Scorecard swapping question

[rosie]

Totally insignificant question, played in a non qualifying individual winter comp yesterday. Four players in a group, handed cards by organiser, me and one other of the four went on the practice chipping and putting area, then as we walked over to the first tee swapped cards and assumed the other pair would just swap.
We were then told by another of our group that we had done it wrong for a group of four and that we had to put all four cards together, shuffle them and pick a card.
Did as we were told but wondered if this is standard - not been playing that long.

 

[woody69]

No it's not standard. As long as you're not marking your own card there is not set requirement on how the cards are allocated. Just because you shuffle them you still have a 25% chance of selecting your own card and having to pick again, plus who picks first?

 

[bobmac]

Never heard that one before.
Ask them to show you the rule in the rule book

 

[Blue in Munich]

Never heard that one before.
Ask them to show you the rule in the rule book

This ^^^^

Utter tosh by the other two players. As far as I'm concerned if there's two of you in a group who normally play together and mark each other's cards then carry on. There's nothing to stop the other two keeping an eye on things if they are concerned you're pulling a fast one, and you two are less likely to forget whose card you should be marking and put down the score of your usual partner.

 

[rosie]

Thanks, thought it was me not knowing the rules. I did actually choose my own card
It made the checking of the cards at the end of the game more laborious as well.
It was my usual partner that I swapped with originally and we are that used to marking each other's scores I found I was still counting her scores rather than the player that I was marking.

 

[delc]

I don't think it matters as long as you are not marking your own card. With a three-ball you have to shuffle the cards round one, but with a four-ball you can either swap in pairs or shuffle them round one.

 

[bladeplayer]

This will probably upset a few of the HHB on here , most times in our 3 balls one of us will mark all the cards , yep even our own, can say hand on heart there are no cheats in our extended group , we all play serious honest golf with the aim of handicap lowering , none of us interested in winning , its nice but we do be pushing each other for the gross prize & the bragging rights of best gross , walking off each hole we would tell each other what we had , unless it was something obvious like a 1 or a 2 or an eagle etc ..



If we were playing a 4 ball we would normally swop 2 & 2 , saves all the messing around , 4 ball singles over here is rare enough tho ..

hard hat to the ready

 

[rosecott]

This will probably upset a few of the HHB on here , most times in our 3 balls one of us will mark all the cards , yep even our own, can say hand on heart there are no cheats in our extended group , we all play serious honest golf with the aim of handicap lowering , none of us interested in winning , its nice but we do be pushing each other for the gross prize & the bragging rights of best gross , walking off each hole we would tell each other what we had , unless it was something obvious like a 1 or a 2 or an eagle etc ..
If we were playing a 4 ball we would normally swop 2 & 2 , saves all the messing around , 4 ball singles over here is rare enough tho ..
hard hat to the ready

"walking off each hole we would tell each other what we had"

That seems fine in the situation you describe - you all know and trust each other. At my club - and, I suspect, every other club - there are definitely a number of players whose declaration of their scores after completion of a hole would be subject to close analysis. I can also state categorically that those players will look at the other players in the group -their marker in particular - to determine if they can get away with anything. The number of players involved is not large but is significant. All of our comps are drawn which I think is the best chance of identifying them and stopping it.

 

[Robobum]

This will probably upset a few of the HHB on here , most times in our 3 balls one of us will mark all the cards , yep even our own, can say hand on heart there are no cheats in our extended group , we all play serious honest golf with the aim of handicap lowering , none of us interested in winning , its nice but we do be pushing each other for the gross prize & the bragging rights of best gross , walking off each hole we would tell each other what we had , unless it was something obvious like a 1 or a 2 or an eagle etc ..



If we were playing a 4 ball we would normally swop 2 & 2 , saves all the messing around , 4 ball singles over here is rare enough tho ..

hard hat to the ready

Not questioning your groups honesty but that leaves you open for someone to question.

I wouldn't feel comfortable being in a group that wanted to do that.

