New Initiative To Stop Cheating

[Club Rat]

This is a disturbing story about supposedly multiple teams or multiple players of the teams "Fudging Scores" at the MHSAA regional golf tournament this past year.

I'm somewhat astonished that this type of behavior was not foreseen by other players in the event, the coaches of this team and the event committee/officials or even parents if any were present. 
Also, why and how is this behavior not punished with suspensions to players and coach's of these teams.

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Michigan HS Plan To Stop Cheating With App

Here is the entire story - Plan To Stop Cheating With App

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The Michigan High School Athletic Association is mobilizing a test period in early 2019 in an effort to curtail what appears to be some rampant cheating among its high school golf teams.
According to The Detroit Free Press, a pilot program will be rolled out for the boys spring golf season in which players will be allowed to use an app on their phone to post their scores in real time, thus allowing the public and officials to monitor discrepancies that are seen on the course and on the scorecard.

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The impetus for this trial period came as a result of seemingly nefarious stroke-shaving at the MHSAA regional golf tournament this past year. Two high schools posted team scores well below their average — 45 strokes better than their average score in one instance, which was a state-record — and advanced to the state tournament.

With no video proof or eye-witness accounts to dispute the signed and attested scorecards, both teams advanced to the state tournament where standard three-hole score verification was implemented. The two schools who had their regional qualifying scores questioned finished in the bottom two spots on the leaderboard. 

 

 

 

[iacas]

How are they getting away with writing down scores 45 shots lower as a team? Who is signing off on these cards?

[TN94z]

I'll say from my experience with high school tournaments is that no one pays that much attention. You have parents that watch their kids and don't focus as much on the others but even when they do say something (as I have in the past) it gets ignored because I am just a parent and I was told "there are coaches that witnessed how well the kids shot."  Also, the other kids playing alongside the cheaters can barely keep up with their own scores, much less their opponents. When Jacob is finished with a hole, he immediately knows what he shot. He doesn't have to look back down the hole and count on his fingers how many shots he had. With all of the high school tournaments I have watched, I would say that well over half the scores turned in are not accurate. And the coaches only watch a few shots per player as they are trying to make their way around to watch a few shots of every player on the team. It has been very frustrating watching this and watching Jacob get screwed over because some kid isn't honest about what he shot. But you take a team of 10 players that each fudge by 3 strokes, well there is 30. And the worse they score, the easier it is for them to cheat because no one is going to keep up with a kid shooting 100 on 9 holes. This is a sore subject with me.  I have played with some of the kids in question and they will shoot 55 or so as I keep up with every stroke they take. Then they will play in a high school tournament and card a 35. Blows my mind..

Edited December 31, 2018 by TN94z

[Vinsk]

“If a kid is scoring out of his mind, then you can bet that they will attract more attention and eyeballs on them.”

I don’t think this is necessarily the proper attitude. A kid putting down an 85 when he shot 100 is just as unethical and punishable as a kid shooting 79 and putting down 70. This is crazy that this is actually happening. I understand you saying people aren’t paying much attention...but 45 strokes? Like @iacas asked, who the hell is signing these cards? Is nobody paying attention?

 

[TN94z]

9 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

“If a kid is scoring out of his mind, then you can bet that they will attract more attention and eyeballs on them.”

I don’t think this is necessarily the proper attitude. A kid putting down an 85 when he shot 100 is just as unethical and punishable as a kid shooting 79 and putting down 70. This is crazy that this is actually happening. I understand you saying people aren’t paying much attention...but 45 strokes? Like @iacas asked, who the hell is signing these cards? Is nobody paying attention?

 

That's what I am saying...I don't think anyone is paying attention. Now, I am just throwing my comments out on my experience. You normally have 2-3 really good players at these tournaments that carry a team. The coaches are pretty much sticking by these players because they are the scorers. We haven't had many kids throw out crazy low scores, except for the ones that can actually shoot them, but the higher scorers that I have seen are almost always incorrect on the scores they turn in and no one cares because their scores aren't making the big impacts....so they think. As far as the kids that are scoring out of their mind, unless these are the top scorers, then no, they still aren't going to gain much attention until the next tournament or even the next. It's all a joke from what I have seen. I can see why college coaches don't give a crap about your high school results. We were told by college coaches at a college day "Don't waste your time putting your high school tournament scores on your resume. We don't read those. We don't care about high school tournaments because they are 1 day tournaments, most are just 9 holes, and there is far too much cheating going on for us to get a good idea of what you accomplished during those types of tournaments."

Edited December 31, 2018 by TN94z

[DeadMan]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

How are they getting away with writing down scores 45 shots lower as a team? Who is signing off on these cards?

It was a bad set up - the two schools' players were playing only with each other. So it was just an agreement between the two schools to fudge the scores. 

[Papa Steve 55]

37 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

“If a kid is scoring out of his mind, then you can bet that they will attract more attention and eyeballs on them.”

I don’t think this is necessarily the proper attitude. A kid putting down an 85 when he shot 100 is just as unethical and punishable as a kid shooting 79 and putting down 70. This is crazy that this is actually happening. I understand you saying people aren’t paying much attention...but 45 strokes? Like @iacas asked, who the hell is signing these cards? Is nobody paying attention?

 

Know what your saying, but I think I would have said a kid shooting 79 and saying it was a 78 is the same, just a matter of degree. I really don't think cheating a little is a thing.

[TN94z]

11 minutes ago, Papa Steve 55 said:

Know what your saying, but I think I would have said a kid shooting 79 and saying it was a 78 is the same, just a matter of degree. I really don't think cheating a little is a thing.

I think it is a thing too the way the teams are setup. At these ages, a lot of kids want to be the number one seed on their team. Many times, it will just take a stroke or two to get them there. For instance, our number one seed, for a time, was based off what you shot the previous tournament. So if number 2 improves his score by a shot or two in the next tournament, he may make that top seed. They changed it during the season to average.