What's the worst cheating you've ever seen or heard about?

[cmusic]

My senior year of HS I was not good enough to be in the top 5 on my HS golf team. That year's HS boys regional tournament was held on our home course and I was asked to be a spotter and scorer on the first hole since I was not playing in it. I had to keep track of all the player's scores on that hole. The private HS across town had a coach that actually taught his players how to cheat and our coach always told us when we played them to keep an eye on everything they did. So when their #2 player teed off I kept a close eye on where his ball went. It went directly into a lateral water hazard about 250 yards off the tee. As the #2 player came up the fairway I noticed he had on white pants. He was a very cocky acting 17 year-old boy. It has rained that day, the course was wet and the streams had a fair amount of running water. He asked me to retrieve his ball using some very demeaning and profane language. I picked up the ball and told him where it had crossed the hazard line, about 5 yards back. He grabbed the ball and threw it ahead into the fairway. I said that would be one penalty shot for hitting it into the water and two more for playing from the wrong location. He hits hit next shot, turns to me and says "that's my second a**hole". I notified the tournament director and he said he would take care of it. When the boy turned his scorecard in, he had a par listed. The director DQ'ed him. The boy threw a temper tantram at the scorers table for a few minutes and then left the parking lot, squeeling his tires on his sports car as he left.

 

To make things even better was that on the 4th hole he fell in some mud on the side of a hill and ruined his white pants. 20 years later he ran for a county office, spent tens of thousands on campaign adds (more than the other candidates combined), and only got 66 votes out of a county of about 18,000 people.

Those 66 votes were probably family members!

 

More probably, they were his father's employees.

 

On a more serious note, the same cocky boy in the same sports car rear-ended a golf cart on the entrance road to the clubhouse at the same course. This incident happened about two years after the incident I mentioned above. I arrived at the course just minutes after the police and medics got there. His car was estimated traveling about 40 mph at the time of the impact. The cart, an Ez-Go 4 wheel, had its rear wheels pushed all the way up under the seat. Two sets of clubs and bags on the cart were completely destroyed. Police estimated the cart was pushed at least 25-30 feet after the impact before it stopped turned over on its side. The elderly man driving the cart was hurt with a few broken bones, cuts, and scrapes, but recovered. The boy claimed he was watching players on the 18th hole, which ran alongside of the road, and did not see the cart. After that I never did see the guy on that course again.

[Ronzo]

My senior year of HS I was not good enough to be in the top 5 on my HS golf team. That year's HS boys regional tournament was held on our home course and I was asked to be a spotter and scorer on the first hole since I was not playing in it. I had to keep track of all the player's scores on that hole. The private HS across town had a coach that actually taught his players how to cheat and our coach always told us when we played them to keep an eye on everything they did. So when their #2 player teed off I kept a close eye on where his ball went. It went directly into a lateral water hazard about 250 yards off the tee. As the #2 player came up the fairway I noticed he had on white pants. He was a very cocky acting 17 year-old boy. It has rained that day, the course was wet and the streams had a fair amount of running water. He asked me to retrieve his ball using some very demeaning and profane language. I picked up the ball and told him where it had crossed the hazard line, about 5 yards back. He grabbed the ball and threw it ahead into the fairway. I said that would be one penalty shot for hitting it into the water and two more for playing from the wrong location. He hits hit next shot, turns to me and says "that's my second a**hole". I notified the tournament director and he said he would take care of it. When the boy turned his scorecard in, he had a par listed. The director DQ'ed him. The boy threw a temper tantram at the scorers table for a few minutes and then left the parking lot, squeeling his tires on his sports car as he left.

 

To make things even better was that on the 4th hole he fell in some mud on the side of a hill and ruined his white pants. 20 years later he ran for a county office, spent tens of thousands on campaign adds (more than the other candidates combined), and only got 66 votes out of a county of about 18,000 people.

Those 66 votes were probably family members!

 

More probably, they were his father's employees.

