Ian Poulter - Ass

[Lihu]

Loving the thread topic 😂

Although, I have a non golfing friend who’s met him off the course and says he’s a pretty decent person in a social environment.

If I had to guess, it’s possibly just a show? “Fing Paparazzi” type of show? 😎

[sofingaw]

I’ve never met him, but it seems very likely that he’s nice, gracious, engaging, and cool most of the time, to most people. Probably cool to have a pint with. 

It’s obvious that he also snaps on people with little or no provocation, has a heavy chip on his shoulder, and relishes conflict. 

Both images of him are not mutually exclusive. But consider this point..

Its easy to be nice and likable when everything is going fine, and there’s no stressor. When people get under pressure, they show their true colors. 

Two sides of a coin (like all of us), but if one side is disproportionately impactful to others, particularly in a negative way, it can’t be ignored. 

[RussUK]

I think Poulter is just uber passionate about golf. We've seen it af the Ryder cups. When someone is that passionate about a subject you often get to experience the best and worst from them depending on the situation.

I do think the "bad" side of him is bordering on an anger issue (going by what we see) but the tour pro's are under so much pressure to perform it's just got to get to all them at times. Some just deal with ot all better than others.

[1badbadger]

Here is new new profile piece on your boy, @iacas!

https://www.pgatour.com/video/2018/07/30/ian-poulter--it-s-complicated.html

He admits from time-to-time he may "ruffle some feathers"...

[arab_joe]

On 7/31/2018 at 7:44 PM, 1badbadger said:

Here is new new profile piece on your boy, @iacas!

https://www.pgatour.com/video/2018/07/30/ian-poulter--it-s-complicated.html

He admits from time-to-time he may "ruffle some feathers"...

I enjoyed that, as I enjoy most things Poulter related...

But not half as much as I enjoyed "The Postman" delivering yet again at The Ryder Cup.  How a golfer that is so average for so much of the golfing year can keep turning it on in The Ryder Cup is baffling (his beating of DJ on Sunday, who was pouring in putts from all over the place, was genuinely impressive) but so, so satisfying. 

Long may it continue!

[Moxley]

It's a strange one, and i can only conclude 2 things :

1) He's just good at matchplay, which is why he excels in the RC.

2) He maybe doesn't train as hard and prepare as well(for instance, not practising things he finds boring like putting, or staying up late) for events that interest him less. This would explain  how in other circumstances (most notably earlier in the year in the Houston Open when he had to win to get to Augusta) he seems to be able to rise to the challenge. 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, arab_joe said:

(his beating of DJ on Sunday, who was pouring in putts from all over the place, was genuinely impressive)

You seem to have missed the many short putts DJ missed that day too. If he didn’t make it from outside 20 feet he seemed to miss the par putt.

Especially during DJ’s bogey-double-par-bogey stretch late in the match. Poulter was, what, -2 on the day? Good golf (with concessions), but not lighting it up.

But he does play better there. Sergio too.

[ScouseJohnny]

8 hours ago, arab_joe said:

I enjoyed that, as I enjoy most things Poulter related...

But not half as much as I enjoyed "The Postman" delivering yet again at The Ryder Cup.  How a golfer that is so average for so much of the golfing year can keep turning it on in The Ryder Cup is baffling (his beating of DJ on Sunday, who was pouring in putts from all over the place, was genuinely impressive) but so, so satisfying. 

Long may it continue!

I'm not sure it's all that complicated at all. The guy just seems to have a monumental chip on his shoulder.

His autobiography is illuminating. For someone who came from humble beginnings and became a millionaire through his natural talent and hard work, he just can't seem to let go of things. Nearly 30 years later, with a mansion in Florida, a fleet of Ferraris, prestige and substantial wealth, he's still angrily having a pop at some pro shop manager who did him wrong back in England in 1991 or what-have-you. A guy who's probably eking out a retirement in a semi-detached on a Barratt development outside Croydon and driving a second-hand Mondeo. In Poulter's position, I really couldn't be bothered... Let it go, man.

I also suspect that a lot of his ire arises because he never completed the rags-to-riches story by becoming a true great of the game. The book contains a clear reminder to its reader that the young Poulter had it much, much harder than the likes of Luke Donald. There is grudging admiration for Faldo in the book at one point, followed by a fair bit of invective later on. Faldo, albeit a representative of an earlier generation, grew up pretty close to Poulter's neck of the woods, and also came from a fairly modest home. But then, of course, Faldo also won 6 majors. He remains the greatest English golfer of the modern era. But Faldo's personality flaw appears to be his aloofness. Poulter's strikes me as incredible sensitivity. Or, if you prefer, he's just whiny.

