Were we wrong?? Kid Got First Birdie and We Yelled

[RightEdge]

I was playing at a local golf course that I use to practice about 2-3 days a week. Well my wife, my son and I were putting on hole #2 a par 3 where we had hit the green.  Well my son made this long put for a birdie and when he did we were so excited at his improvement we all let out a big cheer!  Well on the next tee box over were some older guys 60+ that were on another par 3 trying to tee off.

We didn't even know they were there honestly.  They were behind us and we didn't even see them.

This guy actually turned around and screamed across the tee box at us telling us to shut up and respect other players on the course. Being the guy that I am, I didn't escalate the situation but it took everything I had not to tell that guy off for screaming across at me and my son.  I quietly explained to my son that you should respect others on the golf course and we moved on to the next tee.

It ruined my son's first birdie and I think it turned him off of golf somewhat because of that. He was visibly sad about that.

My questions is who was wrong? Was it us for letting out a loud cheer while others were on the tee or was it him for acting like an a$$?

~RightEdge

[geauxforbroke]

Ironic that a guy scolded you for being loud by...being loud.

You were fine. As long as you aren't constantly being loud and obnoxious, no one should have any beef with you.

On another note, welcome to The Sand Trap. It's a great community filled with tons of information, so stick around.

[RightEdge]

Thanks I will!  I'm trying to improve my game everyday the right way and I'm always looking for good information.

[mdl]

Yeah you're fine.  There's expecting others to maintain some golf etiquette, and there's just being an a-hole.  The other guy's the latter.  Like @geauxforbroke said, if your group is all drunk and screaming the whole round, then that's lame.  But playing with family and friends and cheering each other on and enjoying yourselves when one of you sinks a long birdie putt or tough pitch or stiffs a tough pin is part of the point of playing at all!  Of course, if you're all plus handicaps and carry on whenever you hit a GIR, then...

Hope your son gets over it.  Let him know that it's just there are grouchy oldsters everywhere and some of them feel particularly free to be a-holes on the golf course.  Too bad it marred his first birdie experience.

[Ernest Jones]

That guy was an arsehole and needs to learn a little about respect himself. I'm not an aggressive guy by nature but if some prick ruins my kid's "feel good" moment i suspect we would have had an altercation of sorts. Total prick.

Welcome to the Sandtrap, we got your back!

[LuciusWooding]

I would have told him to either hurry the hell up or let me play through, because I would not be that close to another group unless they were really slow.

Obviously I don't have a son to worry about though. If they were on a different hole I don't think it's a problem, but some people will try to make a confrontation out of anything. I wouldn't have gotten so pissed off if it happened to me, because I don't consider a man with his wife and son to be worth yelling at. If anything I'd congratulate the kid for making the putt.

At any rate, welcome to the site!

[midnightbui]

Unfortunantly i would say your group was in the wrong.  It is never ok to yell since it is disrespectful.  With that being said though, i was with a friend who hit a hole in one and threw his club and yelled for what seemed to be forever.  The groups behind us and in front of us all said something to us.  We apologized and knew we were in the wrong for screaming but that did not take away the great shot.

[joekelly]

Who the hell are we?  Monks in a cell?  I believe all are permitted to express personal and spontaneous  joy in a reasonable manner consistent with age or maturity.  But this expression is OKed only once per round, except for holes-in-one where for each hole in one, 3 seconds of joy is permitted. Club tossing never OK.

[meenman]

I wouldnt sweat it, the greens adjacent to some of our tee boxes arent exactly close and I will often hear an f-bomb screamed out due to a missed putt while i am teeing off. I have never even thought of yelling back at them.

[Fourputt]

I was playing at a local golf course that I use to practice about 2-3 days a week. Well my wife, my son and I were putting on hole #2 a par 3 where we had hit the green.  Well my son made this long put for a birdie and when he did we were so excited at his improvement we all let out a big cheer!  Well on the next tee box over were some older guys 60+ that were on another par 3 trying to tee off.

We didn't even know they were there honestly.  They were behind us and we didn't even see them.

This guy actually turned around and screamed across the tee box at us telling us to shut up and respect other players on the course. Being the guy that I am, I didn't escalate the situation but it took everything I had not to tell that guy off for screaming across at me and my son.  I quietly explained to my son that you should respect others on the golf course and we moved on to the next tee.

It ruined my son's first birdie and I think it turned him off of golf somewhat because of that. He was visibly sad about that.

My questions is who was wrong? Was it us for letting out a loud cheer while others were on the tee or was it him for acting like an a$$?

