Rule 10 - Handicaps and Other Fiction
Every golfer maintains two handicaps, and Rule 10 governs the distance between them. It covers the Ego Boost, the fixed conversion rate that turns "about a 12" into a 17, and the single crime this Handbook prosecutes with real severity.
The Rule (reproduced verbatim from the Dad Golf Handbook)
Purpose of Rule: governs the number you claim versus the golfer you are.
10.1 Every player maintains two handicaps: the Real one and the Ego Boost. The Real one is used when money is involved. The Ego Boost is used when talking to coworkers.
10.1a The gap between a player's two handicaps is a protected personal matter, right up until the first tee of a money game, when it becomes the Crew's favorite subject.
10.2 A player who says "I'm about a 12" is a 17. The conversion rate is fixed and universal. Committee research is ongoing into where the five strokes go. Early findings: they were never there.
10.3 Handicaps posted after career rounds and quietly not posted after disasters constitute a handicap in name only, and the Crew shall assign a corrected number by acclamation.
10.4 Sandbagging (inflating your handicap to win money) is the only crime in this Handbook treated with genuine severity. The sentence is playing off scratch for a month while the Crew calls you "Tour Pro."
PENALTY FOR HANDICAP FICTION: recalculation by Crew tribunal, one beer per phantom stroke.
Official Ruling 10.2/1: A visiting player introduced himself as "about a 12." He shot 94 with two Breakfast Balls, six gimmes, and a Miracle Find. The Committee confirms the 10.2 conversion rate holds, welcomes him back anytime, and has already told everyone.
Carry your two handicaps in peace, but never sandbag. The sentence is a month off scratch while the Crew calls you Tour Pro.