Cheating in competition: your stories

[tuq]

Cliff's Notes at bottom.

Golfing competitively for >25 years now, I have a couple, but the most interesting one occurred a couple of years ago in what was supposed to be a fun get-together.

We put together a 24-man event at Stoneridge Golf Course, a well-maintained course about 90 minutes up the hill in Prescott. Definitely a weird course in that the elevation change was extreme, and from one tee up and a bit of courage a good golfer could drive a good number of their par 4s. This made for a fun scramble course.

I was a captain of one of the teams and was heavily responsible for establishing the format. Everyone threw in $50 on top of the costs for the bus and booze. We drafted teams a couple of nights in advance, two twelve-man teams, most of us knew each other well except for a couple of friends-of-friends. The team with the most points at the end of the day would win $50. In the morning it would be twelve individual matches, with a value of one point per match, 1/2 for ties, handicapped.

The afternoon round is where I was responsible for most of the setup. We ranged in handicap from ~1 to a ~24. That round was to be a four man scramble vs. a group from the other team, no handicaps. If you beat your opponent on a hole (unless you were watching them play in front of or behind you, you really wouldn't know until the round was over) you got a point on that hole. To keep things close, if you took a par or worse you moved UP one teebox, if you got a birdie or better you moved BACK one teebox. There are like five sets of markers on that course and it ensured that until you tipped out you would be moving to a different box every hole. It was a self-handicapper of sorts.

Finally, I convinced the other organizers to put all the "A" players together, and all the "C" players together, with the ones in the middle playing together as well. This meant that the better players weren't counted on to carry their team all round, and that the worst players would be more valued participants as their shots would be used more.

So far, so good. We were a point or two down after the morning round but there were more points available in the afternoon. Everyone finishes and it's revealed that our team had lost by a single point. Wow, close. But then a couple of guys from our "C" group came up hissing that their competitors had SKIPPED a hole, and we checked the card and they gave themselves a BIRDIE on that hole, in big black two-box-tall Sharpie. As our team had only parred we had credited the other team with a point. We consulted the members of that group and they all "suddenly" remembered that they had skipped a hole and somehow forgot to mention it to anybody, and somehow gave themselves a birdie. This resulted in a loss for them on that hole, so instead of a one point lost, we got a one point win. It was super weird and I would have been happy with a chop, which is probably what they would have gotten had they simply played the hole.

It's worth mentioning that two of the guys in that group are notoriously untrustworthy, and one of the other two was an outsider who was likely to just play along. Also, I called out one of them at dinner that night and he has since tried to blackball me from our regular group and makes a big scene about not inviting me to his house parties, LOL.

Wondering if anyone else has come across such collusion or has a story of cheating against them in competition.

Cliff's Notes: opposing team skips a hole, gives themselves a birdie, seemingly a one point win. Their opponents on our team flip out, the birdie becomes a lost hole and we win by a single point.

[Poker CPA]

Sure, but its never worth it to bring up or confront the cheaters. You just can't win, leave it to someone else. Just have FUN and always remember "PAYBACK IS A BITCH". There are many ways to make them look silly, while being a gentleman. You just need the right moment and a firm knowledge of the rules, especially penalty drops and free drops. Anger works against you.

The greatest fear of a cheater is playing an opponent who knows he is a cheater, and this oppenont is known to be gentleman, with a high respect for the game. Be that GENTLEMAN.

[Hey_Porter]

Nothing too exciting, but the one blatant cheater I played with was during my freshman year of high school. I was playing JV, and we were playing against some podunk varsity team with one player who could shoot below 90. One of the kids I was matched with CONSISTENTLY gave himself one stroke less than he actually got. Thing was, he was shooting 9s and 10s on par 4s, so it wasn't really worth a confrontation to correct him every hole, although I did do it once or twice.

