How would you react to this???

[David in FL]

If I reacted at all, it would have been to ask, tongue-in-cheek, whether my golfing was bothering him and would he like me to wait quietly until he's done moving the cart.

Message sent, but more importantly, with a little humor, I've kept my blood pressure down and can regroup and not have it affect my game.

Beyond that though, as others have said, the game's about mental toughness. If you can't hit a good shot because of some unexpected noise.....whether it's a cart, a passing car, or a barking dog, you're in for a lot of frustration in this game.

[flanagan]

This must the third similar thread I've seen in a couple of weeks, where someone is upset about the way someone else acted on a golf course and proceeds to explain how they then acted much worse. I wouldn't tell such stories about myself. Find some other group to play in. What's the point of spilling it on the internet? Do you think you can change behavior by the "consensus" of forum posters? Will your group care? I don't know what you mean by showing your #$?, but if it's what I think it is, someone should have tossed you off the course.

[MountainHip]

If I reacted at all, it would have been to ask, tongue-in-cheek, whether my golfing was bothering him and would he like me to wait quietly until he's done moving the cart.

I would do the same. I would make a joke about it. It gives the hint of the message, but at the same time, keeping rapport with your fellow golfers.

[TheWarHound]

This thread made me think back long ago to my days as a young soldier . . . you could always shit in his mess kit.

[TheLauncher]

Augusta, I had a similar experience during a league night last year. I had won the past four holes outright among my three playing partners (we play team best ball for a point a hole and one for match, nine holes) and I was only two over after five, a great accomplishment for me. I was on the tee at the sixth adn just as i begin my downstroke, the old codger we were playing against hits the hill brake in the cart, and I sliced the driver hard into the woods.

Whether he did this intentionally or not I'll never know, but after looking back on how mad I was, and the quadruple I took on that hole after slicing my second off the tee into the same woodsy location, I realized the onus was on me to mentally overcome what I perceived as his antics. In all likelihood I could have sliced my tee shot OB without the help of his ill-timed braking, but I became so incensed at it that the rest of my round was ruined. Ultimately he was only responsible for one (maybe two with lost ball) of my strokes. After that they were mine.

[RocktimusPryme]

Eh, stuff happens you gotta be able to let it go. Dwelling on things like that your just banging your head against a wall.

If You had reset, and stroked it instead of hitting the shank this thread wouldnt exist. SO you hit a bad shot, big deal, make a save shot and move on.

[I <3 Titleist]

I would've shook it off after I shanked it.

Then, I would made my next shot count. One shot at a time, m8.

[Augusta Hacker]

I appreciate the replies.....the mental aspect of the game is what I am working on the most these days. One day I am shooting at 82 and the next it is a 96....and I believe that it all comes back to being mentally prepared and mentally tough enough to move on from the last shot. I guess this incident was a carry over from the previous week were I had a pretty straight forward 4 footer for 5 or 6 skins. As I pulled the putter back, one of the other guys yawned. I fully believe it was on purpose and that prolly started the fire and the latest incident was all the fuel I needed.

I know I was an ass, I apologized to the group, they all thought it was no big deal and moved on. If one good thing comes out of it, maybe proper course etiquite will return in lieu of the foolishness. As far as spilling this on the internet, just curious to how other golfers would react to the story and their own personal experiences.....all part of the maturation process. No worries.

[kafka01]

How often do you see a pro throw a fit because someone's flash went off before or during his backswing……WAY too often! It makes me sick when I see someone blaming a poor shot on "noise", all they are doing is making excuses (and we all know what excuses are like). Really, how difficult is it to regain your composure after backing off a shot or to swing through a flash?

As far as i understand it, thats the most common way for the pros to deal with bad shots/putts - find something/somebody else to blame. Unfortunately we amateurs dont have many cameras or crowds around we can blame for a bad shot. So sometimes - we just look around us and find something to take the blame, since the pros do it too

[FortAsel]

I'd have played my ball towards that guy.

Actually, something similar happened to me the other day. I was playinga match with a good friend and golfer. I was 1 down through 11 holes. We are waiting on the tee box for some old guy's to play they're way to the green just whacking the ball around, which was very funny to see, because they were loving it and laughing...

Then, has we are ready to tee it up, a guy comes up driving a cart, alone, and just say's this: "I think it is my time to play, get out of there!" Since it was me who was going to hit, I asked the guy if he wanted to die. The guy tried to smack me with a golf club because I had been rude to him and since he was much older than me I had to respect him. The guy goes out, straight to the reception and complains about me and my friend. The guy there called us and we told him what happened. When I told him the story, he just laughed and said, "Well, next time don't respond like that, but the guy was a real jerk wasn't him?"