Banditry

[Backache]

Prompted by another thread. Have you ever deliberately or accidentally been a bandit and played of a higher handicap than you thought you should?

My most obvious experience was having been away from golf for a number of years I joined a new club and put in my cards. I was gien a handicap of 20 I think. I practiced hard and thought I was a few shots better and knew I was entering a competition for a society of which I was a member non golfing but had an annual golf match.

I thought I might be regarded as a bit of a bandit and played in a medal the week before to try and get my handicap down. I played terribly and went up by point one which took me up to 21 and then promptly won the competition by a stroke. I was feling very sheepish collecting the trophy and promptly dropped it.

 

[timd77]

I first joined a club just under 3 years ago, prior to that I had been playing 5-6 times a year for a few years. Golfshake had my handicap at around 23 I think it was. My first official handicap was 30! Not only was I disappointed, I also felt like a bit of a bandit, and so after playing a few more rounds (not comps, pre-whs), I asked the handicap secretary if I could be cut.

Went straight down to 20, which was a bit more than expected and it took me a while to catch up! Glad I did it though.

 

[Billysboots]

To answer the OP, no, I haven’t. Golf is a game of integrity. The starter of the “other thread” would do well to look the word up.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Only when I was a teenager in the 1970s and my handicap did not come down fast enough to keep up with my fast improvements.
Played 4 over par off 11 handicap, then won a trophy following week with level par off 8 handicap.
One week as a bandit, never again since.

 

[Bratty]

I haven't, but my regular playing partner went from 17 to 22 when the WHS came in.
Declaring "I get 2 shots on this hole" with a smile and not a hint of embarrassment soon became troubling and rather frowned at!
I refused to play him for money again until his handicap returned to normal. He's now down to 18 having won a few comps... unsurprisingly!

 

[rudebhoy]

Finished last season on 19.0. Played consistently well over the winter in non-qualifying competitions, winning a few of them, and was convinced my handicap would drop like a stone when the qualifiers started again in April.

Currently on 18.3 after 15 qualifiers this season, so it didn't really pan out how I expected!

 

[Jason.H]

Having returned to golf in November after a 13 year break I joined a club put 3 cards in got a 16.3 handicap which I was pleased with as I didn’t think I’d need a shot every hole. After 7 months I was at 5.4 and won a fair few comps. No board majors though. So maybe I got talked about during that time but I’ve made lots of friends at the club and they’ve seen me get better as I’ve put in a lot of time /practice. When I restarted I had no clue I was going to do so well being in my 50,s with being pretty short off the tee ect.

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

So far i wouldn't consider any stories to be bandits, if you put in accurate cards into the handicap systems (or do an appropriate 3 cards) without trying to manipulate it then it's just your handicap. Bandit for me is where they try to maintain a high handicap so they can shoot low when it matters whether big comp or usual fourball.

If you improve through practice and hard work winning competitions as you come down then that should be applauded. Really dislike someone shooting a low score (rarely me) and getting comments of bandit even if said in jest. Should be able to just say well played and congratulate on the improvement.

 

[Biggleswade Blue]

My view is that some are quick to throw an accusation of bandit, without much thought. I am an improving golfer from lessons, practice and more regular play. I’ve got 20 counting cards in the last 11 months, and 7 of my best are in my last 10, my counting 8 are all in my last 13, all in the last 5 months.

Should I delay entering any competitions until my handicap is more stable? Surely the point is to try and improve?

We seem to look down a bit on practice and improvement - no lessons seems to be a badge of honour amongst some.

By all means complain about the handicap system if you think it flawed, but let’s be a bit slower to throw the rather more personal accusation of bandit at people. The winner of a handicap comp is surely by definition deserving of a lower handicap that day! I do understand the frustration of low handicap players - much harder for them to win, but that is the system. Us hackers can’t get close in scratch competitions so horses for courses perhaps?

Is what I say fair? As a newish person to this world I want to do the right thing, don’t want to cause upset, and neither do I want to be on the receiving end of criticism.

 

[rudebhoy]

My view is that some are quick to through an accusation of bandit, without much thought. I am an improving golfer from lessons, practice and more regular play. I’ve got 20 counting cards in the last 11 months, and 7 of my best are in my last 10, my counting 8 are all in my last 13, all in the last 5 months.

Should I delay entering any competitions until my handicap is more stable? Surely the point is to try and improve?

We seem to look down a bit on practice and improvement - no lessons seems to be a badge of honour amongst some.

By all means complain about the handicap system if you think it flawed, but let’s be a bit slower to throw the rather more personal accusation of bandit at people. The winner of a handicap comp is surely by definition deserving of a lower handicap that day! I do understand the frustration of low handicap players - much harder for them to win, but that is the system. Us hackers can’t get close in scratch competitions so horses for courses perhaps?

Is what I say fair? As a newish person to this world I want to do the right thing, don’t want to cause upset, and neither do I want to be on the receiving end of criticism.

To be fair, I hear the "bandit" thing all the time, but 99% of the time it's just a bit of gentle ribbing when someone has had a better than average round. The exception seems to be when a couple of strangers turn up and win an open with a score in the mid-to-high 40s.

