And they're all, like, mmmhmm yeah, that's great sir. (Look down at feet.)

Stretch.

"In the process of trial and error, our failed attempts are meant to destroy arrogance and provoke humility." -- Master Jin Kwon

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Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

That's hardly a fair competition, Trump may have "f**k you" money but he doesn't have supernatural powers.

Like Kim, though, he does get to hire his own propagandists.

"And of course, putting is his biggest strength!" (Wafts at dead flat 15-footer, leaving it 3 feet short.)

Stretch.

"In the process of trial and error, our failed attempts are meant to destroy arrogance and provoke humility." -- Master Jin Kwon

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Originally Posted by Stretch

Like Kim, though, he does get to hire his own propagandists.

"He's going to give me 10% of everything he makes for the rest of his life." I see The Donald started by taking the bottom 10% of the poor guy's pants.

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Yours in earnest, Jason.
Call me Ernest, or EJ or Ernie.

PSA - "If you find yourself in a hole, STOP DIGGING!"

My Whackin' Sticks: :cleveland: 330cc 2003 Launcher 10.5*  :tmade: RBZ HL 3w  :nickent: 3DX DC 3H, 3DX RC 4H  :callaway: X-22 5-AW  :nike:SV tour 56* SW :mizuno: MP-T11 60* LW :bridgestone: customized TD-03 putter :tmade:Penta TP3   :aimpoint:

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The reverse sandbagging in golf does crack me up. There's a golfer that we know and laugh at and call him 'Green Jacket' because of his antics. He once challenged me and is known for boasting a "0.4", or as he pronounces it, "OH FOUR BABY!" if you make the mistake of asking him. I let him know that I was playing bad at the time and was carrying an 11 at the time.

Long story short, I shot an amazing round and went 80. I unfortunately got into a little driver trouble mid-round and found water 2-3 times. Good ol' Green Jacket finished 97. The funniest part of the story are the course's stats listed below:

Blue Tees - Slope Rating - 124 : Course Rating - 69 : Par 71 : 5878 Yards

Ol' Green Jacket liked to laugh at my 11, but he did not realize that my actual 10.8 was established and maintained here:

Championship Tees (Tips) - Slope Rating - 144   :   Course Rating - 74.7 : Par 72 : 6932 Yards

In short, handicap is more than just "how good you are" at face value. It can mean something different for each person depending on where you play. Sure, it will give a general look at how good of a player you are, but fine details can sometimes be hidden within that little number that guys like to exaggerate and reverse sandbag for an unknown reason.

I drank free for a week..

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Originally Posted by Spyder

I drank free for a week..

Nice. Those taste best.

Stretch.

"In the process of trial and error, our failed attempts are meant to destroy arrogance and provoke humility." -- Master Jin Kwon

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Originally Posted by zipazoid

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?


That doesn't mean you post a double-bogey on your card, that just means when you post it to the handicap website, ESC is gonna take it down to a double-bogey. At least imho.

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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.

I guess the guy just wants to feel better about his "game" or lack thereof. I personally don't use my handicap for anything. I always just play to the course par and what I shoot is what I shoot. I play people straight up and have never messed with handicaps. I do that with friends too, some who are better and some who are worse than me. I guess that's just how I learned and my mentality that the only thing that matters is to get as close to par as possible.

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Originally Posted by Wally

I guess the guy just wants to feel better about his "game" or lack thereof. I personally don't use my handicap for anything. I always just play to the course par and what I shoot is what I shoot. I play people straight up and have never messed with handicaps. I do that with friends too, some who are better and some who are worse than me. I guess that's just how I learned and my mentality that the only thing that matters is to get as close to par as possible.

You're not going to play a single digit or scratch golfer for money straight up though, right? Some of the guys with, as the OP calls it "vanity handicaps", get caught in situations where they're screwing themselves over and losing because of it; similar to my experience that I posted a few posts back.

It's fine to take on golfers of all levels and just call it straight up, but surely you can't tell a 30 hc or scratch golfer to play straight up and heads up with you, right?

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Originally Posted by Spyder

You're not going to play a single digit or scratch golfer for money straight up though, right? Some of the guys with, as the OP calls it "vanity handicaps", get caught in situations where they're screwing themselves over and losing because of it; similar to my experience that I posted a few posts back.

