Yup, on the 15th hole while my partner and I were 2 up on the back and 3 up on the 18. One oppponent, who's ball was on the green walked up to his ball while the other three of us searched for a ball. I saw him move his coin closer to the hole while he picked the ball up. Using a beCu Ping putter he appeared to tap down a ball mark up near the hole, but in actuallity he slid a penny off the back of the copper colored putter. I called him on it immediately. I told him what he had done, that he was a cheater, all bets were off and I would never play golf with him again.
My partner was a little peeved that I had given up the money we were sure of winning. Oh well.
You are welcome to win all the money I wager, but don't dare try and cheat me out of it.
Liars, cheats and thieves-slime.
I've been called a rules cop many times, however I never took offense considering who was calling me it.
Nobody I know would play poker without the rules, why do some feel golf is exempt?

As a coach in girls high school golf I once had to deal with a girl who was trying to shave 2-3 strokes off her score--on every hole! Take a minute to think how bad you have to be to try to get away with that one?

Unfortunately even among some of the non-terrible (I won't call them good) players there are rampant cheaters that I feel have to be monitored so that my golfers can play without feeling they have to be a rules cop.

Unfortunately, seeing as I've most of the other coaches in our conference that they've had players that cheat, I'm not very popular  

Most of my friends know that I know the rules fairly well, not some walking talking rule book, but OK.   I have been through the USGA short course and do some rules officiating, etc.  But I normally dont bring up the rules unless asked, certainly not in friendly competition, because that is just not me, and I certainly dont want to be a pain in the a**.  But everyonce in a while someone rubs me the wrong way when it comes to the rules, then I can change.

I was playing in a one day late season event at my club that was more social than anything, and I had brought one of my customers that was just the nicest guy, and he was already a little nervous and out of his element at a private club function, but we were having a good time.  

One of our opponents has a reputation for creative actions on the course (I am sure every club has one), and he miracluously found a ball that certainly looked gone from the tee when none of us were over on that side of the fairway, but I didnt have a view so I just let it slide.  Again it was late season and the course was soft so they were playing winter rules in your own fairway.  Well everyone had been rolling the ball all day, and on the 10th hole my partner was in a someway bare spot and asked me if he could roll his ball and I said sure.  Well the bender of rules proceded to tell my partner that he had just incurred a penalty as he was not in the fairway (and when you stood back there was a good chance that he wasnt if you drew a straight line of the fairway cut, but you couldnt tell because the grass was very thin there) anyway it was a mere inches if it wasnt and my partner (who was already nervous) just felt terrible.  It really pissed me off, and I told him dont worry, I will beat both of these cheating SOBs on my own ball and I did.  

Then on the next hole one of our competitors came to rest just outside of some long grass in a hazard.  He then proceeded to start taking practice swings shearing off the long grass with every swing, and I couldnt belive my good fortune... I walked over to the jerk and started counting off his partners penalty strokes with every swing, and of course he wanted to know what I was talking about.

On the next hole the jerk proceeded to "find" his ball near a hazard that I am almost sure he didnt clear, and after pitching up on the green, I caught him looking along the hazard on his walk along to the green.  So from then on out I became the rules Nazi.  If you want to be a jerk then lets play, just tell me how you want to play it up front.  I gained great enjoyment out of not only beating them, but finding every obscure rule that I could think of that I knew they would probably not know and bringing it up to them from then on out.

Michael Moore,

Doesn't the handicap system automatically make self correcting adjustments for cheaters ?

Pete,

That's a seperate category of cheating.

A specialty all in its own.

"Have you ever got all up in a fellow competitor's face? "

Michael Moore:

Is that what you're asking? Is that what you really want to know? If that's all you want to know then, yes, of course any of us who've played tournament golf, recreational golf for money or any kind of golf have probably run into with questionable circumstances and situations from fellow competitors and opponents who seemed to have tried to pull all kinds of shit with the Rules---call it intentional latitude, cheating, however you want to define it.

Is that what you're asking Michael, or do you really want to ask any of us if we've ever cheated, or feel that we have?

It is a funny subject isn't it. I was leading in a small tourament recently and a fellow competitor came over to me toward the end of the round and told me that I'd better keep it going because he didn't know what he'd do if that - gestures to other competitor - cheating SOB beat me..

My father made the most amusing gesture I'm aware of, and bear in mind my father is Larry David, while I'm still just becoming Larry David, anyway on the first tee paired with an infamous member, my old man presents him with a calculator, saying ' I think you might need this'.

Worst experience - caddying for our club's assistant pro in a local pro tournament when I was maybe 18.. and watching him roll the ball in the rough on the second hole. I thought I was going to be sick...