 

On a more serious note, the same cocky boy in the same sports car rear-ended a golf cart on the entrance road to the clubhouse at the same course. This incident happened about two years after the incident I mentioned above. I arrived at the course just minutes after the police and medics got there. His car was estimated traveling about 40 mph at the time of the impact. The cart, an Ez-Go 4 wheel, had its rear wheels pushed all the way up under the seat. Two sets of clubs and bags on the cart were completely destroyed. Police estimated the cart was pushed at least 25-30 feet after the impact before it stopped turned over on its side. The elderly man driving the cart was hurt with a few broken bones, cuts, and scrapes, but recovered. The boy claimed he was watching players on the 18th hole, which ran alongside of the road, and did not see the cart. After that I never did see the guy on that course again.

 

If he keeps driving like that, he'll go over a cliff after aiming for a family to stop his car and missing. Then his illegitimate son by a Nicaraguan canasta dancer will need to rehabilitate his image to inherit his estate. That's how "Deadman" will come into being.

 

 

;)

[deeviant]

I don't cheat, and I've never understood why people cheat. Not because I have some sense of moral superiority, or feel a need to be true to a game that tries its best to stab me in the back every chance it gets. I don't cheat because other than maybe a temporary, albeit amoral, sense of accomplishment what purpose does it serve in golf? This would seem especially true if you want to play golf professionally. Besides the fact that it just hurts your game, you don't want to be known as a cheater. How embarrasing would it be to get to a level where your play is scrutinized a little more only to have people then find out the Nike wedge you were so good with in the rough is actually laced around you're right foot?

[fua1]

My dad's buddy Lenny hits a huge slice that almost goes in a water hazzard. We are looking for his ball(he marks all his balls with a huge arrow) and Lenny says he found his ball. He even says it has his arrow. At the same time my dad finds another ball with a huge arrow, Lenny's real ball. The bastxxx droped another ball and tried to pass it off as his original ball. The funny thing is we were not playing for anything. Cheating is NEVER cool, but why risk looking like a fool with nothing in the line?

[deeviant]

Actually, I have personally been witness to one particular instance of cheating that I can remember.

 

Let me preface by stating, my friends are jackWord not allowede$ the lot of them. They shall be referred to hereon as JA1, JA2, JA3, and JA4. Of course I am just as bad as them so we get along great. We like to cut up and joke around a lot. I just tell my wife they're all professional touring comedians so she won't know that they're actually retarded.

Anyway, my friends and I met up for a round of golf one day. This was in FL, and I had never been to this particular course before. At I believe, if memory serves me correctly, the sixth hole I hit my AW into the green from about 110 yards out. I couldn't see exactly where it went as the green was elevated , but I was fairly certain I was on. I get to the green, and JA1, JA2 are standing by the hole smiling. "hey, man you got a hole in one". I at first don't believe them, but looking into the cup I see what looks to be my ball. I pull it out and sweet! my first hole in one. I'm happier than a fat kid locked in a Baskin Robbins. My excitement is only somewhat tempered when they inform me it is now my obligation to buy the drinks. Wait a minute I say, I got the eagle shouldn't you be buying for me? Nope, thats not how it works. We pull around to the turn, I go in to buy drinks, JA1 tags along. Still skeptical I ask the guy behind the counter if tradition dictates who buys when a hole in one is scored. He confirms their statement, and I pay up. JA1 is over at the end of the counter talking to the "pro shop manager". They both come over and the "manager" asks about my hole out. He says to come by after our round so that he can get some info from me since they have a plaque he would like to add my name to, and put my name up on the website. No problem I say. I'm getting excited again, since if you don't count my four kids, this is the first time I've holed out. And I didn't even get a freaking plaque or anything when my wife got pregnant. Come to think of it, I had to buy after those hole outs too...... Someone seriuosly needs to revaluate that tradition.

 

The round is over and I'm still feeling better than your average golfer. It doesn't help that I have JA1-4 masturbating my ego every chance they got. Of course that should have been a sign, as we are never that mutually praising of each other without someone taking a shot just to bring you back to earth. I never noticed of course because I am now among the gods of golf and you should count yourself lucky I even allow you in my presence. So I go in and talk the the "manager" who gets my info and offers me a certificate for free rounds of golf, he just needed to get them from the office. JA's 1-4 are now in the pro shop with me, and JA1, and JA4 slither on bak to the office with the "manager". The next thing I know the "manager" is back pointing his finger at me and raising his voice. At first I'm taken back a little, then I realize he is calling me out on my hole in one. Whoa now, don't you go impuning me honor there buddy. I have witnesses to back me here. You can feel free to imagine the smug look I have on my face at this point.

