My first time.... with a cheater

[kafka01]

Shotgun tournament today, with good sponsor prizes. Two of the guys i never played with before and are med./bad players. The other is a regular playing partner of mine.

On our 9th hole - i see his ball clearly bouncing OOB - i go and check, but couldnt find it - he walks up and i turn around minding my own business. "Oh i got it, its in bounds" - HUH????

Next hole - he slices 2 balls bad in super thick rough like 40 yards offline. After looking for a long time, the other guy finds a ball, but didnt ask him, what he played, just announced he found a ball - of course this was his.... By that time my pal and i was scratching our heads since we saw his balls in a very different location. But nothing we really couldnt proof, since this dude seemed to switch balls faster than clubs...

Couple holes later, i hit it OOB and go into the woods to retrieve my ball, he hits it close to OOB. So while standing inside, i saw one ball which wasnt mine, and i asked him if he got his ball - "yeah i got it" - i get out of the woods while my pal walks over to him to ask him, why he just used a "foot wedge". His answer - well my ball was in, but i took an unplayable and kicked it out. Yeah right.....

Normally i´m not the confronting type of guy - i generally assume the best of my playing partners, but that did it for me. I was looking forward for a pleasent time, and not to eagle eye this guy for every step he makes to keep him honest.

Sure i have seen a foot wedge from a bad lie here and there and normally i dont care - you play your game i play mine - but such boldness that was a bit too much for my taste.

So i decided to not sign his scorecard afterwards and instead report him. He actually admitted kicking his ball, but didnt admit the other cases - "I would never do that" - LOL

[soup]

Shotgun tournament today, with good sponsor prizes. Two of the guys i never played with before and are med./bad players. The other is a regular playing partner of mine.

Who the hell cares? I don't get why the vast majority of golfers out here let crap like this ruin their day. Who gives a crap if the guy posts a 63 but shot a 109? You really showed him by refusing to sign his scorecard. And you "reported" him? The people running the tournament probably thought you were a bigger dick than the guy that was cheating.

[El_Ginsu]

Who the hell cares? I don't get why the vast majority of golfers out here let crap like this ruin their day. Who gives a crap if the guy posts a 63 but shot a 109?

How about everyone who played a clean, honest round for a shot at the "good sponsor prizes."

You're probably OK with steroids in baseball, too.

[soup]

How about everyone who played a clean, honest round for a shot at the "good sponsor prizes."

Give me a break. Half of the guys in a golf outing will cheat or sandbag - and you can see it in their face when they get called up for their new driver, new set of irons, trip to Spain etc etc. When a guy posts a net 62......you know he sandbagged his handicap or he cheated. When a team posts a 58 in a best ball format, you know they cheated. If you're going into a golf outing and have your eyes on the prizes, you're there for the wrong reason. The only legitimate contests in an outing is a closest to the pin that is being measured by the car dealership rep in the event of a hole in one.

[Fat Slice]

I had no idea that cheating during a tournament with prizes was so wide spread and (seemingly) accepted. Where do people draw the line? Does a team of 4 just make up scores?

[kafka01]

Give me a break.

Well, that might be that some of these guys are only after prizes but, we are a small member base and most of us know each other. Now when this dude wins, because of cheating, how do you think i feel, when meeting with the guy who might placed 2nd the next time i see him. Oh sorry - you didnt win, because the guy that beat you in my flight, dropped balls all over the place... Oh and you played fair? Well - bad for you!

Come one...

[LBlack14]

Who the hell cares? I don't get why the vast majority of golfers out here let crap like this ruin their day. Who gives a crap if the guy posts a 63 but shot a 109?

I'm guessing you're one of 'em.

[Laxplayer201092]

Give me a break.

To the quote first...

My friends and I have played best ball formats where we shot 60's and 50's.. We didnt cheat. were just pretty damn good when you put two scratch and two 3's in a team. Just because you can justify your cheating doesnt mean that the world can justify your cheating. IF cheating is so ok, why even play golf? just go sit on the range for a few hours, then tell everyone you shot a one under?? I had a similar situation the other day.. guy i played with in a HS tourny is a habitual cheater. everyone knows him for being a cheater. First hole, hit it left, almost into a lake, then hits his approach into a bunker. out of the bunker about 5 footer left for par, and two putts. Now everyone in the group saw that he two putts, and he tells me, "Yea i had a bogey" and i have his score down correct on every hole.. on number 10 i say, hey, lets go over the front nine scores, "Jack, i have you down for 40." He says, one sec. So we start walking as a group, and jack is walking waaaaay slow. so i slow down so i can talk to him, and he says to me, "Man, i shot a 36 on the front. " i come back with, "but your birdied zero holes, and you bogeyed these four.." First off, jack knew that he was cheating, so he wouldnt talk about his score infront of anyone else in the group, then he agrees with me that he took a bogey on all these four holes and then expects me to forget and give him par's? Then on 18 he makes a bogey and has the audacity to ASK me to give him a par...Wow jack..

