Do your playing partners ever get you mad? (long)

[dagolfer]

My friend and i golf atleast once a week together of the summer to get ready for our high school golf season and we are normally all good but then there are those days. I am a bit better than him and have more varsity experience so when i see soemthing wrong i tell just so he knows but this isn't what sets me off. His normal ball flights is a draw. So when he told me he wanted to get a new driver i said ah which one. His response was like nails on a chalkboard, a taylormade burner draw. The response back was you know you are going to have a problem with hooking the ball left because you already have the ball going that way. Sure enough when summer came and we started golfing again what did he have a problem with, CONSISTENTLY GOING LEFT!!! Also, he is probably only about 150 pound if were lucky and he gets a stiff shaft on the driver!! I am about 200 pounds and go at the ball on the drives so the stiff shaft suits me better but for him i just can't see his logic in this new club. What do you think about this situation and have any of your playing partners done something like this that it sets you off?

[denver_nuggs_15]

I don't understand the draw feature if he already has a draw. Unless he is going to take lessons to get a more neutral flight, it does not make sense to me.

A stiffer shaft would decrease his distance, but increase his accuracy. It makes sense if that's what he's looking for. Just because he is 150 pounds does not mean that he should not have a stiff flex. One of my friends who is about the same weight and only 5'8" could easily play an X-flex. He rarely goes after shots, too.

I really don't care what clubs my friends buy. If I think it is a bad decision, I will tell them. However, it is their money and their decision...not mine.

[Par Fore]

I am a bit better than him and have more varsity experience so when i see soemthing wrong i tell just so he knows but this isn't what sets me off.

Couple of thoughts...yes, the draw doesn't make sense with his ball flight....at his size, he likely plays the draw to get a bit of distance.....granted, several 150lb younger players really make a move at the ball and need a stiff shaft.....

Also, regarding your quote above, don't offer advice unless asked....if people see value in your swing and overall knowledge, they will seek your advice....if they do not, then just let them be.....and believe me, I have played with far too many people that just have to aim down the center of the fairway, play a huge slice, yet still refuse to aim down the left.....I used to say something, but unless solicited, people just do whatever they want anyway

[Big_M]

My brother-in-law just started golfing with me... well he had my old 360cc driver and wanted a NEW one... so he goes and buys this $75 club from bass pro... Golden Bear or some crap, and it has a rediculous amount of offset, a square head, and a uniflex shaft, and is 10*. This was the club that the guy in bass pro recomended.

...when he asked me what I thought I tried to tell him it was a waste of mony in the nicest way, and return it if possible . He now has another driver and listens to me when I tell him what equipment is and is not worth buying... rather than some dueche bag at bass pro. Also, he asks for my advice now as he has seen on his own that my knowledge of clubs and other things is somewhat above average.

Best bet is to just let people come to you for advice... they will be more grateful and accepting of it if they are asking.

[sabram]

Why would his poor club purchases set you off? If I made a bad club choice I'd be angry, but I couldn't care less about what someone else puts in their bag or spends money on. I'm on the golf course to have fun and get alomng with whoever I am playing with. A playing partner can only upset me if (i)they play slowly, (ii) don't count all thier strokes (and even that shouldn't bother me, except in a tournamnet, but it does) or (iii) say racist or ethnic slurs. I can't say that anyhting in their golf bags have gotten me angry or upset.

[Fat Slice]

You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose. Or his clubs.

Relax!

[flopdarock]

partners get me mad if they have poor ettiquette... dont respect the course... talk when im hitting etc etc...
but if they make poor equipment choices... poor shot choices... things that i know make their game worse... thats all on them... and i only say something if they ask my opinion on it

my buddy shaking the portapotty and making me piss my pants got me really mad once... but i got him back

[dagolfer]

I guess i should say that one of the reasons it might bother me a little more is that i know he will by my teammate on the golf team in the fall and i want the team as a whole to do good and wasted drives doesn't benefit the teams. But i fully understand all your quotes and i am goign to begin to now worry about other peoples stupid decisions, i am going to start worrying about my golf game this summer and getting to the goal of shooting a solid 80 to qualify for playoffs next fall.

