Clever ways to cheat that you should look out for...

[2bGood]

Every so often you see guys cheating in new and different ways. What are some of the more unexpected things to look out for?

 

Here are a few that surprised me:

 

1. Two man best ball - when ever they could if one of them had a putt conceded, Player B would rush to the hole and player A would stand near players B's line and player B would hit the ball back to player A on his putting line. It took good coordinate on their part, and had me watching them like hawks as clearly the had pre-planned ways to cheat.

 

2. Saw this at a PGA event. Player marks his ball and tosses it to caddy, caddy fumbles ball and rolls back on the line they are about to putt on. The player in question was called out by the other guys in his groups after this occurred twice in the first 5 holes.

 

3. Side markers. This is a variation on the inchworm (guys that mark in front of the ball then replace the ball in front of the marker to get closer to the hole). The side marking guys try to creep the ball location down a hill to take out break by marking on one side and replacing on the other side. 

Edited October 19, 2020 by 2bGood

[Mr. Bean]

Oh my, you people seem to have a real problem with cheaters. Around here we do not play with them.

[cardoustie]

Preferring lies and creative marking on greens always top two issues ... 3rd ... the lateral drop 30 yards too far ahead

[2bGood]

6 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

Oh my, you people seem to have a real problem with cheaters. Around here we do not play with them.

 

Around here, we don't get to choose who we play against in matches or events. 

Edited October 19, 2020 by 2bGood

[Mr. Bean]

12 hours ago, 2bGood said:

 

Around here, we don't get to choose who we play against in matches or events. 

 

Well, around here we refuse to play with cheaters and state that no later than on the 1st tee.

[chippa13]

Here's one I think I've heard here before. The guy who is constantly lifting balls in heavy rough or other problem areas to "identify" them and then improving the lie when they're replaced.

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Well, around here we refuse to play with cheaters and state that no later than on the 1st tee.

I am really confused how that works? Do you show up at an event at state on the first tee to people you don't know: "I refuse to play with cheaters." What happens after that? do the guys that cheat ask if they can be in another group or do they just go home?😄

 

If it is a match, does the other player/team admit they are 'cheaters' and just concede right then and there after you make your declaration you won't play with cheaters?

 

I agree with the sentiment of not wanting to play with cheaters, but from a practical sense I have no clue how you are identifying them and then assuring that they are not in events you play in?  

 

In my golf world, we tend to catch someone breaking a rule during the course of play, let them know we witnessed it and deal with it from there - typical this means with a rules official/committee member after the round. It also rarely results in a DQ, so someone gets to play with the cheater again the next day/round of multi round events. 

 

Though rare, cheating occurs in all levels of golf right up to the PGA tour, so I am sure we would all love to know how you proactively managed to remove all cheaters from all competitions you participate in?

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by 2bGood

[RSinSG]

20 hours ago, cardoustie said:

the lateral drop 30 yards too far ahead

This. And 30 yards may be on the short end of that spectrum. It’s funny when guys who haven’t hit a drive longer than 230 all day think their wayward slice somehow entered the penalty area on the fly 280 yards out.

[Mr. Bean]

52 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

I am really confused how that works? Do you show up at an event at state on the first tee to people you don't know: "I refuse to play with cheaters." 

 

 

There must be some confusion here. How could I possibly know if a person is a cheater if I do not know him/her?

 

If a person I do NOT know to be a cheater starts cheating during the play I take it up and cheating stops right there. No big deal. That's how it works around here. Feel free to use this method, I can tell you it is an effective one.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Mr. Bean

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

22 hours ago, 2bGood said:

Every so often you see guys cheating in new and different ways. What are some of the more unexpected things to look out for?

 

Here are a few that surprised me:

 

1. Two man best ball - when ever they could if one of them had a putt conceded, Player B would rush to the hole and player A would stand near players B's line and player B would hit the ball back to player A on his putting line. It took good coordinate on their part, and had me watching them like hawks as clearly the had pre-planned ways to cheat.

 

Excellent idea! This explains why two man scrambles can end up with scores in the 50s haha!

 

22 hours ago, 2bGood said:

 

2. Saw this at a PGA event. Player marks his ball and tosses it to caddy, caddy fumbles ball and rolls back on the line they are about to putt on. The player in question was called out by the other guys in his groups after this occurred twice in the first 5 holes.

