Playing golf for money

[Fourputt]

No, never.  I am a gambling type of guy but never bet with other golfers on golf.    My club has a weekly skins game I can participate but I don't.   By betting money, I think I will become a different golfer that what I am now.   I don't trust myself (temper, anger, frustration, ...) in competitive setting.   For the same reason, I don't drink during a round.

Funny... I'm not a gambler but I prefer playing golf for small stakes.  I don't consider it so much of a gamble when I feel that have some control over the outcome, mistakenly or not.  Just like the only other form of gambling I do is poker, again because the results are at least somewhat dependent on my own play.  I don't bet on sports, I don't play slots or pit games in the casino.

But for me there is almost nothing better than a hotly contested skins game when playing with friends.

[Mac62]

Yes, among friends only though.  We have two regular weekly rounds where we play various formats, loser buys beer in the clubhouse afterward.  Our group varies from 15-25'ish handicaps but we play straight up, no strokes given.  The usual pairings are pretty equitable, so it almost always ends up being a close competition.  Having something riding on the round, even if it's just a little something, makes it a little more intense and brings out some good natured banter amongst us.

[tefunk]

Pretty much every time I play

[isukgolf]

Only small side bets with my close friends ... not crazy about the little "friendly" tournaments where the winner gets like $100 ... just too much cheating. Just got off a three day tournament ... wow you would not believe liberties people take ... hell I am surprised at people that can not even count their freaking strokes correctly ...

[GHIN0011458]

I love playing assistant pro's or guys that are in their apprenticeship because only about 50 percent of them actually break 80 and about 10 percent of them shoot low 70's.. and they all think they are pretty good players.

[RFKFREAK]

Did for the first time this past weekend.

It was nice having my friends cover most of my greens fee.

[rkim291968]

Only small side bets with my close friends ... not crazy about the little "friendly" tournaments where the winner gets like $100 ... just too much cheating. Just got off a three day tournament ... wow you would not believe liberties people take ... hell I am surprised at people that can not even count their freaking strokes correctly ...

My 2nd year in club tournaments.   I am sad to report that sandbagging & cheating exist.  The results bear that out, too.  I see same names keep winning or ending near the top when all tournaments (except the final club championship) are handicapped events.   I will continue to play the tournaments with less at stake but won't play the ones with big entry fees & prize.   Don't want to "gamble" with others who are not playing honest.  My 2 cents.

[GHIN0011458]

My 2nd year in club tournaments.   I am sad to report that sandbagging & cheating exist.  The results bear that out, too.  I see same names keep winning or ending near the top when all tournaments (except the final club championship) are handicapped events.   I will continue to play the tournaments with less at stake but won't play the ones with big entry fees & prize.   Don't want to "gamble" with others who are not playing honest.  My 2 cents.

I hate handicapping myself. I would rather play it at scratch, and then flight.

[dfreuter415]

No, never.  I am a gambling type of guy but never bet with other golfers on golf.    My club has a weekly skins game I can participate but I don't.   By betting money, I think I will become a different golfer that what I am now.   I don't trust myself (temper, anger, frustration, ...) in competitive setting.   For the same reason, I don't drink during a round.

I won't say never, because I will play for skins and closest to the pin with large group outings, because of the peer pressure, and just to be social. But, I never play for money with friends or acquaintances because I agree with rkim that it tends to make you a different golfer ans changes the way you approach the game.  I also never drink alcohol during a round. There is plenty of time for that when you get to the 19th hole.

Here I am (standing) at the 19th hole, 20 years ago with some of my colleagues, where we would go out Friday after work and then have beer and wings after the round. "Those were the days!" -sung by Archie & Edith Bunker

[MrDC]

Never, I have no interest, and I'm a gambler! love craps, but not with golf, I'm just good enough to bother and do not keep a HC.

[GHIN0011458]

I would love to find some money games in Vegas and go out.. I would much rather lose my money playing golf then lose it on the tables out there.

