I’ve been playing golf for ages. Over the years, I have learned so many lessons and have given a lot of importance to things like—Discipline, Patience, Punctuality, and most of all—Honesty. Never cheat in golf. If you cheat and get caught, you will be branded as a cheater for the rest of your golfing life. Even though there are a lot of courses in the United States, the golf community becomes small when a rumor is spread around. If you get caught cheating in a tournament in San Francisco, for example, give it a few days, people in LA and the rest of the country will know about it. Is it really worth it? Would you like people to talk about you and remember you as a cheater?
How does one cheat in golf?
Declaring a wrong score. A player may have scored a 6 in a hole but declares a 5. It is the opponent’s responsibility (the scorer) to pay attention to the number of strokes his opponent has had thus inputting the correct score in the card. “The best wood in most amateurs' bags is the pencil.” The cheaters call it the pencil wedge.
Improving the lie. When the ball lands on the fairway or the rough, it is not always in a good position. Sometimes it’s on a bad lie. This makes the ball harder to hit and the golfer’s shot will not be as accurate. There are cheater players who improve the lie by stepping on the area behind the ball to make the ball more visible. Some cheaters use their foot to move the ball to a better position. The cheaters call it “the foot wedge.”
Dropping the ball in the wrong area. Remember, if you are given free relief, it is only ‘one club length’. If it is declared unplayable and you incur a penalty stroke--that is when you can drop within ‘two club lengths’. When you drop, it should not be nearer the green. Cheaters however disregard this rule and look for the best position that suit them.
Losing a ball then secretly dropping a new ball. Sometimes, we don’t hit the ball straight. It hooks or slices and sometimes it goes to the bushes. Oftentimes, we lose the ball and we are forced to hit the ball again from the original spot and incur a penalty. Cheaters however, secretly drop a new ball and pretend that it’s their original ball. All of a sudden it appears, very clean and very visible to the eye. “Hey, look, my ball’s right here!” This reminds me of a joke…two guys were in the bushes searching for a golf ball. Then suddenly guy no.1 said, “I found my ball.” Then he hits it out of the bushes. Guy no.2 says “That wasn’t your ball.” Guy no. 1 asked, “How do you know that?” Guy no. 2 said, “Because I am stepping on your ball right now.”
There are other ways to cheat. I did not mention these examples to teach golfers how to cheat. I mentioned these so that golfers will know how others cheat. It is the golfer’s responsibility to call the attention of the cheating golfer. Maybe you’d rather not correct it because you are trying to 'kiss ass' to this fellow because he is some big shot that you are trying to please. Maybe you would rather look the other way. If you do this, you are a cheater too. Shame on you!
We have a golf rule book. Study it. Follow it. Ignorance is not an excuse. If you catch someone cheating, call his attention. Penalize him, or just warn him, and tell him not to do it again. It is very unfair to those who have practiced hard at the driving range and have spent a lot of money improving their game so that they can hopefully win. Why should they be deprived of a win because of some cheating golfer?
They say in golf, the real character of a person comes out. If you a cheat in golf, hmmm….
