Jim and the "honest golfer" theory...

[yyz]

Okay, so beandip was pouting about his bad beat on the local Putt-Putt track out at Coney Island.

He brought up the concept of "honest golfers", and I say that idea is a joke! Golf is always preported to be the only "true gentleman's game".

You always here:

"Golfer's are the only people who call penalties on themselves."

Or:

"It's a game based on the honor system."

Blah, blah, blah.............

Golfers are some of the most notorius cheats I have ever encountered! How many guys do you know who shave strokes? Maybe got a 9 on a hole, and card an 8? How about 'fluffing up the lie a little", otherwise known as "Winter Rules"? Marking the ball on the green, and then replacing the ball an inch or two ahead of that mark? Taking that 3 foot "gimmie", or raking the ball after missing a putt? Let's not even get into posting scores for your USGA/local golf association!

"Did you ever notice that Bob posts his rounds in the 90's, but never seems to get the rounds in the 80's posted?"

That shit goes on all of the time, in every club there is!

Hit your ball out of bounds? Don't bother re-hitting from that spot with the 'stroke and distance' penalty........go drop where the ball went out. In a hazard? Go ahead and ground that club! Hit it in the pond? Drop it where it went in, not where it last crossed land.

It's a farce. A first rate farce.

I love it when the perpetual ball rollers, and rule benders play in an event, and shoot 15-20 strokes over their "usual" score! Kinda funny to watch these guys blow 2 foot putts due to the fact that they never attempt to make them any other time!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, golf...........A great walk spoiled? No........More like, "A great lie foiled!"

 

[beantownjim]

YYZ MAN THAT WAS FUNNY YOU SHOULD SEE MY BROTHER IN LAW HE CHEATS LIKE A BASTARD.I REMEMBER ONE TIME WE WERE PLAYING IN FLORIDA WITH A SCRATCH GOLFER THE WINDS WERE HOWLING MY BROTHER IN LAW IS HAS A MASTERS DEGREE IN BUSINESS A REAL SMOOTH TALKER WELL ANYWAY HE HIT A BALL INTO A CONDO I SWEAR TO GOD WE ALL LOOKED AT EACH OTHER AND SAID HEY TOM HIT ANOTHER ONE, MAN THAT BALL IS IN THE GUYS SWIMMING POOL.TOM SAYS NO ITS ALLRIGHT I SAW IT LAND JESUS CHRIST SUPERMAN WITH X-RAY VISION COULDNT HAVE FOUND THAT BALL BUT OF COURSE TOM INSISTS THE BALL ISNT LOST AND SURE ENOUGH HE WALKED OVER ALONE AND YELLS I FOUND IT.I COULDNT DO ANYTHING BUT TELL THE GUY WE WERE PLAYING WITH HE CHEATS A LOT THE GUY SAYS YEH I NOTICED YYZ YOU ARE CORRECT GOLF MAKES SUCESSFULL PEOPLE DO THINGS OUT OF THE NORM.MY OTHER BROTHER IN LAW DOESNT CHEAT BUT HE HAS TO HAVE A COUPLE OF BELTS OF JACK DANIALS BEFORE HE PLAYS HE GETS NERVOUS GUYS I SEE STRANGE BEHAVIORS ON THE GOLF COURSE RATIONAL PEOPLE DOING THINGS YOU WOULDNT EXPECT.MY BROTHER IN LAW ACTUALLY WHIPPED A CLUB INTO A TREE AND IT GOT STUCK WE SPENT 15 MINUTES TRYING TO GET IT DOWN WHILE FOUR LINEBACKERS PLAYING BEHIND US YELL OUT HEY TARZAN GET YOUR ARSE UP THAT TREE BEFORE WE THROW YOU UP THERE LETS GO YOU MORONS.HERES A GUY WORKING ON EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS TO HELP WITH CANCER THROWING CLUBS INTO A TREE TRYING TO KNOCK DOWN THE OTHER CLUB HE JUST THREW INTO THE TREE MAN THIS GAME IS TO FUNNY

 

[DR STRANGELOVE]

BTJ,

will you be at the super bowl party? or are you going to pull a PP?