[Fourputt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

My 2nd year in club tournaments.   I am sad to report that sandbagging & cheating exist.  The results bear that out, too.  I see same names keep winning or ending near the top when all tournaments (except the final club championship) are handicapped events.   I will continue to play the tournaments with less at stake but won't play the ones with big entry fees & prize.   Don't want to "gamble" with others who are not playing honest.  My 2 cents.

I hate handicapping myself. I would rather play it at scratch, and then flight.

Of course you would - you're a scratch golfer.  Most of us don't have that luxury.  Without honest handicapping, we can't play competition golf.

I don't know what rkim291968's situation is, but there are tournament clubs like the men's club I was in that aggressively manage member's handicaps, and catch sandbagging attempts quickly.  There will always be a lag between the act and the apprehension of the perpetrator because of the necessity of tracking trends - one or two good tournaments mean nothing.  It takes a full season to know if a player is padding his scores.  There are also tools in place that can help handicap committees with the problem.  They can manually adjust a suspicious handicap, or use only tournament scores to establish a tournament index so that the casual rounds which are most often padded to manipulate handicaps are not part of the calculation.

[rkim291968]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GHIN0011458

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

My 2nd year in club tournaments.   I am sad to report that sandbagging & cheating exist.  The results bear that out, too.  I see same names keep winning or ending near the top when all tournaments (except the final club championship) are handicapped events.   I will continue to play the tournaments with less at stake but won't play the ones with big entry fees & prize.   Don't want to "gamble" with others who are not playing honest.  My 2 cents.

I hate handicapping myself. I would rather play it at scratch, and then flight.

Of course you would - you're a scratch golfer.  Most of us don't have that luxury.  Without honest handicapping, we can't play competition golf.

I don't know what rkim291968's situation is, but there are tournament clubs like the men's club I was in that aggressively manage member's handicaps, and catch sandbagging attempts quickly.  There will always be a lag between the act and the apprehension of the perpetrator because of the necessity of tracking trends - one or two good tournaments mean nothing.  It takes a full season to know if a player is padding his scores.  There are also tools in place that can help handicap committees with the problem.  They can manually adjust a suspicious handicap, or use only tournament scores to establish a tournament index so that the casual rounds which are most often padded to manipulate handicaps are not part of the calculation.

In my club, everyone can post their own scores however he chooses.   There is no check and balance, hence, there is plenty of opportunity for sandbagging and vanity capping.   Many of us know of players who won't post their best scores, or who uses generous scoring (vanity cappers).   They "manage" their handicap well, wink, wink.   Me?  I record all scores, no practice rounds, rain or shine, muddy or dry.   I do that b/c as soon as I become selective in what I report, I may lean toward one way or the other.   And I know it's human nature that bigger the gambling stake, the more questionable playing behavior.   Having said that, I may be convinced to bet a few dollars among friends.

[Fourputt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Quote:

Originally Posted by GHIN0011458

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

My 2nd year in club tournaments.   I am sad to report that sandbagging & cheating exist.  The results bear that out, too.  I see same names keep winning or ending near the top when all tournaments (except the final club championship) are handicapped events.   I will continue to play the tournaments with less at stake but won't play the ones with big entry fees & prize.   Don't want to "gamble" with others who are not playing honest.  My 2 cents.

I hate handicapping myself. I would rather play it at scratch, and then flight.

Of course you would - you're a scratch golfer.  Most of us don't have that luxury.  Without honest handicapping, we can't play competition golf.

I don't know what rkim291968's situation is, but there are tournament clubs like the men's club I was in that aggressively manage member's handicaps, and catch sandbagging attempts quickly.  There will always be a lag between the act and the apprehension of the perpetrator because of the necessity of tracking trends - one or two good tournaments mean nothing.  It takes a full season to know if a player is padding his scores.  There are also tools in place that can help handicap committees with the problem.  They can manually adjust a suspicious handicap, or use only tournament scores to establish a tournament index so that the casual rounds which are most often padded to manipulate handicaps are not part of the calculation.

