Sandbaggers, Egos and Beautiful Walks Spoiled

Filed in archive Golf Wanderings on May 29, 2007

Courtesy: Thornhill Country Club

I want to pass along a couple of comments from readers to my recent post, A Beautiful Walk Spoiled.

The first comment from Dave is sublime in its precise analysis of the male golfer's mind; the second, from Mark Greenwood, my teaching pro, is the "applied science" of Dave's psychology.

My argument, essentially, was that many amateurs can become bound up by scores and can, quite literally, spoil a beautiful walk. And, as I candidly pointed out, I have ruined my share of lovely strolls.

The golf ball, club, fairway or green couldn't care less what you score. Yet, without ball, club, short grass and cup, golf isn't golf. So the score is really irrelevant for most recreational golfers.

Anyway, here's what Dave has to say about the male Psyche:

"Your wide range of topics and your insight on the game from a fan's perspective is refreshing. This posting is a perfect example. I have a couple of buddies (I'm sure we all do) who will NOT enter their high scores so the handicap will not inflate to an unmanly number. Holy ego!!! With that in mind, I have come up with a formula: ask a man his handicap, then ask him how many women he's been with. Then simply reverse the numbers and enjoy your round!"

Mark Greenwood saw the logic in that and the opportunity, as well.

"Refusing to enter your high scores due to ego just does not make any sense from a scoring perspective. Handicaps or indexes are there to make the game fairer. Thereby allowing the high handicap to compete with lower handicap. If it were me and I was playing against say a 15 'cap then why would I insist on playing to say, a 10, when I truly am a 12 ??? You are putting yourself at a disadvantage. I recently played a match against a solid 10. He wanted 12 shots against my +2. I explained to him that I won't give my Mother more than 2 a side. But, in the end he settled for 10. Boy, did I have to play to beat him by a shot. Fair competition is what a 'cap is all about NOT EGO !!! Now, if a 12 decides he wants to play to 16 for a particular reason. I HAVE A PROBLEM with the 'bagger. You'd think these guys might figure it out.

If I were you, Dave, I would be taking full advantage of this. Let them play to the lower cap they have established through ego and count yer cash at the end of the round by forcing them to play to it!"

On another note, my posts on Stack and Tilt continue to generate reader comments. And I have to say, it's been more than a week, now, since I have received a negative remark about the new swing that Golf Digest has profiled with much fanfare in the June issue.

All the comments coming in are from golfers excited about the game again.

Here's what Earl wrote the other day:

"I tried the stack and tilt and picked up 30 yards on my 9 iron. It was amazing
to me. I play to a 7 handicap so to pick up 30 yards on my 9 iron was unthinkable.
I have not taken the swing to the course yet - still fine tuning distances. But I
can't wait. In 1 week I think I am hitting the ball more solid than I have in my
34 years of golf."

Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, the practitioners of the swing, will need a fleet of Brinks trucks to haul the loot to the bank pretty soon.