My take on temper tantrums......

[Lofty Lefty]

I suffer from the "Godammits" quite badly. I'm rarely happy with even a great shot!

My new way of gaining control and an even temperament on the course is simple. I just think of Retief Goosen.

That dude is a bloody freak! How many times have you heard a commentator say "If you were to look at him, you'd never know if he was having a good day, or a bad day."

So he is my new final swing thought. My "clear key", if you will.

I played horribly the other day, but kept my shit together apart from maybe one club drop on the 18th tee... The system seems to work.

On the other side of the coin, it could do just as well if you're playing a blinder. When you come down the last couple of holes with a score to protect, this method may well keep me from getting ahead of myself and blowing it.

Again,

Retief Goosen!

[cheffdiddy_45]

I walked with Goosen at the 2010 BMW Championship as a standard bearer.  I kept thinking the whole time, does this dude even have a pulse.  What's funny is, he was paired with Jeff Overton, and Jeff Overton is probably the biggest cry baby I have ever seen.  Overton whined the whole afternoon about Cog Hill being a terrible course, bad lies, bad swings, the wind, etc.  Goosen never made a peep.  His caddie is really nice as well.  Little off topic, but wanted to share.

[iacas]

I threw a club once or twice as a kid, not counting the one time we threw a couple of clubs just to see how far we could throw them.

Then I saw someone else have a temper tantrum on the golf course and throw their club. They looked so silly I vowed never to do that.

Worst I'll do now is the Tiger-like "drop the club on the follow-through" or occasionally I'll thump the ground with a club (not hard enough to make a dent or damage the course - I'd feel stupid having to repair damage).

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by iacas

I threw a club once or twice as a kid, not counting the one time we threw a couple of clubs just to see how far we could throw them.

Then I saw someone else have a temper tantrum on the golf course and throw their club. They looked so silly I vowed never to do that.

Worst I'll do now is the Tiger-like "drop the club on the follow-through" or occasionally I'll thump the ground with a club (not hard enough to make a dent or damage the course - I'd feel stupid having to repair damage).

This is pretty much me too.  If I'm having a truly bad day, I might take a hole to separate myself from my companions as much as possible in order to compose myself.  Once I do that, then I can come back and laugh at myself along with them and deal with the possibility that I'm not quite PGA tour material. I'm not a robot, but I don't believe in tantrum-like displays either.

[jamo]

I'm about the same as iacas and Fourputt. I do that Tiger club-drop thing occasionally (though a lot of the time it's an accident - I swear), but most of my temper revolves around making sarcastic comments about myself, and the occasional under-my-breath cuss out. I don't think I've ever actually full-on thrown a club, I'd be way too worried of breaking it, because then I'd have to buy a new one.

[camper6]

My friend commented to me once that a bad shot or day on the golf course didn't seem to bother me.

I said why should it?

I am going to eat and sleep the same as the previous day and I might have an extra drink when we get back.

So a bad day does have it's advantages.

[Shorty]

I play with a guy who regularly throws his driver on the ground as part of his follow through.

He then kicks it all the way to his bag.

Then....he puts the headcover on it!

[cougar978]

I try not to throw clubs, but sometimes when I hit a shot that I KNOW I can execute 95% of the time and screw it up over doing something that I've conditioned myself not to do in practice, it warrants an iron or wedge chasing the ball up the fairway (I usually toss it 20-30y and make sure no one's in the way - I have seen people just hammer-throw clubs with no regard for where the club is going - that is dangerous).  As for breaking clubs, it's $20 to get a new shaft and grip - reshafting isn't hard to do as long as you have the right equipment at home.

I have a PhD in profanity when I'm in competition - even when I'm playing well.  The year after I graduated high school, the New Mexico Activities Association instituted a two-stroke penalty for swearing on the course during high school tournaments.  I think that may have had something to do with me .

My biggest pet peeve is people that take chunks out of greens or slapshot missed putts off the green.  People need to realize that green complexes cost tens of thousands of dollars worth of materials and man-hours to maintain.

[Kobey]

As I said in the intro thread:

If I hit a good shot, it is exciting, and if I hit a bad one it is expected, so there is no reason for me to ever get mad.

[Tomboys]

Basically, I'm not good enough to get mad.  At my level, the anomaly is the good swing, not the bad one.

[1par2win]

Originally Posted by Tomboys

Basically, I'm not good enough to get mad.  At my level, the anomaly is the good swing, not the bad one.

