Meeting

[cookelad]

I was called to a meeting last night down the local, to discuss a member of our swindle's - dare I say it - cheating.

After a long while and a number of "Did he just do that?" "I'm not sure", In the past couple of weeks he was seen improving his lie in the rough. There have been a couple of other incidents recently where he's played a ball from the rough only for another member of the group to find his shortly afterwards, and when approached there's been an excuse, which has been on the boundaries of passable.

Major problem being that, away from the course, we all like the guy (and he's paid to go on 2 trips away in the coming months).

Anyway after the discussion a vote was taken on how to proceed, kick him out or deliver an ultimatum - behave or move on. The ultimatum won 9-4, and it was said that it must be clear and leave no doubt that it's a first and last warning

Are we being too soft and he should be gone, or are we doing the right thing? Any thoughts?

 

[Reemul]

Everyone deserves a warning especially if he is a mate. Just let him know how you all feel and lay it on the line. Sure he will take it on board or leave of his own free will.

 

[Orikoru]

If this is the first time you've decided to take action against him I think it's fair enough that he gets one warning before being kicked.

 

[AmandaJR]

I think you've done the right thing but only time will tell if the other players can trust him again OR indeed if he'll want to stay having been found out. I'd give him a second chance and hope he stops cheating, and in time everyone can move on.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Warning, ultimatum, then follow through.

Got to give a warning. Be approachable, be honest.

It's not war so no need to be all guns blazing.

Let's hope they fess up, realise the error of their ways and move on, who knows what lies beneath this? Could be any number of things going wrong elsewhere and this is just a manifestation of them, almost a cry for help and attention.

Also could just be cheating for cheating sake...

 

[r0wly86]

I was called to a meeting last night down the local, to discuss a member of our swindle's - dare I say it - cheating.

After a long while and a number of "Did he just do that?" "I'm not sure", In the past couple of weeks he was seen improving his lie in the rough. There have been a couple of other incidents recently where he's played a ball from the rough only for another member of the group to find his shortly afterwards, and when approached there's been an excuse, which has been on the boundaries of passable.

Major problem being that, away from the course, we all like the guy (and he's paid to go on 2 trips away in the coming months).

Anyway after the discussion a vote was taken on how to proceed, kick him out or deliver an ultimatum - behave or move on. The ultimatum won 9-4, and it was said that it must be clear and leave no doubt that it's a first and last warning

Are we being too soft and he should be gone, or are we doing the right thing? Any thoughts?

Seems like a reasonable repsonse in my opinion. Not too soft, if he continues he will be kicked out, you're just giving him another chance

 

[Norrin Radd]

very fair to give an ultimatum ,but,what happens next time when you all have a meeting and again decide to give him another chance[cos hes a mate] .by giving your ultimatum you now must deliver on it should the guy digress again.
lets hope the guy learns from his warning and starts playing with the same rule book as everyone else.

 

[Crazyface]

very fair to give an ultimatum ,but,what happens next time when you all have a meeting and again decide to give him another chance[cos hes a mate] .by giving your ultimatum you now must deliver on it should the guy digress again.
lets hope the guy learns from his warning and starts playing with the same rule book as everyone else.

Lord in heaven, if my mates (in a swindle) said to anything to me like this I'd be so embarrassed that I'd no longer be able to play with them.

 

[cookelad]

Warning, ultimatum, then follow through.

Got to give a warning. Be approachable, be honest.

It's not war so no need to be all guns blazing.

Let's hope they fess up, realise the error of their ways and move on, who knows what lies beneath this? Could be any number of things going wrong elsewhere and this is just a manifestation of them, almost a cry for help and attention.

Also could just be cheating for cheating sake...

He's had a couple of casual warnings but as I said before there's always been an excuse.

very fair to give an ultimatum ,but,what happens next time when you all have a meeting and again decide to give him another chance[cos hes a mate] .by giving your ultimatum you now must deliver on it should the guy digress again.
lets hope the guy learns from his warning and starts playing with the same rule book as everyone else.

Lord in heaven, if my mates (in a swindle) said to anything to me like this I'd be so embarrassed that I'd no longer be able to play with them.

Personally think it'll go one of these two ways, he'll either continue breaking the rules or he'll be so embarrassed that he'll join another swindle, but his reputation is already spreading as we have number of people who play in different swindles on other days!

 

[USER1999]

We have a guy like this, but as he never troubles the scorer, never wins, and is an all round terrible golfer, we just ignore it. It gets amusing once you decide to not let it worry you.

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

We have a guy like this, but as he never troubles the scorer, never wins, and is an all round terrible golfer, we just ignore it. It gets amusing once you decide to not let it worry you.

True, but not so amusing if the culprit always picks up when the pot gets bigger, we had one once who nearly always had a great score in the bigger swindles, he would only play with his 'mates' as well.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Think it has been handled very well but it'll be interested to see if he heeds it and whether he does it in other swindles if he jumps to those, and how closely he's policed there if some are aware of his history

 

[Face breaker]

Been called to a very similar meeting myself in the morning, only this one involves my boss (head gk) and the head honcho (his boss) concerning work related issues (or rather a lack of it) amongst other work related grievances...

Can see it going pear shaped real quick, may well be looking to move to 'pastures new' before to long... :mmm:

 

[Hobbit]

Tough one. Experienced something similar several years ago. The guy had a bit of a rep for the leather wedge, moving a ball in a bunker, casually picking his ball up and moving it 30-40yds before putting it down again. Sadly, after the gentle warning akin to what you've suggested it started up again. He was spotted on 3 occasions in the same round, which led to another meeting.

Some didn't want to go through with the final ultimatum, which unfortunately led to the swindle breaking up completely. Thoughts moved to if some were willing to accept it what were they doing... The culprit then moved on to pastures new after a few months but the swindle never reformed.

Each situation is different, different people with a different mind set but in hindsight I wish we'd just quietly told him at the first instance he couldn't play with us.

Good luck.

 

[Slab]

If the casual warnings were not enough then I don't see an ultimatum doing anything different except to heighten tension and bad feeling in both directions

The fact that 13 blokes actually got together to discuss it (& a 1/3rd want him booted) means its already irrecoverable

 

[YamiKuriboh]

As Lesley nielson once said: 'Golfers who never cheat, also lie.'

 

[HughJars]

What the hell is a swindle?

 

[Capella]

What the hell is a swindle?

The word always makes me laugh, because in German, "schwindeln", which sounds very similar, means to lie or to cheat, so quite fitting in this case

 

[Slab]

The word always makes me laugh, because in German, "schwindeln", which sounds very similar, means to lie or to cheat, so quite fitting in this case

Pretty much the same in English 'use deception to deprive of money or possessions' so as you say its not really surprising behaviour

 

[Lazkir]

What the hell is a swindle?

Otherwise known as a 'fiddle' at our club, but essentially it's a group of players who decide on a little flutter between themselves setting their own objectives. Usually prize money for front/back/overall and nearest pins on designated par 3's.
Normally something like a fiver chucked in and then total money split accordingly.

It can be quite useful, because sometimes in a comp, if you've had a crap front nine, then at least there's the back nine to play for and maybe a nearest the pin.