What to say in the awkward silences after a bad shot?

[kcho80s]

Hitting a 52 off a par 3 during a night tourney I chunk it so badly the sucker flew only 10 yard. I turned to my team mates and said" SEE THE REASON I DID THAT... The guys busted out in so much laughter and carrying on that it became the theme of the night...

[1484]

Hit a tree on the left side of the fairway yesterday. The tree had a ton of marks on it from years of getting smacked.  The ball bounced back almost to my feet, I think I was net about 10 yards for that stroke.  My buddy looks at the tree and says "that tree has had more balls slap against it than a hooker's ass"

Needless to say, that broke the tension.

[pepsiplusconker]

I only ever play with people I'v been friends with for 15 years so almost anything goes, funny sometimes.

One of our favourites when you can't see your intended target.

Guy whos shot it is - "Can you keep an eye on this for me?" (Hit it 3 feet) Other guy -  "There it is"

[PirateJim]

From my perspective the question boils down to what the group has been doing all along... i.e. If this is one of those groups where everyone seems to chime in with 'nice shot' after almost everyone's stroke, then not saying anything after a bad shot might truly be awkward.  Assuming the person in question has been chiming in with the rest, then a 'oh, bad luck' or 'tough break' may be appropriate.  The Golden Rule should always be applied though, do you like people commenting on your bad shots?  All this, of course, doesn't apply with a group of good friends that, by mutual consent, pick on each other the whole way around!

But... Never, ever, give playing tips unsolicited after a bad shot!  They won't be welcome or appreciated, trust me on this.  And even if solicited, I would suggest thinking long and hard about offering on-course tips unless you really believe you can offer something that can be applied by the recipient on the spot.  Otherwise, offer to go to the range and help later if you think you can actually help.  This is particularly true if you are not really a lot better player than the other person!

[MS256]

Originally Posted by PirateJim

But... Never, ever, give playing tips unsolicited after a bad shot!  They won't be welcome or appreciated, trust me on this.  And even if solicited, I would suggest thinking long and hard about offering on-course tips unless you really believe you can offer something that can be applied by the recipient on the spot.  Otherwise, offer to go to the range and help later if you think you can actually help.  This is particularly true if you are not really a lot better player than the other person!

Absolutely!

I would even take it farther than that and say that even if you are a lot better than the other person (and if you just can't help yourself) there are only certain limited truths in ALL golf swings that you may help with (such as the path of the club and angle of the club face through impact for a desired ball flight).

Chances are that most swing and set up mechanics that you consider a truth will not be considered as such by all other people, even other players just as good as you are.

Just in reading some of the information from the instructors on this web site it doesn't take long to find opinions about both set up and swing mechanics that would be different from some other instructors and even considered a flaw by some.

Nothing is more irritating than for someone with good intentions to tell you that you are doing it "the wrong way" just because that's "the wrong way" in their swing, and opposed to what they think they know as a fact. Even though we usually respond that we actually want it that way, and maybe even go into some detail about what we are doing, many times thinking about swing mechanics is the last thing we need to be doing during a round instead of just playing golf.

I will say that it can be a valuable thing to have regular playing partners that are using the same techniques or at least understand the techniques you are working on. Then it's more likely for someone to ask what's going on with a swing and get an answer that applies.