How to deal with "welchers"?

[Maverick]

ok..i and a friend of mine play fairly regularly on Sat. We played last Sat., usually for $1 skins with all the common mods (greenies, birdies, murphs, drainos, bullets)..anyway we decide to play for who pays for the family dinner later that night..obviously quite a bit more than are usual 3-5 bucks that may change hands.

Anyway we decide to play a point system/stableford? Eagles - 3 pts., Birdies - 2pts., Pars - 1 pt. and Bogies would be (-1 pt), Dbl.Bogies would be (-2 pts.) Also the (-2 pts) would be the worst you could finish for any hole. Seems good.

To make a long story short we're now at the 17th and 18th hole. I'm up 6 points total (according to his calculations-twice). If I blow these last two holes that would be (-4 poitns total). So I would be 2 points still. My bud needs to par and birdie these holes to win. He pars the 17th. So the pressure is on. On 18 I hit a great drive..into an overhanging tree limb..the ball drops straight dwn about 50 yards away.

My bud sets up..mind you he needs a birdie or better here..and opts to hit his 3 iron..respectable..and hooks it right into the drink (dogleg left with h20 on the left). He doesn't say anything but inside I know game over.

Well he tees up again and hits his 2nd drive onto the fw. He tells me if he holes out here he's going to win. He's about 160 yrds out. But wait didn't he just hit it into the drink..that makes him lie 3 so even holing out makes him par out..impossible.

I tel him and he's pissed..he asked me if I wasn't going to give him a break on that water shot..WTF..is he serious..

SO we finish and from the emotions I shot a 9 on the par 4..sickening but didn't matter in the format we were playing anyhow.

Well inside I was telling myself forget it..I'll buy..golf's golf..but honestly there's some pride on the line no..?

Well at dinner when we're all done he pulls out the scorecard..i'm thinkng dude leave that back at the course..anyway he tells me he added the score wrong and actually I was behind..my wife and I were thinking OMG..give it a rest..

And he decided to count strokes and not by our agreed point system..kinda pissed me off..

any advice..

[MAHALLEDAY]

Kill him, or you could just never ever bet with him again. I used to glf with a gy like that. He was so concerned with beating me (which he'll never do cause he sucks), and beating everyone else. He'd know our scores better than we did. I recall one time we were playing at, we can to a sharp dogleg left par five. I pushed my tee shot into teh trees so I hit a provisional. I coudlnt find the first one so i lie 3. I hit my 4th up the fair way and 5th on the green. one put for bogey. two hole later he sartes to re-count the strokes i took on that hole. certain i shot like double or something. We got into a bit of an agrument that i eventualy one.

I hate jerky guys who have to try a lie and cheat their way to winning somehtign that really doesnt matter. We were't even playing for money, he refuese to play for money with me anymore cause he looses to much.

Jerk.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by Maverick

...anyway we decide to play for who pays for the family dinner later that night...

Looks like you guys are going to Sizzler.

That's weak. If things went down like you said, then he's a welch. This is something that NEVER happens in our group. Never. Everyone here whole-heartedly agrees that if they suck, they suck.

I would go through the score again with him. He'll see the light.

And if he doesn't, let all the air out of his tires. It's not damaging, but boy does it piss people off....

R35

[Maverick]

he's the type of player/person where everyone humors him, but he doesn't realize it. It's funny cause my wife str8 up tells him to f-off once in awhile..lol..

[Silver]

Is hitting a ball OB (or lost) like Mahal did a 2 stroke penalty? Or is it one stroke + shooting from the tee again? So your tee shot is your 3rd?

I just wanna make sure I'm not giving myself too many strokes...

[Rockford35]

Yes. He lies 3 in the fairway with his 2nd ball. Distance + stroke.

The provisional ball basically just speeds up play, so that after walking 260 down the fairway, you lose you ball and have to walk all the way back.

It doesn't save you any strokes. A lost ball counts two.

But this does remind me....