[flanagan]

So, summer has come and gone, and it's January, and you are guys, right?, and you haven't had this out? Tells me it's bothering you a lot more than it should and apparently isn't bothering him at all, which seems to be making you more upset as the winter drags on? Oh, to be young again. This tells me that the two of you must not be close friends. You have to let it go, but you aren't letting it go with a rant on the way out of how "stupid" he is.

On Golf's tablet of commandments: Thou shalt not offer unsolicited advice about other golfer's swings, club choices, strategic decisions, etc.

My playing partners are either close friends or family, and we would all follow that rule except that, well, we are close friends or family and ask each other for advice or comments all the time for that very reason. Now, we're all way past high school, except our own kids, and I would have had no hesitation of approaching a good friend in high school and saying "hey, *&*#*$*&*#*%" why are you hitting that driver? And, I'm sure he would have had plenty to say back, and there would have been a healthy exchange of ideas and other things as well.

Every kid has their own level of dedication and unique approach to any sport, you can try by example to inspire whatever level you wish, but don't let yourself get eaten up if others just don't approach it like you do or see it the way you do. Or, get to be better friends and he'll want or tolerate your opinion.

[glebert]

The only time my partner got me mad was by oh-so-subtlety saying he beat me to our wives at dinner, despite that fact that 1.) he took no penalty strokes for lost balls and 2.) I've beaten him dozens of times and said nothing because I am not the type to rub it in. So I called him out on the penalty strokes (in front of our wives of course).

[imtomtomim]

I play an r7 draw and I do play a draw normally, but the 9.0* is only 1* closed faced. I like the weighting of it, allows me to release real late and fast. No real problems controling my draw. my only complaint is that I can't hit mid or low fades but having an easy go-to shot for the longest most inaccurate club in your bag gives me a lot less to think about.

[Dub]

Playing partners generally don't ever make me mad....unless they are disrespectful and rude to the other patrons and employees of the course. This has only happend a handful of times in fifteen years of golfing.

Example: We had five foursomes in our outing that were all guys we normally played with on a golf league. We played the same course each month for the league tourneys. We would "travel" to other courses as a group and play them....mixing up some small bets, team challenges and just generally have some fun.

This particular outing found us at my home course. I'd been a member for a couple of years and generally grew to love the course and have high regard for the employees and other members that I'd gotten to know. The pro pulled me aside when my group made the turn and said that there had been an issue with one of the guys in our group. The group (of members) ahead complained that he had had hit into them. The marshall was radioed and went over to speak to the guy. He was a jerk to the marshall, essentially denying it.

Later on after the round we were hanging out in the clubhouse and settling our bets and watching tv. I pulled the guy over and asked about the incident. I didn't pass judgement on him but by mentioning it to him he knew right away that I'd been contacted by the course. He appologized to me, but I shrugged it off and suggested he appologize to the other people involved.

I found out later that he did so to everyone's satisfaction....even the guys he hit into.


There is no place for rudeness and poor behavior on the course. If you are having a bad round, then deal with it...don't take it out on others. I suppose this is one of the reasons I like or dislike certain pro golfers. Their behavior on the course says a lot about their character. In that regard, we are no different.

[Chief Broom]

There is no place for rudeness and poor behavior on the course. If you are having a bad round, then deal with it...don't take it out on others...

At it's heart golf is a gentlmen's game founded upon core values of honesty, etiquite, and politeness. No other game has this component to this degree as does golf. Think about it. Where you stand in relation to other people playing is important, and not because it influences play (as in being offsides in football), but because of etiquete. When you can talk, where you can walk on the green, the order of play, all are important. Golf is unique especially in todays fast paced interconnected world.