[Shindig]

So i decided to not sign his scorecard afterwards and instead report him. He actually admitted kicking his ball, but didnt admit the other cases - "I would never do that" - LOL

Good man (you, not him).

Half of the guys in a golf outing will cheat or sandbag - and you can see it in their face when they get called up for their new driver, new set of irons, trip to Spain etc etc.

So, does that mean I get to do it too? Or that I should ignore it when it happens?

[soup]

Good man (you, not him).

As long as you can put your head on your pillow at night you posted the correct score, who gives a crap what someone else does? And the fact that an adult would "report" someone in an outing is very childish and I would be more embarassed for the one doing the reporting. I have twin 3 year olds that know not to tattle-tale on someone.

[mapa94]

Who the hell cares? I don't get why the vast majority of golfers out here let crap like this ruin their day. Who gives a crap if the guy posts a 63 but shot a 109?

Maybe SOUP missread the original post. This was a tournament for prizes and not a casual round. Everyone should call out cheaters if there is anything on the line. If you think otherwise then golf is probably not the game/sport for you.

[soup]

Maybe SOUP missread the original post. This was a tournament for prizes and not a casual round. Everyone should call out cheaters if there is anything on the line. If you think otherwise then golf is probably not the game/sport for you.

I didn't misread it. They were playing some sort of an outing/tournament with "nice sponsor prizes". Sorry, but walking into the clubhouse and reporting someone for cheating is childish. If someone needs to cheat to win a new driver or a new set of irons - they have to deal with that on their own terms. I play my ball, I play it as it lies and I post my own scores. I don't care if someone needs to cheat to feel better about themselves.

[Greg]

I dont always follow every rule of golf to the letter(fluff my ball sometimes or move it to keep from damaging a club or little things like that) but I was in a tournament I would try to especially if there were prizes or money to be won. How could anyone feel good about winning a tournament if they cheated. I've scrambled with friends for small amounts of money like dollar a hole and we try to play legit. Even if im playing by myself I may hit extra shots for practice if its not crowded but try to play my original ball(most of the time) unless its lost or ob. Many times the real shot ends up being the best anyway. Like yesterday, first hole, which is a par 3 at the course i was playing, chunked the first shot about 75 yards short, and still managed to get a bogey and felt good that i was able to recover and get that. I actually hit 2 other balls but couldnt even find them as its right by a lake and I sliced both of them into the lake, trying too hard i guess.

[soup]

Everyone should call out cheaters if there is anything on the line. If you think otherwise then golf is probably not the game/sport for you.

I 100% disagree with this. It is no one's responsibility to call out a cheater - it's solely on the player to post the correct score. It's none of my business, quite frankly. When I walk in the clubhouse and enter my score for the day, or give it to the tournament/outing reps, I know it's accurate - that's all that matters to me.

[Fat Slice]

Sorry, but walking into the clubhouse and reporting someone for cheating is childish.

Playing by the rules in a contest and demanding that everyone else does (so it's a fair contest) is not childish.

What's childish is cheating. Most of these golf tournaments with sponsor prizes are for some kind of charity (don't know if this one was). The charity does best when the tournament gets a great reputation and grows each year. Cheating, and TOLERATING cheaters, will doom a tournament as people just stop going because of the cheaters. Walking into the clubhouse and reporting someone for cheating is mature and responsible. Sorry, but you're way off base here. I'm getting a Bernie Madoff vibe out of you. I bet your tolerance of cheating is for more than just golf. Am I right?

[mad max]

As long as you can put your head on your pillow at night you posted the correct score, who gives a crap what someone else does?

Where do you draw the line. Do you think someone should have told SEC if they knew what Bernie Madoff was doing? Would you let someone embezzle money from your work? If your house was robbed and you knew who did it would you not tattle-tale to the police or your insurance company?

[soup]

Playing by the rules in a contest and demanding that everyone else does (so it's a fair contest) is not childish.

Completely diagree with all of it.

We're talking about a game - the Madoff comparison is apples and oranges. I don't spend time during my round policing others. Sorry, but I will not raise my kids to tattle-tale on others - it's childish, as is cheating. I don't have any tolerance for dishonesty. I'm not a rat - I worry about myself.

[soup]

Where do you draw the line. Do you think someone should have told SEC if they knew what Bernie Madoff was doing? Would you let someone embezzle money from your work? If your house was robbed and you knew who did it would you not tattle-tale to the police or your insurance company?

Again, apples and oranges. Golf is a game - even if there is a new driver or a new set of irons on the line.