Yea I had a nasty experience with this in a competition last season. It was the semi final of the handicap match play singles.

First off I shouldn't have had to play the match because the guy never put his name up after the quarter final anyway which means disqualification as I am aware which he seemed to be but then about a week before the semi final tie had needed to be played by his name magically appears, I enquired and was never given a suitable explanation, but never mind.....I wasn't after a cheap bye but im sure if I had done the same the disqualification would have stood.

So on with the match...

Eighth hole: im 10 feet away in 2 and he is 5 yards off the green in the semi with a testing little chip. I have my back to him pulling the putter out. As I turn round I see his ball moving as he addresses it. Now personally I would have called a foul on myself or at least enquired as to whether it was a foul or not....but he says nothing and plays his chip, badly as it turned out and missed his putt so I just cosy it up and take the par....

16th hole: I'm 20 feet away in 1 and he is in a greenside bunker. He then proceeds to break the same rule twice. He goes and gets the rake before he plays his shot taking time to rake the mark where the rake was lying. Now that is against the rules because its testing the surface of the bunker before you play your shot. Then he walks to his ball and ****es the rake into the bunker about 2 feet from his ball thereby testing the surface near his ball, he then proceeds to knock it to four feet and gets a half.

17th hole: this isnt really a rules thing more an etiquette thing. Its a windy night but sunny and late in the day the 17th drive is blind round a corner into the prevailing wind into the setting sun so visibility wasnt good. He has the honour and I stand behind him and watch his drive and inform him that its good. Only polite after all. So I stand up and get ready for mines, what does he do, puts his driver back and stands by his bag looking in pretty much the opposite direction. So I hits my shot, didnt see it at all cos of the sun and ended up losing the ball the hole and the match. i know I should have hit the fairway but thats not the point. If I knew roughly where to go I could have found it in the 5 mins.

So this really steamed me up. I checked his club returns for the year because I didn't beleive his handicap for a minute. He was off nine but putted like a pro and could hit a 7 iron 160 yards out of a deep-ish bunker to 15 feet of the cup after just one drive. So I finds that he has handed in the minimum amount of cards required to keep a handicap and the only ones he has handed in have took his handicap from 8.3 to 8.6.

Justice was served in the end because he lost the final but it left a sour taste in my mouth. I have resolved to take less interest in the match play stuff (handicap at least) this season.

I agree with the cheating yourself bit but I am amazed that people do it, I cant see the point myself. I play golf for one reason only, to do my best and improve year on year. Still I suppose it takes all sorts.

D.