Most obvious bandit cases

Hi all I'm not new to the site but this is a first time post in the golf forum.

To introduce myself I have been playing golf for about 4 years now but not very regular (once a month between march and october in a society, with the odd round perhaps in between). I started off as a 26 handicapper now playing off of 22 and was hoping to get down to 18 by end of the year.

However I played stableford with a group on Saturday, one was 13 handicap, the other playing his chances down as a "hopeless" 28 handicapper....

Every drive he hit went straight down the middle at least 250-260 yards, he could hit an iron straight and never left chips around the green worst than 4 ft from the hole. 18 holes and 49 points later we called complete BS, fortunately someone knew who he was and found him to be a member of a local golf club where his handicap was confirmed as 13...the cheek of it!

Has anyone else come across obvious deceitful bandits?

No, thankfully nothing as bad as that. We all have occasional good days, and while a good day for a 4 handicapper might mean a level par round, or 40 points, a good day for a 24 handicapper might mean playing to 14 or 45 points. Some guys play off 24 for a reason - like they can't get out of bunkers or don't hit very far. Put them on a hard baked course, or they have a day when the ball rolls round bunkers and not in, and you may have no chance of competing. Two weekends ago at my club captain's day was won by a guy with 44 points. He said he had a once in lifetime round off 15. Armed with his new 12 handicap, he only managed 26 points a week later.

There is another strange phenomenon in golf - guys who cling to handicaps that they can't ever play to. These vanity handicappers - perhaps good players a few years ago - steadfastly refuse to recognise they should be playing off 15 or 16, and stick to the 8 or 9 they reached in the good years.

Get them on your side in a bounce game and you are toast.

The Vanity handicapper must be a rarer breed as I have yet to come across one but I expect these are golfers who are too stubborn to accept that they have lost a bit of skill (possibly because of age or injury).

My highest score is 39 points which I shot off of 25, since getting to 21/22 I have managed 32 points at best and I get called a bandit all the time. My problem is without a doubt my short game which probably adds an extra 10 shots to any round I play, unfortunately I don't get out as often as I would like and know the best fix is practice! its quite frustrating thinning pitching wedges across greens and then 3 putting.

George nails it I think .. very rare indeed to see a cat 1 golfer score 42+ points yet I had one of those days he describes when as a 22 h/c, not hitting the ball very far and poor in bunkers had a day with hard baked fairways and dodging bunkers to shoot 44pts last summer. Yes it was "one of those days" .. I'm actually an OK putter for a 22 so on a day when the ball rolls to make the course shorter and avoid the "nasties", then you sink a few putts (or more importantly don't miss those you should be making) and suddenly the scores come in

In fact just a couple of weeks ago I had a round similar to that apart from two hole (two quadruples in the last three holes - one was a two-shot hole for me but even so, with the stableford reduction I was cut nearly a shot - so that shows how decent the rest of the round was

You tend to meet the vanity handicapper in the pub and less so when it comes down to business.

Don't think I've ever recognised a vanity player on the course. Plenty of times you play with someone who has a mare and looks a lot worse than his handicap, but I always attribute it to a bad day. I can easily shoot 10 over my handicap one day and look like a hacker then beat it the next and look like a scratch golfer.

Away from the golf course, after a few drinks, and dare I say it on here, there are plenty of vanity golfers!

Worst bandit case I've ever seen was on the telly a couple of weeks ago - the finals of the Golfcare Matchplay in Dubai. This pair of '18 handicappers' were shown hitting numerous pitches to 6/8 feet and converting, hitting irons off par 4 tees and still going close with short iron approaches and exhibiting generally very sound technique and long, straight driving. Their nearest competitors were off 2 and 3, and as such were making lots of 3 point gross birdies but couldn't get close. The killer blow came when one of the bandits hit a 560 yard par five in two with a drive and 4 iron, then sank the 25 foot putt with 3 feet of break for a 5 point eagle.

Personally, I played a pairs match a couple of years back against a pair off 8 and 18. It was at Bramley, the 8 handicapper's home course, and his partner was supposedly a member at Basingstoke. We get to the first tee, and as you'd expect the guy off 8 has a powercaddy and big tour bag with the sort of clubs you'd expect. 18 handicapper, on the other hand, has a pencil bag filled with blades and vokey wedges. First hole there is a short but tight par 4. Not having played there before we hit irons off the tee, as did the 8. Mr 18 hits a drive pin high 15 yards right. However, it was fair to say his long game was by no means the most impressive part of his game. Those vokeys were put to awesome use, and the Scotty Cameron putter even more so. The first par 3 at Bramley is longish, with the green built into the side of a hill. He hit a thinnish shot through to the crap above the green, then proceeded to hit the most delightful, floating chip down to about 4 feet and sank it. Other highlights were a curling 80 foot putt that dropped at perfect pace for a birdie 3 on the 7th or 8th, following me in for birdie on the stroke index 1 15th from 12 feet and a brilliant up & down to close out the match having dropped all of 4 shots all the way round. I was 3 under my handicap, my partner 1 under his. I made a comment as we were shaking hands along the lines of 'with a short game like that you won't be 18 for long' and his partner went nuts at me, saying I 'wasn't acting in the spirit of the game'. We called Basingstoke on the way home to enquire whether he really was off 18, only to be told they'd never heard of him.

