Honesty in golf...?

[Losttheplot]

To cut a long story short I was questioned by a good golfing friend who is also a gentleman and very well educated in the ettiquette of golf, to why I handed in 3 cards for my handicap when 2 if the rounds were to be fair excellent rounds to my normal average.

I was gobsmacked by the thought that he'd condone me handing in 3 average to poor rounds to gain an unfair advantage for competition play.

I'm just not like that and if I play well and shoot a low score then so be it.

Has anyone else seen some lack of honesty moments on or off the course when down the golf club??

 

[ColinR]

There are people at every club who dont play the game in the spirit it is intended. It is unfortunately human nature.

 

[golfing_man]

Sandbaggers are usually easier to spot than your guy seems to have been, but yes, they are everywhere. Kind of like pool hustlers, though -- once people catch on to them, they're shown the door and head to the next unsuspecting club in search of marks.

Sean

 

[RichardC]

Like most places you will always get bitten by a bandit at some point, but it's then your choice if you let him bite you again!!!

 

[captgray]

I am just about to hand in 3 cards. What I have done is to just put the last 3 rounds I have done one with 35 points one with 37 and one on monday when I can go out with a member again. So what ever I score goes in. This I think gives a true feel for my game. Do people think this the right way
G

 

[JustOne]

Play 3 rounds, put in 3 cards - take what you're given and get on with it. You are what you are.

If you think you put in 3 bad rounds then get out there and get some more cards in asap to get that h/cap coming down. It's those that AVOID putting in cards that are the ones to watch.

 

[Adrena1in]

I basically put in my first three cards that I got signed. Unfortunately, (if you look at it that way), my last two cards were two of the best rounds I ever played, carding a 14 over and a 15 over. I was given a handicap of 16 and have never played to it again since.

Honesty in general in the game does get on my nerves though. I saw so many "fouls" when I played, even in competitions, that I decided to leave my club, and I can't see me ever joining another. (Though my dropping out from the game has more to do with my crap play than anything else!)

 

[Society_Fan]

I put in 3 cards as a kid 98, 97 and 106, and they gave me 36. What was all that about? Just lasy if you ask me.
I went out and shot a 96 for a net 60 to only win by 3.
I've not done it since despite having 7 years off at one point when I just started on the handicap that I finshed. It took me 18 months to get back to it, but I thought that would be better than getting 18 or 20 and having to get it down from there.
Over the next 18 months I got down to 7.7 (happy days)
Now play of 15 with a society (only playing once a month)
Honest all the way

 

[HawkeyeMS]

my last two cards were two of the best rounds I ever played, carding a 14 over and a 15 over. I was given a handicap of 16 and have never played to it again since.

I put in my 1st 3 cards, +14, +15 and +9 and was put off 9 Slowly but surely I made my way up to 12.6 (in part due to injury but mostly due to putting way too much pressure on myself in qualifying comps) and I'm now working my way back down again.

I don't understand why there isn't a standard for calculating your 1st handicap. Mine was clearly on my best card, yours I assume is an average of the 3?

 

[RichardC]

I assume you were given a 9 as you showed that you are capable of playing to a 9.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I assume you were given a 9 as you showed that you are capable of playing to a 9.

Well yeah, that much is clear, but TimBridle showed he is capable of playing to 14, but got 16.

So my question is, why isn't there a standard way of calculating 1st handicaps? Why wasn't I given 11 or 12? It doesn't bother me, I was just wondering

 

[19th]

Someone with knowledge is going to come on here and explain that the handicapping committee ignore your best two and worst two scores and the remaining 14 holes reflect the handicap allocated, or something like that!

Anyway as soon as returns are made your handicap will rise/fall to it's true level.

 

[Twire]

CONGU rules state you should take the lowest scoring card of the 3 for handicap purposes, and no hole on that card will count more than double bogie.

 

[Fyldewhite]

In the absence of any other information, the handicap committee should take the best card of the 3 submitted (after reducing every high score to a double bogey) and allocate a whole figure handicap of the difference between the SSS of the course played and that score.

The problem is that so many do not operate the system correctly. They are scared that a new member may actually win something I think . The most important thing is to get new members playing plenty of comps asap and monitor them. As for OP, it's obviously easy to get a higher handicap but from my experience this is quite rare. 99% of new golfers are trying to get as low as they can.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

When I rejoined Ascot I put three cards in during the Winter. One was in gale force winds, one was in a torrential downpour and one was on frozen grounds and I carded 97, 99 and 98. However as an ex-member they put me off 20 which even then I thought was too high and as soon as the Spring came I went on a run of wins, seconds and thirds and went down to 14 in about 8 weeks.