Why do We Talk to Our Golf Ball?

[Double Mocha Man]

Okay, why do we do this?  It is not aligned with science.  Only voodoo.  

Bite!  Go left!  Roll!  Be the right distance!  Etc., etc.  (Only the galleries shout, "Get in the hole!") Just watching all the pros on TV do it.  I'm guilty as well.  It never changes a thing.

I have a 10:08 tee time tomorrow morning and I'm vowing not to talk to my ball for the entire round.  Probably won't make it past my approach shot on #1.  This might be another good usage for duct tape.

[dennyjones]

2 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

This might be another good usage for duct tape.

Pictures or it won't/didn't happen!  😄

I believe almost everyone talks to the ball whether it be golf, baseball, basketball or any other sport.   Notice a field goal kicker with the game on the line, not only are they talking, they are praying!

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Okay, why do we do this?  It is not aligned with science.  Only voodoo.  

Bite!  Go left!  Roll!  Be the right distance!  Etc., etc.  (Only the galleries shout, "Get in the hole!") Just watching all the pros on TV do it.  I'm guilty as well.  It never changes a thing.

I have a 10:08 tee time tomorrow morning and I'm vowing not to talk to my ball for the entire round.  Probably won't make it past my approach shot on #1.  This might be another good usage for duct tape.

And more curious is how the foreign players on the Tour, whose first language is not English, always use English when they talk to the ball.

[Double Mocha Man]

11 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

And more curious is how the foreign players on the Tour, whose first language is not English, always use English when they talk to the ball.

'Cause Titleists, designed in the U.S., only understand English.

[boogielicious]

40 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

'Cause Titleists, designed in the U.S., only understand English.

And they’re made in Massachusetts so only our accent works!

[Carl3]

On of the more annoying experiences on the golf course is when someone hits a pull hook off the tee and starts yelling "CUT!, CUT!". 

News flash: a hook or even a draw will not cut...EVER. These folks are often seen wearing a white belt. 😁

[mcanadiens]

3 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

I have a 10:08 tee time tomorrow morning and I'm vowing not to talk to my ball for the entire round. 

So how did the silent treatment go?

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

And they’re made in Massachusetts so only our accent works!

😄  When I lived in Miami my landlord was from Massachusetts.  He spoke a foreign language I did not understand.

[Darkfrog]

1 hour ago, Double Mocha Man said:

😄  When I lived in Miami my landlord was from Massachusetts.  He spoke a foreign language I did not understand.

I have a bunch of relatives from near New Bedford, MA (a couple of my great uncles out there worked for Acushnet), and it takes me about a day of acclimation to fully understand them. It's like listening to a Scottish person speak English, eventually you start to understand.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Darkfrog
New Bedford, not New Haven.

[Zippo]

5 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Okay, why do we do this?  It is not aligned with science.  Only voodoo.  

Bite!  Go left!  Roll!  Be the right distance!  Etc., etc.  (Only the galleries shout, "Get in the hole!") Just watching all the pros on TV do it.  I'm guilty as well.  It never changes a thing.

I have a 10:08 tee time tomorrow morning and I'm vowing not to talk to my ball for the entire round.  Probably won't make it past my approach shot on #1.  This might be another good usage for duct tape.

I have one of the few golf balls that talks back. I say, "sit!" and it says, "%(*(^&__ you". Etc, etc, etc. Too frequently it says, "Splash!"...

[dennyjones]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

And they’re made in Massachusetts so only our accent works!

As Erik says, "oy"

[Club Rat]

I usually tell guys yelling at their golf ball is like talking to their wife...
It never Listens !!!  

A guy I golf with yells constantly at every shot, it's annoying as hell not to mention he can be heard
by others a few holes near by while they are playing.

I told him one day "This is ground control to Captain Bob, your commands are confusing the shit out of the ball.
Get up, get down, sit... "
What exactly do you expect it to do ???

[ChetlovesMer]

19 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Okay, why do we do this?  It is not aligned with science.  Only voodoo.  

Bite!  Go left!  Roll!  Be the right distance!  Etc., etc.  (Only the galleries shout, "Get in the hole!") Just watching all the pros on TV do it.  I'm guilty as well.  It never changes a thing.

I have a 10:08 tee time tomorrow morning and I'm vowing not to talk to my ball for the entire round.  Probably won't make it past my approach shot on #1.  This might be another good usage for duct tape.

On May 23, 2013 I was teeing off on the par 3, 15th at Otter Creek Golf Course, in Ankeny, Iowa. I56 yards to the flag. I hit an 8 iron right at it. Just as the ball landed I said "Get in the hole." and it did!!

So, it does happen. ...just not all that often. 

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

On May 23, 2013 I was teeing off on the par 3, 15th at Otter Creek Golf Course, in Ankeny, Iowa. I56 yards to the flag. I hit an 8 iron right at it. Just as the ball landed I said "Get in the hole." and it did!!

So, it does happen. ...just not all that often. 

I bet if you had said, "Don't get in the hole, I can't afford a hole-in-one," the ball still would have rolled into the cup. 😉🍺

[ChetlovesMer]

51 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

I bet if you had said, "Don't get in the hole, I can't afford a hole-in-one," the ball still would have rolled into the cup. 😉🍺

We will never know. Maybe the ball "heard" me maybe it didn't? 

[Esox]

Sometimes they listen. One of my aces was an 8 iron I landed about 3 yards short of where I was intending to. Ball hit the hole on the fly, and climbed the pin straight up in the air about 8' I yell at it "Get back in there!!"  it dropped right back in and stayed.

[Double Mocha Man]

13 minutes ago, Esox said:

Sometimes they listen. One of my aces was an 8 iron I landed about 3 yards short of where I was intending to. Ball hit the hole on the fly, and climbed the pin straight up in the air about 8' I yell at it "Get back in there!!"  it dropped right back in and stayed.

My balls all need hearing aids... they don't listen.  And true to form, I played today and by the 5th hole I was having conversations with my ball.

[Yukari]

for the same reason we are here talking about it.

Thinking it will matter.