Caught in the Act: Cheating

[Sandy Lie]

Perhaps some of you have read this, but I thought they are worth sharing.  Some are just too funny.

From Golf Digest: 

Caught in the act: 13 cringeworthy stories of cheating on the golf course | Golf News and Tour Information | GolfDigest.com

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From eraser-smudged scorecards to miraculously found lost balls, these stories of questionable integrity are part enlightening, part infuriating

 

[imsys0042]

At my old club in Pittsburgh, there was a scramble tournament that was held every year.   A corporation owned a number of courses, including that one, and a team of 4 players would come from each club.   The corporation paid for the trip for the members, usually at a nice resort.   There was a qualifying tournament at each club, winning team goes to the resort.

You always knew the day that that qualifying tournament was going on at my club, the clubhouse ran on a skeleton staff because there was so much cheating in the qualifying tournament that someone who worked for the club had to go along with each group and verify their score.

Just sad.

[StuM]

I've had players try to help me out by not counting a drop or a Stroke & Distance that I took.  They always seem shocked when I insist on the correct score at the end of a hole.  I do not spend much effort counting my opponents scores so I wonder how many shots may be getting left of the score card.  I would probably notice if they claim a par after I see the tee shot go in a lake but those would be the obvious ones.

[Vinsk]

The hole in one story…you’d think that would teach him. I wonder what he said when they found his ball in the cup. They should’ve just said, ‘ well another group must’ve left their ball in the hole since this can’t be yours.’ Lol.

[pganapathy]

Loved the story about the tree-hitting colour changing ball.  That had me in splits

[Shindig]

Those are great, thanks for sharing.

I sometimes wonder if I'm good at catching cheating at my job (I'm a teacher, so I catch cheating on homework or a test, not at golf) or if I just catch the bad ones.

On the golf rules breaking note, there was a story a while back that one way to handle the guy who will play any ball found that he can claim is his is as follows.  When you are searching for this person's ball, if you are certain they are going to claim whatever you find as theirs, and you find a ball, call out and ask if they're playing, say, a Titleist 2.  If they say yes, then say too bad, I just found a Callaway 3 (assuming you did, in fact, just find a Callaway 3).  I don't know if doing this is legal, and it's certainly a bad idea if the person turns out to be just misunderstood. 

[Sandy Divot]

I was working at a club, and played in a scramble with members.We were the last group on the longest drive hole, and one of the members hit it past the marker, but in the rough. He said that area should be mowed as fairway, wrote his name on the marker, and got a new gas grill. As an employee, I thought it was up to the members to say something, but nobody spoke up.

[StuM]

1 hour ago, Sandy Divot said:

I was working at a club, and played in a scramble with members.We were the last group on the longest drive hole, and one of the members hit it past the marker, but in the rough. He said that area should be mowed as fairway, wrote his name on the marker, and got a new gas grill. As an employee, I thought it was up to the members to say something, but nobody spoke up.

Being an "Employee" to report a "Member" is a tough situation but I think a simple, "you may be right that it could have been mowed as fairway but since it was not mowed as fairway it is not fairway" should have been enough and hopefully would not have to call him out as a cheater.

Using his logic we could all claim a bad lie should have been GUR and get a free drop from whatever bad lie we find ourselves in.  The course is set up in a specific way and we are to play it as it is set up, whether we like that or not.

Edited September 14, 2021 by StuM
Added 2nd paragraph.

[pganapathy]

1 hour ago, Sandy Divot said:

I was working at a club, and played in a scramble with members.We were the last group on the longest drive hole, and one of the members hit it past the marker, but in the rough. He said that area should be mowed as fairway, wrote his name on the marker, and got a new gas grill. As an employee, I thought it was up to the members to say something, but nobody spoke up.

There are a couple of things here.

First, I assume the rule says ball on fairway to win longest drive.  If not, it is a gray area as he is longer than the others.

Secondly, has he over run the fairway or gone sideways.  For example, a dogleg and he ran out of fairway is different to gone sideways out of fairway.

Finally, is that area normally fairway or rough.

[imsys0042]

1 hour ago, Sandy Divot said:

I was working at a club, and played in a scramble with members.We were the last group on the longest drive hole, and one of the members hit it past the marker, but in the rough. He said that area should be mowed as fairway, wrote his name on the marker, and got a new gas grill. As an employee, I thought it was up to the members to say something, but nobody spoke up.

That happened to me once, but thankfully for a $5 prize so it wasn’t a big deal.   It was a fairway that transitioned to round before the green.  The person who had it before me (I was in the last group) was a few feet short of the rough and I was straight through the fairway into the rough.  Bad choice for a long drive hole.

I also caddied in a Tournament where someone made a hole in one on a “closest to the pin” and didn’t get the prize.

Edited September 14, 2021 by imsys0042

[StuM]

1 hour ago, pganapathy said:

There are a couple of things here.

First, I assume the rule says ball on fairway to win longest drive.  If not, it is a gray area as he is longer than the others.

Secondly, has he over run the fairway or gone sideways.  For example, a dogleg and he ran out of fairway is different to gone sideways out of fairway.

Finally, is that area normally fairway or rough.

I do not know about the specific instance referenced by @Sandy Divot but:

1) I have never seen a scramble where it was not required the longest drive be in the fairway and from @Sandy Divot comment the player in question sounded as if he knew it needed to be in the fairway or he would not have said anything about "This should have been mowed as fairway".

2) My experience is the longest drive holes are very long straight fairways, often Par-5, that would require Dechambeau's best drive to go long on.  I've never seen a "Longest Drive" on a dog-leg or short par 4.  If by chance someone does hit the bomb and goes a few feet past the fairway into the rough then a call to the club house for a ruling may be in order, but not just claim it and take it.

3) It does not matter how the course is "normally" we are to play the course as we find it and in this case that area was mown as rough.  We do not have the privilege to change the course to fit our desires.  If we could we just say "I do not like this 200 yard carry for my tee shot so I feel the tees should be 20 yards forward of where they are" or "That OB Stake should not be there" or "They should have marked this divot as GUR".  We must play the course as we find it.

[Sandy Divot]

It was a straight par 5 that had a slight narrowing with a contoured drop off on the right . There was fairway to the left, and he hit it to the right. This area was even a different type of grass. The fairway and rough was hybrid Bermuda. Where he hit it was centipede, which is a slow growing grass that was allowed to be kind of a natural area.

[darthweasel]

5 hours ago, StuM said:

I do not know about the specific instance referenced by @Sandy Divot but:

1)

2) My experience is the longest drive holes are very long straight fairways, often Par-5, that would require Dechambeau's best drive to go long on.  I've never seen a "Longest Drive" on a dog-leg or short par 4.  If by chance someone does hit the bomb and goes a few feet past the fairway into the rough then a call to the club house for a ruling may be in order, but not just claim it and take it.

3t.

one of the two long drive contests I have won. Mallard Creek in Eugene Oregon. It is a dogleg right, not a sharp one but definitely a dogleg for most players unless you go over a pond and around a tree. No clue why it was chosen as the long drive hole. I actually hit a big fade on it or would have overflown the fairway.

 

Ironically, I heard muttering that I had cheated on it...by the foursome that won the other long drive hole, both closest to the pin and had a score several shots lower than anyone else. Apparently it was impossible in their mind for anyone on the course to hit a better shot than their group had hit...