In my last blog I discussed poker players and golf gambling. In this entry I want to explain why golfers, poker players or not, who are new to the serious golf-gambling world can get in a bad situation because they don’t understand what game they’re playing and how it works.
There are at least three different arenas where golfers compete:
1) The professional or scratch arena, where there are no handicaps and all the rules and traditions of golf apply. This is golf at its purest, where the rules are sacrosanct, players police themselves, and the best player that day or in that tournament is usually identified.
2) The world of handicap golf, which encompasses the vast majority of golfers. This includes sanctioned amateur tournaments, private amateur tournaments, and friendly wagering among golfers who keep handicaps and use them as a basis for making wagers. The key to a level playing field in this arena is that all players have honest handicaps. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. The practice of artificially inflating one’s handicap to gain an advantage is known as sandbagging. It’s a violation of the spirit of the game, but is a far too common practice, especially in certain parts of the U.S., notably Palm Springs, Dallas and Las Vegas (although I found it far worse in Palm Springs).
3) The world of serious golf gambling. The golf-gambling world is unique in several ways. Following are some areas of difference.
There are no established handicaps. In this arena they have no significance. If someone was to pull out a handicap card, he’d get laughed off the tee. No one would believe it was accurate, nor do golf gamblers understand how handicaps work. Games are made on the basis of past experience and, if applicable, intelligence gathering and negotiation. This is fully a part of the game, perhaps the most important one. The more diligent you are in gathering intelligence, the better chance you have of getting the best of the negotiations. Withholding information, or sometimes outright lying, is often part of the negotiation process, just as bluffing is in poker. Experienced gamblers know this, and rarely take anything at face value. That’s why good golf gamblers never play a high-stakes match against an unknown player or players without having done extensive homework.
When my group meets before playing, we all tell our lies, moan about our pains, etc., laugh about it, and then get on with the real talks. For the most part, our games are already set from previous experience and adjustments. This is a matter of necessity, because otherwise we might never get off the tee! However, there are usually some team bets or other odd wagers negotiated to make it more interesting. If you are out-negotiated, you don’t hold a grudge, you accept it and move on.
For matches involving serious money, the negotiation process is more involved, with more complex intelligence gathering. Asking opinions from other players who are respected for their match-handicapping ability is common. Finding players who have previous experience with the potential opponent can be invaluable. Often, people not playing in the match will have action on one side or the other and will come out to “sweat” the match and maybe make side bets. If you’re involved, either as a player or making side bets, watching respected handicappers closely as far as which side they want to bet on can provide clues as to the balance of the match.
Watching closely as players warm up can give a bettor with an experienced eye clues about his opponents’ real abilities. However, there are players with terrible-looking golf swings (“hustler’s swing”) who play much better than they appear. A skilled golf hustler will only show enough of his abilities to narrowly win the match he’s playing. Even good and experienced golf gamblers have been taken off by skilled hustlers. When the hustler gets to the point where he has to show his best to win, he’ll move on to greener pastures.
As for the play itself, there are established rules and protocols, but they are often different from the other golf arenas. Specific things, such as how to play a ball if it’s lost, or hit into the desert, may be negotiated. The fact that practices such as applying Vaseline to the club face, which helps the ball go longer and straighter (known as ‘playing the grease”), carrying more than 14 clubs, and other practices that are verboten in the other golf arenas means nothing in golf gambling. Everything is negotiable. However, once the ground rules and exceptions are established, remaining traditional golf rules apply. The rules of golf are complex, however, and most players don’t know them well. In order to make it easy to play with gamblers who don’t know the rules, sometimes a stipulation is implemented that says a player may not touch his ball anywhere until he is on the green. If it’s on a cart path, sprinkler head, storm drain or anything else within bounds, either play it from there, or take a penalty drop. This is known as “gamblers’ rules.”
Once the ground rules are set, breaking them is cheating. Cheating isn’t tolerated, and cheaters will be dealt with and generally ostracized. However, similar to poker, especially in private games, if a cheater is a big loser, his cheating will be overlooked.
While I may make it sound like the golf gambling arena is a cesspool of lying and cheating, it’s really not once you understand how it works. In fact, I’d much rather compete in this arena than in the handicap one, where little can be done to prevent sandbaggers from having a huge edge. The thing to understand about golf gambling is that it’s not golf, with gambling attached; it’s gambling, with golf equipment used as a device. You need to be aware of which arena you’re in. Otherwise, there can be problems.
There was a controversy several years ago between Phil Ivey and a couple of English poker players and gamblers. Phil had lost hundreds of thousands to these guys on the course in the past, but he spent a lot of time practicing and got better. They tried to determine the state of his game before teeing off for their next match, but Phil didn’t tell them about his improvement. In fact, he lied. It was obvious as they started playing that Phil was better, but rather than quit and accept a small loss, they pressed it up and ended up losing big, perhaps enticed by the memory of their previous wins. When they found out afterward that Phil had been practicing and hadn’t been truthful about the state of his game, they didn’t want to pay, which I found ridiculous. They didn’t do their homework, and had lost the negotiation game. I was surprised by their reaction, because they were experienced gamblers and they should have understood the territory. Did they really think Phil Ivey, one of the great gamblers, was going to just keep donating huge stacks of cash to them?
Golf is a great game. Like most golfers, I enjoy it for the mental and physical challenges. I often play by myself, or with no action, but it’s more fun and exciting with something on the line. However, when you enter the world of serious gambling on the golf course, you’ve entered a world that few golfers understand. You might not like the way it works, but it’s the reality. The gambling world can be a tough place where idealism takes a back seat. If you ever decide to dip your toe in that pool, I hope this helps you understand what you’re getting involved in.
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