Worse incidents of Cheating in amateur golf

[sixcat 3,577]

It's that post-holiday/new-year slow season at work.  I'm bored and thought I would share this nugget!

This happened during a "Ryder Cup" style local golf association tournament in 2004 in Roanoke, Virginia.  Playing the 12th hole of my singles match, a short, 304 yard, downhill, OB all along the right side, par 4, I hit an iron to the middle of the fairway, about 90 yards out.  My playing competitor hit an identical shot and our balls were side by side, no more than two feet apart.  He was playing a Callaway and I was playing a Titleist.  As fate/luck/chance (whatever you want to call it) would have it, I stopped at the bathroom that sits between the 11th and 12th fairway on my way to the my ball. 

When I got to "my" ball, dude had already played his second into the green.  I started my pre-shot routine when I noticed the ball looked funny (HEX dimples).  I asked the rules official who was supposed to be staggered between the match ahead of us and our match to come over.  I notified my playing competitor that I believe he hit my ball by mistake, knowing this should be automatic loss of hole.

The rules official drove to the green, picked my ball out of a greenside bunker, handed it to me and said "drop it as near where you think it was, no closer to the hole and proceed".  I complained more that this was the wrong ruling and the official said, "play out the remainder of the hole and write down both results (me winning hole by him playing wrong ball and replaying the hole as if nothing happened) and they would let the tournament director decide which score would stand when we were finished".

At the time, I was 2 holes up (should be 3 holes counting 12) with 6 to play.  He wins #12 outright on the "re-play" when he holed his "second" "second" shot from 90 yards.  Brings the match to me being 1 up.

We finish 18 all square and I think I have won the match because I will get #12 when the tournament director makes the correct ruling.  When I find the tournament director, the rules official is already in discussion with him about the incident.  The tournament director informs me we will have a sudden death playoff to see who wins the match based on the fact that I waited until after the match to seek ruling from him as match play rules clearly state that once a new hole has begun, prior rules infractions are null and void.  I lost on the first extra hole when I snap hooked my drive OB left.

The very next summer, I got paired with the same guy at a club versus club team event, where his playing partner that day was his father, the rules official who screwed me the year before!

[gaussman1 1,512]

It's that post-holiday/new-year slow season at work.  I'm bored and thought I would share this nugget!
This happened during a "Ryder Cup" style local golf association tournament in 2004 in Roanoke, Virginia.  Playing the 12th hole of my singles match, a short, 304 yard, downhill, OB all along the right side, par 4, I hit an iron to the middle of the fairway, about 90 yards out.  My playing competitor hit an identical shot and our balls were side by side, no more than two feet apart.  He was playing a Callaway and I was playing a Titleist.  As fate/luck/chance (whatever you want to call it) would have it, I stopped at the bathroom that sits between the 11th and 12th fairway on my way to the my ball. 

When I got to "my" ball, dude had already played his second into the green.  I started my pre-shot routine when I noticed the ball looked funny (HEX dimples).  I asked the rules official who was supposed to be staggered between the match ahead of us and our match to come over.  I notified my playing competitor that I believe he hit my ball by mistake, knowing this should be automatic loss of hole.

The rules official drove to the green, picked my ball out of a greenside bunker, handed it to me and said "drop it as near where you think it was, no closer to the hole and proceed".  I complained more that this was the wrong ruling and the official said, "play out the remainder of the hole and write down both results (me winning hole by him playing wrong ball and replaying the hole as if nothing happened) and they would let the tournament director decide which score would stand when we were finished".

At the time, I was 2 holes up (should be 3 holes counting 12) with 6 to play.  He wins #12 outright on the "re-play" when he holed his "second" "second" shot from 90 yards.  Brings the match to me being 1 up.

We finish 18 all square and I think I have won the match because I will get #12 when the tournament director makes the correct ruling.  When I find the tournament director, the rules official is already in discussion with him about the incident.  The tournament director informs me we will have a sudden death playoff to see who wins the match based on the fact that I waited until after the match to seek ruling from him as match play rules clearly state that once a new hole has begun, prior rules infractions are null and void.  I lost on the first extra hole when I snap hooked my drive OB left.

The very next summer, I got paired with the same guy at a club versus club team event, where his playing partner that day was his father, the rules official who screwed me the year before!

Surprise Ending!

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[EthanSterlingPrice 1,301]

I had a fella this year in a tournament fluffing his lie from dead center of the fairway. Then another group in the same league was conceding putts inside 3 feet. Neither the individual or the group finished the year out...

