Ugggg nothing worse than watching a "12" shoot a 76. Sure it could happen, but I bet you've got a better chance at the lotto.

Our club has a Hcp Chair (a thankless job I'd never want) who reviews scores and caps, and adjusts accordingly. He's a bit of a hoarder and keeps score cards from any decent size tournament we hold. He meets with the tournament committee before big events (so the flack doesn't fall solely on him) to review issues or potential problems. This works well for 4 somes or 4 ball, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be for a scramble.

IMO any format outside pure stroke play shouldn't be played at full handicap. Maybe set a range (teams have to have a combined cap between 10-15) or something and then give each team 75% of their cap. At my club the shop generally picks any scramble teams and there is no HCP- they try to get the teams to add up to the same cap range.

You could also do flights without caps so that strokes aren't as big of a factor.

Hotsauce, you bring up a great point about watching a "12" shoot 76. Back in the early '00's, I was a bartender at a club. During the member/ guest, someone brings in his "buddy" who is a "14" playing local city-owned courses. Their team goes cheap in the calcutta......He shoots 74-74-74, and they mop up the winnings. I don't think he ever got the chance to play there again.

My club does flights with unbalanced prize levels. The bulk of the "pro shop credit" goes into the Open (gross scores only) flight with the remainder going into the Net Score flights. If you have an index of 6 or less you are automatically in the gross only division; all others are in other flights. Higher than 6 (happens more in team events when one play is above a 6) can request to play in the open division but they don't get strokes.

Skins and pins are by flights as well.

Other junk (greenies, sandies, playing for the groceries, etc.), you're on your own.

Our pro started demanding anyone entered has to have an established USGA or WSGA [Wisconsin] handicap.

But let's face it, if people are going to cheat, they're going to cheat. In a lot of cases there isn't much that can be done. I've heard of various people who are banned from playing in certain handicapped tournaments.

I know one guy, everyone likes him, but he manipulates his handicap. I can't stand that he's a cheater and so don't like the guy. He used to only enter scores from away rounds and a lot of them were at championship courses. Not one score from his local course at which he plays in league and so has at least once per week scores at home that should have been entered. Came to our club's member-guest as a guest and tore up our course. It really irked me to have to give him strokes, when he should have been giving me strokes. The next year he joined our club and our pro told him there would be no more of that. After that member-guest I was paired with the guy in a straight up stroke play tourney. Our third was another who knows this joker. On the first tee I asked him about guys who cheat on their handicap, loud enough the joker could hear. The guy got flustered and shot something like 84-85, missed the cut.

One other thing... I'm hoping the new handicap system helps keep things on the level. This past year my partner and I took second in our two man best ball match play championship for the fourth time. Every championship match has been lost to a 18-22 handicap guy who "got hot". The last two years to the same team. Our pro said he's been giving the guy lessons and the guy had been practicing a lot. But his scores hadn't caught up to the bi-monthly updates. The new system should help update to players who are hot or cold.

Wanna see some of the worst sandbagging. Go play the World amateur at Myrtle Beach. They do kick they out to future play. If folks post every score they play at every course then there should no complaint about their handicap, if they have a GHIN handicap and the tournaments are using a GHIN handicap. Besides calcutta's are illegal.

Even though I have a GHIN HC, I don't believe in the system because it's so easy to manipulate. One way is to enter your correct scores, but from the wrong tee. People don't check which tee a score was shot from. They just look for the score. I can't believe the extent some people go to win. Golf is ultimately a game of self integrity.

I think amateurs should be playing mostly match play anyway.

The higher the payout, the more likely somebody (cough,cough) is going to have a great round.

My men’s club factors each player’s index using only rounds they shoot during men’s club events. This didn’t completely eliminate sandbagging but it did cut it way down.

Hey Dan like the picture! I have the 2 iron head from my old set of AC 108's on my desk. Makes a great paperweight. They were my first set of Titleist Irons back in the day. Loved them.

Handicapping is just like the game of golf it requires Integrity as only you the golfer know what score you really shot ( did the ball move as you started your backswing, wad the ball in or out of bounds , did you give yourself that 2 foot putt, do you post the score you shot) In other words do the right thing when no one is looking and the handicaps would be true.

SEMPER FI

Several years ago, our city am tournament had a max rule where they flight after first day. On last day, the pro will give a max 5 strokes better than previous day and throw a dice after play for an adder so no one knows for sure what is the real number. If he throws a 1 on the dice, best you could do is 6 strokes below first day score. If he throws a 6, best you could do was 11 better. Seemed to be a fair way to prevent "Iv'e never played this good in my life" scores.

If someone has a great day better than the number from the first day, they were bumped to the next higher flight or deemed ineligible for prizes.

That seemed the fairest way to implement something equitable for all.

An interesting discussion... I am lucky enough to play over 75 rounds a year, but about half are early mornings and by myself - the rule changed a couple of years ago that I can no longer post those rounds. The funny thing is when I play those rounds alone, I play by the rules, putt everything out and and maybe because I'm alone I concentrate better - my scores are lower than when I play with the guys.

So I decided to post all my scores last season regardless of whether I played alone or not and my index dropped from 6.5 to 4. 5. Obviously those aren't sandbagger numbers, but I honestly feel that is the right index for me plus I like how GHIN tracks my rounds and scoring average for the year.

An interesting discussion... I am lucky enough to play over 75 rounds a year, but about half are early mornings and by myself - the rule changed a couple of years ago that I can no longer post those rounds. The funny thing is when I play those rounds alone, I play by the rules, putt everything out and and maybe because I'm alone I concentrate better - my scores are lower than when I play with the guys.

So I decided to post all my scores last season regardless of whether I played alone or not and my index dropped from 6.5 to 4. 5. Obviously those aren't sandbagger numbers, but I honestly feel that is the right index for me plus I like how GHIN tracks my rounds and scoring average for the year.

As long as man walks this planet people will cheat and or lie for greed or fame. BCH has the best scenario .

I am setting up a tournament schedule, but we do not have a handicap system in place.

So currently we use a stroke improvement rule of 5,6 or 7. You can catch the leader of your flight and improve a max of 5 and be safe. If you improve 6 or 7. Your outcome is dependent on a poker chip draw for your flight. It works but I was wanting to see if there is any other ideas out there.

Thanks for the responses!