[IMAGE: ER Productions Limited]
Golf sometimes brings out the worst in us: Expletives galore, broken clubs, sh*tty attitudes. But no matter how bad it might get, cheating always crosses the line. There are few things worse than a sandbagger or, worse yet, an outright cheater, and that’s heightened tenfold when it’s someone you thought you knew.
One unfortunate golfer recently discovered their close golfing mate was one of those, and turned to Golf Reddit for support. Needless to say, they were merciless.
Caught friend cheating byu/upcat ingolf
“Friends and I play for $3 per hole skins,” this r/golf user writes. “One friend who is a ‘3 handicap’ hits his drive which is getting close to OB into the woods. We start driving our carts to look for our balls. A couple minutes later while I’m looking for my ball, I’m coming up from behind about 30 yards away and notice that he looks around (not behind) and drops a ball. He swings. Later, we putt out and he says ‘par for me.’
I ask: you found your drive? I thought it went out.
Yeah, found it.
C’mon man, I saw you drop a ball from your pocket and hit it.
Ok sorry about that.
Vibes were awkward for the rest of the round. We didn’t pay him out. It made me wonder how long he’s been doing this for. To friends…for $1 to $3 a hole. Handicap is most likely BS too. Lost a lot of respect for him.”
Not only is this a lame thing to do to a supposed friend, but it now forces them to question every time they’ve played together. There’s a reason ‘3 handicap’ is in quotes in the above story.
As you can probably guess, Golf Redditors weren’t thrilled by this anecdote and had plenty to say, not all of it kind.
– “That’s not a friend. That’s ‘someone I used to know who turned out to be a piece of sh*t.’”
– “It’s just in people’s blood. Like when a big dog tries to swipe a pork chop off the table.”
– “Public shaming is the only answer. Name him and post his picture.”
– “The wonderful thing about golf is it forces you to face how honest you are with yourself.”
– “I’ve seen a fist fight on the course for something similar… unhittable lie next to a tree. Bad guy, foot wedges out a couple feet and it was on.”
We’ve written many stories here at GD on the dastardly ways of cheating, but to violate a friends’ trust on the golf course is too low to comprehend. Many recommended the poster cut ties, or at the very least not include the cheater for future rounds, but Redditor lasercupcakes had a better idea:
“Nah dude, play the friend for big money and just be on his tail the entire round. It’ll be fun watching him lose a bunch of holes when he has someone actually keeping him honest.”