Catching someone ‘cheating’ during a round

[patricks148]

Was invited to a work golf day as I'd done some consultancy work for them. Lots of guys that didn't really play were all given 24 handicaps, the guy that won was insistent he didn't play, turned out he had a current handicap off 16 and was a member of a club. Was invited again the next year but declined.

 

[Swango1980]

Was invited to a work golf day as I'd done some consultancy work for them. Lots of guys that didn't really play were all given 24 handicaps, the guy that won was insistent he didn't play, turned out he had a current handicap off 16 and was a member of a club. Was invited again the next year but declined.

I've probably mentioned this story before:

Four ball better ball open, best 2 scores count. It ran annually at our club, and was set up for a charity after the sad death of a local boy. A team turned up who apparently didn't have official handicaps, so the organisers let them all play off 28, which they happily accepted. They were the group in front of us, and we watched them drive off the 4th, a 300 yardish par 4. Two of them pretty much drove the green.

Now, a score in the 90's is usually a great score in these formats. My team got in the high 90's, it was one of the best we'd ever played in this format, so we were all chuffed when we finished. However, this other team scored 128 points (more than an average of 7 points a hole). They were also filling in their scorecard AFTER the round whilst eating their dinner.

The event never ran again. No one was interested in it. One of my partners asked one of these guys in bemusement (do you really play off 28). He says yes, as he doesn't play much, although he plays off 4 in his society.

 

[Canary Kid]

I've probably mentioned this story before:

Four ball better ball open, best 2 scores count. It ran annually at our club, and was set up for a charity after the sad death of a local boy. A team turned up who apparently didn't have official handicaps, so the organisers let them all play off 28, which they happily accepted. They were the group in front of us, and we watched them drive off the 4th, a 300 yardish par 4. Two of them pretty much drove the green.

Now, a score in the 90's is usually a great score in these formats. My team got in the high 90's, it was one of the best we'd ever played in this format, so we were all chuffed when we finished. However, this other team scored 128 points (more than an average of 7 points a hole). They were also filling in their scorecard AFTER the round whilst eating their dinner.

The event never ran again. No one was interested in it. One of my partners asked one of these guys in bemusement (do you really play off 28). He says yes, as he doesn't play much, although he plays off 4 in his society.

One must be a strange sort of person to gain any satisfaction WHATSOEVER from winning a competition in such circumstances. I have only ever won one competition (as per my signature) and I was chuffed to bits, coz I won it honestly.

 

[patricks148]

One must be a strange sort of person to gain any satisfaction WHATSOEVER from winning a competition in such circumstances. I have only ever won one competition (as per my signature) and I was chuffed to bits, coz I won it honestly.

Takes all sorts,there two guys up here who routinely cleaned up in a lot of the walk on opens. One would win the scratch the other the handicap. Always played together and did their best to play last... had to the scratch ones dad used to appear near the back end of the rounds and let them know the scores already in. Got drawn with the guy who was winning the scratch prizes in a comp, he was about as much a scratch golfer as I was?

 

[Swango1980]

One must be a strange sort of person to gain any satisfaction WHATSOEVER from winning a competition in such circumstances. I have only ever won one competition (as per my signature) and I was chuffed to bits, coz I won it honestly.

I think they are genuinely oblivious to the fact their handicap is cheating the field. I think that is what they were given, so everything else is fair. They probably then enjoy going out knowing they can obliterate the field (in the same sense that any other sport without handicaps, if you are head and shoulders better than the competition, it must feel lovely to win with ease). Furthermore, picking up first prize is probably a lovely goal for them, and makes up for the fact they didn't have to work hard for it and earn it. Can't remember what the prizes were, but they were decent.

