Has Golf Etiquette Gotten Worse?

[ChetlovesMer]

9 hours ago, Wade Patton said:

Problem is that we're never going to have separate courses for those who can ignores/don't care and those who cannot ignores. Plus, as mentioned before, the downright vulgarity of some genres of music make them inappropriate for children, and disturbing to those of milder sensibilities. Respecting their elders is what the most advanced civilizations do, and I'm afraid we're losing some of our civility in this dopamine saturated age. 

Hey @Wade Patton, I think you make some good points. 

Speaking of dopamine saturated. I see this every time I take my kids to swim team/club/lessons. Both of my kids like swimming and both have either team, club or lessons a couple times per week. Personally, I love going and watching them. Seeing your kid either get their personal best or achieve a new milestone is very heart warming. The place where my kids swim also teaches swimming all the way from tiny kids literally just learning to swim all the way up to 12 year old kids who can compete on swim teams. 

It kind of makes me sad though. Because literally half the parents there don't watch their kids swimming at all. Their faces are buried in their phones. I saw one little girl often, she was clearly kind of nervous, but kept coming back. Her mom was always poolside, but never watching. This little girl (5-6 years old) finally made it all the way across the pool (the short way) for the very first time. She looked so excited and she pops up to look back at her mom. ... Her mom is playing Candy Crush on her phone.... F#cking Candy Crush! Her mom didn't even see the girl make it across the pool. Breaks your heart to see the excitement drain from a kid's face. Mom missed the whole thing. There's a moment you'll never have again. But I hope you did well playing Candy Crush. 😖

I wish I could say that's the only time I've ever seen that. Come on, parents. For a lot of kids swimming is scary. When they finally make it across the pool that should be a bid deal. Its sad the number of times I've seen parents totally miss these milestones. I saw one lady playing some coloring game on her phone while her kid was crying cuz she was scared. She didn't even know. It breaks my heart. 

[Carl3]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:59 PM, Vinsk said:

Going on 30+ years 

You need to control your hip thrusting. Maybe chemical castration? 😀

[brian222]

Just watching 2 guys play the hole outside my house.  One barefoot one shirtless.  Previous group a guy urinated on the green.  I'll call it in but not expecting anything.  Etiquette? Not here on weekends. 

[StuM]

31 minutes ago, brian222 said:

Just watching 2 guys play the hole outside my house.  One barefoot one shirtless.  Previous group a guy urinated on the green.  I'll call it in but not expecting anything.  Etiquette? Not here on weekends. 

Watering the green? That is bad🤯🤮

[Friz]

4 hours ago, brian222 said:

Just watching 2 guys play the hole outside my house.  One barefoot one shirtless.  Previous group a guy urinated on the green.  I'll call it in but not expecting anything.  Etiquette? Not here on weekends. 

Thanks now all i can think about is barefoot guy walking on a specific portion of that green....

[Esox]

14 hours ago, brian222 said:

Just watching 2 guys play the hole outside my house.  One barefoot one shirtless.  Previous group a guy urinated on the green.  I'll call it in but not expecting anything.  Etiquette? Not here on weekends. 

Hereabouts that behavior would get you on the sexual offender list. You can't just whip out Willie whenever the urge strikes.

[brian222]

Is there still a big difference in etiquette between public and private courses? I've never played a private. 

[imsys0042]

41 minutes ago, brian222 said:

Is there still a big difference in etiquette between public and private courses? I've never played a private. 

I used to belong to a private club and it was way worse there.   Not all private clubs are like that, the one I caddied at as a kid, the people were very nice.   The place I belonged to in PA had a lot of entitled, combative people.   That led a lot of people to just do whatever they wanted and that frequently stepped on golf etiquette.  Also one of the worst places for fixing divots and ball marks.   Want to play loud music heard 2 holes over?  Go right ahead!   That kind of stuff.

I'd also contrast that against a very, very "old money" golf course that the Pro where I belonged was a mentor to the pro there and could get a foursome out once in a while.   The people there were very nice and welcoming.  As day guests who weren't even sponsored by a member we were given lockers, treated very nicely and the members we saw at the club were very nice.

Having worked formerly at a golf course, I commiserated with a lot of the people who worked at my club and OMG some of the stories....

[SullyGolf]

On 8/23/2022 at 8:59 PM, Wade Patton said:

Respecting their elders is what the most advanced civilizations do, and I'm afraid we're losing some of our civility in this dopamine saturated age. 

Was with you until I got to here I think it's a lame take and has nothing to do with age / your generation / whatever it's purely if you are an entitled person or someone with any sort of social awareness. I'm 34, most of the time I wind up frustrated on the course is behind or in-front of overly slow / inpatient older groups. The amount of time we see 4 guys smoking cigars on the green slowly lining up each others putts for 15 minutes, I haven't seen happen once with a group of 35 year olds. That said highly intoxicated groups tend to skew younger in my experience but that's whatever as long as they are generally playing and moving along. The amount of times I've been disrespected by being hit into, by going incredibly slow, to stuffing cigars into the cups and not raking traps or fixing divots by older guys both as an employee working at a golf course and as a golfer is at nearly a 10-1 ratio vs times I've had issues with people around my age or slightly younger.

I agree with you though, please turn off music on the course unless it's just a drink + best ball scramble format haha.

Edited August 29, 2022 by SullyGolf

[Wade Patton]

9 hours ago, brian222 said:

Is there still a big difference in etiquette between public and private courses? I've never played a private. 

Both clubs I had privileges at as family had far less traffic that any public course I played.  But also one of those had Bermuda greens and those didn't require so much water to keep from burning up in the summer, therefore were usually much firmer and more resilient to impacts. I do not ever recall seeing an unraked trap at either one. 

The experience I started this thread over was at a course with some really soft greens, and it probably has the highest traffic of the next five or six closest to it.  In looking up tee-times and seeing some other courses reviewed, I found a fellow who had had a similar experience at a course I had been interested in playing. He then went on to say that the only other course he saw in such condition was "owned by the same management group". I lost interest in playing either one of those courses until I've played all the other options. I think the course I was talking about is independent of those other two, but I'll have to look that up.

Also I made a comment on the course website telling about the greens and bunkers without blasting the course but mildly blasting the "unsportsmanlike conduct" as I see it.  The course "liked" my comment, as well as a few of the patrons.  I've got about 4 or 5 other places to play before I go back there.

Hope more folks learn to show respect for their courses, those who keep them up, and their fellow golfers.

There's a really pretty gal named "Paige" with a golf etiquette video on YT.  She's probably too pretty for men and boys to hear what she's saying, but she says a lot of the right stuff.

6 hours ago, SullyGolf said:

Was with you until I got to here I think it's a lame take and has nothing to do with age / your generation / ...

I agree with you though, please turn off music on the course unless it's just a drink + best ball scramble format haha.

Ok. I get that.

I just think our society is far more tolerant of disrespect towards everything than it used to be. I was playing golf before you were born, so you cannot know how it was back then-nor can I know how things are at your course.  Knock 'em up there tight.

[Wade Patton]

So I'm looking at golf bags today because I'd like one for my second set of irons, and maybe a lighter one for walking when the chance arises. And I find that one company is bragging about their "BE THE GUY EVERYONE WANTS IN THE FOURSOME" bag because it has a wireless speaker built right in!!!

Music is one thing, but also you have the sort who want to blare their podcast or radio show through their speakers (as is done at my work some). I'm glad I don't work with those folks much. Anyhoots. Just because they sell it doesn't mean anyone has to buy it.

I won't buy a bag from that company now.