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Is Protecting your handicap cheating?

• Greyskull5 794 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 5:42 AM

  I ask this point not in relation to keeping it low but keeping it high

   To me it is if you win tourneys using a false handicap (Ranking) the leader in Wk2 18 hole single play (am) shoots a 64 followed by 177 (18) 82 (9) 81 (9) that should keep it high or you know some days i am hot others i am crap? and if you look back at his record he shots low then builds handicap back up , i ain't got a witch hunt against this guy this might be regular way to get around the rules?

  I don't think its fair or right ,i might be well off the mark if i am i apologise 

  Didn't think my 1st post  would be a negative as i am thoroughly enjoying the game and keep up the good work 

  Greyskull

• AvatarLee 1,644 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 6:16 AM

  Greyskull5:

  I don't think its fair or right ,i might be well off the mark if i am i apologise

  No sir, you hit the tiny red mark in the middle of the target!  This is the classic sandbagger technique, and the guy doesn't even TRY to hide it....  It has gotten worse since the Matchplay challenges were introduced and it will become a problem further if credits are ever allowed to be 'cashed out' as many have suggested.

  As a suggestion, I think that the method of determining the average should be changed, it needs to take more rounds into account, say 20 out of the last 30 (or even more!), and dropping both the highest 5 and lowest 5 rounds, not to mention placing a proper weighting on 9 hole rounds.  I know this suggestion moves away from the 'typical' way to calculate a handicap, but some things do not and will never translate well from real life into a game scenario...

• molideha 213 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 8:59 AM

  at the risk of being redundant, as i stated in another thread, an 18 hole score of 65 (32 for 9 holes) or better should be an automatic promotion to pro...an 18 hole score of 60  (30 for 9 holes) or better should be an automatic promotion to master....don't let the cheaters game the tier system...promote them on the spot.

  match play challenge and ready-go tourneys are encouraging sandbagging.

• AvatarLee 1,644 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 9:10 AM

  fair enough, but to condemn a person to the next level because they had one good round seems a bit extreme... but if that's what it takes.  

  BTW the ready-go's are tierless, so not really any point of sandbagging those....

• PugsAce 1,825 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 9:10 AM

  I was "scanning" recent posts w/o being logged-in, but HAD to sign-in to reply that AvLee's is one of the best suggestions I've read in these forums regarding the potential effects of sandbagging, and how to rectify the situation.

  Certainly the game developers have enough of an interest in the game to want to allow it to continue as they'd intended... as close to real golf as possible.

  Hopefully, they'll realize that if the scoring system is left as is, the game's very foundation will become compromised to the point of inevitable collapse.

  No crystal ball is needed here to see this... it's written in the scorecards.

• TheFlyWhiteGuy 21 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 9:21 AM

  You want the tier advancement to be faster? That's not possible. If you can become a master in a few days, there's a major problem.

  I'm on the other side of the fence...I think the Master tier shouldn't begin until 58 and you should get demoted from that tier when your average drops.

  You go from Hack to Amateur in 2 games, Amateur to Pro 3 games later, and if you're lucky master 5 games after that. Pretty simple.

  Everybody's a master with a 75 average. Doesn't make any sense.

  ...and sandbagging? C'mon. That has diminishing returns. More people will try it until every master is a closet sandbagger...then the sandbaggers are playing sandbaggers and the advantage is gone. Common behavior.

• TheFlyWhiteGuy 21 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 9:35 AM

  PugsAce:

  Certainly the game developers have enough of an interest in the game to want to allow it to continue as they'd intended... as close to real golf as possible.

  That was never the intention. The intention was to create an addicting game that would generate revenue. The false "realism" was the bait and switch tactic.

  PugsAce:

  Hopefully, they'll realize that if the scoring system is left as is, the game's very foundation will become compromised to the point of inevitable collapse.

  The inevitable collapse will have nothing to do with the scoring system. It will have everything to do with the poor business ethics. 

  PugsAce:

  No crystal ball is needed here to see this... it's written in the scorecards.

  Only thing I see written in the scoreboards are Hacks in Masters clothing if you recognize the pun.

   

• uoducks63 53 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 9:38 AM

  I think 1 way to fix this problem would be to do the same thing we had to do in our mmens club at the local golf course. consistantly had people with a handicap of 10 or higher winning all the tournaments with scores in the low 70's or high 60's. Since it is virtual impossible to police this during stroke play rounds, there is one simple fix. Creat a tournament average that will be used during tournament play only. If you have a 77 average for example, but in tournaments always shoot 60's, it is safe to say you are sandbagging to stay in a easier bracket. By having a tournament average, it would atleast force people to make a decision what is more important, sandbagging or placing high in the tournament. I dont see a whole lot that can be done in the short term. Also i dont understand, I have played stroke play with some of the top money winners, and they shoot well, usually arround 2-3 under, but somehow they are shooting 27 in 9 hole tournaments every week. Either they now some big secret about this game thatt the rest off us don't know or there are some sort of cheats out there. i don't know what that would be, but something smells fishy and its not last nights dinner. Thank you for a great game, and for hours and hours of great entertainment. Just hope there is something that can be done to keep this game on a even playing field

• molideha 213 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 9:59 AM

  the ready-go tournies being tierless is WHY they encourage sandbagging..as a hack, a player can get the regular rapture full set, throw in an anser putter, a sleeve of B-ES balls, hit from the red tees and post 59-60 until the cows come home.

  how do i know this can be done?...because this is the bag i was playing about 7 weeks ago, from master tees and shooting 59-60..only difference i used R9 driver, which i don't need if i were to play from red tees.

• PugsAce 1,825 Posts

  Wed, Jan 6 2010 10:09 AM

  uoducks63:

  Thank you for a great game, and for hours and hours of great entertainment. Just hope there is something that can be done to keep this game on a even playing field

  Excellent first post.

  Stick around.