Let’s talk about… cheating
One of our first experiences with cheating in junior golf came very early.
Our son was probably around 7, 8 years old, and playing in one of his first junior tournaments. He was in a four-ball with another young player, who had a caddie. That caddie was someone people seemed to know and respect in the local golf community.
And still, the cheating was obvious.
At that stage, we were too new to junior golf to understand every rule that was being broken. We could not have quoted the rule book or explained exactly what should have happened in each situation. But we knew enough to see that something was not right and the round did not feel fair.
That is a difficult position to be in as a new golf parent. You are trying to support your own child, understand tournament golf, respect the event and ultimately want your kid to have a good time. It can be disappointing to find out, not everyone is on the same page.
It taught us something quickly: cheating happens in junior golf, and it is a parent problem.
Cheating often hides behind “helping”
Cheating in junior golf often hides behind the word “helping.”
That is what makes it uncomfortable. Most parents do not see themselves as dishonest. They see themselves as protective, involved and supportive. They maybe want their child to win, keep going after a bad hole and not feel crushed by an unlucky moment.
But once an adult starts bending the rules, it’s not helping anymore. The score is no longer a fair record of the round, and the child is learning that rules can be managed when they become inconvenient.
Junior golf depends on children learning to count honestly, accept penalties and respect the rest of the field. If one child is being helped around the rules, every other child in the group is affected too.
So it’s simple: helping your child should never mean bending the rules for them.
What cheating can look like in junior golf
Cheating can include:
- improving a lie
- moving a ball without a proper reason
- pretending a lost ball was found in time
- giving the wrong score
- leaving out penalty strokes
- treating a missed short putt as given
- pressuring another child about a score
- giving advice when you are only allowed to spectate
- coaching or helping in a way the event rules do not allow
- accepting a wrong ruling because it benefits your child
A child sees when the adult in charge chooses the version of events that helps them most and they definitely notice when a rule suddenly becomes flexible when the round is going badly.
Your actions matter
The game of golf is built on trust. Every player is expected to follow the rules, count properly, apply penalties honestly and protect the rest of the field.
In tournament golf, your child’s score does not only affect your child. It can affect prizes, count-outs, rankings, team results and the fairness of the day for everyone else in the group.
That responsibility becomes even more serious when a parent acts as a caddie. Article 10.3 of the Rules of Golf state that the player is responsible for the caddie’s actions during the round. If the caddie’s action breaches a rule, the player gets the penalty under that rule.
So if you are caught cheating while caddying for your kid, they will end up carrying the penalty. A breach can lead to warnings and stroke penalties, but also disciplinary action and disqualification of the player, depending on the situation.
Your job as an adult is to support your child within the rules, not around them.
What to do when you feel the urge to bend the rules
There may come a moment where you feel the temptation to cut some corners.
It is natural to feel protective when your child is upset, struggling or watching another player get away with something. Tournament days are emotional. You know how much your child cares, and in that moment, bending the rule can start to feel like a small act of support.
But that is exactly the moment to pause. A simple line like “Let’s do this properly” gives both you and your child a clear reset before frustration, pressure or disappointment nudges you into helping in the wrong way.
If you are unsure of a rule, ask an official, marshal, organiser or authorised tournament person. Do not make up the version of the rule that feels kindest in the moment, because that usually means the rule is being bent to protect the score.
Handling it properly may mean accepting a worse score than your child hoped for. That is not always easy, but it is part of learning how golf works.
A better way to support your child
Good support means helping your child stay calm, honest and focused on the next shot.
That can be as simple as saying, “That’s unlucky, but we still count it properly,” or “Let’s check the rule before we decide.” When something goes wrong, your child needs a steady adult.
It also helps to separate the score from the situation. You can be disappointed for your child without trying to change what happened. You can acknowledge that something feels unfair without turning that feeling into a rule decision.
A child who learns to play the game honestly, even when things are not going well, becomes easier to play with and more trusted by other players. That becomes more important in your kid’s golf journey, especially when they start playing more official competitive events.
What to do if you see another parent cheating?
Seeing another parent or player cheat is a very uncomfortable situation, especially when your own child is trying to play honestly. It is frustrating, and it can be difficult to know what to do because nobody wants a junior golf tournament to turn into adult drama.
Our personal advice? In most cases, leave it alone.
Not because it is okay. But because getting pulled into another parent’s behaviour can quickly take the focus away from your own child and their round.
We also believe these things usually catch up with people. A player who is constantly ‘helped’ by using shortcuts does not build a real score, a good reputation or real confidence in their own game. At some point, they have to stand on their own, and if their scores were never truly theirs, that becomes difficult to sustain.
That said, there may be moments where something is too serious to ignore. If a rule breach clearly affects the score, keeps happening, or creates an unfair situation in the group, you will have to speak up. In that case, keep it simple.
If it needs to be raised, raise it calmly with the right person and then step away from it. Do not let another parent’s behaviour take over your child’s round.
What your child learns from an honest scorecard
Every junior golfer will have bad days. There will be many rounds where the rules feel harsh and scores end up higher than expected. That is part of learning how to compete in golf.
At some point, these children have to play without us. They will move into adult events where you cannot caddie anymore, where players keep their own scores, make their own rulings and have to speak up when something is unclear. That is what we are preparing them for.
If we teach them to manage difficult moments by cheating, we are not helping them become independent golfers. We are making them dependent on shortcuts.
The goal is to raise players who can be trusted when nobody is standing beside them. Children who know how to count properly, ask for help when they are unsure and accept that golf is not always easy and that we can not always win.
A trophy won the wrong way becomes a hollow memory. A tough round handled honestly can become something much better: proof that your child is learning the game, respecting the field and becoming the kind of golfer others want to play with. So, let’s just keep it honest.
FAQ about cheating in junior golf