[Doug Funnie II]

Varsity golf match junior year. Private school so team medal is all that matters. One kid in my group had been playing well but wasn't a douche about it. I think he was like 2 under through 16 and the rest of us were maybe 5 over. 17th hole, ~220 yards DIRECTLY into the sun, OB right and a river running all the way down the left. He hits first and hooks into water. The other 3 of us hit tee shots that guarantee double at least. We get to the drop zone and he takes a ball out of his bag and pauses for a second and turns to look at us.

"3s all around?"

He "shot" 70 that day.

[ghostface]

At my PAT the guy from my group that passed played and holed a wrong ball on a hole on the back nine during the 2nd round. I would rather have him pass knowing he cheated than have DQed him because he was easily good enough to pass with the penalty for wrong ball if he had called himself on it. On the hole in question, all 3 of us hit perfect drives but for some reason he pulled off to the right of where his ball was laying and apparently dropped a ball. I couldnt figure out why as all three of our balls were dead center in the fairway.

[esad]

I play in a men's league and every year in August we have a League Championship. We only play normally 9 holes on a weekday, since people who play after work can't get in 18 holes. It's standard that each year the first round of the Championship is played on a Saturday and we play 18 holes. Because of this you often get paired in the first round with people that you usually don't play with. So last year me and the guy I usually play with get paired with an older guy who seems pretty cool and a youngish late 20-something guy who right off the bat strikes me as a douche. He's a reasonable good looking, fit guy, but he has that corporate climbing lying ass-kisser quality about him. But, hey I'll give people a chance, even though my initial reads are people are usually right.

We start the round and the B*llsh*tter (hereto referred to as BS'er) actually has a decent swing, and can hit the ball pretty far. It's obvious on the first hole though that he's not always consistent -- two good shots, one bad shot. I usually keep the scorecard when we play so I'm in the habit of noticing what people's scores are for each hole. I'm not keeping score for him this round, but still it's a habit, so I make a mental note that on the first hole that he got a bogey. On the next hole he gets a another bogey. No biggie he had a couple of bad shots and I don't really think much of it.

While we are waiting to tee off on the 3rd hole (par 3) we are talking. My playing partner and I aren't playing too well, and are talking about how we need to get it together. I'm like 3 over already and the guy I play with is 2 over. The BS'er notes that he isn't playing that well either and is already 1 over. I don't say, "Dude, you bogeyed the first two holes." I just make a note of it. Once we get off the tee I say to the guy I play with "Uhh, didn't he bogey the first two holes?" My friend confirms this, so we decide to keep a secret scorecard on his round. We'll just check we each other after every hole to see if we both counted the same number of strokes.

The round continues and as we thought, how many strokes over par he tells us he is over does not jive with our stroke count. We get to the ninth hole and he tells us he pars it for a two-over 38!! Our stroke count is a six-over 42. Four shot difference. I say, "Wow, I thought you were like 4-5 over or something." He kinda says something like "Yeah I was playing bad early but I made it up on a few holes." Of course, he actually only birdied one par five so I know he's full if it. I let it drop though, because I could tell he looked a little nervous. Looks like I'll be talking to the Pro once the round is over.

We start on the second 9 after a few minutes break. (It's actually the same 9. We play 5 rounds all on the same 9 and you keep your four best scores) After the first hole, the BS'er looks really uncomfortable and impatient. As we are waiting to tee off on the 2nd he suddenly announces that he doesn't have time for this today and drives off back to the clubhouse and leaves. We laugh and mention to the old guy about the score differences. He says he also noticed that his score didn't seem to match what he saw.

Before I talk to the Pro though I wait for him to submit his score. Who knows he might fess up to the 42. So, next week I go and look at the posted first round scores. He posted a 40! So, this guy tells us he shot a 38, he submits a 40 and he shot a 42. WTF!! It was good to know that my initial read on him was correct though. I talk to the Pro about it and he says he's been suspicious of this guy before. He'll keep track of what he submits and ask the people he usually plays with. Not sure what happened after that, but he only completed two more 9 hole rounds and you need to have at least four to qualify. Maybe he knew he was being watched or he just cut tail and ran. Have no idea, because I've never seen him again after that day.

