I am an older player 60+ who has a 56 and a chance of qualifying for the US Open. I don't know enough about some areas of computer science to comment on the possibility of cheat programs. I do know I got 56 the hard way and yes it is not really good enough but it is an achievement for me and cost me a lot of balls with no return like when playing ready go. I also know that if I made less mistakes I could do better have missed teh chance several times to start eagle eagle by blowing a shot on the second hole and only getting birdie. Or sitting on 9 at Merion on -8 and forgetting to change the club from driver and hitting out of bounds. If you look at their scores that is their best they also have lesser rounds.
I have played enough to know that there are three basic approaches to this game: (1) the intuitive (2) the analytical (3) a varying synthesis of both.
The intuitive has a gut feeling (star wars terms the force) that is often very accurate. The Analytical, which is me, has also sorts of calculations and the better mathematician you are the more accurate they are.
One thing I have right is my putting calcs. Once I have guaged the overall speed they are very good but one still has to balance as in real golf the break against how hard you hit. Have not found a formula for that one and so I still have a lot of room for improvement
We also know that on shots that really make the difference there is virtually no margin for error. For example par 3's mis hits are punished mcuh more than in general play. You loose distance by missing the ding as well as accuracy, but then one skill is deliberately missing the ding and knowing how much to alter the shot. These shots are important especially in higher winds. The short is the computer does not have a lot of forgiveness. I mutter about it but then I realise I am not just precise enough.
Because of my age and I used to be a fair sportsman: cricket, golf, football tennis, motor cycle racing and had good reflexes, it annoys me that I cant have the precision I know you need. As a tip I play at least two practice shots when I am really concentrating and trying to score so that I get the bigger ding mark and the arrow Helps greatly.
As I said I dont know whether some people cheat, but I do know that some players are very good and do things I cant do. This could also be influenced by the quality of your computer, the video card and your mouse. I have a gaming mouse which has made a difference and it is hard wired.
Anyway a few observations.