We've all heard of such people, so plenty exist. As long as they don't feel any shame in having a ridiculously high handicap, anything else goes. The fact it is an Open means they don't even need to feel embarrassed amongst fellow members of their club (if they even belonged to a club)

 

[phillarrow]

One must be a strange sort of person to gain any satisfaction WHATSOEVER from winning a competition in such circumstances. I have only ever won one competition (as per my signature) and I was chuffed to bits, coz I won it honestly.

Hear hear! I only played twice last year and ended up with a handicap of 16, down from 19. When I played regularly many years ago, it was 11 and falling before I gave up the game. Having practiced over the winter, I feel like I'm getting better again. I'm playing tomorrow and if I score lower than 16 over, I'll be telling the lads in my society and suggesting that my handicap is lowered before our first comp in March. Winning with a false handicap would be totally meaningless to me.

 

[Bamberdele21]

Just checked my card and it cost me £10.64 for a Moretti and 2 Fosters last weekend.

That is dangerous.

Very true, I know several people that will just write on the card whatever they are told. I played in a 3 ball in a competition once, and one guy said he had a 5 and the other guy (his marker) simply wrote it down. I had to intervene to say he actually got a 7. They then changed it, but how often would the 3rd person in the group have intervened. Over the years, I had to have a quiet word to a marker on the next tee when I overheard the wrong score being declared to them.

Pretty much how it goes the majority of the time when I’ve played

I’ve been round the Warwickshire with a lad a few times which is a bloody hard track for me. If you’re what I’d prefer to call ‘in the jungle’ then it’s pretty damn hard to retrieve your ball. If mine goes anywhere near these areas I don’t even bother looking and just drop.

Needless to say he ‘found’ his ball every time. Obviously happened on occasions but surely not every time.

 

[jim8flog]

Needless to say he ‘found’ his ball every time. Obviously happened on occasions but surely not every time.

Perhaps he has got a pair of ball finder glasses. PM if you want to buy a pair brand new unopened in the box

 

[Boomy]

We have a guy in one of the groups I play in who has selective memory shot syndrome… I.e he regularly forgets how many he’s had and turns a 7 into a 5. He does it on every trip away, well I say does, he tries too but is now pulled up on it and pretends it’s a mistake. The thing is he’s got an official handicap and keys his scores directly in on the MyEG app - so when he plays an away day with us he scores 95-105 but when he plays without us there he shoots around 85-89. As a result he never plays to his handicap when with observant playing partners… because it’s not real.

I strongly dislike cheats, and think it is reflective of a persons true character.

 

[Swango1980]

We have a guy in one of the groups I play in who has selective memory shot syndrome… I.e he regularly forgets how many he’s had and turns a 7 into a 5. He does it on every trip away, well I say does, he tries too but is now pulled up on it and pretends it’s a mistake. The thing is he’s got an official handicap and keys his scores directly in on the MyEG app - so when he plays an away day with us he scores 95-105 but when he plays without us there he shoots around 85-89. As a result he never plays to his handicap when with observant playing partners… because it’s not real.

I strongly dislike cheats, and think it is reflective of a persons true character.

Whoever verifies his score on MyEG needs to be more vigilant.

Is he one of those that "innocently" forgets his actual score, and when he does he always seems to announce a lower score, and never a higher one?

 

[Boomy]

Whoever verifies his score on MyEG needs to be more vigilant.

Is he one of those that "innocently" forgets his actual score, and when he does he always seems to announce a lower score, and never a higher one?

Yes he is indeed one of those! He also forgets about 3 off the tee and penalty strokes every time we play and acts as if it’s all completely new every time. I’ll be honest I prefer not to play a game with him as it winds me up that someone can be that brazen and obvious.

He use to send it to us to verify but we pulled him up a couple of times so he now sends it to somebody else (no idea who)

 

[MikeF86]

Never understood it myself but see it as a slippery slope. Once you start 'mis-counting' you need to continue in order to keep up the little lie regarding how 'good' you are. And those cheating for money/prizes - *%$&!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Never understood it myself but see it as a slippery slope. Once you start 'mis-counting' you need to continue in order to keep up the little lie regarding how 'good' you are. And those cheating for money/prizes - *%$&!

