caught cheating?

As a Committee member I must agree with Edgey and Feildwhyte. O.K the guy played a wrong ball which he may have found and being the same kind as thought it was his.Is Powerjoke absolutley certain it was his partners ball he found and if so he certainly shouldn't have picked it out. I think a disciplinary committee would give both players a warning as to thier future conduct
 
I think the Op clearly stated that he 'suspected' the fella did this regularly, and merely didnt announce that he'd found the guy's ball so test what would happen, which he clearly did.
The Guy is a cheat, end of.

I know of someone at our course with exactly the same reputation, and a good friend of mine who had the misfortune to have to play with him, was also convinced that he cheated regularly by 'finding' his ball.
Only this summer, I watched him walk over to my ball, on my fairway, and address it to take his shot to the green adjacent.
Only when I yelled at him did he 'realise' very quickly that it wasnt his ball, and proceeded to head to the bushes where he knew his was presumably.
Qyuite how he could have confused a ProV with 2 Purple dots on either side of the logo is anyone;s guess.

Quite frankly, he didnt, it was just a ball in play that he thought he'd claim.

Courses up and down the country are full of these t@ssers, playing off high handicaps mostly, and with no idea of the rules, and no intentions of playing the game by them anyway.
 
edgey i can understand what you are saying and you r right,however the circumstances as stated said that i had nearly caught him before many times and i was determined 2 catch him,he hit a wild shot on the 10th and dropped another ball but i didnt see it as he had his bag inbetween me and him,however on the eleventh he hit his ball in the tree line and i saw it land and walked straight 2 the ball after only a minute of looking he declared he had found his ball 40yrds up the fairway,absolutely no doubt about it blatant cheating,funny thing was as we came down the 12th he started looking 4 the ball i had found,unreal.he was not a guy i had just met he was a golf mate so it was a tough decision however i believe i acted in the right way,he no longer plays at the club i think hes 2 embarrased as words got round,we all know this games not only a great game but also very frustrating we all need 2 make sure the games played fairly as thats when it is most enjoyable.
 
Edgey makes an excellent point!

I hate cheats especially cheats in sport but i also dislike underhand tactics.

The Facts

You don't know that he didn't genuinely believe the ball he played to be his. Also the OP didn't see him drop a 2nd ball.....i would say that the evidence is speculative and inconclusive at best.
And by waiting until the time is up while searching for his ball despite knowing it's location is questionable behaviour to say the least......downright sneaky if we're being honest!

But to reiterate......i can't abide cheating!!!
 
Hardest thing to do is call a "mate" a cheat.
I had this problem during a trip to Cornwall in August when a "mate" that I have been playing with for years and years was spotted (by me) blatantly cheating. The gang of us who play regularly with him had often caught him out when he claimed to have taken less on a hole than he actually had, we used to make a joke of it and warn anybody new who was playing with him to keep tabs. But this was different.
I didn't call him, I let it ride. But I haven't played with him since. What's the point? I know I spent most of my last round with him more interested in watching him and trying to catch him out than concentrating on my own game.
 
Courses up and down the country are full of these t@ssers, playing off high handicaps mostly, and with no idea of the rules, and no intentions of playing the game by them anyway.

I would have thought someone with a low hcp and knows a wrong/lost ball has ruined their card more likely to cheat, someone off a high hcp who knows a lost ball isn’t a card wrecker as the next hole is just as likely to do so less likely. At the end of the day IF you can prove without doubt, which isnt the case in this matter then a cheat is a cheat no matter their handicap.

I don't think Handicap snobbery is something becoming of any golfer, in fact I would say it shows how poor a golfers mentality is once they walk this path. That said it seems this forum is becoming full of it, which is very sad to see.
 
he was not a guy i had just met he was a golf mate so it was a tough decision however i believe i acted in the right way,he no longer plays at the club i think hes 2 embarrased as words got round,we all know this games not only a great game but also very frustrating we all need 2 make sure the games played fairly as thats when it is most enjoyable.

The problem I have is you have branded him a cheat by gossiping and spreading unproven facts around the clubhouse and drove a member away by your own unsporting play and you come on a forum to justify what you did as right?

These are my main problems with this thread:-

1 - You didnt see him do it
2 - You found his ball and failed to tell him
3 - You spread cheating rumours
4 - You drove a member away
5 - You have no evidence
6 - You left the issue until the end of the round when it should have been dealt with on the course.

I have pulled people before for telling me the wrong score on a hole but I usually take it as a mistake on their part but the issue is resolved on the course and no hard feelings are left.
 
this wasnt underhand tactics the guy had 2 be caught,i was 100% certain as i saw the markings on his ball before he played,i didnt spread rumours i told 1 person.i didnt brand him a cheat he was already branded,i didnt drive him away he did that himself,many times before people said he was a cheat but he was still playing he isnt now,it baffles me why people are sticking up 4 this cheat i had all the evidence i needed and i shudnt have 2 defend myself as im not the cheat,but it seems some people are trying 2 justify cheating,i wonder why
 
Some interesing responses to this post. One thing i do agree with is that it should have been dealt with at the time. How he would have explained finding his ball 40 yards away from where it actually was at the time when you found the original i don't know.

Appreciate the awkwardness of the situation in that he was a mate but with that in mind i expect he would have felt suitably embarrassed/ guilty.

Expect it all isn't black and white and as easy to explain on a message board as it would be in a conversation but seems there's mixed feelings about how this should have been dealt with.