 

 

Oops ... 

 

 

22 hours ago, 2bGood said:

3. Side markers. This is a variation on the inchworm (guys that mark in front of the ball then replace the ball in front of the marker to get closer to the hole). The side marking guys try to creep the ball location down a hill to take out break by marking on one side and replacing on the other side. 

These are such great ideas, I don’t know where to begin? Bra hahahahaha. 
 

Seriously, putting is very much underrated as a skill. Hats off to those who can putt well.

[Mr. Bean]

4 minutes ago, Lincoln_Arcadia said:

 

Excellent idea! This explains why two man scrambles can end up with scores in the 50s haha!

 

The real explanation of low scores in scramble is that it is not played under the Rules of Golf but under the non-rules of scramble...

 

In scramble you cannot cheat as scramble IS sort of cheating.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

The real explanation of low scores in scramble is that it is not played under the Rules of Golf but under the non-rules of scramble...

 

In scramble you cannot cheat as scramble IS sort of cheating.

I suppose that’s correct!

[cardoustie]

The cheaters in my club are well know by all members and are watched like hawks in events.  I hate playing with them, turns a nice day of golf into kindergarten supervision .. all over some gift certificates in the shop

[ChipNRun]

Members of a large group I no longer play with varied a lot on enforcing rules.

 

One day, I was in a foursome with Mr. Easy and Mr. Hard. I hit my drive into a hazard, found the ball, picked it up and started to walk back to where it had crossed the hazard line.

 

"D%$# it, just drop the ball and hit it!" Mr. Easy demanded.

 

After we putted out, Mr. Hard came up to me and said how I didn't make a proper drop back at the hazard. I then informed Mr. Hard that he had forgotten his wedge beside the green - again.

 

After the round I brought this up with the so-called moderator of the group. He told me just to be flexible.

 

Because I was starting to play more individual tournaments,  I quit this group so I didn't get sloppy and get disqualified.

[MtlJeff]

Definitely the most common around here is taking more than 12 inches on preferred lies. We have to play preferred lies a lot just due to weather and course conditions, especially since many tournaments or qualifying events are done early in the year

 

This year we even got to place the balls in traps due to the no raking rule. 

 

It's pretty easy to mark your ball and move it even 3-4 feet to get a better angle or if you have overhanging trees etc..if no one is really paying attention. In bunkers an extra 12 inches can put you on an upslope vs a flat lie which to a tight pin is a HUGE difference

 

Definitely see stuff like this. See far less shenanigans near the greens or on the greens when everyone is close by

Edited October 19, 2020 by MtlJeff

[sui generis]

6 hours ago, chippa13 said:

Here's one I think I've heard here before. The guy who is constantly lifting balls in heavy rough or other problem areas to "identify" them and then improving the lie when they're replaced.

 

Our club had a new member who thought he was being clever in that way. The next morning, the pro met him on the 1st tee and read him Rule 7.3. Problem solved.

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=7&subrulenum=3

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, MtlJeff said:

Definitely the most common around here is taking more than 12 inches on preferred lies. We have to play preferred lies a lot just due to weather and course conditions, especially since many tournaments or qualifying events are done early in the year

 

This year we even got to place the balls in traps due to the no raking rule. 

 

It's pretty easy to mark your ball and move it even 3-4 feet to get a better angle or if you have overhanging trees etc..if no one is really paying attention. In bunkers an extra 12 inches can put you on an upslope vs a flat lie which to a tight pin is a HUGE difference

 

Definitely see stuff like this. See far less shenanigans near the greens or on the greens when everyone is close by

 Oh yes, lift clean and cheat. Once you allow people to touch he ball you bring in allot of potential for trouble.

[MtlJeff]

37 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

 Oh yes, lift clean and cheat. Once you allow people to touch he ball you bring in allot of potential for trouble.

 

overall i'm still in favor of playing with LCP though, our May and June in the Northeast now can be really sketchy. When we had to do some of our tournaments we still had parts of the fairway not in yet, soggy conditions etc...

