\u201cIt was me,\u201d he said on X shortly afterwards. \u201cI DQ myself and I have owned up and am facing the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
After an investigation, Surgeon was handed a five-year sanction this month, three of which were suspended, and the ban was also replicated by his club \u2013 with a disciplinary process under way<\/a>.<\/p>\n In August, Zach Holland admitted to staging a hole-in-one during a competition at WingHaven Country Club, in Missouri.<\/p>\n Reports revealed<\/a> Holland told his group he had to take a phone call, so would go ahead to the par 3 4th tee and hit first. <\/p>\n They later discovered a ball in the hole. But security footage checked by staff showed he had been in the vicinity of the hole before his tee time.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just in golf where there has been a furore this year. Cricket was gripped by the alleged antics of \u2018Clicky Ponting\u2019, a fielder accused of clicking his fingers to convince umpires a batsman had nicked an edge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n They are a trio of incidents that have propelled allegations of cheating in amateur sport into countless videos, memes, and the pages of newspapers all over the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n But is this just tip of the iceberg? Are there cheats all around us? Why do people do it, and do their actions deserve global distain?<\/p>\n Is cheating in golf widespread?<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s paranoia about players manipulating their handicaps, or outright skulduggery, you never have to go too far at a golf club without smelling the whiff of suspicion.<\/p>\n Thousands of you who filled in a massive NCG survey<\/a> earlier this year said they either suspected or had experienced cheating while playing.<\/p>\n More than 16% of people who replied said there were a \u201cfew known cheats at my club and we have proved it\u201d, while a further six per cent revealed they knew lots of people who deliberately cheat.<\/p>\n More worryingly, nearly 40% of respondents said there were known cheats at their club but they had not been able to prove it yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n For those so minded, the opportunities to cheat at golf are almost endless. It\u2019s a self-policing sport, with golfers expected \u2013 but also trusted \u2013 to apply their own penalties and protect the field by raising concerns about those they think are not playing to the same standards.<\/p>\n LISTEN TO THE NCG GOLF PODCAST<\/p>\n ALSO AVAILABLE ON:<\/p>\n Apple Podcasts:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n Spotify:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n Amazon Music:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n Why do golfers cheat?<\/p>\n Why do it? In an article for The PGA<\/a>, Professor Adam Nicholls, a specialist in sport psychology at the University of Hull, said we need to understand why people are motivated to play. Are they task- or ego-oriented?<\/p>\n He told me: \u201cIf you have a task-oriented approach, your goals are to get better and to improve. If you have an ego approach, you want to outperform others. Your performance is based on comparing yourself to your friends and other people.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicholls identified three particular traits in people that were associated with their propensity to cheat. These were:<\/p>\n Machiavellianism \u2013 More likely to be manipulative, corrupt and often immoral<\/p>\n Narcissism \u2013 Having inflated self-importance, can be vain and have a strong sense of entitlement<\/p>\n Psychopathy \u2013 Showing little empathy and displaying anti-social tendencies<\/p>\n If we all know cheating is wrong, why does it happen? Prof Nicholls said: \u201cSome people are much better at disengaging from their morals and uncoupling from their normal standards of right and wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cThey justify it by saying, \u2018No one\u2019s getting hurt if I miss\u2019, or \u2018Everyone else does it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cFor you and me, it might be hard to understand why people would do that. But these personality types think they can get away with it and can manipulate and distract others to let them get away with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe make evaluations based on threats and benefits. This is appraisal theory. If we believe the benefits outweigh the threats, we\u2019ll do it.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople make an evaluation every time they engage in cheating behaviour. If I\u2019m in the woods, can\u2019t find my ball, and think, \u2018I could just drop another ball down now and no one will see it\u2019, the benefit outweighs the risks of being caught.\u201d<\/p>\n Where do we draw the line and is it becoming more acceptable to cheat?\u00a0<\/p>\n But the opprobrium that surrounds incidents of rule breaking isn\u2019t universal. \u201cIn team sports,\u201d added Prof Nicholls, \u201cif you can get away with a professional foul \u2013 or can get away with something \u2013 then there seems to be an expectation that players should do it.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019ll kick up a fuss if a footballer dives and a penalty is awarded against our team but secretly applaud a player for being \u2018crafty\u2019 if the decision goes our way.<\/p>\n While rubbing sandpaper on a cricket ball causes outrage, there are fewer concerns if a batter knows they\u2019ve edged a ball but doesn\u2019t walk. We expect the umpires, or the referees in football, to make the decisions \u2013 and for them, and technology, to take the fall if they get it wrong.<\/p>\n Even in golf, there are layers to how players treat rule-breaking. Dropping a ball, kicking it away from a bad lie, marking it wrongly, or fiddling with a scorecard \u2013 these are capital offences and anyone caught can expect to be dealt with harshly.\u00a0<\/p>\n But manipulating handicaps? Getting people you haven\u2019t played with to attest general play scores you want to record? Being selective about what scores you submit?\u00a0<\/p>\n These are all breaches of the Rules of Handicapping, but I\u2019ve had stand-up arguments with people who will swear this isn\u2019t cheating.<\/p>\n I think it is, and it\u2019s not just me. The R&A \u2013 the governing body that makes the rules \u2013 believes so as well<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we tend to find is that people don\u2019t really look upon the Rules of Handicapping in the same way they would look upon the Rules of Golf,\u201d said Grant Moir, then R&A director of governance, on The NCG Golf Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n The R&A had launched an awareness campaign for the World Handicap System which, rather bluntly, stated that golfers who didn\u2019t play by the WHS rules were cheats.<\/p>\n But is the punishment getting out of hand?<\/p>\n Cheating violates principles of fairness and equity upon which most of our sporting culture is built. Go back to those original Corinthian ideals and they were as much about how you played the game as to whether you won.<\/p>\n We all agree those found to have broken the rules need to be punished but how far should that go?<\/p>\n With every golf club \u2013 and every person in fact \u2013 having the ability to self-publish thanks to social media, we\u2019ve seen that a club incident can go global very quickly.<\/p>\n Fuelled by an engagement culture that pays for clicks and views, individuals can quickly find themselves at the centre of a storm that would previously never have gone further than being a local affair.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t do the crime, if you can\u2019t do the time. That\u2019s how many of you might judge those who have been caught breaking the rules. <\/p>\n The prospect of potential worldwide notoriety may also serve as a deterrent to some of those who might be tempted to cheat, even if it inevitably becomes virtual chip wrapping.\u00a0<\/p>\n But I find myself unsettled by such nationwide uproar. We all love a bit of drama, but there\u2019s increasingly something of the pitchfork and torch about the noise that surrounds these cases \u2013 fuelled by a society whose views are increasingly shaped by what social media companies serve up in their feed.<\/p>\n Should cheats be punished? Absolutely. Should they be subject to discipline by their clubs and counties? Definitely. Should they be stuck in the stocks of social media and pelted with virtual tomatoes on the internet? That\u2019s where I leave the train.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Now have your say<\/p>\n Why do people cheat at golf? Why do you think golfers cheat and what should happen to those who are caught? Are you comfortable with players being disgraced in public, or is that a just sanction for an unforgivable act that threatens the very integrity of the game? Let us know in the comments, or get in touch with us on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n NOW READ: We can\u2019t believe how many club golfers have witnessed cheating<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Is](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-481324821-1030x686.jpg\")
Is cheating endemic at your golf club? | Source Adobe Stock<\/p>\n![\"Have](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_377502003-1024x683.jpeg\")
Have you ever experienced anyone cheating at golf? | Source: Adobe Stock<\/p>\n