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

[newtogolf]

Overall I agree, the OP wasn't in the wrong and should celebrate his son's first birdie.   That said, I could imagine a thread from just about anyone here that reads like the following;

"I was on track to shoot my lowest score, when right in the middle of my swing off the tee a loud cheer erupted on the green behind us and it caused me slice my drive right into the water.  I was still annoyed after my penalty shot and drop and proceeded to double bogey the hole, thus messing up my chance to break my lowest score.  When I saw the group, I was pissed and yelled at them to shut up."

Admittedly a bit of a devils advocate play here, but I think if a thread was started in this way, the responses might be a bit different than what we're seeing.

I don't completely agree with Fourputt, but his point is well taken, most of us don't want people yelling and screaming when we're in the middle of our swing.  Does it happen, of course, do I think the OP did anything wrong, not at all, but let's not be so quick to make a judgment that no one would ever be annoyed if a round was ruined because someone yelled during their swing.

Congrats to the OP's son, I didn't get my first birdie until I was 47 so he's well ahead of me and Welcome to the site.

[Spyder]

Overall I agree, the OP wasn't in the wrong and should celebrate his son's first birdie.   That said, I could imagine a thread from just about anyone here that reads like the following;

"I was on track to shoot my lowest score, when right in the middle of my swing off the tee a loud cheer erupted on the green behind us and it caused me slice my drive right into the water.  I was still annoyed after my penalty shot and drop and proceeded to double bogey the hole, thus messing up my chance to break my lowest score.  When I saw the group, I was pissed and yelled at them to shut up."

Admittedly a bit of a devils advocate play here, but I think if a thread was started in this way, the responses might be a bit different than what we're seeing.

I don't completely agree with Fourputt, but his point is well taken, most of us don't want people yelling and screaming when we're in the middle of our swing.  Does it happen, of course, do I think the OP did anything wrong, not at all, but let's not be so quick to make a judgment that no one would ever be annoyed if a round was ruined because someone yelled during their swing.

Congrats to the OP's son, I didn't get my first birdie until I was 47 so he's well ahead of me and Welcome to the site.

I agree that we'd be annoyed if we were on pace for an astounding round. However, during a casual round on a public course playing with friends where money is probably not on the line.. I'd just be "annoyed" for a second or two and let it go. I'd also be able to look over and see a kid and immediately assume the little guy did something cool and I'd be happy for him.

I'm not good enough to get pissed off, so not much annoys me. As Erik pointed out earlier, we've all heard birds, yells, screams, deer, frogs, trees, squirrels, carts, cars, wind, horns, jake brakes, etc. We're not playing for millions and even those guys deal with yelling and cheering every Thursday, Friday, Saturdy and Sunday . The difference is, they have galleries of people roaring and have paychecks on the line. A little more unnerving than a family of three during a casual round if you ask me...

[newtogolf]

I agree that we'd be annoyed if we were on pace for an astounding round. However, during a casual round on a public course playing with friends where money is probably not on the line.. I'd just be "annoyed" for a second or two and let it go. I'd also be able to look over and see a kid and immediately assume the little guy did something cool and I'd be happy for him.

I'm not good enough to get pissed off, so not much annoys me. As Erik pointed out earlier, we've all heard birds, yells, screams, deer, frogs, trees, squirrels, carts, cars, wind, horns, jake brakes, etc. We're not playing for millions and even those guys deal with yelling and cheering every Thursday, Friday, Saturdy and Sunday. The difference is, they have galleries of people roaring and have paychecks on the line. A little more unnerving than a family of three during a casual round if you ask me...

I'm like you, I wouldn't get annoyed to the point where'd I'd escalate the situation and tell them to shut up.  I have played for money (not big stakes) and have noticed that when money is involved, guys tend to take it more serious even if it's a few dollars.  We also don't know for certain that the guys that shouted at the OP knew he was with his son or why they were cheering.

I just felt Fourputt was taking a lot of heat and had the original post been closer to what I wrote, some might not have been so quick to pounce on him.

[iacas]

I'm like you, I wouldn't get annoyed to the point where'd I'd escalate the situation and tell them to shut up.  I have played for money (not big stakes) and have noticed that when money is involved, guys tend to take it more serious even if it's a few dollars.  We also don't know for certain that the guys that shouted at the OP knew he was with his son or why they were cheering.

I just felt Fourputt was taking a lot of heat and had the original post been closer to what I wrote, some might not have been so quick to pounce on him.

I understand your point, but when you look over and see a kid, I think that changes things. The version of the "OP" that you wrote basically lies by omission in excluding "a family was cheering with a kid" from "that person's" perspective.

"Some guy came at me really fast, plowed into me, and knocked me on my ass!" sounds like it could be a horrible story. Neglecting to mention that you were playing hockey at the time changes things.

[newtogolf]

I understand your point, but when you look over and see a kid, I think that changes things. The version of the "OP" that you wrote basically lies by omission in excluding "a family was cheering with a kid" from "that person's" perspective.