JA3 decides he needs to speak with me right now, and pulls me to the side. Now, JA3 is one of my closest friends, you can call him JA3, or Judas Iscariot, he'll answer to either one apparently. He begins to tell me how JA's 1-4 all go together and decided that it would be a good idea to "fake" a hole in one in order to get our rounds paid for the next day. They chose me to play the part of the dupe since this wasn't my home course and they could just pass it off as they didn't know what I was doing if something went wrong. I'm getting a little pissed at this point because something has apparently gone wrong. He then goes on to say that someone saw them put the ball in the hole, and told the "manager" about it. But, if I gave $100.00 to the guy that saw it, he would recant and say he made a mistake. If not it was going to be all blamed on me. I'm feeling all stabby at this point, and I go back to the "manager" trying to explain what happened. He gets livid, and threatens to call the police claiming I was trying to steal from the club by getting free rounds of golf. I'm about to shove thirty pieces of silver up JA3's... well, before I can get to that everyone starts laughing and lets me in on the joke.

It turns out the "manager" was just some guy who worked at the pro shop, and had been in on the joke since the beginning. I had indeed hit the green, but they grabbed that ball up while another JA put one of my balls in the cup.

 

So, to make a long story longer.

 

We set down for some drinks, and decide to tally up our scores, and divvy up some money. We bet on low score each side, plus a bunch of silly little side bets. I won low score each side which is 100 per side each. After everyone pays up and we are waiting on dinner talking about the "joke", as they like to call it, when JA3 looking over the scores notices I have an eagle on 6. He says hey we tied for low score on the front side. I look at it and ask how he figures? He said you didn't actually get an eagle on six. Oh yeah I did I say, JA1,2, and 4 seen it too, I bought the drinks and everything. Don't you remember.? He mumbled something about semantics and accused me of cheating. Yep, damn right I did. Only time I ever "cheated" in golf.

[Rapture93]

2 years ago, one of my good friends was playing in Indiana's State Championship. He got called on marking his ball from the side rather than from behind. He didn't do it intentionally and that's how he did it every other time he played, but he got DQ'd from the championship. All I got to say is know the rules before you compete competitively

[Paully]

2 years ago, one of my good friends was playing in Indiana's State Championship. He got called on marking his ball from the side rather than from behind. He didn't do it intentionally and that's how he did it every other time he played, but he got DQ'd from the championship. All I got to say is know the rules before you compete competitively

 

 

Did he replace the ball beside the marker and not in front of it? I'm no rules expert, but I believe you can mark your ball from any side (behind, side, in front) as long as you replace your ball on the same side.

[BiState_Golf]

I play with guys all the time that don't play correctly, but I don't consider it "cheating" so to speak. However, playing in a GCAT event, I did see a guy walking his line on the green for his putt. He wasn't in contention, so I just mentioned it in passing to one of the director's as something to look for. I think he did it at the next event, was called on it, allowed to finish without a DQ I believe and never showed up for another. He wasn't banned, but full of shame I suppose.

[philfan316]

These are just pet peeves of mine. Some would consider it cheating. However the golfer will just rationalize the thought.

 

1) Guys who won't write down more than a double because "it's the maximum my handicap allows".

Ok, how do you know what your handicap really is if you do this more than once a round? Shouldn't your handicap increase if you "take the maximum" more than a few times?

 

Actually, the Equitable Stroke Control provisions of the USGA Handicap Rules require a player to record the maximum hole score under his or her ESC. Not doing so is considered sandbagging. The way ESC is structured, someone who is taking the maximum on more than a few holes is going to end up with the maximum handicap index of 36.4 (men) or 40.4 (women) anyway.

