Golf is a game based on honesty and integrity but modern times have me questioning where the game will be in a few years’ time, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Earlier this year I played in a golf day, it was a great afternoon played in good spirits. News quickly travelled that a player in the day produced the perfect shot. During prize giving, he duly won the nearest to the pin prize on offer – I mean how much closer do you get?! – but what happened afterwards shocked me. Ask my colleagues, they know how bemused I was at what transpired.
The ‘offending player’ was now, as I thought, due to buy everyone a round as tradition dictates. He did not; instead he made a hasty exit. No free ice cold Castle Light draught for me …
Buying everyone a round is an expensive task. Yes. Is the tradition antiquated? No.
Easy for me to say? Well, I am fortunate enough to have ticked a hole in one off of my bucket list. I proudly rang the bell and paid the bill. Luckily for me it was a holiday round, so there weren’t too many people in the bar. I was much younger but still had household insurance which covers these kinds of acts. Score for me and those golfers who scored a free drink.
The risk is obviously that you score an ace and walk into a packed bar. The fears are then that someone will be ridiculous and order the most expensive drink on the menu. That didn’t happen to me but such an occasion did happen to someone I know…
I am outraged. Not only for his pocket – insured or not, the items that people in the pub thought it was okay to order were so far over the top it’s scary.
Certainly none of the whiskies ordered are the person’s standard drink. I could go on about this but the point has been made. You sit in a pub and someone gets a hole in one, you order what you normally do. Got it? Good.
Golf is based on honesty and integrity.
What would be left of the sport if you could place your ball in the rough, take as many mulligans as you wanted, receive gimmies from 3 metres etc, don’t enter your scores to keep your handicap high or enter false scores to manipulate it?
Is this the kind of behaviour that you want to mimic for youngsters in your family or friend’s family?
Golf is hard. It’s frustrating and every now then you hit a brilliant shot and it keeps you coming back for more. Cheating is non-negotiable, both on the course and in the bar, and it’s up to you and me to root it out.
It could end up costing you thousands …
