yes, mine was the one who registered before 4 of the others.

there aren't really any "travel plans" involved for any of the kids in this particular tournament. It's a one day tournament, everyone lives within 50 miles. So yes, everyone has to drive to get there, but there's no real planning, it's just get in the car, drive there, drive back.

Everyone who signs up but is too late to make the field is automatically put on a waitlist. The priority of the waitlist is also based on time of entry.

So, since my son was excluded, but signed up before some of the kids who were included, he is naturally first on the waitlist. If my son were included, and the kid who was included by error taken out, that kid would naturally be first on the waitlist, based on the order of his entry.

Interestingly, the waitlist is only valid until the day of the tournament. On the day of the tournment, the waitlist is tossed, and whoever shows up first at the course that day for "standby" gets first priority.

You were looking for objective opinions. My opinion is that this is a poor solution. Your kid applied in time. The other kid did not. The erroneous notification received by the other kid, due to an administrative mistake, does not trump the tourney rules, which offer positions on a first-come-first-served basis. I agree that it seems obvious that the tourney should notify the other kid of the error. Of course, the hue and cry would be "yeah but.....we were notified." Notification does not trump tourney rules.

Again, whether he plays or not in this particular tournament isn't a big deal. He's not point chasing this season, he plays 90 rounds of golf a year, and will just play somewhere else that day.

It was just an interesting, and IMO odd, way of handling it. An error was made, which is fine (mistakes happen), but it seemed very easy to simply correct it.

Putting myself in the shoes of the parents of the other kid, I can say that I would not be surprised at all if I got a call that said "Your son didn't sign up in time to make the field. As you can see on line, someone else signed up before him, but because of our error, he was wrongly excluded. We need to abide by the first come first served rule."

I would never expect that my son could exclude another kid who fairly signed up before him. I'd view it as my fault for not getting him signed up earlier.

I agree. That would also be my response, if I were the other kid's dad. Again, erroneous notification does not trump the satisfying of tourney rules.

they've never given me the reason for their decision, but I suspect you are right.

But, as discussed in my post above, that doesn't seem like the right way to handle it.

When the error was discovered, the tournament had to make a choice to call one of the parents to say their kid is out. The explanation to the other parent that "yes, you were notified, but the notification was clearly in error based on our order of entry rules, so we need to correct the error and put the kids in the right order" seems like the easier call to make.

I agree. For what it's worth. Also, I notice that the solution they chose is the one that avoids making a change or placing a difficult phone call. This is what I'd call the "wimpy" or the "lame" solution.

G50, I may have missed it. Were you notified your kid was out or did they not say anything to you?

Well, because of the error, he wasn't ever really "in."

What happened was, I checked the tee times when they were posted on line, and noticed he wasn't included in the field.

I then checked the dates/times the other kids entered, and noticed that 4 of the kids in the field entered after my son.

So I sent an email asking how that could happen.

In response, they called me to say they had made a mistake, but even though it was their mistake and no fault of mine, they would not put him in.

Anyway, today they put him in. I think one of the other kids withdrew, so a spot opened up. So all's well.

(Even better, today he shot 74 in a big tournament (50 kids in his 13/14 age group, and he's only 13 so he's in the younger half), which was one stroke off a tie for first place). :)

It sets a bad example when tournament organizers don't follow the rules, why should the players?

Unfortunately, many of the players don't follow the rules, either.

Esp. the rule that requires that you, umm, accurately record *all* of your strokes on your scorecard.

A lot of these kids suffer from extreme amounts of pressure put on them from their parents. There's quite a bit of cheating going on, particularly at the mid-level competitive players, but really at every level.

That's another good area of discussion:

I've been faced with having to decide what to do when I, as a parent, have witnessed blatant cheating. I've watched and documented kids shaving as much as 6 strokes in a tournament. That's a huge number, that can be the difference between 1st place and 21st place.

I've always been conflicted as to what to do about it. Tell the parent? Tell the tournament committee? Do nothing?

Don't the kids have to sign their partners score card ? That's standard stuff in all the tourney's I"ve ever played in

yes, and they are each responsible for keeping the score of another player.

But that doesn't mean anything.

Most kids don't pay attention to the other players or their scores. So, for example, when a hole is completed, kid A who is keeping kid B's score will simply say "What did you get?" Kid B could have gotten a 6, but will just say "5." Kid A will just accept it and write that down on Kid B's scorecard.

Here's a true example of how easy it is to cheat. On the FIRST hole of a recent tournament (first hole, you'd think the kids are paying attention), a player had an EIGHT on a par 4.

Obviously, that's a disaster, ball OB, kid looking for ball in the trees, mis hits, 3 putt, etc.

At the completion of the hole, the kid keeping his score asked "What'd you get."

As a joke, the kid said "Eagle."

The other kid wrote that down! (Was obviously then told it was joke)

Hypothetical,

What if you were playing in the club championship tournament finals and the match was halved at the end of 17 holes. You had the honor and hit your ball a modest two hundred fifty yards to the middle of the fairway, leaving a simple six iron to the pin. Your opponent then hits his ball, lofting it deep into the woods to the right of the fairway. Being the golfing gentleman that you are, you help your opponent look for his ball. Just before the permitted five minute search period ends, your opponent says: "Go ahead and hit your second shot and if I don't find it in time, I'll concede the match."

You hit your ball, landing it on the green, stopping about ten feet from the pin. About the time your ball comes to rest, you hear your opponent exclaim from deep in the woods: "I found it!". The second sound you hear is a click, the sound of a club striking a ball and the ball comes sailing out of the woods and lands on the green, stopping no more than six inches from the hole.

Now here is the ethical dilemma:
Do you pull the cheating bastard’s ball out of your pocket and confront him with it or do you keep your mouth shut?

If you don't play by the rules, you are not playing golf. As a parent and hopefully a figure of authority on the course, I am surprised that you will let this occur. If I saw a player card a blatantly dishonest score on a hole, I would pull them aside and let them know that golf is a game of honor. Thereby, they should call a penalty on themselves and set an example for everyone else.

It is up to you to help change this behavior if you know that it exists.