Not each wager is truthful from the soar.
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Aaron from San Diego writes: Final week, I acquired paired with a single at my native course. As we had been limbering up by the first tee, he requested if I wished to play a pleasant match. He stated he was “a couple of 7,” which is my handicap index, so I figured, OK. Just a few holes in, although, it was fairly clear this man was a lot better than he stated he was. He bombed it about 280 off the tee. I don’t suppose he missed a fairway, and he might putt. Backside line: I acquired crushed. Our match wasn’t all that large — $10 a aspect — however this man had clearly lied to me. I paid him, however might I’ve gotten away with calling off the wager?
Expensive Aaron:
Ah, golf, the good sport of honor. Besides when it isn’t. By no means thoughts what we’re typically advised. There’s nothing inherently “honorable” about propping a ball on a peg within the floor. Having fun with a terrific pastime doesn’t in itself make you an trustworthy particular person. We golfers are simply folks. And whereas most of us comply with the principles, a few of us don’t. Any claims on the contrary — that enjoying the sport is in some way proof of noble character — makes the Etiquetteist’s eyes roll again involuntarily in his head.
Bernie Madoff was a golfer. ‘Nuff stated.
Find out how to spot a hustler is one other matter. One college of thought holds that it is best to by no means wager towards a stranger with a worn-out spot on the toe of his or her path shoe, a telltale signal, the considering goes, of a pro-caliber transfer. The Etiquetteist has a less complicated rule: by no means wager towards anybody named Lee Trevino, or anybody who says that they’re “a couple of 7.”
Actually, although, there’s know approach of realizing.
All we will do is play the sport with integrity and hope that others do the identical.
Which brings us to your query. Primarily based in your description, it sounds such as you acquired sandbagged, although we will’t be sure. What we will say for certain is {that a} wager is a wager. Nobody pressured you to make it. Reneging on it might have put you within the mistaken. As a lot it because it will need to have stung to open your pockets to a man who probably fooled you, it might have value you extra to not pay him. You’d have damaged your phrase, and your phrase is definitely value greater than $30. Chalk it as much as a (comparatively) cheap lesson realized.
