Pet Peeves

[DarkPrince]

Lately for me it's been playing with people who consistently give me putts even as far as 3 feet out. We've all missed putts even as far as a foot out, and I've never had a handicap and I'm trying to establish one right now. So every time I end up catching up to a group or joining one on the first tee, I inadvertently end up having to not post a score, or I  feel rude by telling them I need to hole out to be able to post a legitimate score. I've bumped into quite a few people lately who seem to have no care for the rules and seem to actually look down on those who play by them :(

[sean_miller]

My only peeve right now is that I have to wait until my birthday for my new 2-hybrid.

I've had enough great experiences on the course that it's easy to block out the bad experiences - until next time the same thing happens and the memory of all the bad times comes flooding back. Calm blue ocean. Calm blue ocean . . .

[Lefty-Golfer]

Originally Posted by DarkPrince

Lately for me it's been playing with people who consistently give themselves or me putts even as far as 3 feet out. We've all missed putts even as far as a foot out, and I've never had a handicap and I'm trying to establish one right now. So every time I end up catching up to a group or joining one on the first tee, I inadvertently end up having to not post a score, or I  feel rude by telling them I need to hole out to be able to post a legitimate score. I've bumped into quite a few people lately who seem to have no care for the rules and seem to actually look down on those who play by them :(

you don't need to hole every shot to post a score. if a guy gives you a 3 footer it still counts as a stroke...and if he gives it to you just freakin putt the thing anyway. I know the rules of golf state you aren't allowed to not take a gimee but WTF you are still in the spirit of the rules. I am sure that the HC police will allow you call it legit.

In matches all over the world every day of the week 2 footers are handed out like candy even though at some point in time we all miss them.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Originally Posted by DarkPrince

Lately for me it's been playing with people who consistently give themselves or me putts even as far as 3 feet out. We've all missed putts even as far as a foot out, and I've never had a handicap and I'm trying to establish one right now. So every time I end up catching up to a group or joining one on the first tee, I inadvertently end up having to not post a score, or I  feel rude by telling them I need to hole out to be able to post a legitimate score. I've bumped into quite a few people lately who seem to have no care for the rules and seem to actually look down on those who play by them :(

"I feel rude by telling them I need to hole out to be able to post a legitimate score."?

You paid for the round, it's your game of golf so tell them up front, "Guys, I'm scoring this round legitimately so no gimmes for me; I'll putt out" - It's not rude to let someone know ahead of hand what your plan for the round is.

[DarkPrince]

My thing is just that it's only going to take me like <10 seconds to walk over and tap it in, 8 of that would still be spent walking over to pick up my ball had I taken the gimme anyway. And it's not a matter of the HC Police caring, it's just me knowing that I didn't hit the putt. I don't know that every single time it would only take 1 putt, there are some insane 3 foot putts you can get (just play tiger 12 >.<)  If I am virtually certain that you in no way would be able to make that putt 7/10 times, I don't think its right to just give yourself the putt.  It's not that I'm trying to be a dick, or make people angry, I just do not feel right posting a score when I know I didn't hole out. I feel like I cheated to get a score better than I should have had, like the guy who mentioned earlier the people who just take free drops or fluff up their lie. :/

Originally Posted by Lefty-Golfer

you don't need to hole every shot to post a score. if a guy gives you a 3 footer it still counts as a stroke...and if he gives it to you just freakin putt the thing anyway. I know the rules of golf state you aren't allowed to not take a gimee but WTF you are still in the spirit of the rules. I am sure that the HC police will allow you call it legit.

In matches all over the world every day of the week 2 footers are handed out like candy even though at some point in time we all miss them.

[Lofty Lefty]

Stepping on my line when I putt. ESPECIALLY in the winter/when the greens are wet. It's not a difficult thing to remember, but one mate in particular does it on EVERY. SINGLE. GREEN. No matter how many times we tell him. In fact, when we remind him, he gets a bit arsey about it and says "it's not like we're on the PGA tour". No, you're right. But I also have zero % chance of getting good enough to be on the PGA tour if every putt I hit bobbles through your spike marks and shoots off at an angle.

Perfectionism. Another mate of mine has a tendency to drop his club, especially off the tee, if he feels the contract isn't quite perfect. He's one of the better players I play with and it's very, very annoying as a higher handicapper when you've just sent your tee shot boring into the woods like an exocet missile, when he hits a 3 wood down the middle and drops his club because "it felt a bit thin". Pipe down, you're in the fairway. I'm pretty sure, however thin you hit it, you wouldn't want to swap position with me now.

Jingling of keys/clubs in the bag when I'm addressing the ball. I don't need absolute silence across the county when I hit, but at least from my 3 or 4 ball, it'd be nice if guys just stopped what they were doing for at most 10 seconds whilst I step up to the ball and hit it. Not rocket science.

"Free" drops. Again from the school of "we're not on the PGA tour", getting a free drop when you don't like the lie, are up against a tree or in deep rough, is not in the rules. Either take the drop with a penalty, play it where it lies, or do what you want and we won't count. But don't expect me to congratulate you in the clubhouse on your best ever round when you've given yourself half a dozen free drops or lie improvements because otherwise it would've hurt your scorecard. The excitement of a great round is that you've not been in those positions, you've beaten the course bvy shooting it straight all day. Not playing as badly as you want and manufacturing your score to declare an 85, when it's really a 98. That's just pure fiction. How about I'll just write down 1 on every hole? Look guys, I shot 18 today!

