Played in a stableford comp today with a couple of guys I didn’t know but they were mates. Great guys. One of the guys played the second hole in 7 shots but told his marker he got a 6. I don;t think he was cheating, he was just careless in counting back. His marker just took what he told him and never questioned it. I had just met them and didn’t want to get all nasty with them.

So, should I have stepped in and what do you think of the marker. He was in a position at all times to see all seven shots. It wasn’t as if he was playing from another fairway and missed a duff.

Sounds like a pretty honest mistake to me from ‘afar’. It is not unusual for a marker to be reliant on the players score. My summary would be if you witness a second offence the we may have a problem. We do play a game of honesty and in my experience, over time, it is very close to 100 %.

And, yes you have every right to question the marker at your earliest opportunity, but as stated, lets not make an issue out of this as it was in most cases an honest mistake.

Why did you not mention to the player that he was mistaken. We all make mistakes. It can be done politely. If the player refuses to accept your version , Then you just pull back & say no more. It is entirely possible that the Marker was unaware of the Mistake.

Why did you not mention to the player that he was mistaken. We all make mistakes. It can be done politely. If the player refuses to accept your version , Then you just pull back & say no more. It is entirely possible that the Marker was unaware of the Mistake.

http://www.golflink.com.au/...

As I mentioned, I don’t think their was intent to cheat…...however, shouldn’t a marker go over how many shots he thinks the player scored. I always do. I only take the word of someone when they happen to play from the opposite rough to what I am playing from. I don’t think a markers only role is to record what they are told.

I could have pointed it out politely, but I didn’t. I am not overly worried, just thought it raises the role of a marker.

Why did you not mention to the player that he was mistaken. We all make mistakes. It can be done politely. If the player refuses to accept your version , Then you just pull back & say no more. It is entirely possible that the Marker was unaware of the Mistake.

http://www.golflink.com.au/...

As I mentioned, I don’t think their was intent to cheat……however, shouldn’t a marker go over how many shots he thinks the player scored. I always do. I only take the word of someone when they happen to play from the opposite rough to what I am playing from. I don’t think a markers only role is to record what they are told.

I could have pointed it out politely, but I didn’t. I am not overly worried, just thought it raises the role of a marker.

Who was marking the markers card? You or his mate?

Give me a six…..wink wink…...I’ll sort you out later…...,

As a marker I will attempt to keep track of the players score But I will not go out of my way to do so. The game is based on Honesty.
Had I known that a mistake had been made I would have mentioned so politely.
A markers role is to record the players score as reported by the player. Certainly he should Queery any points on which he disagrees. And hopefully settle these points amicably.
Having said that. It is not unknown for 2 players that play together all the time to knowingly ignore certain rules. In those cases the other players in the group are the only people in a situation to deal with this. Be it mentioning the fact that you think the player is mistaken or, after more than one episode, To speak to the club Match committee about them.
If they were cheating & nothing is said to anyone. The problem cannot be solved.

Why did you not mention to the player that he was mistaken. We all make mistakes. It can be done politely. If the player refuses to accept your version , Then you just pull back & say no more. It is entirely possible that the Marker was unaware of the Mistake.

http://www.golflink.com.au/...

As I mentioned, I don’t think their was intent to cheat……however, shouldn’t a marker go over how many shots he thinks the player scored. I always do. I only take the word of someone when they happen to play from the opposite rough to what I am playing from. I don’t think a markers only role is to record what they are told.

I could have pointed it out politely, but I didn’t. I am not overly worried, just thought it raises the role of a marker.

Who was marking the markers card? You or his mate?

Give me a six…..wink wink……I’ll sort you out later……,

Nah, I was marking the markers card.

A markers role is to record the players score as reported by the player.

I am sure this isnt on purpose but I think it is worded rather poorly. A markers role is to record the players score, period. This should (not must) be checked with the player. Rule 6-6a.

Saying a markers responsibility is recording the score “as reported by the player” is wrong as there certainly is an onus on the marker to be aware of the players score, the practicalities of this during a regular Saturday competition is where the grey area is.