~RightEdge

I think that we have all done it, and I (or my group if it was one of them) have received dirty looks before too, and occasionally snide remarks just loud enough to hear.  When it happens I usually look around immediately to see if anyone is nearby, and I will apologize if so.

Etiquette can be a very touchy subject, and the foundation of etiquette is showing respect for the course and for other players.  Letting out an unrestrained yell is poor etiquette.  I generally do nothing now but a little fist pump when something good like that happens.  I get to express my feelings without risking the ire of other players.  I'm a big fan of teaching all new players etiquette before any other rules.

By the way, the other guys were equally at fault for yelling back and possibly bothering other players.  Everyone stepped a little bit out of bounds in this one.

[treebound]

Watch any pro tournament and you'll hear cheering at one hole while someone else on a nearby hole is surrounded by quiet people. Par for the game.

[David in FL]

You did nothing wrong. Congratulations to your son, and welcome to the site. Stick around and make a little noise here! :beer:

[ay33660]

Since when did golf etiquette include not cheering when something spectacular occurs.

Those guys were total  a_ holes.

I would have told them to go f off.

If that had been a group of 4 guys and one of them made a spectacular putt for a birdie and the three others cheered I bet those a holes would not dared to have said anything.

I can't stand people like that.

Total a_holes.

[ay33660]

Unfortunantly i would say your group was in the wrong.  It is never ok to yell since it is disrespectful.  With that being said though, i was with a friend who hit a hole in one and threw his club and yelled for what seemed to be forever.  The groups behind us and in front of us all said something to us.  We apologized and knew we were in the wrong for screaming but that did not take away the great shot.

Holly shit I wouldn't want to run into guys like you on a golf course.

Celebrating a long birdie putt is being disrespectful.

Give me a break.

[flopster]

If some cranky old fart yelled at my 10 year old daughter for doing something great like a birdie or hole in one he would be apologizing to her soon after.

[flopster]

Unfortunantly i would say your group was in the wrong.  It is never ok to yell since it is disrespectful.  With that being said though, i was with a friend who hit a hole in one and threw his club and yelled for what seemed to be forever.  The groups behind us and in front of us all said something to us.  We apologized and knew we were in the wrong for screaming but that did not take away the great shot.

Well ...........................do we send smoke signals saying  FORE when a ball is flying at someones head? I just have one thing to say to people who get all uptight over some noise that is not meant to disturb them but they somehow feel they have the right to tell others to quiet down, get that stick out of your ass. I can't believe it when people think the whole course needs to be dead silent when they are over the ball like that makes some kind of difference. I'm on board if it's a bunch of drunk loud mouths who think just because they paid that they can act however they please but normal noise happens. I will say this though I'm a bit spoiled where I play the course is in the middle of nowhere with just the one road to the clubhouse and no roads or houses within 5 miles, you can hear the group behind talking when your on the green and they are on the tee of a par 5 sometimes.

[Fourputt]

So all of you are okay with me letting out a whoop of joy in the middle of your backswing on the next tee, causing you to dribble your drive 10 feet off the tee box?  Or would you just not count that one and take a mulligan?

I can't believe that you all believe that this is proper behavior on the course.  If that is the case, then you are part of the problem with the erosion of etiquette in today's players.  It's okay to do these things as long as you're having fun, regardless of the fact that your version of fun may detract from the next group's idea of what makes for a pleasant round.  I guess that it's also okay to not bother with repairing your pitch marks, since that isn't really any fun either.

Crowd noise at a professional tournament is a completely different animal.  It's an expected and unavoidable situation, and for the most part never happens on the adjacent parts of the course, because the players stand and wait until another player has hit before addressing their own shots.  And the players themselves don't holler and scream when they do something exceptional.  They treat others with the same respect that they hope to receive themselves.

I'm not stupid - I don't expect golf to be played in total silence, but I do expect a group to try and keep any boisterous behavior contained within their own space.as much as possible.  That is just one facet of good etiquette.  Understandably, slip ups will happen, but saying that it's an acceptable and proper act is still wrong.

Maybe you need to show me just what it is that entitles you to act in a way that diminishes my round.  A quiet murmur of conversation 300 yards away is very different from someone letting out a scream 100 feet from you in the middle of your backswing.  I don't see a tell of joy as being any different from hollering an expletive when something bad happens.  both at equally improper.

[dave s]

The old folk set seem to have a sense of entitlement every where they go because they are, well ... old.  I see it, but I don't agree with it at all.

Golf is supposed to be fun, like enjoying the birdie your son made.  Don't think twice about what happened.  It's over and done with.  You did the right thing by explaining to your son why the comment was made by the other players on the course.  End of discussion.  Back to enjoying your family on the course.

dave