 

Same as this time of year. I probably had significant mud on my ball on like 10 drives this past weekend

[I'_rather_be_golfing]

10 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

There must be some confusion here. How could I possibly know if a person is a cheater if I do not know him/her?

 

If a person I do NOT know to be a cheater starts cheating during the play I take it up and cheating stops right there. No big deal. That's how it works around here. Feel free to use this method, I can tell you it is an effective one.

 You aren’t paying attention to the other player all time are you?  They could have been cheating since the 1st hole. And it could have been something small.  And you would have never known till say, the 6th hole. And you are right. It isn’t a big deal given the situation. But I’m sure If you have money on it. You wouldn’t be saying “no big deal”.  You can control cheating until you see it. But if you aren’t paying attention to every single player, every single time. I’m sure cheating has gone passed you before. So your method only works sometimes. 

[2bGood]

10 hours ago, Lincoln_Arcadia said:

I suppose that’s correct!

 

Not anymore. Scramble was added to section 9 (9C) of the ROG as another form of play in the committee procedure section. 

Scramble Format

[RSinSG]

9 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

The real explanation of low scores in scramble is that it is not played under the Rules of Golf but under the non-rules of scramble...

 

In scramble you cannot cheat as scramble IS sort of cheating.

 

The best scramble cheaters are easy to spot. One of their group hangs around the posted scores and they turn their card in after they've seen the lowest score. The last scramble I played in the winning team shot 45. Cough, cough.

[rogolf]

1 minute ago, RSinSG said:

 

The best scramble cheaters are easy to spot. One of their group hangs around the posted scores and they turn their card in after they've seen the lowest score. The last scramble I played in the winning team shot 45. Cough, cough.

You want to stop being "pencil-whipped" in scrambles?  Give away sleeves of balls to the low score "winners", save the elaborate prizes for door prizes - everyone then has fun and a chance to win them.  The "pencil-whippers" won't show up for those scrambles!

[RSinSG]

6 minutes ago, rogolf said:

You want to stop being "pencil-whipped" in scrambles?  Give away sleeves of balls to the low score "winners", save the elaborate prizes for door prizes - everyone then has fun and a chance to win them.  The "pencil-whippers" won't show up for those scrambles!

My buddy who runs the tournament did that last year. Winners got a cheesy trophy and the good stuff - foursomes at private courses, flat screen TV, golf clubs etc were door prizes. Hopefully it will make a difference next year but I doubt it. Some people love to walk up in front of the group as the "winners" even though last year there were a lot of catcalls and "BS" being thrown at them. They probably don't care and didn't think it was odd they beat the next team by 11 strokes. 

[rogolf]

1 hour ago, RSinSG said:

My buddy who runs the tournament did that last year. Winners got a cheesy trophy and the good stuff - foursomes at private courses, flat screen TV, golf clubs etc were door prizes. Hopefully it will make a difference next year but I doubt it. Some people love to walk up in front of the group as the "winners" even though last year there were a lot of catcalls and "BS" being thrown at them. They probably don't care and didn't think it was odd they beat the next team by 11 strokes. 

Good for your buddy.  It also adheres more closely to the Rules of Amateur Status.  More scramble organizers should follow suit!

[Mr. Bean]

6 hours ago, 2bGood said:

 

Not anymore. Scramble was added to section 9 (9C) of the ROG as another form of play in the committee procedure section. 

Scramble Format

 

Description of format leaves a lot of room for various versions of scramble. Are the other balls dropped or placed? Same lie or different lie (rough vs. fairway height)? Same spot or one club-length?

 

Ask five different persons having played scramble and you get five different answers.

[chippa13]

I've always played scrambles as 1 club length but no changing the lie, ie. you can't move from rough to fairway or fringe to green.

[cardoustie]

at our club we are joking that next year bunker play will be a challenge again @MtlJeff... but as it looks now, maybe this challenge won't come until 2022

 

it was weird playing preferred lies in traps all season, especially in club c's.  We were allowed 18" and lift and rake and place (Scorecard) and always having a perched lie and never a plugged lie is HUGE

[golfandtennisfan]

Definitely seeing more creative drop locations on balls in penalty areas and also see a fair amount of giving themselves putts from what I would consider a gimme. Not in tournaments but only hurts themselves. Too bad they won't play for money.