Golf's integrity depends on the honesty of its players. How common are instances of deliberate rule breaking?
Honesty is golf’s cornerstone and, perhaps more than any other sport, golf depends on self-regulation. This is why such a cloud forms over those suspected of wilful cheating. Upheld accusations can lead to individuals being ostracised from the sport and can even impact on their position outside the game.
Below we ask, how prevalent is “cheating” in amateur golf in the UK and how should it be dealt with if suspected?
In the vast majority of (if not all) club competitions completed across the country this year, the rules will be infringed. Someone will misunderstand how a drop should be taken; another may clip a branch from a tree while practice swinging before an awkward shot. These individuals will not knowingly have broken the rules and it’s not correct to say they’ve cheated.
However, it’s every competitive golfer’s duty to have as good an understanding of the rules as possible and, with a pocket-sized “Rules of Golf” produced by the R&A, that easily slips into any golf bag, there should be no excuse.
The R&A say these deliberate breaches of the rules, “remain rare.” The English and Scottish Golf Unions also confirm that, although they produce clear disciplinary procedure guidelines, there are few instances of clubs going to this level to deal with accusations of cheating.
Publicised cases are certainly infrequent, but almost every club has stories of deliberate rule breaking. Golf Monthly’s website forum regularly throws up threads about the issue of cheating and how to deal with it. A post a while back titled “Cheats?” asked people if they had seen cheating on the golf course. It swiftly received 28 responses, 18 of which recounted detailed, eye-witnessed accounts of deliberate rule breaking.
It seems likely that instances of club-level cheating are commonplace, but the vast majority never come to light, sometimes because the evidence is not sufficient (it’s often one man’s word against another) other times because the accused is simply not challenged.
Many who witness an infringement of the rules will choose to ignore it. They tell themselves it doesn’t matter: “he’s only cheating himself.”
This isn’t true. If someone breaks the rules, knowingly or otherwise, it can affect everyone in the event. That person may go on to win a prize or to post a score that lowers the Competition Standard Scratch.
“It can also escalate,” says Martin Yates, a former member of the R&A’s Rules Committee. “If an individual thinks he’s gotten away with breaking the rules deliberately, he’ll be encouraged to do it again.”
Challenging someone who has deliberately cheated is undoubtedly difficult, particularly if you’re the only person to have witnessed the infringement.
Some may be willing to confront the individual at the time of the incident; others might refuse to sign the individual’s card at the end of the game. In these cases the accuser must be prepared to stand by what they’ve seen. It’s understandable when people who play golf for fun choose not to put themselves in a position where they could face testifying in club disciplinary hearings, or even in court.
“One of our most promising young golfers played each week with a couple of old boys who, frankly, had no idea what he was getting up to or what he was scoring. There was a lot of chatter in the clubhouse and it fell to me to broach the subject. I invited the youngster into my office and simply said, ‘Now I don’t know if you’ve been getting up to anything you shouldn’t have, but there are suspicions.’ I simply made him aware and gave him the chance to rectify the situation. There were never any complaints about him again and he went on to be one of our best players.”
Grant Moir, a director of Rules at the R&A confirms that when rare willful breaches of the rules do occur a golf club committee has recourse. “In circumstances where deliberate breaches do occur, in addition to the penalty under the specific Rules itself, Rule 33-7 enables the committee to apply a penalty of disqualification in view of the exceptional circumstances surrounding the case,” he says.
“I play a good deal of competitive golf,” says Martin Yates. “I must say that in recent years I’ve detected an increasing number of my playing partners are unaware of my score. Too frequently I hear the question, ‘what did you have there?’
Golf is, of course, an individual game but in my opinion it’s also your responsibility to pay attention to what your playing partner is doing when you’re marking his card.”
“But it’s at a junior level that education on the importance of integrity in the game should be instilled,” says Martin Yates. “And it’s generally possible to be a little more direct when dealing with suspicions of cheating in the junior game and to quickly put a stop to it."
What we think…
Is it rare? It’s undoubtedly rare for incidents of cheating at club level to become public knowledge, to escalate as far as a home union or even court.
But anecdotal evidence would suggest deliberate cheating has occurred at most clubs in the UK. It’s either ignored or the evidence isn’t sufficient to make a solid accusation. In other cases it’s dealt with discreetly by the secretary or committee.
It may not be necessary for you to personally drag the individual’s name through the mud. The shock of being caught may be enough to ensure they never do it again.
