Is unsolicited advice to a golfer helpful?

[Yukari]

Whats worse is having the guy next to you at the range give unsolicited advice then stand there watching to make sure you try it.

Do what I do.  Just ignore him and pretend you didn't even hear him.

[David in FL]

Do what I do.  Just ignore him and pretend you didn't even hear him.

Or ask him if he plays golf for money.....

......I'll take my messed up swing and 3 a side.

[Lihu]

[QUOTE name="Yukari" url="/t/71592/is-unsolicited-advice-to-a-golfer-helpful/36#post_933144"]   Do what I do.  Just ignore him and pretend you didn't even hear him. [/QUOTE] Or ask him if he plays golf for money..... ......I'll take my messed up swing and 3 a side.   :whistle:

I've seen many a "messed up swing" perform quite well on the course. Do you double each hole until he realizes that your shots are not just lucky? ;-)

[cooke119]

NO, especially during a round. If it is given to me I ignore it (I am certainly capable of screwing it up myself); I never give advice except on the range i

[Big C]

I vote no, but then again, I'm biased. A few years ago, I was partnered with a well meaning stranger, who convinced me that I needed to adopt an early wrist hinge in my swing, probably because he had just seen a hot tip in the latest golf digest.

For some unknown reason, I actually followed this guy's advice for the next few rounds, to disastrous results. The experiment culminated with me shooting a 95 (as an 11 handicap) in my men's club tournament - largely due a massive slice off the tee that my "fix" had produced.

Now, I know better and just ignore unsolicited advice.

[Hack2putt]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread, I hesitate to comment lol...as in I hesitate to comment on anyone's swing unless they're family, friends or they ask ;-) and even then it's a dicey thing to do on the course.

[desertpig]

I'm a beginner so I'll take advice from anyone's who's played longer than I have, which I believe, is a lot of people on the course. But sometimes, it's not welcome especially if you know what you need to do and you're just training your body to do it.

I played with someone who kept opening his mouth as I was about to hit the ball and I just got fed up. He's been playing a while so I was expecting him to know golf etiquette, but I guess he was trying to encourage a newbie like me. Unfortunately, it rubbed me the wrong way so, now, I don't play with him anymore.

I've already paid hundreds of dollars on course instruction from two PGA instructors for over two months of lessons so I think I have quite a bit of stuff to work on and I don't need another "teacher" to add to my already overwhelmed brain.

Bottomline, if I need help, I'll ask; otherwise, let me learn from my mistakes. It'll be slow but it will be at my own pace.

[Rolf Harris]

As a general rule I'd say don't offer advice if you're ginger. My mate kenny does this all the time and I'm surprised no one's drowned him.

[ghalfaire]

I voted no, but I think there should have been a maybe vote.  Depends upon the relationship with the other fellow and the timing of the advice.  I guess if the "adviser" is someone that you play with a lot and knows you and your game, it can be helpful sometimes (although illegal on the course).  But in general I don't ever give advice to someone unless they ask my opinion, never in a tournament, and start the comment with "I'm a bogey  golfer so take this with a grain of salt -----" as I don't believe that I'm qualified to give golf lessons.  As to receiving unsolicited, I don't like it.  It always comes when I struggling and probably not in a mood to hear advice from another bogey golfer.   But once it is given it makes you think and most of the time (but not always)  trying to fix your swing on the course is a losing proposition.

[JonMA1]

I voted yes because I can alway discard what I think is useless. Most opinions are at least worth thinking about -  from my perspective anyway.

The few times anyone has given me advice, they've asked the question "do you mind if I give you a suggestion" or something along those lines. Maybe I just haven't played golf with enough a-holes yet.

[Hammer 4]

The problem with advice is...is the person offering the advice trained to give the advice..? If they "think" what your doing wrong came from an article from Golf Digest, then no. The idea is, you can receive false information, and then try to implement in your swing, and be worse off, i.e. develop a bad habit, ect.

[mvmac]

The problem with advice is...is the person offering the advice trained to give the advice..? If they "think" what your doing wrong came from an article from Golf Digest, then no. The idea is, you can receive false information, and then try to implement in your swing, and be worse off, i.e. develop a bad habit, ect.

QFT

[flopster]

I'll put it this way, yesterday my playing partner is one of the local pros with an index of +3.4, yesterday I played an entire 18 holes and had 2 blowup holes and he didn't say a word, I'm sure if I asked him he would have been more than happy, but I also view asking advice from someone who does it for a living out of line and just as bad as giving, also even if it's not something he does for a living it interrupts his focus on his round which I would consider rude.

[Ringworld]

Don't do it!  You're no expert and what if the advice no matter how good doesn't work for the fellow/fellow-rina.

Just keep it to yourself even if it busts you up!!!

Now if you're trying to give them a hand so they speed up play... well.... give it a try but your mileage will vary.