Poor Sportsmanship on the Course

Yesterday I was teamed up with a guy that wouldn't shut up, that constantly narrated his own game. Examples: "that was a great shot", "I'm delighted with what I just did", "I'm a bogey golfer, so I'm one point ahead right now" , and by narration I mean an unending stream of loud background talk blah blah blah . I think the only time he asked about me was to critique my swing.

A good golf partner in my opinion can talk, and engage.  Maybe it's a mistake to allow oneself to be randomly paired,. What do you guys think?

Over the years, whenever the family went on vacation to the beach, I would sneak out to a course at 6 am and play a quick 18 before anyone had finished breakfast. I always looked forward to meeting new people, and regardless of handicap, had a nice time.  So, for random pairings, my experience has always been positive.

Should I be paired with a golfer who was annoying, I would hope that I could be tolerant of boorish behavior and gracious enough to finish the round with a positive attitude.

It happens. One time when playing with someone really annoying, I told him to play ahead because I had to make a really important phone call to make, and was going to be a few minutes. The threesome behind me had no problem letting me join them.

Golfing, like regular everyday life, can be sometimes introduce you to people you'd rather not be around. It hasn't happened often thankfully.

OP, one of my regular playing partners is like that. He is just a self absorbed person. When I first started playing with him...just out of chance as we got randomly paired together in a local pro-am...I almost didn't return for the next invite. I'm glad I did as I got to know him a little better. Turns out he came to this country with $20 in his pocket and has made himself into a wealthy man. He is very generous and has included me in on trips, golfing experiences and business dealings that I would have never done without knowing him. On the course, he is very competitive and is still very self absorbed and still only likes to talk about his game. Yes, it gets tiresome and frustrating at times...but I'm not perfect either. We have been buddies for 5 years now.

That's a good point. No he did not.

I'm sensing a trend in feedback to be more thick skinned. Thanks.

imho people like this clown are very insecure off the course, he has to find himself in his golf game, after all if your good at anything let that speak for itself, not you yourself about it...people that are self absorbed at anything and talk and run their mouths are very negative people to be around and don't even realize it...sorry for you as I can imagine it made for a slightly not enjoyable time playing, but don't let that hamper you from going out again and getting paired up, I've played with complete strangers that after our round thought why aren't they on tour and their attitude and behavior was A+, also the other way around, 1st timers or newbies that also had a A+ attitude....it takes all kinds imho

For me, it differs per day how much chatting/ not chatting I can cope with. On 'good' days, no amount of chatting can get me out of my routine, on 'bad' days, I can get annoyed by a little chatting. (yes, I'm an introvert ;) ).

to the OP, i would say that the great people you meet by being paired up with them FAR outnumber any people who may rub you the wrong way.  dont miss out on meeting great people by not wanting to be paired up with them.

Well, I am a very patient and tolerant person...sometimes to a fault...but I, like colin007, have met far more great people through golf than bad which I credit to being tolerant.

For the most part I've always played with people like this, golfers like to talk about their game, I see no reason to think of it as poor sportsmanship.

But I agree that it's not good golf conversation, because generally golfers don't give a rats ass about the other guys game, so why talk about it? better off discussing the beverage cart girl and what chances we all have.

I was paired up with a guy who constantly talked. Luckily we were a twosome. So I just joined in with my own conversation. Why I remember him was  because at one point he hit, what he thought was a good shot. He even told me how great it was. When I told him "no it wasn't because you are in the water" he got this funny look on his face. He was not familiar with the course, and there was a water hazard just over the rise.  He quieted down after that.

You meet all kinds of different personalities on the golf course. Meeting different types of folks is one of the good things about the game. You just have to take the bad with the good, and keep your focus on your game. Yes, there have been a few times when I separated myself from annoying folks, but it's not been that big of deal.

One can't avoid being randomly paired b/c most of the folks are ok.   The bad ones are exception in my experience.    I have developed some defense mechanism for many different golf characters.  You may want to do the same - see below.

Chatty ones - give them a silent treatment or fight fire with fire (be chattier yourself).

Taciturn ones - give them a silent treatment.

Angry ones - give them a silent treatment.

Nasty ones - give them a silent treatment

No golf etiquette ones - lead by example, fix their divots, find their balls, etc.

Just having fun ones - just have fun with them.  Scores be damned.  Have a laugh at their expense, let them laugh at my poor shots, talk about their jobs, politics, family troubles, share a beer or two, exchange phone numbers, ...

You should continue to join groups.  The vast majority of people you meet will be interesting & entertaining.  Don't let a few annoying ones stop you.

Was it Sergey Brin or Jerry Chan by any chance haha

My guess is you paired up with a guy who plays a LOT of rounds by himself!  Possibly due to the introspective narrating you described.

dave

One old boy at my club often gets ignored, possibly because he's clearly mad and breaks into uncontrollable laughter for no apparent reason from time to time but also because he talks constantly (and I do mean constantly - from the first tee to the 18th green, and yes that includes during your shots) but I've joined him a couple of times now. Durring that time I've learned that he's actually a pretty lonely bloke, won't tell you his life story (but trust me I could) and that his time on the golf course is possibly the only time he gets to talk to people .......and trust me he makes the most of it. Last time out he was 'coaching' me pretty much the whole way round, even insisted on me using his putter for half the round as it was better than mine, apparently. As we walked onto the 18th green (him on another 7 or 8 for the hole, forget which, me 1 under for the round and putting for birdie....... with his putter again, obviously) it almost occured to me to ask why he was giving me all the advice given the scores etc......... but I didn't.

If I see him again I'll go out with him. All I give him is a 'sounding wall' to offload to, the way I see it he gives me the opportunity to practice with serious distraction (tight fairway, out of bounds one side, trees down the other, water in front and the bloke next to you begins to sing - trust me it's distracting) so to an extent we each gain something. Although if he shows me his invention for playing in the snow (basically a broom head with 2 nails pointing downwards placed upside down in the snow for you to put you ball on, I think I'll scream - had the demo maybe 10 times now and everytime he clouts the broom head not the ball...)

All I'd say to the OP is you never really know what's going on in someone's life - maybe they're just a pratt or maybe there's a reason they feel the need to constantly bring attention to their own game. Personally I'd ignore it totally if you can.