Best experience - and refer to Jones's bank robbing quote if worried about self righteousness - playing Woking alone a couple of years ago found my ball centre of the fairway in a big divot. Note that I live in USA - home of preferred lies and I sometimes partake if that is the local rule - anyway I hit down on it where it was with a 9 iron to 10 feet. Probably my most memorable shot and nobody saw it..

Time to dust off my "Breakfast with Sam Snead Story."

About 1980, I was going to have a breakfast meeting at a hotel near the Western Open, with Jack Tuthill, then head of the PGA Tour Operations. The restaurante was crowded, and the host asked both myself and an elderly gent if we would mind sharing a table to reduce our wait.  We both agreed.

We talked, and I was REALLY impressing this guy, I am sure, with my stories of being a golf course architect apprentice!  At some point, he asked if I had played in Scotland, and I had, having just returned from my first ASGCA meeting there.  He asked if I was familiar with the lighthouse hole at Turnberry, which I was.

He related a story about playing in a pro am with Don January there, and how Don had to move his mark out of the line of another put, and accidently forgotten to put it back.  He noticed before leaving the green, and assessed himself a one stroke penalty.

He continues to say that he is a terrible putter, so on the next hole - the lighthouse hole - he is on the front edge of the green, 105 feet from the hole, and proceeds to mark it on the lip of the cup.  He putts out, walks to the edge of the green, announces a one stroke penalty on himself and marks par on the Card.......and continues to do that until the end of the round.

Then Jack Tuthill arrives, says to my companion, "Sam you old goat, what are you doing here?" and joins us, confirming the story and saying that they added rule 1 (or modified it) based on that event to say that you must play within the spirit of the rules should you find what you think is a loophole.

I only had the smallest inkling of who I was sitting with, and it was dawning slowly on me, with his accent, his stories, etc.  He did ask about "PO" turf, which he said was infesting his home course back in WV.  When he said he played in a pro am with January, I just assumed that he was the amateur partner.  Even now, I wonder why I didn't put all that together a little quicker!

In any event, if those old guys called out cheaters more in those days, maybe it was because they weren't quite the gentleman we now assume them to be.  In fact, it is one of the few areas where modern players might be better - not because human nature has changed, but because there are more people and cameras watching.

Its kind of like wondering how all those civil war soldiers had the courage to stand in a line 30 yards from the enemy w/o cover and fire away. I know they were braver than me, but if you look at paintings and pictures of those old battle lines, the outside guys were angled in - and the soldiers knew that if they ran, they would be shot by their own sargents!  Again, maybe human nature hasn't changed at all.

Yeah, I called out a cheater, and it was my own partner!

I was asked to play in a 3-man scramble by a person on a local school board and another guy who was running for an elected position.  I knew the "gentlemen" but had never played golf with them, but I went ahead and played because it was a good "business" round for my company.  

3-man scramble, 2 three-man teams to a group.  The other 3-man team didn't show up to play with us, so off we went.  Mr. School Board was keeping our scorecard, and something he said early on kind of bothered me, so I started keeping a scorecard also.  Well, we finish at -2 (on my card) and are kind of wrapping things up at the end of the round when Mr. School Board announces that we shot 10 under.  I told him that that didn't sound right.  He said he was pretty sure.  I said that I kept a scorecard also and why don't we go over it hole-by-hole.  So after comparing scores on the first 3 or 4 holes he says "Well, we can use your scorecard if you want to."  I said "Mine's the right one so it's the one we'll turn in."  I made sure I got mine to the scoring area before he did, and then promptly left.  

I was irritated that somebody would just blatantly cheat like that, but I was really pissed that he thought I would go along with it!!!  Mr. School Board is always kind of sheepish around me whenever I see him now.  

shivas - I've seen that one also - and the "is it your common practice" question is the standard way to handle it.

Interestingly, I had that called on me once... of course I mark the ball like 99.99% of golfers do, behind the ball... but one time playing on aerated greens, the ball came to rest right in front of a big aeration hole, so I put the mark in front, because if I put the marker behind it was likely gonna move, slide down into the hole, whatever.  It was just weird.  

Sure enough eagle-eye opponent asked me the "standard question" on the way to the next tee.

I told him - hell no, didn't you see the aeration hole?

That ended that.

BTW, anyone who says he's never cheated at golf is either a saint or a liar.  I know which way I'm betting.  Remember "cheating" doesn't have to be intentional.

 

shivas - we've discussed it before and I am with you 100%.  The wussy out was for the more tender hearts in this thread, and on this forum.

TH

Good man.  You can't come back west with anything less than a W.  And I sure as hell don't care HOW that W is achieved.