It's fine to take on golfers of all levels and just call it straight up, but surely you can't tell a 30 hc or scratch golfer to play straight up and heads up with you, right?

No, I wouldn't, because I hardly play for money. I'd play them and know that overall I would most likely lose (haha), but I always focus on my game and not what the other person is doing.  At most, I may have a friendly competition with one of my friends for like a dollar a side (per 9 holes) to whoever has the least putts, or some small wager like that.

As for playing with golfers worse than me, it kind of goes the same way. I'm usually with those people if I book a tee time somewhere and the clubhouse pairs me with them. It's almost always that I play my game and they play theirs, so we never count each others strokes, penalties, etc. We each just enjoy our round, compete against ourselves, which I always try to see as my competition.  I like to think nobody is getting in the way of my game but myself.

But anyway, if someone (better or worse) wanted to really compete against me and use the handicap system, I would have no problem with playing that way.  It was designed for a reason, to keep competition level amongst players of different skill levels.

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I've been accused of vanity capping which kind of sucks, by my own father! Luckily in our yearly 2 man best ball I shut him up with a nice little 74 to go with his 86.

In reality my handicap may be slightly lower than it should because of the course I play the most. I personally think it is rated incorrectly, as it plays so easy. Bowled fairway and greens plus elevated tees make it look difficult but there is room for error on most every hole. I wouldn't expect myself to play to a 5 on a course I'd never played.

On top of that ESC has been interesting for me. I'm very inconsistent still and a lot of times the only thing keeping me from shooting very low is a blow up hole with an 8 or 9. ESC makes me drop that to a double bogey even though I think that those blow up holes are still a big part of my game since they happen regularly.

:whistle:

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Haha, my dad says one of his buddies has never seen a 5 footer he couldn't make (picks them all up as gimmies of course)

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There is something strange about golf and how people score it.  I find it interesting how many people say what their handicap is and it becomes apparent that they don't actually have a handicap.  I find it also interesting that so many people brag about "I take every penalty stroke, even when..." and such.  And I'm glad they do, at least they are doing that correctly.  But I'd find it strange to hear someone say, "I beat my buddy at tennis yesterday, and hit all my winning shots within the lines." Why do we feel the need to say we played by the rules - it should be a given right?

I think it is a combination of the honor of keeping your own score - combined with how unbelievably hard it is to score "par".  Maybe it is hard for people to admit just how poorly they scored compared to what is supposed to be done on a given hole.  But it makes it hard for people to write down 8 on a par 4.  Seems like it always ends up being a 6.  Improved lies, mulligans, foot wedges, 4' gimmies, and of course forgotten strokes.  And always the justification, "what the hell, I'm not a pro golfer or anything."  But the same logic would not apply to the tennis court or basketball court.  Can you imagine playing basketball and someone bounced one off the rim and then wants to count it?  What the hell, I'm not a pro basketball player.  If you aren't a pro golfer, it should be OK to shoot a 108.  Instead, the logic becomes that since I'm not a pro my score should be magically lowered.

I play with someone different almost every weekend and I'd say I've only played with a handful that really kept a ball-down score.  For some reason, golf is just different from other sports in this respect. I don't fault people too bad for it (unless they start getting loud about these great scores that they didn't actually hit), because it seems to be so prevalent that there must be something about human nature that causes it.  Maybe Stanford should do a study.

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Originally Posted by Meltdwhiskey

I find it interesting how many people say what their handicap is and it becomes apparent that they don't actually have a handicap.

I guess people are filling out the page when they sign up for this site and when they come to the part that asks for a handicap they take a guess if they don't have one.

Most of us that don't have a handicap have a pretty good idea what it would be if we did.

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Originally Posted by MS256

I guess people are filling out the page when they sign up for this site and when they come to the part that asks for a handicap they take a guess if they don't have one.

Most of us that don't have a handicap have a pretty good idea what it would be if we did.

I completely disagree with this.  Unless some maintains a handicap or at least does the calculations in the approved manner they don't have much of a clue as to what their handicap would really be.

But then again, what the hell do I know?

Rich - in name only

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Note: This thread is 3929 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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