 

That, of course, is for handicap index purposes. In a gross score tournament, there is no maximum score for a hole, for purposes of determining a winner of the tournament. (You would still apply ESC when later posting the score for handicap purposes.)

 

This sort of thing happened to me after competing in an college team qualifier for a couple of individual spots at the weekend tournament.

 

I made a 7 on the 1st Hole, Par 4 and an 11 on the second hole, Par 5. Then, the next sixteen holes I shoot -2 under. Yes, 2 under, to shoot a 79. Par is 72, so I am +7 for the round.

 

Here's the problem, I am supposed to accept my 79 for the tournament score, but then input a 74 for ESC purposes. I don't think so. That is why the USGA makes denotations on the rounds stating whether or not they were tourney scores. I earned that 79 by shooting great on the last 16, saving it from becoming an 87.

[larrybud]

I made a 7 on the 1st Hole, Par 4 and an 11 on the second hole, Par 5. Then, the next sixteen holes I shoot -2 under. Yes, 2 under, to shoot a 79. Par is 72, so I am +7 for the round.

 

Here's the problem, I am supposed to accept my 79 for the tournament score, but then input a 74 for ESC purposes. I don't think so. That is why the USGA makes denotations on the rounds stating whether or not they were tourney scores. I earned that 79 by shooting great on the last 16, saving it from becoming an 87.

 

Sorry, but ESC is is to be applied for tournament scores as well. The USGA identifies tournament scores because they adjust an index down for unusually low tournament scores. You should have posted a 74.

[JD3]

2 come to memory:

 

1. I was playing a best ball 2 man team match play tournament. Hole is a long dogleg right with a swampy marsh guarding the dogleg. Opponent hits it on a line at the hole but doesn't have enough carry and it clearly ends up in the hazard. I was surprised he didn't hit another when I saw him walking to the green, ad reloading would mean going back at least 200 yards. We get to the green and his ball is expectedly no where to be found. He asks me what the rule is when I know he already knew. But I inform him anyway that he needed to go back and replay the shot either from the spot he hit it or from a spot online with the point of entry to the hazard and the flag. Or he's out of the hole (something his partner already was.) He asks another question which I am certain he knows the answer, which is if he finds it in the hazard can he play it. I confirm he can. So he walks behind the tall reeds and the nanosecond he's out of our sight he yells out "got it!" LOL . Then moments later -- much faster than he could have setup to play it -- out comes a ball that lands softly on the green, very much as if it had been tossed underhand. hmmmm .... even his partner rolls his eyes and looks at me. Kharma is a good thing so I didn't bother calling him on identifying the ball. Just went on played and won the match something like 5 & 4.

 

2. I'm playing in a single elimination match play tournament that takes place throughout the season. My 1st match is someone I don't know. I meet at the scheduled time and without asking he brings his friend as a guest making it a threesome. A little rude, but whatever, I don't know if there's a rule against it, so I just grin and bear it. Gets uglier ... during the round he has his friend (who was a very good player, scratch or better), putt out of turn so he could see the line. On another hole he has his friend hit 1st on a par three tee so he could club off him. Counting on my old friend Kharma again, I don't say anything (although I have to admit nearly biting off my tongue in the process.) Kharma comes thru again as I win 3 & 2. We play in the last 2 holes so his friend can see the course, with a friendly $5 2 hole bet. On 17 green I'm away and the friend asks me this time if I want him to go 1st so I can see the line. I tell him no that wouldn't be fair in the bet. He kind of stops and gives me a little look as if to acknowledge me was wrong earlier helping out my opponent. So at least he got the message.

Next day I show up for my next match and the starter asks me if I won. I tell him yes and he does a little Tiger fist pump. Says he was po'd that guy brought a guest and rooted for me to win! LOL, whatever.

[Goldenhawk]

The owner of the company I used to work for was a master at cheating at golf. We'd see him hook a ball into the woods and the ball would somehow stay out of the hazard.

 

But, to take the cake, he had a custom long sleeve jacket/windshirt that had a hidden pocket in the sleeve to store golf balls that would be dropped.