 

[Norrin Radd]

SOMEONE IS HAVING YOU ON MATE ,UTTER RUBBISH.
as already stated as long as you mark someone elses card you are fine.

 

[Foxholer]

First time I've heard of that method!

But it seems like it may be a convention in the group that the others play to avoid collusion - where the same pair always mark each others cards and 'trust' each other more than others might!

As long as you are not marking your own, it shouldn't matter how your marker is assigned!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Shuffling cards??? never in all of my years...(have I heard such rubbish)

 

[backwoodsman]

This will probably upset a few of the HHB on here , most times in our 3 balls one of us will mark all the cards , yep even our own, can say hand on heart there are no cheats in our extended group , we all play serious honest golf with the aim of handicap lowering , none of us interested in winning , its nice but we do be pushing each other for the gross prize & the bragging rights of best gross , walking off each hole we would tell each other what we had , unless it was something obvious like a 1 or a 2 or an eagle etc ..



If we were playing a 4 ball we would normally swop 2 & 2 , saves all the messing around , 4 ball singles over here is rare enough tho ..

hard hat to the ready

You do this in competitions ??

 

[Fyldewhite]

In the case of marking your own card.....why on earth do you do that? It's against the rules. Which other rules don't matter? etc etc.

As for OP, as others have said, utter rubbish. We, unusually I think, play in 4's in our medals. Much easier to swap in 2's as you only have to check with one player (not a massive thing but just a bit easier and less potential for getting mixed up than passing the cards around). Point is though that it doesn't matter so long as you are not marking your own.

 

[Colin L]

In the case of marking your own card.....why on earth do you do that? It's against the rules.

To be mischievous for a moment, what Rule actually states that you cannot mark your own card? The Definition of marker does not preclude the Committee’s appointing the player to be his own marker and Rules 6-6a and 6-6b only imply that the marker and competitor are two different people. Is that implication sufficient?

Just curious... or testing.

 

[rosecott]

To be mischievous for a moment, what Rule actually states that you cannot mark your own card? The Definition of marker does not preclude the Committee’s appointing the player to be his own marker and Rules 6-6a and 6-6b only imply that the marker and competitor are two different people. Is that implication sufficient?

Just curious... or testing.

Yes, so. I have a mental picture of a player (marker) in such a situation, after each hole, checking the score for the hole with himself (competitor), and, on completion of the round, signing the card as marker and handing it to himself for signature. He will then have followed the rules to the letter - but he'll look a bit of a fool.

 

[rulefan]

I think the committee would look more foolish if they appointed or approved the player marking.

However, CONGU Decision 2(d) would prevent the player/marker returning a score in a qualifying competition.

 

[Colin L]

Very foolish indeed but I am intrigued that it does not seem specifically precluded by the wording. Not a serious point of course.

 

[North Mimms]

This will probably upset a few of the HHB on here , most times in our 3 balls one of us will mark all the cards , yep even our own, can say hand on heart there are no cheats in our extended group , we all play serious honest golf with the aim of handicap lowering , none of us interested in winning , its nice but we do be pushing each other for the gross prize & the bragging rights of best gross , walking off each hole we would tell each other what we had , unless it was something obvious like a 1 or a 2 or an eagle etc ..



If we were playing a 4 ball we would normally swop 2 & 2 , saves all the messing around , 4 ball singles over here is rare enough tho ..

hard hat to the ready

I can't see why you would want to have one person mark all the cards.

I can keep note of my own score and someone's else. Why complicate things?

I remember when I first played in 4BBB matches, finding it really hard to keep track of 4 scores.
My regular partner was thankfully very good at it!

 

[Old Skier]

I can't see why you would want to have one person mark all the cards.

I can keep note of my own score and someone's else. Why complicate things?

I remember when I first played in 4BBB matches, finding it really hard to keep track of 4 scores.
My regular partner was thankfully very good at it!

Because I doubt if he did keep track of the scores, he just wrote down what he was told to.