Shark Attack Golf

My Golf Handicap is Me

Golf is supposed to be an honest game but when it comes to distances, scores and handicaps, it's anything but. I keep a golf handicap over at http://www.ushandicap.com and every golf round over the past 2 years has been entered there. I don't edit out the good or the bad like some have a tendency to do. At one point, I had allowed a "friend" to control my handicap at a local course and because of his creative input, I carried a number that was much higher than reality. This was done in order for our team to have more shots at local events and he justified it by saying that everyone cheats on their handicap. Since keeping my own scores and posting them all, I have dropped from a 15.8 index to a 6.1 index. The biggest problem with the handicap system in golf is that hardly anyone understands it and even fewer keep it correctly. The index number doesn't mean that you shoot that number over par and in truth, a person should only shoot their handicap 1 out of 6 rounds because it's a potential score. I've played with people who carry a sandbag index in that they always shoot way lower than their index and I've played with people who carry a prideful index in that they couldn't shoot their index if they cheated on every hole. Both ways are wrong and thanks to the idiots who insist on doing this, the system is fouled up. I witnessed a player at a National event who was a 30 handicap, shoot 76 on his on ball on a Pinehurst Course. 

I also find it amazing how important distance is to everyone. For years, equipment companies have been cheating and lying to produce long numbers. They've been decreasing the loft on standard golf clubs to the point where a current 7 iron has the same loft as a 5 iron from years ago. Companies have shaved weight out of the driver heads, moved the weight locations and have reduced shaft weight while increasing the length of the stock shaft in their drivers. These changes have increased the distances for the average golfer but it's a ghost theory because control and accuracy have fallen off. There's no short cut to a great golf game or to learning the sport of Long Drive. Buying new clubs might be a great idea in order to take advantage of technology or if you feel that new clubs would instill more confidence but if you think new clubs will eliminate the need for range work or will make you 50 yards longer, you are mistaken. 

I once played a round in a weekly match event and I was paired with a couple of young bucks who were all about hitting it a ton. At one point, I was up on them by 8 shots each and I hit an 8 iron into a green at 135 yards away. One of the guys hit a wedge to the same green. My result was a 4, his was a 6. On the finishing hole, they both hit their tee shots maybe 10 yards past mine. When all was said and done, They were 10 and 11 shots worse than me but as we turned our cards in, all they could talk about was how they had hit a wedge past my 8 iron and had bombed one past me on the finishing hole. Distance is an ego factor for sure but it's not everything unless you're on the Long Drive circuit. 

If it's all about distance, put your money where your mouth is and buy the equipment to compete. Funny thing is, very few can actually compete at that level. In Long Drive, you either have to have speed, raw power or technique and there is no substitute for hitting balls....lots of them. 

In the forum section of the golf handicap site that I use, it never fails that weekly, someone is on there bragging about hitting their drives 290 yards and with ease, stroking the ball over 300 yards. I'm not sure of the exact percentage but I'd say that less than 10% of average golfers have ever hit an unassisted 300 yard drive. I'd also say that a good GPS doesn't lie. Often, when I play with different partners and I call out our distances off the tee, many either don't believe the data or they quickly tell me they don't want to know their distances. Bottom line is, if you're playing for fun, none of this matters at all but when you put yourself out there as being a scratch golfer or someone who can hit it a mile, you'd better be prepared for the ribbing that goes with it or be prepared to go to battle when someone calls you out. 

MobyMatt / Shark Attack Golf / www.sharkattackgolf.net