'It’s Sad What Some Golfers Will Do To Win A Tenner In The Pro Shop'

I’m fortunate. I can honestly say that I’ve never encountered a player with a suspicious handicap at my club.

Perhaps it’s because I usually play with the same 12-16 players throughout the year, and we play competitions regularly.

We all know the level we’re playing at - there’s just no room for any questionable behavior.

Anyone can come in with 40 points on a good day, especially the mid to high handicapper. Nor does anyone raise their eyebrows if another player wins a couple of competitions on the bounce.

It’s just a good run of form. It happens, although not as often as most of us would like.

However, I received a message from a friend recently that I found rather dispiriting - and it just reminded me how rife cheating is in golf.

“I’m done with the Wednesday evening roll-ups,” he said, which was followed by several angry face emojis. Given how mild-mannered my friend is, I knew something serious must have happened.

I’ve seen these roll-ups. They’re a great idea, especially in the summer when you can play some competitive golf after work.

They’re also very well-attended, with lots of people entering and staying around afterwards for a drink and a bite to eat.

I believe the roll-ups form part of a nine-hole mini league. Lots of golf clubs run something similar, as they should.

It’s one of the perks of being a member of a club - a bit of fun, and perhaps not quite so serious and time-consuming as weekend competitions.

I thought my friend’s anger would be the pace of play. Lots of people turn up, which is good, but it can make for some pretty slow rounds.

I get the idea of a roll-up, but I think it's always best to use a tee booking system.

Anyway, it soon became apparent that it wasn’t slow play that had irritated my friend, but what he described as “blatant cheating”.

I was quick to remind my friend that the use of the ‘C-word’ is a serious accusation and that everyone is capable of shooting a run of nine-hole scores in the 20s, especially on what is a fairly short course that is playing even shorter at the moment because of the firmer fairways.

“I’ve played with this guy. He gets three shots, and he doesn’t have those scores in him,” he replied. “Not a chance.”

Could this be a case of my friend being a sore loser? I must say, he’s actually not the type. I’ve never known anyone quite so gracious in defeat. I should know, as I beat him regularly.

After a lengthy discussion that we took from WhatsApp to the golf course (and the bar afterwards), he revealed a few more concerning details about the last few weeks of competition.

Firstly, from an adjacent fairway, he witnessed the player in question pick his ball up on one hole and not finish.

Secondly, on at least two occasions, he also saw the player scoop his ball up on the green, which either meant he couldn’t score or had accepted/given himself a gimme (no gimmes allowed, of course).

The 24 points that the player amassed on this particular week… Well, I could see where my friend was coming from. We didn't need to do any calculations - it just wasn’t possible.

And then it happened the next week (23 points) and again the week after (21 points).

“He always plays with the same person,” added my friend. “I’m not the only one who’s noticed his suspicious scoring. Some people have stopped entering and created their own little comps.

“It’s sad the lengths that some people will go to to win a tenner in the pro shop.”

Most golf clubs have several hundred members, so perhaps we have to accept that incidents like this are inevitable.

However, the handicap committee can review a handicap at the request of another player at any time. I asked my friend why he hadn’t alerted the committee.

“Word will get out that it was me who raised the issue,” he said. “As much as it annoys me, I don’t want to be in a situation where the guy confronts me about it. That will create a really bad atmosphere.

“I’m just not going to bother entering. I’ll stick to the weekend competitions, because they don’t seem to be open to abuse like the roll-ups.”

I advised emailing the secretary, although I understood why he was reluctant to do so.

We ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole with this one.

Should you be allowed to play in the same group every week? Should winning back-to-back not be allowed? Should handicaps be capped? Should prize money, however small, just be scrapped?

In the end, we came to the same conclusion: it’s sad that we’re discussing such drastic measures for a nine-hole roll-up!

However, I suspect we’re not the only ones to have done so.

How about you? Have you come across a situation like this?

Let us know about your experiences and what you think can be done to eradicate this form of cheating by leaving your comments in the box below.