Did anyone see Sergio Garcia hit the worst duck hook ever on a par 3 last weekend? He hooked it so far that it went left of the green, over the trees and rough and carried over the grandstands. The ball was way long gone.

The crazy thing was, he took a drop in the rough, chipped on and made his putt for par. I coulda sworn he was shooting 3 with the unplayable (1 stroke+ball unplayable+ drop) and then hit his ball on the green and one putted for a 5.

What am I missing here? You can hook it way left and not get penalized more than one stroke? That doesn't make much sense to me. That ball was well, well out of bounds.

R35

[MAHALLEDAY]

There may be a provision on tour which allows for the fact that there are grandstands. ie: Sergio's case. if you were to hit it up over the grandstands even if it was still inplay on the other side you may not ever be able to get it back over plus there is the danger to the fans factor. so mabye in that case he allowed the drop, similiar to a water hazard.

[Rockford35]

I'm with ya. I guess what my trouble is understanding what is considered OB on those courses. I mean, if you hit a 90 yard slice into the parking lot, are you still in play? I guess you would be, but you'd get a drop, right? So on any course that has no OB drawn out, you might as well swing your ass off, and call an unplayable lie and take a drop. Right?

Too many breaks.

I guess I'm so used to courses around here. We have so much OB. It's not often that you can hit a drive more than 20 yards off the fairway without teeing up another and shooting 3.

R35

[Silver]

Most of the courses here red stake for laterals to speed up play.

Is unplayable 1 stroke? no strokes?

Did you say lost ball is stroke and distance (as in go and retee)? Or is lost ball 2 strokes and drop at approximate place of loss?

[Bravo]

I would never bet with him again. I cannot believe how many times he screwed you over. The last one was the crowning glory where he changed the betting format completely from a stableford to stroke play.

He did this after he saw you make the 9 on the last...

Go ahead and play with him but never never bet.

It has been said that you can tell much about the character of an individual by playing a round of golf with them. I think this is one of the most accurate statements I have ever heard. It has been borne out in many rounds of golf I have played over time.

Based on this, I think twice about your friendship with this guy. He is not honest...

[MAHALLEDAY]

Lost ball or OB is stroke and distance. You return to the spot you hit from and hit again. If you can't tell if you are lost or ob you should hit a provisonal. Where the provisional lies is 3 strokes (assuming you first shot was your tee shot) The idea of 2 strokes for lost ball i assume is that if you hit your tee shot ob or loose it and you drop and count 2 youd be lieing 3 juist as you would if you went back to the tee and hit again.

Water hazards are differnt. And depend on what type of hazard. ie the lateral and regular water hazard. eash has its one set of rules but in each case its a one stroke penalty if you ball crosses the stakes. even if you ball is not in the water, and its paste the stakes, it's still in the hazard. I think you can play a ball from a water hazard but you may not ground the club unless its durign the swing (just like a bunker).

An un playable lie is a lost ball basically. its either play it as it lies or declare it lost and tee it back up/terurn to the place you shot from initially.

[MAHALLEDAY]

Couldnt agree more bravo, Bravo.

[DaveE]

Yep, never bet with this guy again. And if he asks you to bet again be sure to tell him why you won't wager with him anymore.

Not much point to gambling if losing means you pay and winning means you're screwed.

[Silver]

Originally Posted by MAHALLEDAY

An un playable lie is a lost ball basically. its either play it as it lies or declare it lost and tee it back up/terurn to the place you shot from initially.

I didn't realize that. I thought I saw Tiger drop an unplayable yesterday from a bush. Just dropped it a few yards back from the bush.

I'm so confused, heh.

[MAHALLEDAY]

I think there may be an addendum or whatever you call it to that rule i about lost/implayable. I think that in cases like your ball is up in a tree, you take a stroke an dmove it. but say to bury it 300 yards in the trees, if you find it but cant play out of there, if you wanna play another ball, you need to declare the first one lost. i belive thats how it works.

There are tons of little addendums and such to rules its not alwasy cut and dry.