People get one chance as it could be an honest mistake. A second starts the alarm bells going and a rebuke and a third mistake we are into "deliberately cheating" and I will have a frank discussion. If the person kicks off then chances are I won't sign the card. If it happened in our roll ups then the person would get short shrift and wouldn't be allowed to play again

 

[MikeF86]

People get one chance as it could be an honest mistake. A second starts the alarm bells going and a rebuke and a third mistake we are into "deliberately cheating" and I will have a frank discussion. If the person kicks off then chances are I won't sign the card. If it happened in our roll ups then the person would get short shrift and wouldn't be allowed to play again

Probably how I would handle it. Yes we all miscount / forget something from time to time i'm sure, completely unintentional.

 

[phillarrow]

I took up the game before my dad and I had to work really hard on him to get him to be accountable for his own score. He s never a cheat, he's just a bloke who thinks "accuracy" is a synonym for "pedantry".

We noticed that it was always worse in casual rounds and he would often give a score of one lower than his real score... until we realised that he thought the phrase "I'll give you that." meant that we were pretending it had gone in! ??

 

[Slab]

People get one chance as it could be an honest mistake. A second starts the alarm bells going and a rebuke and a third mistake we are into "deliberately cheating" and I will have a frank discussion. If the person kicks off then chances are I won't sign the card. If it happened in our roll ups then the person would get short shrift and wouldn't be allowed to play again

Tough school Homer!
You’d have alarm bells and dish out a rollicking after making the error for a second time? You might want to ease up a bit
The cheats are obviously out there but most folks are pretty honest, so for me I’d need a bit more convincing that they’re out to cheat me/the field than just the 2nd instance of a 'wrong count'

 

[Orikoru]

I took up the game before my dad and I had to work really hard on him to get him to be accountable for his own score. He s never a cheat, he's just a bloke who thinks "accuracy" is a synonym for "pedantry".

We noticed that it was always worse in casual rounds and he would often give a score of one lower than his real score... until we realised that he thought the phrase "I'll give you that." meant that we were pretending it had gone in! ??

Haha, that's funny, I had to explain the same thing to my wife when she started playing last year.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Tough school Homer!
You’d have alarm bells and dish out a rollicking after making the error for a second time? You might want to ease up a bit
The cheats are obviously out there but most folks are pretty honest, so for me I’d need a bit more convincing that they’re out to cheat me/the field than just the 2nd instance of a 'wrong count'

Once is an innocent mistake. A second time and I'm wondering about whether he's "dubious in his counting" and definitely say something especially in a comp where all I want to be doing is putting a number (the correct one) on a card and moving on and worrying about my own game, not standing there mentally going through each shot on each hole. Rebuke may be too strong a word for it but I'll definitely be making a firm point

 

[rudebhoy]

We are allowed to use mats off the fairway as well as on it at the moment. Some guys do so, some don’t.

Was playing a four ball recently, one of our opponents put his drive right behind a tree with no shot at all. My partner and I had a bit of a chuckle when we saw where it had finished. Next thing our opponent has his ball on his mat, 6 inches to the side of the tree, with a perfectly clear swing!

We looked at each other and had a bit of a laugh, but didn’t say anything as it would have caused an argument and ruined the game.

 

[John Evans 9]

We are allowed to use mats off the fairway as well as on it at the moment. Some guys do so, some don’t.

Was playing a four ball recently, one of our opponents put his drive right behind a tree with no shot at all. My partner and I had a bit of a chuckle when we saw where it had finished. Next thing our opponent has his ball on his mat, 6 inches to the side of the tree, with a perfectly clear swing!

We looked at each other and had a bit of a laugh, but didn’t say anything as it would have caused an argument and ruined the game.

Which rule was he breaking ? Do you have preferred lies off the fairway or just the use of mats ?