Can you remember their names SJ? I was a member at Bramley until a couple of years ago

You really have to ask yourself...What is so sadly wrong in someones life that as a 13 handicapper they feel the need to pretend they're a 28?? I'd say he needs help more than punishment.

To me a bandit is someone who plays at least semi regularly, practices as well but plays the minimum amount of medals and generally makes a mess of them. Harry's example above isn't a bandit, he's a cheat, pure and simple.

JAS wrote:You really have to ask yourself...What is so sadly wrong in someones life that as a 13 handicapper they feel the need to pretend they're a 28?? I'd say he needs help more than punishment.

To me a bandit is someone who plays at least semi regularly, practices as well but plays the minimum amount of medals and generally makes a mess of them. Harry's example above isn't a bandit, he's a cheat, pure and simple.

Yeah, very sad indeed Jas, as bad as a 13 handicapper fooling himself he's still off 6.
WHy would someone be so desperate to win a tinpot competition?

Re the vanity handicap - do you not have to play a certain number of qualifying competitions (I think it's 4 in the GUI) every year to retain an official handicap? If you can't play to it, surely it will creep up and find the right level?

Three cards in UK Bob, so it takes a hacker a long time to get up to where they ought to be.

Vanity handicaps are frowned on by CONGU - they mess up CSS calculations.

Shouldn't this get picked up during annual handicap review? If you're off 6 but have consistently hacked it round in +20 all year in comps you should get a general play adjustment.

JAS wrote:

To me a bandit is someone who plays at least semi regularly, practices as well but plays the minimum amount of medals and generally makes a mess of them. Harry's example above isn't a bandit, he's a cheat, pure and simple.

I'm not sure I agree with your definition, unless you're talking about someone who deliberately messes up in medals and avoids comps to keep an artificially high handicap. I think of bandits as people who are cheating ie Harry's example.

I remember when I first joined a golf club (at a public course), the reaction when someone walked in with a good score was always "bandit!", even if it was said light-heartedly. Moving to a private club, the reaction is now "well done!"

raycastleunited wrote:Shouldn't this get picked up during annual handicap review? If you're off 6 but have consistently hacked it round in +20 all year in comps you should get a general play adjustment.

Most of the guys I can think of who play off vanity handicaps seldom play in competitions, don't have active handicaps, don't seek annual adjustments and only play social golf.

MustPuttBetter wrote:Can you remember their names SJ? I was a member at Bramley until a couple of years ago

No, sorry. I want to say the 8 handicapper was called Neil, but I can't be sure.

The thing about it was it was an IT industry thing, organised by a trade mag and sponsored by another company, of which our opponents were the directors, would you believe? The final was played in Spain, and our match was the final round before that. They reluctantly let us go.

Bad business but the new system must help.Im playing Whittington Heath on Monday and they want your number! Great course if you near Lichfield any time.
At 60years my handicap is lagging below my ability at present and its takes a lot of comps to get a shot back.Maybe 12/13 allowing for a couple of buffer zones.Strange time to suddenly realise that yards and accuracy are slipping but keep enjoying

Had some awful bandits at Client / charity golf days.
Played the grove earlier this year with about 60 others in a team (4 ball) and individual stableford thing. best 2 stableford scores from the fourball count on each hole.
My team was me off 4, a 12, a 14 and a 7 handicapper. We are all regular golfers and had all played the grove before. Played off the medal tees, each of us got over 30 points (I scored 36 and either the 12/14 handicapper had 37 - I remember because he birdied the Par5 last to chin me by 1)
We finished with 91 points as a team..... This was a score I was worried about getting some grief for as I was sure it would be close to winning. When the scores were announced we came 3rd, 2nd had 92 points (a colleague of mine who plays off 2 shot 2 under par so they were always going to have a chance)
"And the winners, with 112 points!!!!"
An average of over 6 points a hole. Now im not one to call someone a cheat.... but they were cheats!! surprise surprise 2 of their team came 1st and 2nd individually as well!
After a few beers we were all chatting outside and I happened to be talking to the chap who won the individual (with 44 points) and he let slip how he used to play on the sunshine tour in South Africa and got his amateur status back a few years ago, he had put his handicap for today down as 7 on the basis that "I haven't played much golf in the UK so thought id need a few more shots" - He was a 1 handicap!
I didn't say anything to anyone as it was my companies golf day and the prizes had been given out (1st prize being 2 nights and 36 holes at the belfy!) but it is sad that people do this.

I respect my handicap and the handicap system. very rarely have I called someone a bandit. Most weeks you would win our swindle with 38 points, 5-6 times a year someone will have 42 or something but we are all regular golfers, with handicaps between 0-12 playing our home course so it does happen.

I was called a bandit when I first started playing again last year. I hadn't touched a club for the thick end of 7 years and when I stopped playing I was of 0.something, I played 3 times and put in 3 cards.... 79, 84, 75 after which they gave me a 6 handicap. People called me a bandit for a while without me actually beating my 6 handicap purley because I used to play off scratch many moons ago.
I try to play as many comps as possible because I want to get my handicap down - I see no joy in getting 45 points off 12 just so I can win a few quid or a prize at a charity day!