[Smiley_Face]

In junior college, a guy I played with several times kept giving his score as a lower number than it was. He would say he had 4, I would count out his 5 or 6 and he'd say he forgot and this happened several times a round. After playing with this guy twice, I decided to write down the scores he gave even though he had a higher score and DQed him when he signed. The other player in the threesome was in agreement and verified the scores he has vs. what he wrote and signed. The school discontinued the golf program after that.

[trionz420]

my friend seems to think if u hit into a hazard its "in in 1, out in 2, hitting 2" hahaha

[BabyFAcedAssassin]

a former co-worker of mine claim to have seen Steve Pate kick his ball form behind a tree while playing with just a marker.

i dunno if there is any truth to it, but thats the only story i have heard.

[abesarmy]

Same thing, we caught a guy using Butter Rum lifesavers in the desert. He was notorious for this. We got into his bag and took out 15+ rolls of butter rum lifesavers one day. The look on his face was great when he could not find a single roll in his bag. In the bar after the round he kept talking about how he "didn't have "IT" today". As we got up to leave, after collecting our money from him, we all pulled the rolls out of our pockets and put them on the table and walked away in silence. Good day!

[Ronzo]

So, what flavor Life Savers should I be watching out for in South Florida?

[kauaigolf]

I played in a charity scramble tournament, in which they had a long drive hole...The long drive winner was a 65 year old, 30+ handicapper, who played in the final group that went through that hole. There was no spotters, and when my group played the hole, the current long drive was well over 330 yards out, held by a young single digit golfer. Shocked does not even begin to describe the look on the other participants faces when the winner's name was announced.

[psygolf]

A fairly well-known & seasoned amatuer golfer in my area, once offered to sign up with me if I ever played a PAT tournament to [i]insure[/i] that I passed... he admitted that he does this every once in awhile to help those whose ambitions are to "fold sweaters, instead of playing the tour."

[WilCox]

I know a guy who can find his ball no matter where it goes. Deep in the woods, deep in the straw, buried in the mud, doesn't matter. The really odd thing is he always finds it in a better lie than anyone expects. It's truly amazing.

I've taken to calling him Odd Job.

[Yuck]

This guy named Cink was on the 16th hole at Harbor Town a few years back and found himself in contention on the final day. He was in the "waste area" left of the fairway. He proceeded to use his finger to remove sand behind the ball to create a clean lie. His contention afterwards was that the grains of sand were "loose impedements" as they were not attached to the ground. He converted a marginal lie to a great one with his house keeping, and I have always considered it cheating. Cink won, and the tour avoided controversy and did not penalize or DQ Cink. Obviously it bothered them because they changed the status of "waste area" to hazard the following year. I lost respect for Cink with that incident. You could literally see a 'line in the sand" behind his ball when he was done. But officially, it was not cheating, but taking full advantage of a loophole in the rules.

[psygolf]

Golden Rule of Golf: If you're gaining an advantage in hitting the shot...it is against the rules.

[Benefactor]

[quote name='TheBUNKY' post='1537374' date='Mar 7 2009, 12:38 AM']These are just pet peeves of mine. Some would consider it cheating. However the golfer will just rationalize the thought.

1) Guys who won't write down more than a double because "it's the maximum my handicap allows".
Ok, how do you know what your handicap really is if you do this more than once a round? Shouldn't your handicap increase if you "take the maximum" more than a few times?

2) We have OB on virtually every hole and on both sides of the fairway. If its an inch or a foot out, then it's out, PERIOD. It's not in. Re-tee or add a stroke if it's busy. Don't play it as if it was in bounds.[/quote]

I don't mean to excuse the cheating, but that sounds like a stupid golf course.