 

[dawgball]

YYZ--I see your point, but a couple of the items that you mentioned are not actually cheating. If a foursome is playing (and betting we will presume), and they decide that they are playing "winter rules" (or tee-ball as we not so respectfully call it) then it is not cheating when someone rolls the ball. Consider little things like this "house rules". If it is stated that the group is playing the ball down, THEN it is cheating if someone rolls the ball.

If a man I am betting against tells me to "pick it up", damn skippy I ain't even looking at it. That's like my bookie calling me with 30 seconds left to go in a basketball game and telling me that he is giving me an extra half point for the hell of it. It's not cheating because he offered it.

Not posting your good rounds is definitely cheating, though.

Also, if you hit and ball that is not out of bounds (or legitimately did not look like it went out of bounds) but can not find it, it is courteous to take you strokes and drop. Slow play is bad enough without little things like this standing in the way. This is not the US Open. If you are wagering with people, this should be determined by your mates. You also should not request this. If they don't offer, you need to start heading back to the tee.

Just my thoughts on this subject.

 

[kcwolf]

yyz

I love most of your posts, but your blatant accusations about cheating in golf are absurb.

I live on the golf course everyday and play with +2 handicappers to -30 handicappers. I'd say that less than 1% cheat. The other 20% just don't know the rules. The rules of golf are foreign to the casual player. They make honest mistakes.

At least 40% of golfers who drive carts break the rules though.

And 80% of all golfers wonder why their golf course isn't playing like Augusta National, that Masters tournament he or she watched last weekend. :shrug:

 

[yyz]

kc,

You have no possible way to claim that 1% number. That is just something you threw out there.

I think the cheating comes from the ease in which one can pull it off. I mean, you can't knock six pins down in bowling and say, "I got a strike."

Golf will have you in many instances where you are away from the rest of the group, and can 'doctor it up' a little. Whiff on a swing? "That was a practice stroke."

Hey, I believe most people are well above board on the course. But you tell me a sport that is constantly touted as a 'gentlemen's game', where people cheat as much? Hell, maybe it's just Wisconsinites! I don't know........but I have seen plenty of it in my 25 years of golfing.

There is a guy at our club who has a 12 handicap every year.....never changes. Yet, he shoots par or just over EVERY year in the city tourney, and wins his flight! Sure, this is just one example, but there are plenty of guys like this.

I have to say that if you don't see the cheating in this activity, then you aren't looking too hard.

Dawgball

There is a difference between a guy giving you a putt in a match, and a guy taking it on his own. None of you guys have ever golfed with someone (or do it yourself) who takes his own gimmies? Come on! But like I said, what other sports gives you this chance?

Can you see a guy going to the hoop, pulling up, and saying, "That's a gimmie."

A guy missing an extra point, then pulling the ball back to the spot, re-kicking, and taking the point?

These things can't happen in those sports, so we don't worry about them, but golf will always be another story.

 

[dawgball]

yyz--I again see your point. BUT I am the asshole that will tell a guy that if I didn't give it to him and he missed it, then I made the right call.

Most of the time I don't play in tournaments. I am playing against other people in my foursome (or a couple of foursomes). If the group decides to roll the ball, then I roll the ball. I am against rolling the ball, but if that is what the game is then play on.

What you are referring to happens everywhere, but until I have money for or against a golfer I don't give a shit what he does.

If you beat your handicap by more than 10%, you are automatically flighted accordingly in our city tournament. This cuts down on some of the bogus handicaps, but you are not going to stop all of them.

Being called a gentlemen's game is appropriate, though. It's every person decision if they want to actually participate in the gentlemen part.

 

[yyz]

True enough, DB.