And some others do:

Don't get right up behind me, shooting into me or standing 140 back huffing and puffing with a hand on your hip, if I'm clearly being held up by the group in front of me. I don't play slowly - me and a buddy finished 36 holes in 5 3/4 hours the other day, quite a reasonable speed. Get it into your head, if you're on the tee and I'm in the fairway 250 yards in front of you, and I'm waiting for the group in front to putt out, it's not my fault. I don't have golf insurance. I'm not going to bankrupt myself, let alone the moral implications, by hitting into a green when there's someone on it.

People who arbitrarily throw around 'bandit' accusations. Just because I hit one good shot does not mean I hit them all well. That's why I, or my buddies, are mid-high handicappers. I teed off first, in the first fourball, in a recent 40-man competition. My legs were like jelly, there were some very accomplished players in the tourney, and I banged a drive 280 up the middle, laser straight. Cue mumblings of why I declared 26 handicap. Well, because I ended up shooting 97.

Old guys who bitch and moan and try to give you a lesson on etiquette, but have no idea of it themselves. I watched a fourball of snooty members, all 60+, hitting simultaneously, talking, playing out of turn, failing to rake bunkers, and then DEMANDING, not politely requesting, that our group let them through because we were "all over the place" and how they "dreaded to think who taught us etiquette". We were being held up ourselves by another fourball in front of us, and fair enough, none of us were playing particularly well, it was a bit wayward, but they were no better themselves. It was just the look on their faces at seeing four twenty-something guys in front of them that they didn't recognise. We're not members, no. But we're just as entitled to play here as you, we're following the rules, and we're not downright rude, unlike you.

People who just walk up and hit the nearest ball they find. What is the mentality there? That's the FIRST thing I do, check whether the ball is even mine. But the other day I was playing a course where the par 4 I was on with my group runs parallel to a dogleg left down the right hand side of that hole. These two guys hit banana-slices and walked into our fairway and just hit the first thing they saw, both of them, which happened to be mine and my buddy's balls. I mean, c'mon. I can't get into my head where the logic is there. "That's a ball, it must be mine!" NO, it's mine, it's in our fairway for a start!

Lady members - I'm no sexist and play in a mixed group fairly often, so I don't know if it's just the clubs I play at, but when you're on a 150 yard par 3 hitting driver and not making the green, understand that I can hit it further than you and you need to let us through. I would do the same if there's a group catching up, right on our tail behind me. So just extend the courtesy of knowing your own limitations and letting quicker groups play through. It's not a speed of play thing necessarily, it's a politeness thing.

The one guy who, last weekend, ran onto a fairway I'd hit into, FULLY NAKED, grabbed my ball, and ran off into the woods doing cartwheels. I don't know who you are, but I can assure you, you're not funny. If I'd've been close enough I'd've teed another one up and given you a fright. You're not in Jackass. You just ARE a jackass.

[DeanS]

The fool who shows me his bottom teeth and then tells me that's my ball when its not. The moron who drinks Bloody Maries at 9 am in the morning, drives the golf cart like a dune buggy and then tells me I'm spoiling his fun. Idiots. And then after all that the wife who tells me I shouldn't have lost my temper.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by DeanS

The fool who shows me his bottom teeth ...

Is this a figure of speech?

Brandon

[Shindig]

Originally Posted by DarkPrince

Lately for me it's been playing with people who consistently give me putts even as far as 3 feet out. We've all missed putts even as far as a foot out, and I've never had a handicap and I'm trying to establish one right now. So every time I end up catching up to a group or joining one on the first tee, I inadvertently end up having to not post a score, or I  feel rude by telling them I need to hole out to be able to post a legitimate score. I've bumped into quite a few people lately who seem to have no care for the rules and seem to actually look down on those who play by them :(

A few things related to this:

1.  Go ahead and say "no, that's not within the leather."

2.  The handicap rules say to post your most likely score if you don't play according to the rules.  Let's suppose you were playing and someone gave you a gimme of 6" that you are 100% certain you would have made (barring that thing that happened to Hale Irwin a few years ago).   It was for a bogey on a par-4 (you had hit the ball 4 times to get it to that 6" spot).  Write down a 5.  Not valid for a tournament, but perfectly valid for a handicapping round.  I had a guy knock my putt away in motion a few years ago just to mess with me.  Irritating!

3.  Are they picking up your ball, or just saying "that's good"?  If it's the latter, pretend you didn't hear it, and continue putting.

4.  If you're really passive aggressive, concede a few bunker shots of theirs.  On a serious note, you probably shouldn't do this last one.

[meenman]

Lately for me it is vanity-cappers. I know it shouldnt bother me but when people talk smack and then post sub 100 scores when they didnt break 120 it really pisses me off. I realize that they are only hurting themselves but it shows complete lack of integrity. It may be time to start playing for cash to straighten them out.

