Didn’t think that we couldn’t put that score into our handicap, though. Good point, Charles.

I think the game is all about honesty/integrity and you’re only cheating yourself when you kick/move a ball or put down a lower score. The other guys/gals don’t know when you cheat if you do it effectively. It’s just in your head and I guess if you can handle the guilt, fine, but there’s so much other guilt to deal with… why add more to the load?

I fall in line with @Hack @Charles. I think that it depends if you’re cheating your colleagues/friends or if you are all together cheating the rules. I believe in playing by your own rules – who cares. You’re there to have fun! Now, I won’t report a disqualified score, but otherwise who cares. Now if you’re being sneaky and cheating your foursome, that would certainly leave a lasting impression.

Ultimately, the most important thing is to have fun and keep pace.

Funny this post should run today, I also ran a post about business and golf on my blog. Check it out:

http://www.keithferrazzi.com/blog/golf-rules-golf-etiquette/

Warmest,

-K

My favorite cheater was a guy in a club who insisted on writing low numbers on his card during the year – which translated into a nice, low handicap to impress everybody. Unfortunatly for him, it backfired in the club championship when he was put in the bracket with golfers of the same handicap and he got blasted year in and year out. When he complained about it – we showed him the scores that he had entered for his handicap.

If there is any reasonable doubt on whether something is inbounds we tee up a provisional…but even w/that there are times that you just can’t find the damn thing.

Here in the NW this time of year, balls start to plug 2-3″ deep in the middle of the fairway at times. And I recently had one roll into a gopher hole.

That kangaroo stole my ball!

A guy in a tournament picked his ball up in a marsh marked as a water hazard, set it down in another place, moved plants so he could hit the ball and contacted the ground and the plants with his club before he swung. Naturally, he hit the shot of his life to within two feet of the cup and made “birdie.”

And I am the King of England.

I didn’t say anything because I was out of contention (I played terribly two days in a row and was steamed about it) and thought if I did say something, it would simply come across as sour grapes. I know I should have raised holy hell with the Competition Committee, but the guy honestly didn’t know that he broke virtually every rule about conduct in a hazard. What do ya do?

Anyway, that playing the shot from where the ball went out can actually be disadvantageous even in a casual round. Say you hook a tee ball badly OB. Chances are it went nowhere near as far as a nice shot down the center. Your dropping from a bad spot, assuming you can hit a good second shot off the tee. That’s probably not going to help you salvage bogey or even par. That’s why I recommend that folks playing that lateral rule hit a provisional from the tee if they think they are OB or in a hazard. A decent golfer will put themselves in a better place most of the time.

Something to think about. I am not the most stringent guy you will ever see about the rules, but if bucks are on the line, I do expect people to play by whatever rules are in play for the day. Yes, in a tourney it’s ball down and hit where you find it. If you’ve agreed to play pick and place, do it.

I will drop, take a 1-2 stroke penalty (whatever agreement me and my fellow playing partners have decided is fair enough) and move on.

If that taints the ‘envied reputation’ of golf then so be it. Common sense has to rule over traditionalist ideals at some point…especially when bigger issues than cheating are a threat to the game i.e. slow play.

In a competitive round…OF COURSE it’s different. I’ve taken the walk of shame and it’s embarassing and sucks but it’s what has to be done.

Barry Rhodes

I just thought the new survey on cheating in golf was interesting. I am less interested in debates about whether the rules are fair (mostly) or hard to interpret (sometimes), and more intrigued by the psychology of when people perceive it is fair to bend the rules — in golf or otherwise. Fascinating stuff.

I once replayed a poorly played hole after a rain delay. I’m not proud. What’s the worst you’ve seen?