Which is worse, cheating or lying about your score?

I am pretty sure everyone knows someone who lies about their score or handicap. And there was a great example posted on reddit recently:

Played golf with a buddy of mine today who is learning the game and two of his friends.
I played “meh” at best. I had an absolutely atrocious front 9 and managed to string together some decent holes down the stretch of the back 9 to salvage a 91. Nothing to brag about by any means for me.

My buddy didn’t want to bother keeping his score because he’s still learning the game and is basically just trying to have fun in the process. Completely respectable.

What baffled me is after the round when one of the guys said he shot in the 70’s and the other claimed a score in the low 80’s. I could only laugh when they told me that because I know I had to have out shot one of the guys by at least 5 strokes and the other by probably 10 or 15.

The poster goes on to say:

It’s one of those things that I’ll never understand. Golf is a game of you vs. the course. You’re only really cheating yourself if you’re lying about your score because you’ll never get a true assessment of your improvement.

And this caveman couldn’t agree more. Sure lying about your score makes you feel better in the moment. But what does it really accomplish? It doesn’t drive you to push harder to lower your score, and improve your overall game. It goes hand-in-hand with cheating while on the golf course, and I wrote a blog a little while ago about How to spot a golf cheat. Cheating on the golf course is more self defeating. I mean, possibly I can understand it when your cash is on the line, but during a friendly non betting game its entirely erroneous. Also as a side note, if you need to cheat, you shouldn’t be betting anyway.

Personally, I think cheating bothers me even more than lying about your improved golf score, but neither of those compare to those who lie in the other direction in order to give themselves a higher handicap. These egregious lies can lead to an advantage in amateur tournaments, especially ones that allow for the casual overlooking of rules, which is again something that doesn’t allow a player to improve.

What do you think rockheads? Which is worse, cheating or lying?

~Scratch

3 thoughts on “Which is worse, cheating or lying about your score?

  • October 18, 2011 at 3:15 pm
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    I couldn’t agree more with this story, when your playing especially like in this inncedent with some buddies. Its you againt the couse which is typically par, and your out there trying to work on things and get better and still try to have fun, which isn’t alway so easy to do;-) so there may be times when you want to hit another ball or even if you lose your ball and have to take a drop, that was a biggy with my group of friends I play with. No one ever want to count ever stroke, ecspecially penalty strokes. At first I would let it get to me because i would be counting all my strokes and I wasn’t even the better golfer. And your wondering why there shooting so much better than you when you know they’ve took drops, rehits, all the above! So if thats what people have to do in order to feel better about there golf game, then i guess so be:) In the end you are playing against par and you know how well you played so just keep it honest with your self and only worry about your score so you can approve your game. There is really only one way to score a game of golf if your in the pga, any thing under that and your making your own rules! So just go out have fun and get better, thanks and good luck, I need it too!

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  • November 8, 2011 at 7:23 pm
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    No consideration should be given to any players that conduct themselves in a manner which is deemed cheating.
    Although there are many forms of cheating, the final result should never be lenient, suspension or in more severe cases, expulsion from the club. On a personal note, I was robbed one of my clubs Monthly Medal due to a player who cheated on the day, but was not reported, subsequently finding out about it 3 weeks later. Further to penalites given, the score that the person cheating had, should be registered as a d/q.
    Enjoy your golf, and if there is, or you suspect another player cheating, report it to course management, or one of your club’s committee members.
    Cheers.

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  • November 17, 2020 at 2:38 am
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    I play occasionally with a clown that constantly lies about his scores. It wouldn’t probably bother me if he did it and the end of the round. This cat instead bellows out his score like clockwork walking off the green to his cart. To this date and I have played with him over 10 times he’s never gotten a double bogey yet I know he’s good for several triples and quads. Everyone in the club we play knows he’s a liar yet he still has the gumption to tell me he shot lower. I could care less about my scores when playing this guy, I’m training for a country club members tourney that was supposed to be played the summer of 2020 and now is slated for 2021. I play every lie and actually like trying to scramble like Fran Tarkenton yet this same cat has moved his ball all over the course one time taking a nasty pitch to chipping length and always improves his lies in the rough. Here is a great of example of him at work, chipping from the rough to try to get up and down, blades wedge across green. I am lining up a par putt and watch him pick up his ball and move a 50′ putt to inside my 10′ par putt. I back off my ball and say how are you within my ball, he laughs and acts like nothing happened. He misses putt and as we are walking off the green “Par” is what he says. If I gave a shit during my round I’d play horribly, I did once and shot a high score for my standard. I now laugh it off on the course but boy does it piss me off hours later. I play mostly alone and when I do play with a friend this dillhole is always present.

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