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Cheating In Golf? Interesting Article!

Not surprising. I think golfers in general are compulsive liars. What did you shot today, "oh I shot a 78 (but I didn't count the two balls I lost or the OB penalty)". How many times have you played with someone who says they shot one score, but you know it isn't true. Either that or excuses are made as to why they didn't perform as nobly on the course as is their "usual" manner. I played really poorly today. "Normally, I shoot about 80, but today I was off." We are compulsive liars for the most part:D Do you agree?
 
I think it all depends on how you were taught to play the game.
I was taught by my Dad and he is no nonsense when it comes to the rules of golf. You do not improve your lie and you do not lie to improve your score, plain and simple.
If you do one and/or the other, then you are not playing golf. You are just whacking a ball around while you take a good walk....
 
It would be interesting to hear some of the stories if we could somehow allow people to anonymously post stories about this. One time in particular, my moral compass malfunctioned and I did something that I regret to this day. Never again.
 
I for one take the rules quite seriously, but its a personal thing. I get pretty steamed when a caddy moves my ball a little to a better lie in an effort to be nice, etc. But I laugh when I see how people are scoring... I saw a post from someone saying they hit 3 tee shots of out bounds, so they ended up with a triple on a par 4. Hmmm...
 
That was an interesting read! Thanks Duey!
 
9-Iron Man said:
That was an interesting read! Thanks Duey!
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I thought it was an interesting read. I don't agree that most golfers are an innate bunch of cheaters and would be surprised if cheating was a norm in the professional ranks. However, I'm not close to the professional world of golf, in my world I see people fluff a lie or even"Do Overs", lol. But, in most cases those are friends of mine learning, trying to become better ball strikers and I choose not to call them cheaters.

I like some of the articles this girl has written, but she often times sensationalizes things.
 
thedue said:
I thought it was an interesting read. I don't agree that most golfers are an innate bunch of cheaters and would be surprised if cheating was a norm in the professional ranks. However, I'm not close to the professional world of golf, in my world I see people fluff a lie or even"Do Overs", lol. But, in most cases those are friends of mine learning, trying to become better ball strikers and I choose not to call them cheaters.

I like some of the articles this girl has written, but she often times sensationalizes things.
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There obviously is a fine line between learning as you described and cheating. I think cheating is more on the tournament scene personally. Taking another shot after you completely duff the first isn't a big deal for me as I usaully count the stroke anyways. By the rules I'm not supposed to, but if it will help me in the long run, that's a chance I'm willing to take.
 
9-Iron Man said:
There obviously is a fine line between learning as you described and cheating. I think cheating is more on the tournament scene personally. Taking another shot after you completely duff the first isn't a big deal for me as I usaully count the stroke anyways. By the rules I'm not supposed to, but if it will help me in the long run, that's a chance I'm willing to take.
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Exactly. I count my strokes and try to play completely in the rules myself, but I have plenty of friends who are new to the game and just learning how to make good contact. They have no idea yet how far particular clubs go and I just want them to have a good time out there until the point that it becomes competitive.
 
That was interesting, but it reads as pretty gossipy. Those are pretty strong accusations that I doubt he could back up. Somebody is using a juiced up ball? Maybe, but how could he ever prove that?
 
I think golf is an honorable game played by many less than honorable people. Anytime there is money involved, there is cheating, in any sport.
One of the old timers at my home course likes to say it is only cheating if you get caught. He says he has never been caught. I've always felt a little sorry for him.
 
I have one friend who really likes to bend his score. He will say he got a 4 or 5 and I love being able to count his individual strokes until he agrees with me. I never call him out but know he's lying :)
 
ripper said:
I for one take the rules quite seriously, but its a personal thing.
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I'm with you. A lot of my buddies shoot "80", but I know they gave themselves lots of strokes with improved lies, mulligans, 4' gimmies, etc... I feel just as good or better about my 95 when I played by-the-book.

