The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-06-23
CHEATING AT GOLF.
j High Degree of Honor Called for
in Playing This Game.

Golf S the only first-claSs game at which
cheating is at all easy, Supp0sing of course,
that the player is unaccompanied by
Caddy, and even when accompanied by
Caddy it is still quite possible TO cheat. II
player, having played five strokes says
to his caddy That is four, is il not?' the
latter Will probably reply, Il think it's
five, sir but ii the player responds, "Oh,
no, m sure it's only four, the caddy VIII
probably say no more. Possibly at the end
of the match he may mention To the other
caddy his opinion OF the circumstance, but
this viii not affect the players reputation,
unless he happens 20 be at his own club.
Even then 1t willtake good long time and
many Tepctitious Of various CaddieS adverse
opinions OF mis- sarithmeuCalpoweT tOthTow
anything like serious doubt upon his hon
or And yet what club is there which does
not possess one or two members OF whom
it is sotto voce said thattr you play with
them you win have to look pretty sharply
after their score?
| ain sorry 10 have TO express the delib
crate conviction that the belief in the honor
and honesty OF golfers has very unSub-
stautiai foundation in fact | have golfed
for number Of years over all kinds Of
greens and with all sorts of people. aud on
iunumcrablt occasions I have been driven
to strongly suspect my opponent Of cheat
ing. and IN many occasions | have posi-
lively detected him In so doing In match,
as every golfer knows, the two players
are often pretty widely separated If
Il player discovers his bah in a pretty had
die. he can, in the act OF addressing, alter
its position and thus give himself good
die. Such thing as missing the bali alto
gcther is not unknO vn even with fairly eX-
pcrienCed players, and have known many
instances when have not been obviously
looking but have only detected out of the
corner Of my eye that my opponent has had
Il uiShan Of this Kind that the coup daHS
Fair has not been counted unless | have
drawn attention TO ii when on the green.
OF course, this miscounting OF strokes is
much easier when the fortunes Of the game
carry the two players on different sides OF
a hedge or other defense from observa-
ton. | remember on one occa asion, having
satisfactorily negotiated somewhat high
bunker, into which myopponent blundered,
watching his head and shoulders-the only
part OF him visible-from the other side
He made several strokes and atlast jerked
tnC Dail over ihOuEHt III mao TAKEN iOuf
to get out, but he declared that the three
first strokes were only practice ones at
the sand I of course, could not contradict
this 8 nd being of placable temperament,
Tefrained from pointing out that it was
sea rcely etiquette TO practice strokes when
practically out Of sight in bunker.
Apart from instances of this SORT moth
ing is easier than to Intentionally forget a
stroke when counting up after hCling out
on the green. AS matter OF fact, unless
one steadily counts as one goes along it
is quite easy to genuinely make a mistake,
and it is TO this fact that the habitual
cheater trusts, should a. any time his mis-
count he detected. And il, being some
what doubtful of the accuracy Of his COM
putation, you endeavor to recall his in
diyidual strokes, he Will very likely tell
you that it is not etiquette TO do 60 No
doubt he is right in a certain sense, for il
is the honorable custom of good golfers
to entirely trust each other in the matter
OF counting strokes. But if ones sus-
licions are aroused as to the untrust-
worthiness OF the memory of your opponent
Ito put it politely, it is impossible TO avoid
keeping an eye on him and counting his
tally with his, it seems only right to point
out the fact. As matter of fact, the true
scoring etiquette OF golf eniOins the
frequent mutual reference hy the two
players to their several scores.
Most players ought to be approaching
the putting green, and consequently pretty