In my club, everyone can post their own scores however he chooses.   There is no check and balance, hence, there is plenty of opportunity for sandbagging and vanity capping.   Many of us know of players who won't post their best scores, or who uses generous scoring (vanity cappers).   They "manage" their handicap well, wink, wink.   Me?  I record all scores, no practice rounds, rain or shine, muddy or dry.   I do that b/c as soon as I become selective in what I report, I may lean toward one way or the other.   And I know it's human nature that bigger the gambling stake, the more questionable playing behavior.   Having said that, I may be convinced to bet a few dollars among friends.

We posted all scores except tournament scores ourselves, but the handicap committee still had oversight and the authorization to adjust handicaps if unusual trends were noticed.  They would interview the player first and let him know that he was being monitored.

[rkim291968]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

In my club, everyone can post their own scores however he chooses.   There is no check and balance, hence, there is plenty of opportunity for sandbagging and vanity capping.   Many of us know of players who won't post their best scores, or who uses generous scoring (vanity cappers).   They "manage" their handicap well, wink, wink.   Me?  I record all scores, no practice rounds, rain or shine, muddy or dry.   I do that b/c as soon as I become selective in what I report, I may lean toward one way or the other.   And I know it's human nature that bigger the gambling stake, the more questionable playing behavior.   Having said that, I may be convinced to bet a few dollars among friends.

We posted all scores except tournament scores ourselves, but the handicap committee still had oversight and the authorization to adjust handicaps if unusual trends were noticed.  They would interview the player first and let him know that he was being monitored.

We also have a committee (of two members).  But I think they only called out one player - a vanity capper who was hurting his partner in skins game.  He was a scratch golfer on official GHIN system but was playing at 10 HI in reality.  They ended up adjusting his HI up.

[Fourputt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

In my club, everyone can post their own scores however he chooses.   There is no check and balance, hence, there is plenty of opportunity for sandbagging and vanity capping.   Many of us know of players who won't post their best scores, or who uses generous scoring (vanity cappers).   They "manage" their handicap well, wink, wink.   Me?  I record all scores, no practice rounds, rain or shine, muddy or dry.   I do that b/c as soon as I become selective in what I report, I may lean toward one way or the other.   And I know it's human nature that bigger the gambling stake, the more questionable playing behavior.   Having said that, I may be convinced to bet a few dollars among friends.

We posted all scores except tournament scores ourselves, but the handicap committee still had oversight and the authorization to adjust handicaps if unusual trends were noticed.  They would interview the player first and let him know that he was being monitored.

We also have a committee (of two members).  But I think they only called out one player - a vanity capper who was hurting his partner in skins game.  He was a scratch golfer on official GHIN system but was playing at 10 HI in reality.  They ended up adjusting his HI up.

Well, if there truly is sandbagging going on, then the committee isn't doing its job.  I have to tell you though, that I've seen guys accused of sandbagging when there was nothing of the sort going on.  Sometimes when a player is on an upward trend, he will place well in tournaments for a while, simply because it takes time for the handicap index to catch up if a player is steadily improving.  You have to be very careful that you know all of the details before you make such accusations.  This can be a situation where just because you see smoke, there isn't always a fire.

[rkim291968]

Well, if there truly is sandbagging going on, then the committee isn't doing its job.  I have to tell you though, that I've seen guys accused of sandbagging when there was nothing of the sort going on.  Sometimes when a player is on an upward trend, he will place well in tournaments for a while, simply because it takes time for the handicap index to catch up if a player is steadily improving.  You have to be very careful that you know all of the details before you make such accusations.  This can be a situation where just because you see smoke, there isn't always a fire.

... which is why I and others don't report although there are suspicions.   It's not worth souring my relationship with other members and other are probably thinking the way I do.  Tournament fees are small enough that I consider it an "ante" amount.  But several tournament fees are high ($150 entry fee, not including green fee).   Prize on those tournaments get pretty high.  For those few tournaments, I exercise my right to skip.   It's more than an ante amount to me.

[RH31]

We play for $15 or $20 per man in our daily gaggle. One ball gross, one ball net, skins(ind.) four man teams.

I dislike all the sandbagging that is associated with net scoring as much as anybody. Its much more prevalent than when I first started playing the game.