Since I work at a private country club, I'm allowed to play every Monday for free and can bring three others with me. I chose my golfing buddy, my "good" friend, and my "good" friend's friend (who I said can't even come because my brother or my friend might come instead and I HATE the fact that he chooses to tee off as many times as he wants to if he doesn't hit his first few shots properly aka at least 3 tee shots a hole. This isn't that big of a problem because only employees are allowed to played and not many come out so the whole course is open but it still gets frustrating). This round was by far the best round I have ever played at this course while the other 3 were doing horrible (they each lost 10 balls at least).

Situation 1: As we play, we get to number 15 which is a dog leg right and a par 5. I chose my 3 wood so I can get my ball right at the turn but instead it sliced to the right a tad bit and fell in betweeen 2 trees. Everyone else either topped it or shanked it into the trees so they all dropped way before me. My "good" friend decides to hit his ball before my golfing buddy who is way before so I didn't watch where it went but all we heard were a bunch of trees so everyone assumed it went into the woods. Next thing I know, my "good" friend goes to where my ball should have been and hits it without dropping,or even looking at the ball even though he knew mine was around there, but when I asked him what ball it was and he hesitated and replied taylormade (which I knew wasn't mine since I was using a titleist). I was REALLY skeptical of it because I was 100% sure it was mine but I waved it off and looked for mine but to my "luck" I didn't find it so I had to drop. I decide to go for the green with my hybrid (it was still a good 225 to the flag stick) and land on the hill before the green while the other 2 (golfing buddy + friend's friend) played it safe. My "good" friend decided to go for it too but landed it a little past mine. He decides to go straight for his ball after his friend hit it past the green while I waited for my buddy to play his shot. As he practice swings, I see my "good" friend reach down and grab something. He goes to his bag, comes back and drops a ball while looking around to see if anyone saw him. At this point, my friend just hit it so I just shifted my head up for a quick glance so it looked like I didn't see what he did but I did. At that point, I KNEW he definitely hit my ball and took it without even feeling bad when I asked him and was looking around frantically for it since it was my "lucky" ball (aka I didn't lose it in a round and 9 holes).

tl;dr Friend played my ball on purpose and switched it when he thought no one was looking. Cost me a par through a stroke (bogeyed it) and a really nice ball.

Situation 2: This happened later on on a different par 5. This hole was a dog leg left and about 540 to the flag. I hit my drive really well and decided to 3 wood it and go for the green since there were no hazards except for trees to the left and right. We watched as my ball rolled past the green. I was the first to go because I was "going" for it. My buddy goes next but as he walks over to his topped ball, he yells saying there are people to the back right of the green and to not over hit it because that's where they are teeing off for the next hole. As we go to my ball, we don't see anything. We looked everywhere but nothing. We came to the conclusion that the people in front of us took my ball because there was honestly no other place it could have gone.

tl;dr Pretty sure the group in front of us took my ball and cost me a stroke for having to drop a ball. This led to me parring the hole instead of birdieing it.

I was just wondering what you do in these kinds of situations. I'm probably never inviting my "good" friend to play at that course again with me because of his dishonesty and anger at how many balls he lost while having no idea on what to do about situation 2. I shot a 95 if you guys were wondering but should have shot much better if I didn't miss a 1 foot putt or lose 2 other balls on different holes or even mishit the ball 4 times or so.

Situation 1 honestly seems to me like your friend hit your ball without realizing it, and tried to cover it up by switching it. Wasn't purposely, but he still lied

I wouldn't want to play with these people lol

I asked him about it later (sit 1) and he just denied it and acted like I was lying when I blatantly saw him drop a new one and the fact that he didn't even look for it after all of us heard it go in the woods made it even sketchier as if he knew it wasn't his but was too mad about all the balls he lost.

I am really contemplating on not inviting him for the days I can play for free because he really pissed me off earlier when he invited his friend when I told him not to and then this happened. My golfing buddy is definitely a cool person to golf with though and he is always down to play whenever which is a bonus.

This post was edited by Shmazoo on Jul 10 2012 09:43am

agree. I wouldnt ask those guys to play anymore.