And sure the game is based on integrity and honesty but if this is the sole case why have a marker at all…

I dont keep track of old mates score.
I have enough to worry about without keeping track of them as well

Almost the exact thing happened last Saturday in my comp group. An older guy who I had played with once before has a habit of when being asked his score sort of ums and ahs and says 5. There was a young first time comp player marking his card and I pulled him aside and mentioned that he should count the old fellas score as he had to sign as marker. He caught him out twice during the round. I don’t know if he was cheating or just plain stupid. I believe if I am signing a comp card then the onus is on me as marker to count the players score carefully.

This maybe a simplistic way to look at it, but surely if you can’t keep count just get a simple counter that you attach to your bag and click over each time you and the person you are marking for play a shot. Perhaps I’m missing something?

An example of what I mean is below, but I’ve seen lots of different ones around:

http://www.myshopping.com.a...—1151441088_Golf

I try to count. It helps me have an interest in their game as well as mine to be honest.

And trust me from someone who often has that many shots, you can lose track a bit. I’ve pulled up a mate before for missing a shot.

He wasn’t cheating at all, he just missed a duffed shot or something when he was thinking back through the hole.

personally i dont really keep track of other players scores in my group. Im always thinking about my own game…

“A markers role is to record the players score as reported by the player.”
The marker cannot & should not mark a score other than told to him by the player unless the player agrees to the alteration. The Marker is not a rules official. He is a fellow competitor who also happens to be a certain players marker. It is not up to the marker to decide weather the player is correct or incorrect. That is the Role of the rules officials. ( Match committee )
As written by R&A
“A marker is someone designated by the Committee to record a players score in Strokeplay. He may be a fellow competitor. He is not a referee”

That’s a good clarification post POM.

BUT if you know the score is wrong do you not speak up and politely tell your playing partner where he went wrong, or do you be like some of the old buzzards around, (no I’m not that old yet) that say nothing, then go to the Captain or other member of the committee bleating about how someone in the group cheated and have them disqualified. Mind you, they only seem to do that when they are getting beaten out of a ball or similar.

Personally, depending on how my game is going, I can have enough trouble keeping track of my own shots. But I must admit, you generally have a pretty fair idea of how your group is going because you are waiting for shots to be played etc and you don’t have to be a genius to count how many putts they have. I’d like to think my main priority is to ensure MY score is correct when I give it to my marker. I would assume HE would have the same priority. I guess if it comes down to honesty, we trust who we play with. BUT if i’ve had a bogey 5 and I know my playing partner was in a hazard, had to drop and then goes into the trees and chips out and finally had 2 putts and says, I had a 6… then I’m going to ask him to recount.

“A markers role is to record the players score as reported by the player.”
The marker cannot & should not mark a score other than told to him by the player unless the player agrees to the alteration. The Marker is not a rules official. He is a fellow competitor who also happens to be a certain players marker. It is not up to the marker to decide weather the player is correct or incorrect. That is the Role of the rules officials. ( Match committee )
As written by R&A
“A marker is someone designated by the Committee to record a players score in Strokeplay. He may be a fellow competitor. He is not a referee”

http://www.golflink.com.au/...

My issue with this is u keep saying “as reported by the player” and “told to him by the player”. Where do you ever see this written? Sure the marker isn’t a rules official but his job is to record the players score. How this is done is up to him but he “should” (NOT must) check the score each hole with the player – this is clearly written in the rules. As u say if agreement cannot be reached then this is an issue for the match committee.

I understand what you are saying but just think the wording is wrong. Saying they should just record whatever they are told makes it sound like they should take no notice of the player at all and just record what is given to them at the end of each hole and this is clearly not the case, if it was u may as well get the player to mark his own card unless he cant use a pencil.

You can word it any way you like but writing down any score other than that given to you by the player is soon going to result in disagreements.
Commish as I mentioned in initial post if I have any doubts I will bring it up with the player. But certainly A of the time you can not be certain how many shots the player has taken.
Sometimes I am unsure of my own score on a hole x%x have to go back in my head & try to count the shots taken. Being absolutely sure of the players score under those circumstances is unlikely to say the least.
I generally play with the same guys in the Group. None of us are backward about mentioning something if we believe that one of the group has made a mistake & none of us get upset if another member of the group Queries a score.
It is part of the game.

my marker did a bullshit job on me today

he made shore i lost to someone better then me

hang on…... thats not that hard to do really