Regarding carrying a spare ball, i play with a mixture of handicappers and some of the higher one's do carry a spare because of the location of some of our tee's. That said, it's obvious (to me) that they are not going to cheat given how they conduct themselves on the course when they are in situations where rulings are required and that is what that side of golf is all about at the end of the day - standards and etiquette.
 
this wasnt underhand tactics the guy had 2 be caught,i was 100% certain as i saw the markings on his ball before he played,i didnt spread rumours i told 1 person.i didnt brand him a cheat he was already branded,i didnt drive him away he did that himself,many times before people said he was a cheat but he was still playing he isnt now,it baffles me why people are sticking up 4 this cheat i had all the evidence i needed and i shudnt have 2 defend myself as im not the cheat,but it seems some people are trying 2 justify cheating,i wonder why


No one's justifying cheating.....I'm more concerned with the method you used to trap him. Then you didn't confront him at the time it happened. If I was playing with someone that was rumored to be a cheat, I would certainly keep an eye on them, but I wouldn't try to trap them.
 
RICHE thx 4 ur response,just 2 put a closure on my side,he wasnt a true mate just a golf buddy,the reason i didnt confront him is im relatively new 2 the game and the course i play,just over a year and i wanted a second oppinion,from then on it was out of my hands.Also known as a violent person and didnt want my face smashed in,of course its not easy 2 explain on the forum,perhaps the people who said i should have dealt with it there and then,those r my reasons
 
But surely the easiest and probably the most tasteful way of handling the situation would have been to point out that you'd found his ball, as you'd expect any playing partner to do. He would then have had to play it from where it lay.....drama over?
 
Courses up and down the country are full of these t@ssers, playing off high handicaps mostly, and with no idea of the rules, and no intentions of playing the game by them anyway.

I would have thought someone with a low hcp and knows a wrong/lost ball has ruined their card more likely to cheat, someone off a high hcp who knows a lost ball isn’t a card wrecker as the next hole is just as likely to do so less likely. At the end of the day IF you can prove without doubt, which isnt the case in this matter then a cheat is a cheat no matter their handicap.

I don't think Handicap snobbery is something becoming of any golfer, in fact I would say it shows how poor a golfers mentality is once they walk this path. That said it seems this forum is becoming full of it, which is very sad to see.

Parmo: There is not the faintest hint of 'Handicap Snobbery' about my post at all, why should there be ?
My Handicap is where it is not just because of a semi-reasonable eye for hitting the ball, but also because I work at my game, and play in the right frame of mind, and at the right time of day for me to give me a chance to at least be awake.
In my experience, and controversial as it may be, the higher someone's H/C, the less Rules Aware they very often are.
In fact, I'd hazard a guess that here are a lot of fella's who dont even know what Ball they have just hit, let alone marking it as theirs ?

What the OP has described is blatent and indefensible 'cheating', and if he had lost his ball, despite it being under the foot of the OP, he should have gone back to the Tee, simple.
That he dropped another ball, and played on, tells you all you need to know.

If the OP hadnt wanted to prove his suspicions, I am sure he wouldnt have done it.
 
Faldo Fan: But that just lets him carry on cheating on the next occasion he cant find his ball ????????

I'd have a problem with anyone who found my ball and didnt tell me, providing I didnt have a habit of letting another slip inconspicuously out of my hand whenever I couldnt find my original.
 
Chris, I understand the need to 'out' this guy, if he's a persistant cheat it has to be stopped. But the circumstances surrounding this issue are unclear.
He wasn't seen dropping another ball.....it could have been a genuine mistake??? I know it sounds unlikely but unless it's been witnessed it's just speculation.
Much like Richie Ramsey and Kenny Perry this year, both players were asked about there respective incidents and both agreed it did look bad but that there was no intention in there actions, in both cases the tour referees gave the players the benefit of the doubt.
I'm guessing had this incident gone up in front of the OP's club committee they would have been in the same situation and would have had to give the benefit of doubt.
What would have also happened would have been a warning to the OP about his general conduct in not pointing out his opponents ball to begin with!!!!
 
We had a guy in our society who had been seen cheating by the guy who introduced this guy to our society. He pulled him up and told him to behave himself, or he would expose him to everyone.

About 5 years on several of the society members had their doubts but didn't mention it to any one. Any way last year one group going one way were looking for this chaps ball. The group in front of them were going in the opposite direction and started to help them look for this guys ball when he shouts out here it is Calloway 2 blue dots. About 5 seconds later one of the guys in the front group finds a calloway with 2 blue dots about 30 yards from where they were searching.
Nothing was said at the time but the guy who introduced him to our society bought it up with him, the guy totally denighed that it was his ball and left the hotel to go home.
We were away for 4 days and this was the third day. The guy hasn't been invited since.

As for carrying a extra ball, I always have one in my pocket just to save time. I make sure that it is a different make to my first ball. I am new to being a member of a club but the people I have spoken to about this dont seem to have a problem about it.

As for cheating I would rather pack the game in than to cheat.
 
faldo fan,i cant believe you cannot get the script,he put a ball down apart from doing it myself i am 100% clear,i never put my foot anywhere near the ball i found i just waited for him 2 drop another as i knew he was going 2 do,if he was honest and said he couldnt find his ball i would have told him i found it but it was so obvious he was going 2 drop another because he had done it many times b4.as for me being found by the commitee for underhand tactics i would find that hard to take,as some people have said you had 2 be there
 
Hi,
Did u get a look at the ball he played was it marked the same could be a genuine mistake i found a ball once and was about to hit it when my playing patner found another ball with my markings on it after lifting both balls the one i was about to hit was one i had lost the previous round as it had a logo on it i was able to tell the difference but was marked the same would have looked very bad if i had hit it before he found the real ball. If you had the proof u should have said some thing after he dropped the ball hope u didn't put a genuine golfer off playing for life .
Mike
 
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