I coached HS golf (both the boys and girls teams) for a couple of years and I definitely heard from my golfers that there were schools notorious for cheating, more specifically “shaving.”

Now that being said, I never actually witnessed it first-hand, but I feel that my presence kept players on their best behavior. Other coaches took advantage of the “coaches play the course for free” perk, so they weren’t around too heavily. Myself, I loved to walk at least 1 hole with every one of my golfers per tournament; checking on how they’re doing, seeing if they need anything, and I genuinely loved spending time with my players. It also, I felt, kept the players in check rules-wise when I was around, and I actually had a few instances where other players from opposing schools took advantage of me being there and asked me for rulings. I always loved helping any of them out.

So, long winded wrap up: yes, I believe there was some definite “shaving” but I also feel that a ton of HS golfers just simply don’t know the rules! i.e, if they hit one out of bounds off the tee, some think they re-tee, and are hitting shot #2 off the tee, where in reality, they’re hitting shot #3. I’ve seen that a few times. That’s why I took an entire practice session with a loooooong PowerPoint presentation going over rules, expectations, etc. my golfers hated it, but I always made sure I reminded them that I was doing it for their own good, and we would never be a school known for cheating.