TryParse would be great here, but as you've mentioned to avoid it, here's what you can actually do:

public static class Example {
  public static bool TryParseGuid(string guidString, out Guid guid)
  {
    if (guidString == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("guidString");
    try
    {
        guid = new Guid(guidString);
        return true;
    }
    catch (FormatException)
    {
        guid = default(Guid);
        return false;
    }
  }
}

That's just a slower version of TryParse

ikr?

so i will stick with guid.tryparse 😄