Nobody likes a sandbagger. Nobody.
Yip Strickler (stage name) is a single-digit handicap out of Michigan. When he’s not golfing, he’s hunting whitetail deer or ice fishing.
Yip has been hit with cease-and-desists, slurs and numerous other criticisms over the last 24 months. What pursuit within the golf world is causing such consternation?
Catching “sandbagging rats.”
As the self-proclaimed “biggest independent journalist investigating handicaps and tournaments at prestigious private golfing clubs in the entire galaxy,” Yip has one singular mission:
Protecting net golf—in the form of playful but very public shaming.
How sandbagging works in net golf
sand·bag ˈsan(d)-ˌbag
“To conceal or misrepresent one’s true position, potential, or intent especially in order to gain an advantage.”
Golf handicaps are designed to create fair competition by giving strokes to the less accomplished player (for example, a 15-handicap playing against a 1-handicap). Sandbagging on the golf course is when someone manipulates that system by making their handicap look higher than it truly is, giving themselves an unfair advantage.
Yip jokes that most sandbaggers keep a “box of scorecards underneath their bed” and wait until the tournament has been won to input their best scores. This form of handicap manipulation ensures that the prize is in their hands before the handicap is improved.
Believe it or not, this is best-case scenario. Yip believes some sandbaggers simply add completely fake rounds to their GHIN to make themselves look much worse than they actually are.
The creation of Yip Strickler
The Batman of Net Golf (Yip Strickler) started to gain traction in the middle of 2024.
In the beginning, Yip states that he was just “voicing the same types of complaints that every other member has such as people never raking their bunkers and never doing the little things. I was acting like your prototypical douchebag private club member.”
Things changed when he saw a club a few minutes from his house post the winners at one of their tournaments. He did a quick Google search on the guy who won and found out he went to his rival high school. After cross-checking this information with what was available on GHIN, he made a quick video calling out the first potential rat.
It started as “mostly a joke” and escalated into something more when Yip realized that there are truly people that “manage their handicaps year-round and when I say manage, I’m mostly saying manipulate their handicaps year-round.”
That’s right. There are people stealing your hard-sought glory (and the occasional cash prize) by manipulating their handicap year in and year out. These individuals ensure that your hard work won’t matter when it comes tournament time.
Since then, Yip has put on his detective clothes and caught scores of unsuspecting sandbaggers. Some ended up more upset than others.
Yip’s process is simple:
- Show the winners
- Cross-check their net scoring with their GHIN scores
- Call out the cheaters
Yip can be brutal. Brutal enough that he was hit with a cease-and-desist and the threat of a lawsuit from someone he called out. To quote Yip: “He was just caught. Like, all I did was report the facts. There’s really nothing he could do.”
This video demonstrates how truly brutal (and funny) Yip can be.
Yip’s guide to protecting yourself from sandbagging rats
Yip has made it clear that there are five industries riddled with sandbaggers:
- Finance
- Insurance
- Real estate
- NFL quarterbacks
- Attorneys
If you’re challenged to a match against someone who works in any one of these fields, be careful. You probably noticed that NFL quarterbacks are fourth on the list. As a Denver Broncos fan, I didn’t need another reason to loathe Patrick Mahomes but the Batman of Net Golf gave me another.
Mahomes has said publicly that he sandbags against his friends. On top of that, he has chosen not to post some of his best scores to prevent his handicap from getting better. Patrick, your days of torching the Broncos are over and now everyone and their dog know that you’re a sandbagging rat.
Outside of these industries, Yip warns that you should be wary of anyone that claims to be “like a 10 handicap.” If someone is unsure of their number and says they’re in the 8-12 range, there’s a decent chance you’re about to get played.
Where to find Yip
There are two main reasons that you should be following Yip Strickler.
- You’re a sandbagging rat.
If you’re a sandbagger, you’ll benefit from following Yip. By watching his videos and scanning the comments, you’ll know whether or not people are onto you. Quite frequently, golfers present scenarios where sandbagging may be in play. If you’re a sandbagger, this is the way to stay up to date on Yip’s latest cases.
- You enjoy watching cheaters get caught.
I have a hard time skipping Yip’s videos (this is a good thing for Yip but bad for my screen time). Each and every case is absolutely infuriating and he does a great job at adding humor to a frustrating story.
Yip is a colorful personality who blends golf, scandal, detective work and humor all into one. Most of the time, you need Peacock, Netflix or Hulu to get this type of content. Yip gives it away for free.
Like Liam Neeson in Taken: Yip doesn’t know who you are but he does have a very particular set of skills. He will find you and he will expose you.
Frank
1 month ago
I don’t get it how in America it is an option to put your score for handicap or not. In Australia my handicap scores are always from club comps, any casual rounds with mates are not entered into my handicap.
Andrew the Great!
1 month ago
It’s not a de jure option. Just a de facto one, exercised by (mostly) dishonest folks who don’t want to post their better scores.
We’re *supposed* to post *all* of our scores, and for most of us, all of our rounds are ONLY “casual rounds”. Most of us don’t regularly – if at all – play in club competitions, and mostly because most of us don’t belong to clubs.