Scotland Course and Slope Ratings
 
Course Rating
Dealing with Sandbagging
BUSTED! Catching Sandbaggers
18 Excuses for Not Turning in a Score
Bill Gates caught Sandbagging
Fighting Back Against Sandbaggers
Odds of Shooting an Exceptional Score
Procedure for Reduction of Handicaps
Pebble Beach Settles the Score
Reverse Sandbagging
Sifting Out Sandbaggers
The 10 Most-Wanted Sandbaggers
The Advisor: Can a Golfer Use Booze
The Advisor: Sandbaggers Beware
Unleashing a silent accomplice
USGA offers advice to the forlorn
What's a Sandbagger?
Who Are You Accusin'?
Handicapping Guidelines
History of Handicapping
Junior Golfers
Pace of Play
Scramble Tournaments
Tournament Point System
World Rankings
Magazine Articles
Scotland
Other
About the Pope Of Slope
Contact
Home




Pope Of Slope

A 'sandbagger'- WHO ARE YOU ACCUSIN'?

Golf Digest, October, 1999, page 30

"Observations from a 'sandbagger'"

Note: The following dispatch was e-mailed to our offices via www.popeofslope.com (the Web site of former USGA handicap guru Dean Knuth) in response to an article on handicap cheats:

I've been accused of being a sandbagger many times, but what I seem to notice is that club golfers tend to take mulligans liberally, concede many putts, and "roll the ball" pretty much everywhere. I play the ball "down" every time, even when in a footprint in the bunker or a sand-filled divot hole. I also take drops as the rules allow, not on some imaginary "line of sight." I never, ever concede putts.

My rounds are played under the Rules of Golf and are therefore more difficult than those in some club tournaments, which often allow lift, clean and place in the fairway.

I've shot very low net rounds, like 64 at a place with a 69.4 Course Rating, and rarely shoot much higher than a couple of strokes over the Course Rating. Does that make me a sandbagger? By most definitions, yes. Does that make me a cheater? That is highly offensive. I see the issue of sandbagging as mainly a problem of in-house tournaments, where members want to have fun while they play, and not worry about the stress of a rainy day, a bad lie or missed kick-in putt. To you whiners, I say play golf to establish your handicap. Enter all your scores, even those rounds when you had a bad day. Then you would be much more competitive. Do not accuse me of cheating, because you regularly cheat the game when you play by your "rules" and I do not.

A 'sandbagger'

© 1998-2016 PopeOfSlope.com