All in the Family

by Tim K
(Phoenix Arizona)

About 25 years ago I used to travel from Hawaii to Myrtle Beach SC for the World Handicap Golf Tournament. It was originally called the Dupont World Amateur Golf Tournament. I attended the tournament for a few years and thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

The tournament is/was well run and accommodates 2-3000 golfers with probably 50-60 flights determined by age and handicap. Handicap flighting can be in the .5 range, for instance, 6.0 -6.5. They require you to submit proof of a handicap, at that time it was a GHIN or a document from a golf club or course.

I believe it was 1992. At the end of every day’s play, the players congregated in the Convention center where there we hundreds of golf vendors, food and drink, and leaderboards for each flight. Posted here was a constant flow of information from various hosts via the public address system. During the evening, various notable occurrences that happened during the round were told to the crowd. Among the notable mentions on the first night was that a 16-year-old boy from Kentucky (don't remember his name) shot a net 64. Everyone cheered and expressed encouragement to the young man. Followed later in the evening by another announcement that the kid’s uncle shot a net 65, more cheers! Everyone knew that the rules of the tournament included that handicaps would be adjusted daily. So, if you played well, or too well, you would be adjusted the next day.

On the second evening, as the festivities continued in the Convention Center, everyone was again having a great time. Again the announcements continued. The kid from Kentucky and his uncle were again singled out for their exceptional play even after having been adjusted. The kid shot a net 65 and his uncle also a net 65. This time the reaction was more startled and questioning than the previous night.

On the third night, when the scoring becomes critical, the crowd was anxious to see the results which were up on leaderboards throughout the Center. Some folks were talking about the Kentucky duo, anxious to see how they did. Early in the evening, the host came on with an announcement. Seems there was some question about the duo’s handicaps considering that exceptional scores continued even with adjustments that should have made a considerable change in their posted scores. The Handicap committee had called the source of the submitted handicaps. It was found that it was a small golf course near the duo’s hometown. They spoke to the "pro" there and asked about the calculation of handicaps. He said he did not keep them and that the duo had come to him to verify their handicaps and he just sign off on them. It was then announced that the duo had been disqualified.....the response from the crown was the largest of the tournament...all cheers and wild agreement with the decision. Following their discovery, the duo left rather quickly. In the third round after another adjustment, they both shot net 66!

Enough was enough!!