Through this whole pandemic there has been minimal sports on TV and by minimal I mean basically zero. However there is one game that has been with us pretty much this whole time which has allowed for a little escape from reality for most of us and that is Golf. Its one of the greatest and most challenging sports out there. It is so challenging that the game has its own handicap system to even the playing field for REALLY bad golfers to compete against bad golfers (lets be honest, no one is actually that good at golf besides the pros).
The one threat to the existence of this great sport, especially for amateurs are some of the worst people in this world, Sandbaggers.
For those of you who don't know what a sandbagger is, they are the people who intentionally inflate their score in meaningless rounds of golf to help them get more strokes in tournament play. You'll usually hear people say "that guy never missed a putt he didn't need," aka the guy misses shots on purpose when it doesn't matter.
Right now, even in a pandemic, we are starting to come up on Member/Guest and Member/Member tournament season at local country clubs. This is when the sandbaggers really come out of the wood works. They have worked so hard to blow up their handicap for this exact moment. They have cheated the system and they are now ready to take everyone's money.
To me, if you can live with yourself knowing that you cheated in a game that is based off of integrity to win an extra few bucks, you got some serious issues.
I disagree with sandbagging so much that if I am starting to play better than my handicap in a tournament, I almost always subconsciously shank my next shot because I don't want anyone to even question that I am a sandbagger.
I played against a guy last year who entered a tournament as a 27 handicap, meaning that he was getting a shit load of extra strokes. One on each hole and two on the 9 toughest on the course. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of golfers who are 27 handicaps and there is nothing wrong with that, but this guy played everyday and would just miraculously not play enough holes to turn in a score when he was doing well.
Him and his partner proceeded to win our group rather easily and then karma, as karma most often does, gave him the shanks in the championship flight, costing his team a chance at the title and giving justice to all that played against him.
Unfortunately this isn't always the case and usually these guys end up on top with a handful of cash.
Because of this, it is my goal to put an end to sandbagging. I need you, your friends and anyone you golf with to stand together as one, to make sure that if you see a sandbagger, you call-out a sandbagger. I am claiming July, the month of many amateur golf tournaments, to be Sandbagger Awareness Month. Thank you for your support and good luck out there!
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