I played some golf when I was in my teens and just picked it back up recently. I know a lot of people who play who have continuously asked me to get back into it, so I bought some clubs and have been at it for about three years now.
My handicap has bounced around from about 12-18 at any given time. I count every shot, I don't take mulligans and do my best to play by all rules. There are a few other people I know who I have played with that I have seen do the same.
But a lot of the guys I play with say that they have sub-10 handicaps. They keep track on the official USGA site, log their scores and stuff. I hear handicaps from people I am paired with when I go out.
Then I play with all of this sub-10 people and they are shooting 100+. Or I see them hit two balls out of bounds on a par 4 - then at the end of the hole they say they scored a 4 after three putting. I see people take multiple balls off tee boxes without taking strokes. I see people taking 'gimmies' from 10+ feet. This seems widespread, from people I know to your average golfer... and those same people seem obsessed with the idea of playing for money. Which I haven't done, since I just see blatant and rampant cheating.
Is this a universal thing or are people who play around me just psychotic liars? I could care less if you aren't going to be honest about your score. But it is insane to me that anyone doing that would expect you to play for money with them.