Rarely do golfers call one another out. The PGA Tour’s annual pro-am at Pebble Beach is the exception to this unwritten rule, for there’s always – always – one amateur that brings a phony handicap to the proceedings that infuriates everyone else.
Like communism, golf’s handicap system is rooted in good intentions, but is an infrastructure that is easily falsified and exploited. What was supposed to create a level playing field for good golfers and hackers often tips the scales in the latter’s direction, with better players penalised for, uh, being good. If this sounds dramatic, well, clearly you’ve never been on the business end of a 12-handicapper “magically” shooting 75. However, most ‘sandbagging’ is not that obvious. The beauty, or perhaps we should say ugliness, lies in its subtlety.
Still, handicap cheats can, and should, be outed. Here are nine ways to spot one.
Few, if any, recent scores
If their GolfLink scores show only one or two scores from the past year – and you know damn well they’ve played more than once or twice during that span – chances are they’re milking a higher handicap.
Posting scores away from home course
An out-of-whack ratio of home/away scores is a red flag. There’s a level of self-policing that exists within a club, making it harder to post a phony score. That same level of enforcement is near impossible when a score happens away from home base.
Purposefully misses tap-ins
Anything inside three feet. A big sign is if the miss is a pull, not a push, because pulls are easier to control. In a related note…
Poorly dressed
No, the handicap manipulator is not going to dress like Rickie Fowler or Ian Poulter. Actually on the other side of the fashion spectrum, showing up in gym shoes or baggy clothes, anything to look like the opposite of a professional and thus get your guard down.
Doesn’t warm up
Not stretching out on the practice fairway or failing to test the speed on the practice green can lead to a cold start and thus add a few strokes to their score.
Tanks
If a casual round is going bad, the sandbagger will make sure to take it from bad to worse to make sure the rough day doesn’t go to waste.
Wrong club
When this golfer wants to give away a hole or post a bad score, you’re not going to see them hook a ball 40 metres into the woods or have an airswing. Instead, their surrender will be more understated. If they need 150 metres to carry a water hazard, their shot will go only 145, or if trouble is behind a green, they will just happen to over-club.
Gags closing in
Let’s say a match has already been closed out by the 15th hole. The handicap cheat will stumble in, knowing the day’s winnings are already secured, with the stumble helping pad the handicap. Which is a distant cousin to…
Gets drunk at the end
Again, subtly is key. For missing gimmies or a late blow-up can be called out as sandbagging. But a score going south because someone had one too many beers? That’s not as easy to spot.