Sucks that people have to be that way.


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[SeeMore Putts 161]

I play with my father-in-law a few times a year and I am consistently shocked at how much he cheats. Unlimited mulligans, moving his ball a couple feet closer every stroke for no reason, dropping a ball in the fairway and not counting a lost ball, the list goes on. It drives me crazy! I don't want to say anything because outside of that he's a great guy and I don't want to change the dynamics of the relationship, so I'll continue to piss and moan in silence.

The worst part about it is he tells me his scores when I didn't play with him, and somehow he drops 15 strokes when I'm not there. When he's with me he consistently shoots around 100, but then he'll brag and expect me to be impressed when he says he shot an 84 the other day. All I can think about is how much he needed to cheat to get there. Anyway, rant over. I can never be too upset because it's golf and I'm outside drinking beers doing something I love. Thanks for reading!

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[sixcat 3,577]

To expound on my post above, I knew for a year something had happened but didn’t know what until I was paired with them a year later and they didn’t remember me. I certainly remembered them and made it known!
The son would eventually be indicted on some form of fraud charges stemming from his financial planning business.


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[GB13 7,773]

3 minutes ago, sixcat said:

To expound on my post above, I knew for a year something had happened but didn’t know what until I was paired with them a year later and they didn’t remember me. I certainly remembered them and made it known!
The son would eventually be indicted on some form of fraud charges stemming from his financial planning business.


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Shocking. Once a cheater always a cheater. 

 

[PlaidJacket 7,723]

I'm not calling this an official cheating situation. Today during our match one of the guys hit his approach into the middle of a pond fronting the green. It's all carry. Me and my buddy both witnessed it. No biggie and we all keep moving and not really paying any attention to the guy as he ends up on the green eventually and says he's laying 3. !!?? I wasn't watching the guy as I had my own ball to worry about. The guy in question holes his put and declares a par. Me and my buddy both said... no that's a five you were wet. The guy says no... "I wasn't wet I found it in the grass short of the pond".!!! WTH!! I let it slide. Mainly because he was 4 down to me at that point with 3 to play. Here's what I think happened.

He was playing a very risky shot with a FW wood from about 200 yds and he actually didn't see it splash like we did. Maybe his vision isn't that great. I think he found a ball in the grass short of the pond and assumed it was his and played. In all actuality he should have recorded a 7!.The additional 2 shots for playing the wrong ball. 

[silver & black 5,555]

32 minutes ago, PlaidJacket said:

He was playing a very risky shot with a FW wood from about 200 yds and he actually didn't see it splash like we did. Maybe his vision isn't that great. I think he found a ball in the grass short of the pond and assumed it was his and played. In all actuality he should have recorded a 7!.The additional 2 shots for playing the wrong ball. 

Of course he knew it wasn't his ball. kudos to you for not making a big deal over it. Sometimes it's best to just let things go.

[Charli 912]

Your better than I. I would have called him out. Especially if I saw it splash 

[DaveP043 3,967]

15 hours ago, PlaidJacket said:

I'm not calling this an official cheating situation. Today during our match one of the guys hit his approach into the middle of a pond fronting the green. It's all carry. Me and my buddy both witnessed it. No biggie and we all keep moving and not really paying any attention to the guy as he ends up on the green eventually and says he's laying 3. !!?? I wasn't watching the guy as I had my own ball to worry about. The guy in question holes his put and declares a par. Me and my buddy both said... no that's a five you were wet. The guy says no... "I wasn't wet I found it in the grass short of the pond".!!! WTH!! I let it slide. Mainly because he was 4 down to me at that point with 3 to play. Here's what I think happened.

He was playing a very risky shot with a FW wood from about 200 yds and he actually didn't see it splash like we did. Maybe his vision isn't that great. I think he found a ball in the grass short of the pond and assumed it was his and played. In all actuality he should have recorded a 7!.The additional 2 shots for playing the wrong ball. 

This seems exactly the right thing to do.  Let him artificially lower his handicap, as long as you take the money.  I'd call that an investment toward future matches with the same guy.

[QuadBogey 60]

Stuff like the stories above really make me angry.
I played in a state golf association event last summer and one of the guys in the foursome tried to make it seem like he was rules expert. He would time his “rules knowledge” drops to specifically mess with guys trying to make a putt or some difficult shot. Most aggravating day on the golf course I have ever had.


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