A Blind Bogey exists so a player who shoots 105 can win a tournament without anybody touching a handicap. Something about the scoring stays hidden until every card is in, and because nobody can play toward a target they cannot see, the whole field has a chance to be the winner when walking off the last green.
What stays hidden is what changes between versions. Three different formats are called the same name, and they reward completely different things.
OTHER ONE-DAY HANDICAP SYSTEMS
Three more ways to score a field where nobody has an official handicap:
What a Blind Bogey Is For
The format solves a specific organizer problem. You have a field where some players carry an official index, some have not posted a score in years, and some are holding a club for the second time ever. Handicapping that field properly is impossible, and running it gross means the winner is predictable.
A Blind Bogey hides the target instead of adjusting the players. That keeps the scoring honest in the sense that nobody can manage their score toward it, and it means a beginner and a club champion both walk in not knowing where they stand.
It fits charity days and company outings for that reason. It’s good to have in mind when organizing a organizing a charity golf tournament because most of the field is only there for the barbecue.
The Three Formats That Share the Name
Ask three organizers what a Blind Bogey is and you may get three answers. All of them are technically correct.
The Drawn Number
Before play, the organizer draws a number somewhere between the course par and 100 and seals it. Everyone plays 18 holes of stroke play. When the cards are in, the number is revealed and whoever finished closest to it wins.
Some events draw several numbers so there are prizes across the range, which stops one lucky card taking everything.
The Thrown-Out Holes
Six holes are drawn at random after everyone finishes, and those scores come off the card. The remaining twelve decide the standings.
Most organizers draw two par 3s, two par 4s and two par 5s rather than six holes at random. That convention matters more than it looks, because a genuinely random six can pull out three par 5s and leave a card that no longer resembles a round of golf.
The Self-Declared Handicap
Each player writes down a handicap for themselves before teeing off, aiming to produce a net score in the 70s. After the round the organizer draws a number in the 70s, and the closest net score wins. Nobody checks your declared figure against anything.
Which One Is Actually a Competition
The three versions look like variations on a theme. They are not really the same kind of event, and an organizer choosing between them is choosing how much golf decides the result.
The drawn number is a raffle with golf attached. A hidden target between par and 100 can land anywhere, so a 96 wins as readily as a 74 and playing well is neither rewarded nor punished. That is fine when the goal is giving everybody a shot, and it is not a competition and should not carry the main trophy.
The thrown-out version does reward golf, and specifically it rewards consistency. You cannot know which holes will survive, so protecting one blow-up hole is not a strategy. A player who makes six and eight on two par 4s needs both of those drawn out, and the odds of that are poor.
The self-declared version is the one worth a closer look. Overstating your ability and understating it cost you equally here. Claim to be a 20 when you play like a 10 and your net lands in the 60s, under the drawn number. Claim to be a 5 when you play like a 15 and your net lands in the 80s, over it. The winning move is an honest estimate of what you are about to shoot, which is a rare thing to be able to say about any handicap.
WHY SANDBAGGING FAILS HERE
The target sits in the middle, not at the bottom. Every other format pays the lowest net, so inflating a handicap always helps. Aiming at a number in the 70s punishes the inflation as hard as the understatement.
Blind Nine and Blind Partner
Two close relatives use the same idea and get muddled with the parent format regularly.
Blind Nine draws nine holes after the round and scores only those. It behaves like the thrown-out version with the dial turned up, since half the card disappears and a single hot stretch can carry somebody who otherwise had a poor day.
Blind Partner pairs you with somebody drawn at random once all the cards are signed. You play your own ball all day without knowing who you are attached to, and the two scores are combined afterwards. It runs alongside an individual competition without needing its own tee times, which is why organizers like it as a second prize category.
Neither one adjusts for ability on its own, so both usually run on net scores. If your field has no reliable indexes to work from, our guide to fair handicapping for mixed groups covers what to do instead.
Which Version to Announce
Name the version on the entry sheet in a sentence, because a field told only that it is playing a Blind Bogey will contain people expecting all three.
For a mixed charity field with a real prize, run the self-declared handicap version. It gives everybody a chance, it rewards honesty rather than punishing it, and the math is simple subtraction anybody can do. Keep the drawn-number version for a side prize or a longest-day novelty, where its randomness is the entertainment rather than the injustice.
Hit ’em well out there.