 

[Biggleswade Blue]

To be fair, I hear the "bandit" thing all the time, but 99% of the time it's just a bit of gentle ribbing when someone has had a better than average round. The exception seems to be when a couple of strangers turn up and win an open with a score in the mid-to-high 40s.

There is "bandit" delivered by a mate with a smile, and "bandit" overheard in the bar from people who you've never met. I agree, and do understand that they are different things.

 

[SimonC]

I've never been classed as a bandit, maybe as a junior where I had a single season when I came down from 28 to 9 handicap but that was due to playing & practising a lot & since then it's certainly never been the case.

My brother joined the club last week after playing maybe a round a year for the last 20 years, he's put 3 cards in & has been given a handicap index of 22 so he will play off 24. He thinks this is too low & he wont be able to play to it, I on the other hand think he will be a bandit once he gets a little more consistent. If you saw him hit the ball there is no way you'd believe he was playing off 24, he came to the driving range with me & was hitting his driver around 280 yards fairly regularly on Trackman Range he got one out there at 310 yards & carries his 7 iron around 170 yards. He is his own worst enemy though as he gets really frustrated when he hits a bad shot & he then follows it up with a few more, always on the same hole so he'll come off with an 8, 9 or 10 but then he'll go and par the hardest hole on the course by launching a good drive & hitting the green in 2 which I would say 70% of the members can't reach in regulation. I think his expectations are too high, he plays with me & because he can hit it nearly as far as myself it's like he expects to be able to score like me but I've been playing for the last 20 years whilst he hasn't. He did say he tries to make up for a bad shot & puts a lot of pressure on himself to hit a good one next time or tries to pull off a shot he maybe shouldn't but I had a chat with him about this & hopefully he takes on board what I told him. In summary once he sorts a couple of issues out in his game he will be definitely be in the bandit category, he has the natural ability & speed to be single digit handicap player so he may well raise a few eyebrows at the club.

 

[Orikoru]

We've been calling my mate a bandit for a long time, as he's been playing off around 28 since God was a boy, yet to see him play you'd think he'd be nearer 22 or so. He's much more consistent than he used to be and often gets 40+ points in our casual rounds. The problem is when he does put cards in he still doesn't come down because our course has a stupidly low course & slope rating.

I started to feel like a bandit myself when I shot 76 at Stanmore for 45 points last month. But same issue for me. Need to break 80 every single week at my place to come down now. When I play anywhere else I feel like even a mediocre round gets me 36 points. But golf has a way of keeping you grounded. Usually when I start to feel my handicap is too high, I come crashing down to earth with an 89 the next week.

 

[SteveW86]

We've been calling my mate a bandit for a long time, as he's been playing off around 28 since God was a boy, yet to see him play you'd think he'd be nearer 22 or so. He's much more consistent than he used to be and often gets 40+ points in our casual rounds. The problem is when he does put cards in he still doesn't come down because our course has a stupidly low course & slope rating.

I started to feel like a bandit myself when I shot 76 at Stanmore for 45 points last month. But same issue for me. Need to break 80 every single week at my place to come down now. When I play anywhere else I feel like even a mediocre round gets me 36 points. But golf has a way of keeping you grounded. Usually when I start to feel my handicap is too high, I come crashing down to earth with an 89 the next week.

Thats because your CR is 66, so shooting 80 is effectively 14 over. Our place is the same as yours, I just view it as a par 66 and if stableford I need 39 points to play to handicap.

 

[davemc1]

I class myself in this position. Pre lockdown I was 13hc looking to get as low as possible. Now I’m sitting at 16.9, which gives me 19 shots around most courses off the whites. It’s embarrassing.

Sadly tho, I’m not sure I’ve bottomed out yet so I started practicing last night…

 

[Orikoru]

Thats because your CR is 66, so shooting 80 is effectively 14 over. Our place is the same as yours, I just view it as a par 66 and if stableford I need 39 points to play to handicap.

Yeah I know, we've discussed it previously. It's just really difficult because our greens are hellish in summer. You can so easily rack up three or four three-putts and it's pretty hard to break 80 if you do that.

Oh, and the next FIVE rounds at the bottom of my record are all counting rounds from my old course now. So I'm more likely to hit 17 than my goal of 12 I should think. Wish me luck.

 

[Crazyface]

I haven't, but my regular playing partner went from 17 to 22 when the WHS came in.
Declaring "I get 2 shots on this hole" with a smile and not a hint of embarrassment soon became troubling and rather frowned at!
I refused to play him for money again until his handicap returned to normal. He's now down to 18 having won a few comps... unsurprisingly!

Interesting. My last club has got a few members who's handicap rose quite alarmingly when whs came in. Why was this?

 

[Crazyface]

Ps mine didn't

 

[Orikoru]

Interesting. My last club has got a few members who's handicap rose quite alarmingly when whs came in. Why was this?

Probably means their course rating was low. Mine did the opposite, I immediately dropped from 16.1 to 14.6 I think when WHS came in. Because my old course was rated with a higher course rating than I'd have expected.

 

[Crazyface]

I'm crawling up from 12.7 now at 13.6. but I think I've found out why. A change of clubs has made the scoring clubs 8/9/PW useless so I've reverted to my trusted 588tt and voila, everything good again....hopefully. this bluddy advert is hissing me off.