Honesty Stroke

This morning I watched televised golf.

That's not something i'd normally say. For that matter it's not something i'd normally do! But there was an ad break in the cartoons, and even tv golf is better than ads.

Anyway, a guy was lining up a putt when, for no apparent reason, the ball moved. He didn't touch it, hit or kick it - it just moved. Now golf being golf, there's a rule that basically says once you've taken up your stance and the ball moves - it counts as a stroke (doh!).

So this guy goes and tells the course official what has happened. He gets a ruling that it is a penalty stroke, and he has to re-place the ball. So he put the ball back to where it was - a whole 3mm away! That's a rotation of about one dimple on a golf ball. It only just showed up on the replay.

So the player would have been the only person in the world who knew what happened. He could have played on. No-one would have looked at the replay. No-one would have known. But this is clearly a guy who knows about honesty, and only wants to win if it's fair and square.

For me that's real character. He may not collect the trophy, but he has integrity. And there's plenty of people who don't have either.