Golfer faked a call from sick grandmother to sneak and claim a 'hole-in-one' no one saw. One detail made staff rush to find CCTV proof
Zack later apologized for his cheating and resigned from the St. Louis club membership
One man is regretting something he did on a golf course that is now being criticized as one of the most bizarre cheating scandals in the history of sports. Zach Holland, a college golfer, confessed that he made a “fool of himself” by faking a hole-in-one while playing a member-member golf tournament at WingHaven Country Club, according to August 2026 reports by the BBC. 101 ESPN St. Louis’ The Morning After show was the first to break the news on August 7, 2026. Everyone on the team was celebrating until a detail in the club’s security footage revealed Holland’s deception and smashed what players thought to be victory.
A planned deception
It was a two-person team competition in the Missouri-based club. Holland confirmed that he excused himself by saying that he needed to attend a call from his sick grandmother and stepped away from the playing group. Just before his tee time, he drove ahead to the par-3 fourth hole, planted his ball in the cup, and returned to claim an ace. What added even more mystery to the situation was the fact that no one had witnessed the shot. Holland was pretending not to know whether he had hit the golf shot until the players saw the ball in the cup and counted it as an ace.
Camera footage exposes the lie
Later, however, when the club’s members were reviewing the security footage from CCTV cameras on the field, they caught him driving a car near the fourth hole before his tee time. He did argue, though, that there was no footage of him actually placing the ball in the cup. "I made a terrible mistake, a lack of moral character, and I can take the banter and the chatter and the heat because I deserve that from a golf perspective," he said.
Admitting that he made a dumb mistake, Holland resigned from the club membership and apologized. When asked what his motivation was behind this act, he nonchalantly explained that there was none. “I have talked to people, and there really is no motivation, just complete stupidity,” he admitted. The Morning After’s hosts asked him whether he had done something similar before. He said, “Not to this extent. I’m not a cheater on the golf course. I made a bad decision, and I have to suffer the consequences.”
Don't need sympathy
According to Nathan Charnes, the acting PGA of America president and general manager at WingHaven, the issue is now considered to be resolved by the club. Meanwhile, Holland proclaimed that he doesn’t need sympathy, but the extent of negative attention he’s receiving makes him worried about his family. The criticism has now extended beyond the golf course and turned into online threats.
"What I am most worried about is my family. Breaking trust with a marriage I have had for what will be five years next month," he said. "We have two kids under three, and it's not fair to them for me to put them in that situation, where when they walk through a room, there is a stigma there that your dad is a [expletive]." As of now, he is focused on moving forward and doing what’s right for his family.
Cheating in sports
The act of cheating may sit on the opposite side of sportsmanship’s spectrum, but surprisingly, it is just another garden-variety behavior observed in sports. According to a study cited by NPR, nearly 10% of the athletes admitted to cheating, and nearly 7% of the coaches encouraged the players to cheat. In golf too, cheating is not uncommon, and often it comes with a potential manipulation of the World Handicap System.
GOLF.com’s Anonymous Pro Survey showed that nearly half (44%) of the Tour pros surveyed admitted that they had witnessed a fellow player cheat during a golf tournament. Another survey of 3,250 golfers by the National Club Golfer found that 39.5% reported witnessing "cheats" in a club, but they remained unproven. 16.5% said the cheats were proven.
At least he's owning up to it
In comments to Holland’s remarks on this incident, some viewers roasted him for betraying authentic sportsmanship, while others appreciated that he had confessed it instead of hiding or denying it. @anonymoushottake commented, “What he did is stupid. But he is owning up to it. Some credit for that. Still probably best to take up fishing.” @kevinKoonjy speculated, “He said I’m not a cheater at half and never done anything to this extent. That suggests he has cheated in much smaller ways in the past.”
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