Cliff Notes: Men's League Tournament guy I don't know lies to us about his score. Says he shot a 38, he officially posts a 40 and our shot count had him at 42. He disappears in the next few weeks never to be seen again and doesn't qualify for the tournament.

[LimitGod]

Was playing in walk-ons for my college (I won...yay) and one of my competitors was struggling to make the cut down to the final 4 for the 6th round. We were on the 14th hole, a straight away par 4 but tree-lined. Anyways, he blocks his tee shot into the trees and we cannot find it.

All of a sudden I look at him and he's taking a ball out of his pocket. I don't say anything and he cannot see me b/c Im shielded by a tree.

This is the funny part...

Next thing I know he is sticking his arm shoulder deep into a gopher hole and guess what....he FOUND his ball. I didn't say anything to him at the time but when he made the cut by 1 over someone else I told him he either needed to withdraw or I would have to report what he had done. He withdrew and kept some sort of dignity.

[tuq]

Heh, there are some "good" stories in this thread. Thanks for sharing.

Best next story I have to offer is a "friend" who never loses a ball in the desert, or the father of a friend 20+ years ago who cut a hole in his shorts to slip balls through when his son lost one in competition...

[WLVRYN]

I have an unconfirmed gossip cheating story that people may enjoy. A family member of mine is a member at a swanky club in the OC. That is the same club that a certain alleged-steriod-using, retired, red-headed homerun hitting first basemen belongs to (I'll leave names out to protect the innocent). Apparently he plays to a +2. He was playing in a match play tourney at another club in the area, and the club wrote down the wrong index (listed him as a -2). Supposedly he won a few matches in the tourney and came up against another member of the home club. When the guy saw what the strokes were, he checked and saw that there was a 4 shot difference from what it should be. The whistle was blown to the tourney committee (maybe not what I would have done, but whatever), and said ex-home run champ was disqualified and apparently banned from SCGA events for 2 years. Again, this is unconfirmed and merely gossip, but if true, is interesting nonetheless.

I have two thoughts on the matter. 1) I'm not sure I would have ratted him out to the tourney committee. I probably would have confronted him and given him a chance to withdraw with an "injury". If he said no, then maybe that's the next step. 2) Why in the hell if you are Mr 70 Home Runs in a Season, do you not play to the correct handicap? You know that everyone knows you, and also that there are members from your home club playing the tourney. You have to know that this is going to end badly. I've been a longtime supporter of his, even with the steroid allegations, but this just makes me think that he's really a habitual cheater.

[TripleH68]

We had a friendly golf club without real estate for years, playing 18 holes every Sunday morning at different courses. In the beginning it was made up of a group of friends. Then we started allowing friends of friends, etc. So this story revolves around a guy who falls into the 'friends of friends' category.

It is his first season with the club. All events are fully handicapped. Late season we play the Club Championship at a very nice course north of Detroit. Katke Cousins golf club.

So this guy is in the first group. On the first hole he hits his ball right of the green(par 4) and holds up the start a bit looking for his ball. He finds it and makes a nice up and down for par.

I was playing the last group(five groups) and one of our players hits it over into this same area. The rough is heavy. He finds a ball he thinks is his, then announces 'oh no, it's not mine.' Are you sure? He is positive because this ball he found had a blue Anixter company logo on it.

Fast forward to after the round and beers. Original guy is asked about his play on the first hole and the group recounts his nice par. Well it just so happens this guy works for, you guessed it, Anixter. And he is playing Anixter logo balls. When I pressed him on the first hole, he finally says maybe he dropped one out of his bag on accident while looking for his ball. Sheesh.

He did not return to play in the club the following season.

*****************************************

Two pieces of advice:

1) Always mark your ball with an identifier.
2) Always call out cheaters immediately. You have a responsibility to protect the field.