http://youtu.be/NKsioAyR9Fs
 
I don't know guys. I would tend to separate outright cheating from the golf equivalent of fish stories. Artificially lowering your handicap ain't gonna' help you very much when you need it. I would be more amped up at the crowd that artificially increases their handicap, people that know they are playing better than their handicap indicates and keep it that way so that they can use strokes that they don't really need and don't deserve. Someone had a post on that here a few months ago. I think there are way more funny stories about people cheating than there are people actually cheating at golf.
 
gbigoose1 said:
I have one friend who really likes to bend his score. He will say he got a 4 or 5 and I love being able to count his individual strokes until he agrees with me. I never call him out but know he's lying :)
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I have a friend that does this too! Can't help but snicker to yourself when a guy is banging it around the trees all day and comes up one stroke behind after you felt you had a solid day on the course.
 
On their best days, humans are imperfect.
 
I know it goes one and have friends who just dont keep their score correctly. I have been paired with guys who come out to play 3 or 4 time a year and shoots better scores than we do and then talk about how he can come out and play as good as we do and we play all the time. However the guys dont keep track of the whiffs, lost balls, out of bounds, teeing up outside the tee box and mulligans. So I just play my game and let them play theirs and enjoy being on the course. As they say, you play against the course not against who you are paired with.
 
What's the percent of people that actually establish a handicap? About 18% or less. Most golfers don't even know how to officially play by the rules. So what - it's exercise and companionship for most of them.
 
There's a guy I used to play with that would always cheat. We would always walk when we played and anytime my ball was on the opposite side of the fairway as his, he would pick his ball up and move it (sometimes up to 50 or so yards down the fairway). One of his signature moves was to drop his towel on the ground and when he bent down to pick it up, his ball suddenly appears beside it. He even moved my ball once and put me right behind a tree. I never understood why he did it as we never played for money or anything. He has a pretty bad reputation around here for cheating. August was the last time I played with him. I finally got fed up with it and haven't spoken to him since.
 
bhilton said:
There's a guy I used to play with that would always cheat. We would always walk when we played and anytime my ball was on the opposite side of the fairway as his, he would pick his ball up and move it (sometimes up to 50 or so yards down the fairway). One of his signature moves was to drop his towel on the ground and when he bent down to pick it up, his ball suddenly appears beside it. He even moved my ball once and put me right behind a tree. I never understood why he did it as we never played for money or anything. He has a pretty bad reputation around here for cheating. August was the last time I played with him. I finally got fed up with it and haven't spoken to him since.
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If he cheats at golf, he'll cheat on everything in his life...
 
Do people really feel that much better about themselves with a fake score? I couldn't do that. I shoot what I shoot and thats that.
 
When I first started playing golf and in to my early to mid teens I cheated a lot, even though I was only playing against myself. I think it was because I wanted to shoot a good score so bad or didn't want to ruin a hole because of one bad shot. One day it changed in my mind and I knew that a par or birdie or eagle only meant something if it was legit, I know that sounds stupid and obvious but I think everyone has to get to that point, where they care enough about the game and themselves to do it the right way. I think people get there at different times and it just comes down to being honest with yourself. Now I could never write down a 4 if I know I got a 5.
 
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Dr. Teeth said:
Not surprising. I think golfers in general are compulsive liars. What did you shot today, "oh I shot a 78 (but I didn't count the two balls I lost or the OB penalty)". How many times have you played with someone who says they shot one score, but you know it isn't true. Either that or excuses are made as to why they didn't perform as nobly on the course as is their "usual" manner. I played really poorly today. "Normally, I shoot about 80, but today I was off." We are compulsive liars for the most part:D Do you agree?
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This one guy I play with "fluffs" his lie before everyshot. Normally shoots in LOW 80's . But every once and awhile he breaks 80 and starts talking about how he should be practicing for the Senior Tour. I just smile and think to myself "You're forgetting about the 2 strokes per hole you took with your foot wedge"
 
Being someone who regularly shoot high 80s low 90s pending what course, I feel a sense of accomplishment whenever I make a birdie or par. On in 2 for a par 5 is always nice. My biggest weakness is putting. I cannot put at all. My GIR is great but from there needs major improvement. I just can't see cheating when I didn't legitamitally make the putt.
 
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