How mad do you get?

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I crack cans when I'm pissed... you guys should try it.

Yep, it's amazing what a few brews will do to cool me out. This is my first season with my cooler equiped Ping cart bag. I stash 1 16oz Coors Light in there to get me by until the beverage carts get to me. Then I buy two more. Though my home course sends us out with cart coolers and ice at the bar.

In seriousness I just suck it up and move on. Playing mad doesn't help me, makes it worse. Some of my best rounds have been after shrugging off opening with a triple. When it happens I know I need to play smart and get a few birdies to offset that. Though I do get irritated when the blow up comes on 18 and destroys an otherwise good round. But it's golf, it happens. Recently shot an 83 after finishing with a quad. Total bummer.

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by jshots

I'm curious as to how mad other players get when playing.

For me if I hit a bad shot I usually say "shit" and move on. If I hit a really terrible shot sometimes I will toss my club in the air and also drop some profanities but I've never broken a club when mad out on the course and I try to recover back into a good mood quickly so that I don't lower other peoples spirits.

What about you?

I try to think how ridiculous I'd look if I threw a club or uttered a loud profanity, and how others would not enjoy playing with me.

If you understand yourself and have proper perspective about a game - I think you'd stop.

A bad shot(s) comes with playing the game - it's in the past, and the next shot is what matters in the game itself - the next challenge.

[el shanko]

i usually will tap the ground with my club where the ball used to lay then take a quick practice swing and start cussing because the practice swing would have put me 12" from the cup................. i then look at the next shot and hopefully put it 12"from the cup.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

Yep, it's amazing what a few brews will do to cool me out. This is my first season with my cooler equiped Ping cart bag. I stash 1 16oz Coors Light in there to get me by until the beverage carts get to me. Then I buy two more. Though my home course sends us out with cart coolers and ice at the bar.

In seriousness I just suck it up and move on. Playing mad doesn't help me, makes it worse. Some of my best rounds have been after shrugging off opening with a triple. When it happens I know I need to play smart and get a few birdies to offset that. Though I do get irritated when the blow up comes on 18 and destroys an otherwise good round. But it's golf, it happens. Recently shot an 83 after finishing with a quad. Total bummer.

All of this. +1 to the Silver Bullet!

I just let it go. I do hate golfing with people who can't laugh at some bad shots though. I mean, yes I know you are pissed that your feet were above the ball... or that the tee-box is sloped.... or because that one guy on the golf cart 50 yards away was driving during your backswing, but seriously... laugh once or twice and you will notice a huge difference.

I can't play with people that act like they just lost $1M by duffing their 7i and not being able to laugh at it even a few minutes later. You guys are walking strokes waiting to happen. Life is much more enjoyable when you develop a sense of humor.

Just remember that being serious has a fine line. You can quickly cross over into unsportsmanlike and just simply an ass that no one wants to be around.... That's why I said try cracking a cold one, lighten up a little!

[Timothy Voyles]

I might drop an awww shit to myself when I see a ball take off the wrong way or whatever poor mishap. I've broke one club, I had a bad lie under a tree near a root. I topped it out and was short of the green... I tossed the club back to the cart, it took an odd bounce hit the tire and bent the shaft. It was unintentional. I already had my putter with me and was just tossing it back to go putt on.

I'm pretty even keel so other than verbally abusing myself no one can really tell I'm pissed, I get a little quiet and just get in my own head more than anything.

[RonTheSavage]

I curse like a f*$&%ng sailor, and this used to carry over on the course but I'm working to correct this. It dawned on me a while back that even though I'm on the course with other guys, I may be offending people. I remind myself that golf is a gentleman's game for the most part. So now after a bad shot or duffed chip I just say Ay Yi Yi . No matter how angry I am saying that makes me chuckle and it's easier to move on from the last horrific shot............if I find the ball.

[jshots]

Originally Posted by Stargaze

It's funny but I have a bigger temper at the range than I do at the course.  I cuss a little when I'm out on the course but I don't throw anything or have a tantrum.

I do the same thing, I said i've never broken a club out on the course . Last summer I was at the range like every day, not getting better. Couldn't afford lessons, didn't have a good camera, and didn't have properly fitting clubs and it was just frustrating. The one club I had that I hit OK I was struggling with one afternoon. After 4 or 5 shanks in a row I just ejected the club (we're talking like 50 yards) it hit a rock and the shaft snapped in two. I was so mad at myself after that for getting so mad at myself

[phillyk]

I've had my share of loud curses on the course, but I've learned to laugh it off a bit and play on.  My worst time was at my old home course where I was at the furthest point from the clubhouse and I hit a bad drive into the trees.  My next shot I had trees above my head, and I was upset at my round up to this point.  I swung hard to get the ball out, and the club broke on the branches above me.  I got hysterical and so pissed, that I told my dad, who I was playing with, that I'm done... I walked back into the clubhouse.  I was embarrassed at myself for doing it.  Never again will I lose my cool like that to walk off a course.

