Pet Peeves

[Jack Lee]

I have two that really bug me.

The first is people that litter on the course. Especially cigarette butts on the greens. The two courses I play regularly are both very well maintained by the grounds folks. The busier that they are, the more you find junk on the course. Some times it is stuff that could be accidental and thoughtless like a ball sleeve. The real winners are things like the sand trap on my home course that some idiot dumped several empty beer bottles in.

The second is folks that feel like they are the course police. The example I would have to give for this one is an incident from a par 3 when I was playing with my dad and fiancee. She ended up in a greenside sand trap. We were both on the green. There was a group pushing us, so we were playing hurry up. She walked onto the green to make a lag putt since she was still away saying to us "Let me putt this up real quick". She hadn't raked the trap. All three of us still had balls left to play on the green, so we were surprised to see a player from the group behind us come full throttle up to the green in his cart and call out at my fiancee "SON! HEY SON! You need to rake that trap!" Now, she is very petite and often gets mistaken for a male by folks that are just glancing, so that part was understandable. The part that offended me was that three of us were on the green, still finishing the hole. Had we been walking to our carts, I would have understood someone pointing out politely that we had neglected to rake the trap. I would actually have appreciated it. As it was, we get some jerk barking at us. Not to mention that to do so, he came almost onto the green in a golf cart. Talking about it later, my dad and I had both noted that my fiancee hadn't raked the trap and were planning to remind her if she finished the hole and didn't take care of it.

Y'all take care!
Jack Lee

[max power]

The first is people that litter on the course. Especially cigarette butts on the greens. The two courses I play regularly are both very well maintained by the grounds folks. The busier that they are, the more you find junk on the course. Some times it is stuff that could be accidental and thoughtless like a ball sleeve. The real winners are things like the sand trap on my home course that some idiot dumped several empty beer bottles in.

I want to change my prior answers. This is #1.

[acj990]

Playing partners that are consistently negative after every shot, even after the good ones. Not only does it take the fun out of the round, it ruins the whole golfing experience. Like I said the other day, "I also paid money for this round, at least let me enjoy mine."

[jetsknicks1]

I live in an area with a lot of "Snowbirds", people who only live here for a few months out of the year. My peeve is when the course ranger is a part time resident and feels the need to get on our group for slow play (We do not play slow) because another part time resident behind us is complaining. This invariably happens when the group ahead of us (Also part timers) are playing slow. The ranger will get on us instead of getting on the actual culprits because they're all snowbirds.

[sean_miller]

I want to change my prior answers. This is #1.

Ditto. Classess.

[mdbuschsr]

Litter, on the course or anywhere other than a can.
Putting on freshly aerated greens.
People that walk through my putting line.

I occasionally play with a guy that is extremely slow, takes a million practice strokes, and then stands there an additional minute re-gripping the club over the ball. And I mean a minute literally, I've timed it! OH! Then he tops it.

[Sowbug2000]

In no particular order:

1. People that talk while you're addressing or in the middle of your swing.

2. Talking, moving around, jingling change in our pocket, on the green (See #1).

3. Taking practice swings while someone else is addressing/swinging.

4. Looking for balls too long.

5. Someone that constantly b#tches about their game (whether its good or bad) incessantly!

[John105]

It has always fascinated me how sensitive golfers are to any noise during their turn. It's one thing if someone blows an airhorn in your backswing, but I would think you would be focused enough to not even realize people were talking around you, etc. Maybe it's a lack of experience in those kinds of situations, who knows.

Personally, I couldn't care less whether people are talking or moving around during my shot because I never notice it. Once you experience trying to hit a baseball with thousands of fans going crazy and screaming their lungs out, you really don't need silence because you create your own.

Best example I can think of was when Mark McGwire was in a televised golf skills challenge and he would get the crowd into it and cheering during his shot.

[Sowbug2000]

John105,

Noise may not bother you, but many consider it golf ettiquette NOT to cause distractions (movements, noise, visual) during playing partners turn.

My 2 cents.

[John105]

John105,

Dont get me wrong, I'm not questioning what the etiquette currently is AT ALL. It's just strange to me that golf evolved to that point and took a completely different route as other sports. I'll never understand how an incredibly focused athlete like Tiger can complain about camera shutter clicks during his swing. It just seems counter-intuitive

[Elvisliveson]

For me it's taking a break after 9. I hate waiting while my playing partners are inside buying hamburgers and hotdogs and the group ahead is just finishing theirs and hasn't teed off on 10 yet. Really you can't go 4 hours without a full meal? I just keep an orange or something in my bag and I'm good to go.

Absolutely agree. I always keep an energy bar in my bag and I'm good to go.

[foxhole88]

I get annoyed with the whole guy that gets a hole-in-one buys everyone drinks. I think its one of the dumbest traditions in golf. People should be buying him drinks, not the other way around. I used to get charged $2 on my monthly dues every time this happened at my club and I wasn't even on the course that day.

[SpoiledRotten]

I knew I was gonna get some grief for this!

My peeve is more the oposite of this. I'd rather deal with a slower player in front of me than one that is trying to push me/us along. If one hits his ball too close to me, it gets lofted into the woods or water or picked up and put away, but he doesn't get to play that ball again.

That being said, I ran into this guy last weekend that hit the ball into our fairway where my wife was fixing to tee off. He didn't wait for her before he came right over in front of her (about 60 yds down) and hit his ball again. It went about 10 yards and even further into our way. He lined up on it and hit it another 10 - 15 yds. He finally saw that he was being an idiot, picked up his ball and threw it into his fairway. The wife was then able to hit her shot. Those are exceptions.

[SpoiledRotten]

oh man.

I'll bet he looses sleep over that!

[mittens]

but can anyone honestly say they've never been THAT GUY?

I've been that guy

[zeg]

Putting on freshly aerated greens.

This bothered me the first time I encountered it. Then I realized it's worth it when you go back a few weeks later and play the lush carpets that result from proper turf care. So now I don't mind so much, as long as I know ahead of time that they're aerated. Most of the nice courses around here also give 15-25% discounts during aeration season, so now that I know that I may use that to try some courses normally out of my price range.

[laconic517]

It has always fascinated me how sensitive golfers are to any noise during their turn. It's one thing if someone blows an airhorn in your backswing, but I would think you would be focused enough to not even realize people were talking around you, etc. Maybe it's a lack of experience in those kinds of situations, who knows.

its not noise, its sudden unexpected noise

[rwfastrax]

Tobacco spit on the green! Or anywhere really. I do not want to touch my ball if it rolled through that. I've heard this defended by saying "it's absorbed in 60 seconds..." so what!!
Keep it to yourself. Just because it doesn't gross you out doesn't mean it doesn't disgust others.
Not fixing ball marks
Slow inconsiderate play
Sports bar behavior that can be heard 300 yards away.