Poulter seems to be a strange man. The cockiness serves to provide a very, very thin veneer over a certain fragility. But then he's scarcely unique in being such a person, in the public eye, in these times.

Edited October 3, 2018 by ScouseJohnny

[Valleygolfer]

15 minutes ago, ScouseJohnny said:

For someone who came from humble beginnings and became a millionaire through his natural talent and hard work, he just can't seem to let go of things.

I think this extremely obvious and allegedly his life was not silver spoon based, I lack empathy for him. He has no humility and has been known to be an ass without any discrimination to people. I don't hate the guy but I don't really enjoy his personality/tour presence so I just don't watch when he is on.

[3jacker]

Just imagine what an ass he'd have been had he been born rich.

[Sandy Divot]

He might be an ass, but I want him on my team!

[GolfLug]

On 10/3/2018 at 12:47 PM, ScouseJohnny said:

Poulter seems to be a strange man. The cockiness serves to provide a very, very thin veneer over a certain fragility. But then he's scarcely unique in being such a person, in the public eye, in these times.

What's unique about him is that 99.9% of people with that personality trait tend to have the veneer crack with very little pressure. His RC record defies this logic. 

IDK, unique, but it is hard to like him. Maybe his head was held in the toilet bowl under water by a rich kid with a Ferrari a touch too long but I don't buy the residual scar tissue from his upbringing as a pass for having an uncontrollable sphincter. 

EDIT: Good post, BTW.

 

Edited October 5, 2018 by GolfLug

[ChrisP]

7 hours ago, Sandy Divot said:

He might be an ass, but I want him on my team!

We have that kind of guy on our team. His name is Patrick Reed. He just didn’t show up in France.

[Moxley]

18 hours ago, GolfLug said:

What's unique about him is that 99.9% of people with that personality trait tend to have the veneer crack with very little pressure. His RC record defies this logic. 

IDK, unique, but it is hard to like him. Maybe his head was held in the toilet bowl under water by a rich kid with a Ferrari a touch too long but I don't buy the residual scar tissue from his upbringing as a pass for having an uncontrollable sphincter. 

EDIT: Good post, BTW.

 

 

You lot are acting as though he's done some really bad things - all that I can see he's really guilty of is being a bit showy, cocky, that kind of thing. He's Sometimes used bad language, which, unsavoury though it is, is also not unique to him.

Character flaws yes, but hardly bad ones. A sometimes overly sensative guy, as @ScouseJohnny articulats. But otherwise, he seems like a decent man, who is dedicated to his family , does charity work etc.

[GolfLug]

1 hour ago, Moxley said:

 

You lot are acting as though he's done some really bad things - all that I can see he's really guilty of is being a bit showy, cocky, that kind of thing. He's Sometimes used bad language, which, unsavoury though it is, is also not unique to him.

Character flaws yes, but hardly bad ones. A sometimes overly sensative guy, as @ScouseJohnny articulats. But otherwise, he seems like a decent man, who is dedicated to his family , does charity work etc.

Do you know of someone who uses their celebrity bully pulpit to misdirect their frustration on an unsuspecting bystander? He saves his decency for his family so yeah, he seems a good family guy. Thats all well and good.

I don't know what you mean by 'really bad things' but he is a bully. I don't understand how you are  missing that aspect of his persona. It's hard for me to like people like that. It's not just about being cocky or showy. I would easily give him a pass if that's all it was. 

Edited October 6, 2018 by GolfLug

[freshmanUTA]

13 hours ago, ChrisP said:

We have that kind of guy on our team. His name is Patrick Reed. He just didn’t show up in France.

Patrick Reed is not that bad. People keep jumping on this guy. He has fiery moments, but for the most part he likes to joke and have fun just like the rest of the younger guys on tour. 

[ChrisP]

2 hours ago, freshmanUTA said:

Patrick Reed is not that bad. People keep jumping on this guy. He has fiery moments, but for the most part he likes to joke and have fun just like the rest of the younger guys on tour. 

Yeah but Euros say the same thing about Poulter. Just saying from a Euro’s perspective (even though I’m not one), they see Reed similar to the way we view Poulter. 

[golf dad]

Poulter is not an ass! He shot a Titleist commercial at our golf club  could not have been more fun,social with the membership.  Had everyone in stitches and never stopped interacting with the kids. He even stayed  enjoyed dinner at the club cracking up the staff. Must be a different person or just more competitive on the course as many of the golfers are.