[Yukari]

If the shot is really bad, I just say to myself "Come on ____ (my name)!!!" and move on.

I am not good enough to get mad at every bad shot.

[LovinItAll]

I don't really get mad, a bad shot might get a profanity, a string of bad shot might get a string of profanities, but that's it.  I never throw a club or throw a tantrum.  If I hit a really bad streak I might try to take some extra time and collect my thoughts, I've played to long and had to many up's and down's to get mad about doing something I enjoy.

^^^^ This. I get disappotnted more than I get angry. I was tooling around even after 7 yesterday and took triple on a par 5. I was thinking to myself, "Really? TRIPLE?! Shit." What can you do, though? Getting angry for more than a couple of seconds would send my game south, so a choice word or two and then a smile to make sure my fellow golfers know I'm not 'one of those guys', and on to the next shot. If I ever get ink, it'll be 'OSAAT'. Applies to almost everything in life as well.

[tiger187126]

i get mad when i play by myself or with my wife. i do the vicious wood splitting downswing that i stop right before the ground and tap the ground. sometimes i'll drop my club from my backswing or take an overly aggressive second swing.

when i play with other people i could not be more mellow. my whole mood picks up and i just enjoy the round and laugh at bad shots, because usually the guys that i get paired with aren't scratch and have a good time.

i did have one guy out of a group who at some point in his life was apparently scratch give me crap for the whole round one time and it just made me competitive and not really mad.

if i took time on my shots i think i would play a lot better and get less angry. i tend to rush up to the ball and smack it without much thought or focus and then get mad when something goes wrong. this is especially true of putting.

[hendog]

I'm pretty emotional but as I've gotten better I have less to get mad at. I have broken many a club but ever since I dropped a large chunk of cash on my most recent set, economics if nothing else has calmed me down. At most I will drop the club at the top of my back swing.

My biggest improvement has been in focusing any anger or frustration into better golf. I use to have a bad hole and then go off the reservation for a while. Now I can drop a bomb on one hole, get pissed, get focused and birdie the next. I recently carded a 10 on a par 4 (9th hole to go Out in 44) and then birdied 10 on my way to a 38 back 9. I would have never been able to pull that off 2 years ago and not just because my handicap was higher but because I would have lost my mind!!!

[iacas]

The better you get, the less mad you get, despite your tighter tolerances for what you consider a "bad shot."

Seems to apply to most people.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

I try to think how ridiculous I'd look if I threw a club or uttered a loud profanity, and how others would not enjoy playing with me.

If you understand yourself and have proper perspective about a game - I think you'd stop.

A bad shot(s) comes with playing the game - it's in the past, and the next shot is what matters in the game itself - the next challenge.

Yup.  And I don't even have to imagine what I'd look like, because I see it in playing partners all the time (almost always my dad).  I wish it worked both ways too.  Meaning, I wish he would watch me hit a bad shot, laugh it off, get excited about the chance to recover from the other fairway, and think "man, he seems like he's having a lot more fun out here than I am, maybe I should try that."  But alas, no.

I will get upset on occasion when I do something really dumb ... but no more than a couple of quiet curse words directly at myself.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by iacas

The better you get, the less mad you get, despite your tighter tolerances for what you consider a "bad shot."

Seems to apply to most people.

I wish this was true for some of the people I golf with. The better they get, the more intolerable they are to golf with because they think every shot could have been better. A nice up and down leaving them with a 10 footer.. "should have been a damn 3 footer!".

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by iacas

The better you get, the less mad you get, despite your tighter tolerances for what you consider a "bad shot."

Seems to apply to most people.

I agree, and I think it's because you recognize that no matter how loud you yell, or how far you throw that club, you don't get that last shot back.  AND you are only preventing yourself from being in the right frame of mind to focus on the next shot.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I agree, and I think it's because you recognize that no matter how loud you yell, or how far you throw that club, you don't get that last shot back.  AND you are only preventing yourself from being in the right frame of mind to focus on the next shot.

This has a lot to do with maturity and experience (experiences in life as well as on the course) as well though, not necessarily skill level - though Erik is absolutely right for the majority of the sport.

[GonnaBreak70]

I used to get STUPID mad. Several broken clubs and a few guys telling me to cool off. Then my dad and I went on a golf vacation and I lost it once because I was playing poorly and they had left the sprinklers on at the next tee and we had to wait. That evening I was sooo embarrassed that I swore never to blow up like that again. Ive grown up quite a bit since.

I even had a guy at my last tournament mention that he took my example on the first hole after we both started poorly. He said if you could brush it off like that than I could as well.

The game is no fun when your playing mad.