What do competitions tell you

[paininthenuts]

Now, I am from the UK, and haven't been playing that long. I have a handicap of 21, and have now played in quite a few comps. In my short golfing life I have noticed most comps are won by bandits. I played with a bloke who has a handicap of 28 and scored 44 Stableford points. As a result of this the computer cut him only two shots, when in reality he is easily a 20 handicapper. This weekend we have the club championships, for both scratch and handicap. I know full well I am not good enough to win the scratch, but what's worse is knowing that a bandit will the handicap trophy. As a result of this I now focus on attempting to play well, rather than actually winning anything, because I know it's not going to happen. When ever I play a good round I hand in my card. I want to get better, and by seeing my handicap drop is a good indicator this is happening. Unfortunately to many other people think differently.

[Steviestuboy]

My dad's went from 14 to 12 this year and come second 3 times he's feeling the same as yourself.  Suppose all clubs have bandits and just playing your own game is all you can do,  there's always going to be someone with a daft low score. 

[Asmanning95]

My club isn't too bad with bandits as in general most members have been around a while so handicaps seem to be a reasonable reflection. There will always be some people who struggle to play regularly enough for the handicap to be a good reflection. One guy i know just had a baby so he hasn't played on a Saturday for about a year, so even though he has definitely improved in that time his handicap is still 19.The Juvenile (under 18) section is a different story, anything under 42 points and you won't even place, but i suppose that is to be expected as the young lads should improve drastically with regular play. That or they are all serial cheaters  From reading these forums for a month or so now, I can't tell if in America competitions are a regular thing, as they are here and with you. People seem to play a lot with friends and those rounds count for handicap which obviously we can't do.

[pganapathy]

There are too many people in every club who like to sand bag their handicap in order to win tournaments and bets in casual rounds.  For me what a competition tells me is whether I can play well under pressure or not.  In a casual round, if I hit a bad shot, I occasionally take a mulligan just to show myself that I can actually play well and hit the shot I intended to.  That option does not exist in a tournament or if you do so, the shot  +1 counts.

For me tournaments are where I get the opportunity to show myself what I am truly capable of on the golf course.  In a casual round, I tend to not focus too much on the short putts and I tend to lose focus after a 10 to 15 holes depending on how tired and hungry I get

[bkuehn1952]

Here in the USA our competitions are probably 90% stroke play.  For those of us with indexes above 5.0 or so, most of these events are handicapped.

When run correctly (handicaps actually reviewed, field flighted, committee willing to make adjustments, etc...) these tournaments can be fun.  One can measure themselves against others of like ability, see how the game holds up under mental pressure.  If one performs, there is a small reward in a gift certificate or skin money.  I enjoy the "test". It is a great feeling to play well in a tournament setting. It is also a downer when one doesn't.  Just more incentive to do better next time.

When an event is clearly not run with an attempt at making the playing field level, it just isn't quite as fun. Shoot a personal best, beat your handicap by 2-3 strokes and finish ...tied for 8th out of a flight of 25. 

[DannyMac]

I think the Bandits you're referring to are just about at every club.  I believe you have taken the right approach in playing in these handicapped competitions, focus on only what you can control.  Just enjoy the feeling of playing competitive golf and do your best to go low.

[RayG]

I think "Bandits" is a better nickname than "Sandbaggers". "Bandits" infer 'stealing' or 'cheating', which is what they are doing. "Sandbagger" doesn't have the same connotation outside of golf.

[DaveP043]

I never enter any tournament thinking of winning, I only concern myself with playing well.  That said, I find that higher-handicap players seem to have a wider variation between high and low scores than a lower-handicap player.  With a large field, if its not divided into flights, its pretty common to see one or two higher-handicappers shoot a really low score.  One or two probably will shoot a really high score too.  This doesn't mean they're necessarily bandits, they just had a good day.  Its when these same players win with frequency that an adjustment is in order.  If a tournament requires 36 holes, or more, I feel like the edge goes back toward the lower-handicap player a little.  

[xcott]

These will expose the sandbaggers at least.

[Strandly]

9 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

Now, I am from the UK, and haven't been playing that long. I have a handicap of 21, and have now played in quite a few comps. In my short golfing life I have noticed most comps are won by bandits. I played with a bloke who has a handicap of 28 and scored 44 Stableford points. As a result of this the computer cut him only two shots, when in reality he is easily a 20 handicapper. This weekend we have the club championships, for both scratch and handicap. I know full well I am not good enough to win the scratch, but what's worse is knowing that a bandit will the handicap trophy. As a result of this I now focus on attempting to play well, rather than actually winning anything, because I know it's not going to happen. When ever I play a good round I hand in my card. I want to get better, and by seeing my handicap drop is a good indicator this is happening. Unfortunately to many other people think differently.

Just become a scratch player and only play non-handicapped events.  Easy peasy. 

[Groucho Valentine]

12 minutes ago, Strandly said:

Just become a scratch player and only play non-handicapped events.  Easy peasy. 

ikr? 

Problem sovled. 

[mcanadiens]

My competitions usually tell me to put my entry fee in the little envelope.

Realistically, I'm a C flight player anyway. At my club, guys go out there and have fun. I haven't really detected any serious corruption.

[Fourputt]

9 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

Now, I am from the UK, and haven't been playing that long. I have a handicap of 21, and have now played in quite a few comps. In my short golfing life I have noticed most comps are won by bandits. I played with a bloke who has a handicap of 28 and scored 44 Stableford points. As a result of this the computer cut him only two shots, when in reality he is easily a 20 handicapper. This weekend we have the club championships, for both scratch and handicap. I know full well I am not good enough to win the scratch, but what's worse is knowing that a bandit will the handicap trophy. As a result of this I now focus on attempting to play well, rather than actually winning anything, because I know it's not going to happen. When ever I play a good round I hand in my card. I want to get better, and by seeing my handicap drop is a good indicator this is happening. Unfortunately to many other people think differently.

The larger the group you are playing in the bigger is the chance for 1 or more exceptional scores.  This does not necessarily reflect sandbagging.  The higher one's handicap, the more variance he will see in his scoring, and the more high handicappers there are in the competitions, the more likely it is that at least one of them will post well below his handicap without any cheating involved.  You can't call foul on anyone unless a trend is seen over several tournaments or for an entire season.

My club championship is at the end of August (54 holes on 3 days), and the tournament is flighted so that most of us are competing against others within 3 or 4 strokes of our own handicap range.  The club champions can only come from the first or championship flight, and they all play scratch with no handicaps applied.  Anyone can declare for first flight, but unless you play to at least a 3 or 4 handicap, you won't have much chance to place in the money. 

My men's club also does a good job of handicap management, keeping the opportunity for sandbagging to a minimum.