Hey All,

We probably know someone that does this. This is my pet peeve.

A guy who I played with this past weekend basically played like he hasnt swung a club in years. He is actually a 14 handicap and is a "decent" golfer. He had issues where he couldnt hit the ball more then 10 yards with any of his irons. Basically one of those days where you are lucky if you break 115.

So around the 4th hole he knew what kind of day it was and just started taking balls of his pocket and playing multiple balls when he was waiting on us.

I am not sure what he does but what should he do in regards to his handicap?

1. He never announced this is a pratice round so it should go into the system.
Only problem was he didnt follow all the rules because he was taking pratice shots, using multiple balls.

I guess you can mark the max limit for each hole, but you are kind of sandbagging his handicap then.

I can see both sides. Should he enter the score or just leave it out of the system.
As it says you should enter all rounds, but his round wasnt 100% legit in regards to rules and score. However entering a score (max scores on all holes he didnt follow the rules) also sandbags his handicap.

Besides the obvious of telling him not to do it again.

What is everyones though?

There are such things as practice rounds you know. If I run into a slow group on the 4th hole during a leisurely round, I'll drop balls and practice and such, don't think it's a big deal.

Question is, how much does his handicap actually go up if he handed in the card? Not a lot on this side of the pond. Even so, if he was not playing to the rules he would normally be DQ'd right? Does anyone's handicap get adjusted for being DQ'd? However, his actions were not really good form though and he should of showed a bit more respect for his playing partners.

Let him do what he wants.

What's the difference?

why do you care about his HCP so much? I do think it was ignorant to start playing 3-4 shots while others are playing a serious/legit round.

I don't care what his handicap is. I was just curious of the correct ruling / protocol is.

He did not follow the rules of golf...
therefore, the (any) score from the round can NOT be posted for
handicap purposes.

(assuming USGA, I don't know the rule for R&A)

Unless this was during an organized match or competition, why should there be a "ruling/protocol"? Why would you think someone has to announce to you that he is playing a practice round, its none of your business, really.

He paid just as much as everyone else out there to golf...he can do whatever he wants in regards to playing a few extra balls...

Nothing i hate more than paying for a round of golf, and to just play like s*** during that round...feels like such a waste of money...he was prolly trying to gain some confidence and turn his day around.

Personally, I think its rude to just start dropping balls if you're in a group that's playing for score. We have a guy in our group that's constantly doing that and it's a huge distraction for others with 3-4 balls on the green and potentially dangerous never knowing when he's going to hit another shot.

The guy also puts his score in for handicap and you can never tell what he truly shot, because you never know which ball he played! He'll shoot what I think is an 89 and his scorecard will never reflect more than an 81 0r 82. Same guy who give himself every putt within 20 feet. We don't pay much attention to his score, but his vanity handicap makes for easy money!

I agree with pjh above.

I couldn't care less what the person's score is, or how their handicap is affected (if they even care themselves!), I just respect the game of golf too much to just randomly start plunking down more balls (or teeing them up) when my playing partners are trying to play as serious a round as possible.

My brother-in-law does this CONSTANTLY (he's always going on, "free tee shot on 1 and 10, one mulligan a side, blah, blah, blah) I play the balls I hit. If I happen to be at the base of a tree, I hit a safe shot to get back on the fairway and take my medicine. He will try and kill the ball, slicing it just as far wide as he hit it out, tee up another, peel it into the woods on the left side, then finally hit a weak shot down the middle. Now we have to go fetch his slice, try and hunt around for the hooked one in the woods, before we all can get back to our regular shots! I play much better when we move at a brisk pace, taking our shots shots seriously and making the best (oe worst) out of our round. If I could "do over" as many shots as he takes I'd could shave 10 strokes off my score!

Needless to say, I went out with him last Thursday for the last time.

Cheers,
Kev