[Lefty-Golfer]

Originally Posted by DeanS

The fool who shows me his bottom teeth and then tells me that's my ball when its not. The moron who drinks Bloody Maries at 9 am in the morning, drives the golf cart like a dune buggy and then tells me I'm spoiling his fun. Idiots. And then after all that the wife who tells me I shouldn't have lost my temper.

i am a big fan of these. are they ok at 9 am if you drive the cart properly?

[wmiller]

Obnoxious pr*&ks; who think you are not allowed to swing a golf club unless you adhere to all the rules of their 'bible', when all I'm doing is practicing.

[Shindig]

Obnoxious pr*&ks; who think you are not allowed to swing a golf club unless you adhere to all the rules of their 'bible', when all I'm doing is practicing.

Please elaborate? I've yet to run into this variety of miscreant, but want to know about them in case.

[Double Bogey]

I might be able to elaborate on this one... assuming I understand what he is saying.

I played a few holes on Sunday night, I only played three.  I caught some guys after the first hole and they asked me to play with them.  I told them I was just practicing, but they insisted.  I obliged.  After hitting my drive on the 3rd hole (my last hole), I miss hit my second shot, not out of play, but still miss hit it.  I dropped another and hit it.  (FWIW I was working on moving the ball left to right).  When we got to the green one of the guys asked me, "what I thought I was doing dropping another ball?"  I told him I was practicing, exactly what I told them I was doing before joining them.  He got all huffy and puffy about it and told me, "that is against the rules of golf."  So I just told him to show me where in the rules of golf it tells me that I cannot practice.  It shut him up, but still was a PITA.

[mdl]

One thing that just really gets to me is guys (I've only seen men do this) who don't drive a ball over 210 yards all day, but on a 415 yard par 4, they hit one that rolls to 200, then wait til the green clears to hit.  I've seen this kind of thing even on like a 430 hole.  If you can't drive the ball further than 210 off the tee, I'm damn sure you can't put your 3W 210 off the deck.  Hit the damn ball!  Worst is when the group in front does this the whole round but never puts a ball closer than 30-40 yards short of the green, even on well struck shots.

This really pisses me off when I'm waiting at the tee box.  I know it shouldn't cause if there's a group on the green it's not like play would suddenly get much faster if the group in front didn't like to pretend they could hit it 30 yards further than they can, but it just really peeves me...

[DeanS]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Is this a figure of speech?

Brandon

Originally Posted by Lefty-Golfer

i am a big fan of these. are they ok at 9 am if you drive the cart properly?

For me its; treat others like you would like to be treated, leave the course as you found it. Its easy to do.

[Meisce]

One thing that just really gets to me is guys (I've only seen men do this) who don't drive a ball over 210 yards all day, but on a 415 yard par 4, they hit one that rolls to 200, then wait til the green clears to hit.  I've seen this kind of thing even on like a 430 hole.  If you can't drive the ball further than 210 off the tee, I'm damn sure you can't put your 3W 210 off the deck.  Hit the damn ball!  Worst is when the group in front does this the whole round but never puts a ball closer than 30-40 yards short of the green, even on well struck shots.

This really pisses me off when I'm waiting at the tee box.  I know it shouldn't cause if there's a group on the green it's not like play would suddenly get much faster if the group in front didn't like to pretend they could hit it 30 yards further than they can, but it just really peeves me...

I understand this can be frustrating. My buddy and I joined a twosome at the 12th recently and they were excellent players, whereas we were driving short ( but reasonably straight ). They did not understand why he would hit before me on his second whereas I would always wait, even tho we had equivalent length off the tee. We usually ended up in similar spots. The reason is, he has a consistent swing, and I do not. He will always hit his 3 wood ~190. My multitude of swing flaws occasionally cancel each other out and I'll catch one flush. This has happened a number of times in the past, and I've been just as surprised as the folks putting out 250 yards away. It's nearly always occurred when I've been laying up. One question I always hear asked during a round is 'do you think you can reach them'. If the answer is not categorically no, then yes, you wait. Then you hustle up there and make sure you get the pace of play back on track.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Originally Posted by mdl

One thing that just really gets to me is guys (I've only seen men do this) who don't drive a ball over 210 yards all day, but on a 415 yard par 4, they hit one that rolls to 200, then wait til the green clears to hit.  I've seen this kind of thing even on like a 430 hole.  If you can't drive the ball further than 210 off the tee, I'm damn sure you can't put your 3W 210 off the deck.  Hit the damn ball!  Worst is when the group in front does this the whole round but never puts a ball closer than 30-40 yards short of the green, even on well struck shots.

This really pisses me off when I'm waiting at the tee box.  I know it shouldn't cause if there's a group on the green it's not like play would suddenly get much faster if the group in front didn't like to pretend they could hit it 30 yards further than they can, but it just really peeves me...

I think this one depends entirely on the skill level of those playing. If someone cannot ever drive more than 210 then by all means it makes sense to keep playing, however some of us hit the ball x yards 90% of the time but occasionally "bust one out" which goes much much further than it normally does.

I for one would rather wait a short time and make sure I don't "bust it" at the people playing ahead of me by accident.