Golf has not been without it's darker moments, to be sure, and if we are to be honest with ourselves we would have to admit that there is probably not a course anywhere in the world when, on any given day, some shady individual is not furtively committing an offence that transgresses the laws of the game.

Yet by and large there is still a great deal of honour and integrity surrounding a game that lives by these ideals and last week's incidents are excellent examples.

The first involved Ireland's cigar-puffing Darren Clarke, the second England's colourful Ian Poulter and although their transgressions were of a totally different nature, a culture of sportsmanship was an underlying factor in both cases.

Charismatic Poulter's behaviour during the BMW Championship when he allegedly blew his top and used obscene language in his frustration at being unable to find his ball, can hardly be condoned - even though he was playing under the strain of knowing that a good result was critical to his restoration to the World Top 50, to his earning himself a place at the US Open next month and to saving a season that was slowly but surely wrecking his hopes of playing in the Ryder Cup in September

But perhaps what mattered most was that he knew he had crossed the line and instead of waiting to be reprimanded, he took the initiative, and as quickly as possible, went to the European Tour's CEO George O'Grady with an abject apology and then, when asked what he believed was an appropriate fine, imposed on himself a hefty £5,000 which is believed to be a record for his type of offence.

"It's as high as we've given to anybody," said O'Grady on Sunday. "He suggested a figure which I found acceptable.

"What he did is not condoned by the tour and the most heartening thing is that it's not condoned by the players

"We certainly don't condone that kind of language, especially if it's in any way directed at the volunteers at a tournament. The volunteer support of the European Tour - all tours - is absolutely the bedrock.

"Ian Poulter is in the process - it may even have arrived by now - of sending an apology to the chief marshal in Ireland and to all the Irish marshals, saying how much he enjoys playing there and regretting his swear words and his attitude.

So here's the thing. Everyone can make a mistake and lose their cool. It's all part of the tough world of professional sport and, indeed, all very much part of life.

But not everyone knows how to repent, to humble themselves with unconditional apologies devoid of excuses as Poulter has done.

In the case of Clark, whose private life is undergoing enormous stress as his wife, Heather, battles cancer, his good deed for the day involved a whole heap of honesty.

What happened was this.

Clarke was leading the field by two shots when the rain-delayed final round at the Irish Open at Carton House near Dublin two Sundays ago was suspended when it ran out of light and the players remaining on the course were asked to come back the next morning, weather permitting to finish their rounds.

As a front-runner, Clarke was one of these, of course, but he wasn't looking forward to the first shot he would have to play.

The Ulsterman, seeking to become the first Irish winner since John O'Leary in 1982, had pushed his tee shot into heavy rough minutes before play was suspended, yet, to his surprise, found the ball in a much better lie the next day when play resumed.

Instead of being partly buried by some tough rough around it, the ball was sitting up nicely on grass that had been flattened and it gave him a great chance of reaching the green in two.

Clarke refused to accept the new lie, however, despite getting the OK from officials, and insisted on chipping out sideways onto the fairway as he would have had to do from the original lie.

His noble act cost him a bogey - and probably the title in the end, although his three putts and subsequent bogey at 18 was the final nail - and his colleagues have been singing his praises ever since, notably Michael Campbell, the US Open champion.

"There's a lot of talk between the players and he's gone up in my estimation tenfold," said the New Zealander during an interview at Wentworth a few days later.

"I have great respect for what he did. To basically penalise himself due to his lie 24 hours later was amazing.

"That's the beautiful thing about this game. It's a real gentleman's game and he's upholding the integrity of the game of golf and himself.

"It's just one of those things that should be repeated more often, I think. We've had a few cases in the past where we've had a few bad examples set on the golf course.

Campbell named no names. but clearly one of the bad guys in this instance would have been Colin Montgomerie who last year was openly accused by colleagues of cheating after TV footage showed that he had improved his lie when resuming a suspended round in a tournament in Asia.

Monty claimed it was an honest mistake and offered to return the prize money, but as his transgression was not discovered until after he had won, there was nothing that could be done and ironically, the tournament result was to move him back into the World's top 50 and launch a dramatic turnaround in his fortunes that would lead to him winning the European Tour's Order of Merit title for the 9th time.

It would also hoist him out of the 80s and into the top 10 in the World Rankings.

Cynics might say that the fear of TV's all seeing eye might well be the reason why so many professional golfers are calling penalties on themselves these days and to some extent they might have a point, but in truth I would have to say that the vast majority of golfers, be they amateur hackers or highly-paid professional superstars, continue to believe, as they always have, that when you cheat, the person you cheat most is yourself.