[inder]

This was not in my group but me and a few friends were out playing 9. I believe it was the 5th tee from which we could see the 6th green and one of the guys waits for the other guys in his group to look away and walks over his ball and rolls it forward under his foot for maybe 10"s. It wasn't a big deal to us but was amusing thinking of what people do.
This is a bit off topic but all these stories make me lose confidence in peoples handicaps. I was at the driving range and couple of guys a few stalls down are talking about how they should be breaking 80 before the end of summer. I am a mid 90's player at the moment and I was driving and hitting my irons further and more accurately than them. I know this because they were having accuracy contests and calling out "5 iron green flag". Then I went down to practice some chipping and putting and about 15 minutes later they show up and from the way they were putting and chipping I would put money on a match anytime with them. It just makes me wonder how people add up their scores, maybe they worst hole is not counted? lol

[housey63]

A guy at our club would wait back and keep his card until everyone from his group had left and change the scores on his card. There was some question marks already about this bloke and one day his group kept scores themselves and they all came up with the same number. The results were printed in the local paper the next day and the cheater had won the comp with 8 shots better than he had. The group went to the committee and then the club reported him to the golf association and he was suspended. The worse part was he was a policeman and after he was suspended he would sit outside the club booking members for ridiculous things. Pure arsehole.

[pinhigh27]

[quote name='jfstone4' post='1537549' date='Mar 7 2009, 03:38 AM']A funny incident that made me kind of mad was when I was playing in a junior tournament and a kid in my group teed his ball in front of the markers on a par three by a couple of inches. I called him on it, but I had no other witnesses so I couldn't do anything. The very next hole he does it again, but even further in front of the markers. This time the other kids in my group saw so we called him on it. He hit his ball way way left into no mans land, so he would have to re-tee anyways. He hit the next drive in the fairway and holed out for par. How unjust is that, a cheater gets rewarded.[/quote]

Well, if they hit a bad shot you don't call them on their tee placement, but if they hit a good one, ask them to retee behind the markers, that's the proper play.

[Ty_Webb]

[quote name='pinhigh27' post='1840405' date='Jul 24 2009, 07:43 AM'][quote name='jfstone4' post='1537549' date='Mar 7 2009, 03:38 AM']A funny incident that made me kind of mad was when I was playing in a junior tournament and a kid in my group teed his ball in front of the markers on a par three by a couple of inches. I called him on it, but I had no other witnesses so I couldn't do anything. The very next hole he does it again, but even further in front of the markers. This time the other kids in my group saw so we called him on it. He hit his ball way way left into no mans land, so he would have to re-tee anyways. He hit the next drive in the fairway and holed out for par. How unjust is that, a cheater gets rewarded.[/quote]

Well, if they hit a bad shot you don't call them on their tee placement, but if they hit a good one, ask them to retee behind the markers, that's the proper play.
[/quote]

In matchplay yes. In strokeplay there's a two shot penalty and you must hit again.

[pinhigh27]

[quote name='Ty_Webb' post='1840432' date='Jul 24 2009, 08:12 AM'][quote name='pinhigh27' post='1840405' date='Jul 24 2009, 07:43 AM'][quote name='jfstone4' post='1537549' date='Mar 7 2009, 03:38 AM']A funny incident that made me kind of mad was when I was playing in a junior tournament and a kid in my group teed his ball in front of the markers on a par three by a couple of inches. I called him on it, but I had no other witnesses so I couldn't do anything. The very next hole he does it again, but even further in front of the markers. This time the other kids in my group saw so we called him on it. He hit his ball way way left into no mans land, so he would have to re-tee anyways. He hit the next drive in the fairway and holed out for par. How unjust is that, a cheater gets rewarded.[/quote]

Well, if they hit a bad shot you don't call them on their tee placement, but if they hit a good one, ask them to retee behind the markers, that's the proper play.
[/quote]

In matchplay yes. In strokeplay there's a two shot penalty and you must hit again.
[/quote]

Oh my bad, our coaches last year didn't tell us about a penalty, that is good to know though! So if their ball goes OB they're hitting 5? Or just 3 as the OB is negated?

[mjo42487]

The best one Ive heard is actually a member on this site. He was playing with two handicaps. One was for Net events and was obviously higher and the other was for Gross events which was low enough that he would qualify. The way he was caught was when a member of the club that he keeps his lower hanicap was playing in a net event with him saw his other handicap and called him out on it when he won the event by a few strokes. How dumb could you possibly be to try something like that?

[Poser]

I played this one guy one time and he had to be cheating. I think he had wallhack and god mode enabled.