What would you do?

[3offTheTee]

Played in a Medal Round Competition yesterday with 2 other guys and we exchanged cards after the first hole and I called 7 for the card I was marking. The guy had already marked a 6 himself on the card and said 6. He plays off 13 and is well versed in proceedure etc as he was Chairman of Handicapping and Competitions in the past.

I had a word with the other competitor and we both agreed that it was a 7 but bottled it and WE decided to let matters rest! Realise that this was wrong and it did not matter as he was 15 over for the front 9.

Also realise I should have challenged him at the outset.

What would you have done?

 

[Junior]

Understand where your coming from, especially if you are fairly young and he is a senior member of the club. However, you should have politely gone through each shot with him. If he has held committee positions in the past he would understand and i'm sure would have apologised for an honest mistake.

 

[AceOfClubs]

Be very non-confrontational. Don't ever suggest he has deliberately made a mistake, just act confused yourself and go through each shot he played. If you KNOW he shot a 7 you will be able to bame all his shots and can demonstrate that it was a 7. After all, it might be a genuine mistake on his part - nothing in your description of the event suggests he was deliberately cheating.

Bottling it is the worst thing you could have done. Now you are the other player in your three ball have suspicions about a fellow club member being a cheat - maybe well-founded, but maybe unfounded - and that is not good for a club. It's not good for you either - what will you or the other chap feel if you are drawn to play against him in another competition? Will you enjoy your round?

 

[ForeThought]

Hang on! When someone queries my score on a hole, I explain to them how it breaks down. Often I and my marker have different scores for me on a score (often as not giving me too few shots, as well as too many. This is perfectly innocent and its all sorted out amicably. If this chap was not prepared to explain where his 6 came from, then I would be suspicious! Perhaps he's just ill-mannered, but I think you are right to be concerned.

 

[xander]

Obviously something went wrong here!
You and your playing partner called it 7 but he called it 6.
As others have said it can be really intimidating marking the card of some1 more experienced than you.
He may not have been cheating but merely have made a mistake OR you and your playing partner MAY have made a mistake BUT because you didnt query it at the time we may never know.
IT IS unfortunate but sometimes these situations occur.....the only satisfactory way to resolve them is to query them immediately and mark down the correct score.

 

[viscount17]

got my first ever match coming up next week and I thought hitting the ball was enough to worry about!

not surprised a lot of guys I know won't play comps.

 

[OOB]

This sort of thing happens all the time by & with me, although I don't play comps, especially as 6s & 7s are not a rarity. It is very easy to miss-count at times and very rarely do I suspect someone is scoring creatively.

 

[birdieman]

Doesn't matter how awkward the situation is, if you marked a 6 when he took a 7 then you are cheating too, you're cheating all the other players in the match, possibly affecting the overall css as well.
Had to be addressed at the time, if the guy disagreed then you and the 3rd player needed to take it to the match and handicap secretary and reort the guy for cheating. Simple as.
We had one guy last playing ahead of us on a par 3, knocked 1st one clearly OOB then reloaded and second one went left. A few minutes later he comes back to the tee and reloads again (3rd tee shot) as he couldn't find provisional. On card later he has a 5 marked down. We queried this and he reckons he was playing 3 off the tee!!
Club golf is full of this stuff, needs to be stamped out, no matter how 'awkward'.

 

[viscount17]

the main one I've been told about, are what appear to be charity circuit cheats turning up with artifically low handicaps. I know it's stopping a good few playing to everyone's loss.
how do you stop them?

 

[3offTheTee]

UPDATE

Appreciate all your comments and believe me I was NOT afraid to challenge the situation the other guy preferred to keep the status quo. I had already called 7 and as it took him 2 shots to get out of a bunker and he was still not on ther green it was a no brainer.

However saw him today and he knew I was concerned and he disqualified himself.

Alls well that ends well although a lesson to be learnt.

 

[andycap]

Is it possible he's a member of this forum ???? [

 

[3offTheTee]

Not a chance that he is a member as I have doctored the scores and holes and handicaps!!

 

[Parmo]

Grown some balls and told him straight.

 

[brendy]

I had a nightmare hole a few weeks ago, where I called a 6 instead of a seven, (i guess I was the defendant in this case) innocently counting one short (level par after 4 holes then I go and take a seven from the bushes) before we even got to the next teebox I mentioned to my marker that it was actually a 7 after mentally recounting as it didnt seem right, he said he thought it was more than a 6 but wasnt sure, I told him to challenge me or anyone else if this happens again, when its an innocent mistake its taken light heartedly, if its intentional then usually someone takes offence.