Not taking a shot at Tomboys in particular but I never understood the whole "your not good enough to get mad" philosophy. While we are not TOUR level players the frustration and angst that come with playing this game is just the same. The frustration of three putting 18 to miss a goal by 1 shot whether it be for a 99 all the way to breaking par is just as valid for that player as McIlroy's drive on 10 at Augusta. The stakes are different but the feelings are the same. I guess I never equated getting frustrated with the game and skill level. It's all relative IMO.

Not that I condone throwing a club or a tantrum. I find it sucks the fun out of a round if someone is stomping around and being angry. In my experience the very nature of the game curbs that kind of antics for the serious player. Well, at least most serious players anyway. I know a guy that is a fairly skilled player that probably goes through 2-3 drivers a season due to "driver malfunctions". Such is life.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by 1par2win

Not taking a shot at Tomboys in particular but I never understood the whole "your not good enough to get mad" philosophy. While we are not TOUR level players the frustration and angst that come with playing this game is just the same. The frustration of three putting 18 to miss a goal by 1 shot whether it be for a 99 all the way to breaking par is just as valid for that player as McIlroy's drive on 10 at Augusta. The stakes are different but the feelings are the same. I guess I never equated getting frustrated with the game and skill level. It's all relative IMO.

That's my feeling as well. For me, the frustration comes from not being as good as I think I *should* be given all the practicing I do.  I'm fully aware it's because I'm simply not naturally gifted at golf, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

[Fairway_CY]

About 16 years ago I was a caddy at a local country club.  I had been looping for about six months when one of the members who liked me to caddy for him brought a guest along.  The member and I had always had nice discussions throughout the rounds... and I even got to play with him in a member-caddy tournament earlier in the year.  I had nothing but respect for the gentleman.  His guest was a loud, obnoxious New York attorney.  The first nine holes were bad jokes, curses and non-stop bullsh*t from the guest.

The tenth hole is a fairly tough uphill par four with a fence that borders a local hospital running along the left side.  We were in the left side of the fairway at the ball of the guest... he was facing a shot of about 170 yards... and it was probably fifty or more feet uphill (a completely blind shot).  He took his swing and shanked the ball across the fairway... and with that, he turned and flung his club up into the woods on the left.  It got lodged in a tree, up about twenty feet, on the other side of the fence.

He let out a tirade of curse words I'd never heard before... then turned to me and told me:

"Hey, dipsh*t... are you going to f***ing stand there or is your dumba$$ going to go get my f***ing club?!"

My mouth must have hit the ground.  I turned to the member, apologized... dropped the bags and walked back to the clubhouse.  I told the caddy master what happened... and he told me that I couldn't loop again until he spoke to the member and the guest.  They apparantly carried their bags the rest of the way and finished up about two hours later.  When the member arrived back, he took me aside and told me that he was glad I did what I did.  The guest came over to me a short while later and told me that if I wasn't a kid, he'd have kicked my a$$.

The guest was never invited back, and my story became sort of a legend amongst the caddies for awhile.

It's something I'll never forget... and as a result, I can proudly say that, with the exception of dropping a club over my shoulder when finishing a poor swing... I've NEVER thrown a club.  It makes no sense to me to do something like that.  If I hit a poor shot... I stew about it for a few seconds... and then move on to the next poor shot.

It's golf... just a game.  At least to me.

CY

[Kobey]

After reading all these, I am going to have to start looking up as well as down when I am in the woods.  I might eventually get a full set of clubs that way.

[BuckeyeNut]

Shockingly......I couldn't help but notice 2 different "IDIOT MARKS" on the greens this weekend.

Very disappointing.....

ya know, some idiot misses a putt and takes a divot from the green with is putter in anger.....effin' @ssholes! (probably the same damn guy)

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by camper6

Re throwing clubs.

My friend threw one helicopter style right over my head.

I turned to him and said: "Maybe you would be a better player if the club could throw you?"

He hasn't thrown one since.

Heh, reminds me of what my high school golf coach use to say to me when I would toss a club after a poor shot -

"It's not the arrow. It's the Indian."

[jamo]

Heh, reminds me of what my high school golf coach use to say to me when I would toss a club after a poor shot - "It's not the arrow. It's the Indian."

That's funny, when I was in high school and someone would throw a club, my coach would say "You're off the team." :-P

[iacas]

Originally Posted by jamo

That's funny, when I was in high school and someone would throw a club, mu coach would say "You're off the team."

Heh, yeah, no kidding.