Cheating in the junior division...

[IsaacIRL]

So today our local club had it's membership tournament today, and I was one of the three juniors playing. I think I was the only person who had even heard of rules in disc golf. Nobody else marked their lie before or after picking up their disc and one kid would get a spit out and count it as holed out. Then I found out that the kid keeping score wasn't doing it correctly. He never got under par on any hole, yet the scorecard said he got 5 birdies. Later I found out that he was making my scores higher than they were so we had to change them in the middle of the round.

The kid keeping score was also bashing the course the whole time. He kept saying that he hated the course and that his course was way better and how much he hated the baskets just on and on and on. Every time I would get a good shot he would say, "Ugh, why aren't you playing in Rec. or something?", or, "Seriously, you need to move up", but not in a nice, complementing way.

So, it ended up the kid cheating on the scores got 1st and I got 2nd even though I beat him on every hole except one. The payout wasn't much I got $10 and he got $17, so I got the disc I wanted. I'm not mad that I lost, but I am mad that I lost to a cheater...

 

[lokirising]

The sad part is he got away with it. Why didn't anyone say anything to the TD?

 

[jcf5083]

The sad part is he got away with it. Why didn't you anyone say anything to the TD?

I think that's what he meant

 

[Dave Walters]

I would have told the TD or confronted the player.
If he honestly had no idea then he would have learned his lesson.

If I ever caught a kid pencil pushing me in an event we would exchange some serious words.
Also I have heard if you are caught cheating (changing scores) during a sanctioned event you can be banned from the PDGA.

 

[scarpfish]

Very unfortunate that this happened, but the rules aren't going to police themselves. I had to report a pencil whipper a couple months ago to the TD who was erasing scores that our third player and myself had recorded. They DQ'ed him.

You've got to have the cohones to call out people who do this. If they're going to act this way, we don't need them playing in tournaments.

While its too late to do anything about your tournament, I would still have a word with the TD, and anyone else you know associated with the event, so people will be on the lookout for this clown in the future.

 

[LeewayeDiscGolf]

Don't be afraid to speak up during tournaments. The rules are there for a reason. If people aren't willing to follow them, then they have no business playing in a tourney, regardless of age or division. My son actually played his 1st tourney in Men's Int. because he felt it would be cheating the other kids if he played in Juniors. I, myself, keep a scorecard of my own during tourneys just for the reasons you mentioned. I've had people changing or writing down wrong scores before.

 

[Technohic]

Good lord! Some of the playing you describe is beyond as loose as I play casual rounds and the score thing on top of that, I would have gone off.

Kudos to you with being a good sport, but next time, speak up.

 

[jcf5083]

By the way, how old was he.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Even though it takes a little longer, talk thru the previous hole shot by shot so the scorekeeper agrees to the scores for both of you being written down.

 

[bboykin]

By the way, how old was he.

Indeed. Dude sounds like a bratty 10 year old the way you describe him. You should have busted his balls on this.

 

[jcf5083]

Indeed. Dude sounds like a bratty 10 year old the way you describe him. You should have busted his balls on this.

I'd put his ass in a hollow tree

 

[lokirising]

At the end of the tourney you should have walked up, shook his hand and then gave him a Stone Cold Stunner.

 

[aPfaff]

I'm a junior and if that happened to me I'd call the kid out. I'd say uhmm you don't take care of this course so why are you complaining and, you definitly arent beating me. And The only "Juniors tourney I was in the TD followed us around and stuff. Also Aren't you supposed to switch who gets to keep the score every like 4 or 5 holes or something.

 

[sdervan]

we always take turns keeping the card. I also keep my own score because i once had a guy give me two extra stokes and didn't catch it before we turned it in which cost me an additional 2 strokes. bad day.

 

[Midnightbiker]

When we play most tournaments, we pass the score card around every 4th hole, so each player takes a turn keeping score, so one person can't change the scores.

 

[scarpfish]

When we play most tournaments, we pass the score card around every 4th hole, so each player takes a turn keeping score, so one person can't change the scores.

They can if they have a pencil with an eraser. That's exactly what happened in the instance I brought up. If the pencil whipping hadn't been so blatent, I may not have bothered to catch it.

Really, the only good solution is for each card to have multiple scorecards and to make sure they match at the end.

 

[bcr123psu]

Most tourneys I've played in, we've passed the card around every 4th or 5th hole, but I also keep a shadow score card. A couple times it's come in handy when identifying errors (not deception, but errors).

My 2 cents (which seems to be the same as everyone else's):

1. Have everyone announce their score at the end of a hole and have the person keeping score repeat what they're recording
2. Pass the card around so the burden/responsibility of keeping score is shared
3. Keep your own score card in addition to the tourney card
4. Challenge and verify any score that doesn't make sense
5. Call out anybody that's getting creative with the pencil. If that doesn't resolve it, talk to the TD. If they jerk you around this round, they'll probably jerk somebody around in another tournament.

 

[bthoma1]

I had someone cheat in a tourney as well. I ended up reporting him, but not until after the second round. So he and the cheating were in my head all of second round and I couldn't focus. Stupid cheaters
Now anytime I can keep score I do, I always ask and repeat scores after each hole.
WHat did you get Jim?
I got a par
So you got a 3 Jim?
Yeah idiot thats what I said

You may get that a few times but I'd rather have that than a wrong score

 

[IsaacIRL]

The kid was 13 (just like me) and I was going to tell the TD, but then he "lost" the card which should have gotten all of us DQ'd but they said they weren't going to do that to the junior division so we just told him our "supposed" scores. And there were no adults with us to be witnesses to our scores. I tried to switch who kept score, but he said he really wanted to keep score. He admitted that sometimes he wouldn't hear us so he would just guess instead of asking us what we got. I kept trying to tell him that the scores he wrote down weren't the actual scores, but he kept saying, "I'm positive I birdied that hole." when he obviously didn't. Because of his made up score he also beat several people who were playing intermediate. And another thing is, I had a terrible score compared to what I usually get and this is only my second tournament so It's kind of embarrassing to have a bad score to start out with.

It was a small tournament (14 people) and not a big payout ($35 for 1st in open) so it was very laid back, and I didn't want to cause a ton of trouble over what bag tag I got and $7 so I just kept my mouth shut. If the stakes were higher I would have said something.

 

[Apothecary]

this is sounding more and more like a tall tale...