"JPW"  wrote in message 
news:7dd58561-ce08-4d29-8d73-1990cd6460bc@k37g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On 20 Apr, 21:05, "Kenneth"  wrote:
>> Reading JPW's account of his recent stableford surprise leads me to offer
>> this recent bizarre incident.
>>
>> With my advancing years and rapidly declining health (two recent serious
>> illnesses and now undergoing long term hospital treatment) I am no longer
>> fit enough to compete effectively. Last autumn I decided that, in 
>> fairness
>> to others, I would no longer enter major tournaments at my club, which 
>> are
>> always well over-subscribed. When I feel able to get round again I will
>> content myself with social golf with friends in the old boy's brigade.
>>
>> Imagine my astonishment, therefore, when I received a letter from the
>> Captain congratulating me on my performance in the Club Medal and 
>> advising
>> that my prize had been credited to my account at the pro shop! My first
>> thoughts were that the typist had pulled the wrong address off the 
>> computer
>> and I had received a letter intended for someone else - there is another
>> member in the club with a similar surname to me but spelt differently.
>>
>> On checking the results on the club web-site there was no doubt it was me
>> who was shown scoring 69 - 3 under CSS - and my handicap had been cut by 
>> two
>> strokes. I then rang the pro who said he was pleased that I had finally
>> cleared my overdraft and he confirmed that my account now had a healthy
>> credit balance.
>>
>> By now I was beginning to question my sanity. I didn't remember playing. 
>> My
>> wife didn't remember me playing that day but couldn't be sure. I next 
>> rang
>> my near-namesake, John, who immediately congratulated me on my success - 
>> to
>> lead a field of over 100 in those appalling conditions was very 
>> creditable
>> he said. He himself had had a very poor round - net 10 over par. He had 
>> had
>> to dash off immediately after his round so he left it to his marker to 
>> enter
>> the scores on the computer. But he had obviously been let down because he
>> was listed as a "nil return".
>>
>> It only then dawned on me what had happened. John's gross and my handicap
>> would result in a net 69. His marker had erroneously entered John's score
>> under my name on the computer. So I had won the prize without even 
>> entering
>> the medal and no one, apart from me, even suspected that anything was 
>> wrong.
>>
>> I then thought of the young man that really had scored a 69, playing from
>> the furthermost back tees into a half gale and horizontal driving rain. 
>> It
>> was not right that he had been beaten on count-back by a "ghost" 
>> competitor
>> who had never stirred from his armchair all day. I wrote back to the 
>> Captain
>> and said thanks very much but I'm sorry there has been a monumental 
>> mistake.
>>
>> Although the results had been announced over two weeks previously they 
>> were
>> immediately withdrawn and, after a thorough re-checking, an amended 
>> result
>> was posted with the convenient explanation of "computer error". My 
>> handicap
>> was restored and my account at the pro shop went back into the red 
>> (though
>> not for long).
>>
>> I have not heard what changes have been made to office procedures but
>> clearly some re-training was called for. The card checking was not as
>> effective as it could have been. It was suggested that the auto-fill
>> facility on the computer, which offers a complete name after the first 
>> two
>> or three characters have been entered, was to blame. If so how does it 
>> cope
>> with common names like Brown? The scope for error seems boundless to me
>> given that not everyone is computer savvy.
>>
>> I just mention this incident as a warning that if things can go wrong 
>> they
>> inevitably will go wrong and it is always best to double check cards and
>> computers.
>>
>> bhk
>
> An interesting error Kenneth. I think that I may have kept quiet about
> it, taken the money and the two strokes, pleaded ignorance (or
> alzheimers) :-) and let the committee sort it out at a later date.
>
> It must have been a tight imaginary coincidence with handicaps for
> you in your armchair to lose a full two shots from your handicap. You
> would have to be in category four (21-28) to lose 3 x 0.4 = 1.2 and
> your exact on something like 22.6 to be reduced from 23 to 21.
>
> Good story, Ken, now just get fit again and get out there and make it
> really happen.
>
> JPW

Many thanks for your good wishes. I do hope to get out playing again but it 
will not be before August, at the earliest, if the prognosis is good.

Your analysis of my handicap is on the right lines. Now I am 21.5 and I 
think they reduced it to 20.3 - playing 22 down to 20. This is the highest I 
have ever been. My first handicap was 18 in the early 1960's and for most of 
my playing days it hovered around the 11-13 mark. Over the last few years it 
has progressed inexorably upwards as my game has got shorter.

So far everyone to whom I have spoken have voiced similar thoughts to 
yourself: if it had happened to then they would have kept quiet (and the 
money). Somehow that is something that I could never have done - after all 
one would have been cheating a fellow member out of his due reward.

Regards

Kenneth