Every golfer faces temptation.
Your ball is in the middle of the fairway – but in a cavernous divot left by some hacker the week before. Move the ball 2 inches in any direction and it’s an easy shot to the green. No one is looking. Do you move the ball?
Or say you’re in the middle of the fairway again. You take a big cut with your 5-iron. And whiff. Nobody saw it. Do you not count it as a stroke?
If the answer to either question is “yes,” then it’s cheating.
While golf is a game based on the principles of courtesy, honor and etiquette, cheating is rampant. According to a generous segment of the nonprofessional golfing population, “everybody does it.”
Or at least everyone has seen someone else do it.
Cheating at golf falls into two distinct categories: those who cheat the rules and those who cheat other golfers.
Consensual cheating flourishes when the game is casual and skill is low. Hackers encourage others to underreport their strokes in accordance with the unwritten “no double digits” rule. It’s also called the Mercy Eight.
“You had a 12? I’ll put down an 8.”
And then there are “winter rules,” which allow golfers to “lift, clean and place.” Tiger Woods has paraphrased that rule. “You mean lift, clean and cheat,” he said.
Many golfers cheat out of ignorance, said John Tidyman, author of the “Cleveland Golfer’s Bible.”
“You’d be surprised how many golfers don’t know when they hit the ball out of bounds it’s a two-stroke penalty. They’re supposed to go back and hit the shot over again. So many golfers just take one stroke and drop the ball where they went out,” he said.
Golfers cheat each other because of ego and greed. Some justify cheating because the course is unkempt, the weather is lousy and simply because the game is so hard to master.
Most golfers who commented for this story requested anonymity, not because they cheat but because they didn’t want to implicate their golfing buddies.
“Once I was walking toward a green that had a deep sand trap in front of it,” said one. “A guy in my foursome was down there. Suddenly all I see is this hand, with a golf ball in it, appear at eye level. He tossed his ball up on the green. I didn’t know what to do about it.”
Observance of the rules becomes stricter and cheating disappears or goes underground when players are in a tournament, playing for money or are merely honest.
“Most of the cheating begins before any golfers have even reached the first tee,” said a member of two country clubs. He was referring to handicaps.
Handicapping is the system that gives players of different skill levels an even field when competing. The handicap is determined by averaging 10 rounds of golf to determine how many strokes above par or 72 the player normally shoots. That number is the player’s handicap.
“If you tell someone you are a 10 handicap and you shoot a 77, guys will generally get all over you about being a cheat, a liar and a sandbagger,” said another links enthusiast.
“Now if you’re a 10 handicap and shoot a 97, no one will be unhappy. Except maybe your partner.”
Tidyman said there is a simple way to avoid cheating on purpose or through ignorance.
“A golf pro once told me that if you avoid touching your ball from the time it leaves the tee until it’s in the cup, it’s a pretty safe bet that you haven’t broken any rules,” Tidyman said.
Scottish-born Alistair Begg, a pastor from Bainbridge Township, Ohio, is a 12 handicap golfer. He played the role of Bobby Jones’ golf coach in the feature film “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.”
“True-blue golfers don’t cheat,” said Begg. “Who does anyone think they’re kidding? It’s a perfect metaphor for our fallen nature. It’s someone trying to appear better than they are. It’s a form of lying.”
Begg doesn’t buy the idea that the sport is so difficult that a certain amount of wiggle room should be tolerated. Or at least understood.
“What if you applied that logic to marriage?” he said.
So cheating at golf is just a reflection of the fact that we all fall short of the glory of God. If we were perfect, we’d shoot par on every hole.
Begg disagreed.
“Birdies,” he said.
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