I don't think it's a lie by omission.  My home course has tee boxes that are adjacent to greens with trees between us.  I can't see who's on the greens, but I can easily hear them if they cheer or cuss.

[iacas]

I don't think it's a lie by omission.  My home course has tee boxes that are adjacent to greens with trees between us.  I can't see who's on the greens, but I can easily hear them if they cheer or cuss.

The OP did say the guy turned around and yelled, indicating that they have no such flora to block the sight lines from green to tee or vice versa.

Again, your point is valid, but I also don't now how many of us would yell in the general direction of a sudden noise without seeing who made it.

[David in FL]

Overall I agree, the OP wasn't in the wrong and should celebrate his son's first birdie.   That said, I could imagine a thread from just about anyone here that reads like the following; "I was on track to shoot my lowest score, when right in the middle of my swing off the tee a loud cheer erupted on the green behind us and it caused me slice my drive right into the water.  I was still annoyed after my penalty shot and drop and proceeded to double bogey the hole, thus messing up my chance to break my lowest score.  When I saw the group, I was pissed and yelled at them to shut up." Admittedly a bit of a devils advocate play here, but I think if a thread was started in this way, the responses might be a bit different than what we're seeing.

Golf is played outside, on a course with other players in close proximity and any number of distractions. I know a guy that will back off if a bird starts tweeting as he addresses the ball. Sorry, but some people just need to toughen up a little mentally and learn to block out distractions....and I'll include a lot of tour players in that statement too.

[newtogolf]

The OP did say the guy turned around and yelled, indicating that they have no such flora to block the sight lines from green to tee or vice versa.

Again, your point is valid, but I also don't now how many of us would yell in the general direction of a sudden noise without seeing who made it.

I think we both agree and I would never yell in a general direction without knowing who was on the green.  I have played with people that did cuss at people blindly for celebrating and it cost them a 2 week course suspension.

I golf for fun, if I have to get into confrontations while doing it, it's not worth it.

[Ernest Jones]

I golf for fun, if I have to get into confrontations while doing it, it's not worth it.

Yeah, no kidding. Can't imagine someone bothering me enough on the golf course to justify getting into a confrontation. I realize that in my original post I stated that if I had been in the OP's position there probably would have been an altercation or at least some choice words exchanged but that doesn't change the fact that I can't imagine that scenario happen. Nothing like that would ever occur on my home course which is pretty family friendly. The big, ego jocks play elsewhere.

[ditchparrot19]

Can't imagine someone bothering me enough on the golf course to justify getting into a confrontation.

I can absolutely visualize a confrontation if I were the OP – I'm afraid I would've initiated it following the other group's remarks. Then again, I'll admit I'm quite confrontational when it comes to the mistreatment of kids or dogs, even if it's something relatively minor such as this incident. I'd have gone over and explained the situation face to face and if they still had an issue with it, well, there's a real hot place that I'd strongly suggest they visit.

It's nearly unbelievable to me that there are people here who believe the family's actions were way out of line. Attitudes like that are a big reason that this game suffers from such a poor reputation in many quarters.

[indyvai]

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.

Cheering is part of golf. Ever watch it on TV?

[GangGreen]

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

If it were me and I just saw a family celebrating there son's first birdie together I would have run up and given the boy a high five myself. Granted, I'm biased as I have young kids myself who I'm slowly introducing to the game.

[ztexz]

Hey, OP:  I saw in your original message that the negative reaction that your kid got from Mr. Arsehole kind of soured his feelings toward the game.  Just a thought, but the response on here has been overwhelmingly positive toward his accomplishment -- maybe you could show him the responses on here to let him know how excited THIS group of strangers is for what he did.  (Just thinking like a Dad here...)

[newtogolf]

Hey, OP:  I saw in your original message that the negative reaction that your kid got from Mr. Arsehole kind of soured his feelings toward the game.  Just a thought, but the response on here has been overwhelmingly positive toward his accomplishment -- maybe you could show him the responses on here to let him know how excited THIS group of strangers is for what he did.  (Just thinking like a Dad here...)

That's a great idea!

[RonTheSavage]

If it were me and I just saw a family celebrating there son's first birdie together I would have run up and given the boy a high five myself. Granted, I'm biased as I have young kids myself who I'm slowly introducing to the game.

I would've probably done the same.

[legitimatebeef]

In my opinion it was a little bit rude, but I wouldn't call it wrong. It happens. As for your son OP, sucks that he was a little sad over the blowback but hey, tough titties that is the reality of public golf, or any golf for that matter, or public anything for that matter. You have to deal with others, and others aren't always how you'd like them to be. If he truly loves the gameplay of golf, this little etiquette flap won't mean a thing. Don't coddle the boy. That said, congrats on his first birdie btw.

[cipher]

In my opinion it was a little bit rude, but I wouldn't call it wrong. It happens. As for your son OP, sucks that he was a little sad over the blowback but hey, tough titties that is the reality of public golf, or any golf for that matter, or public anything for that matter. You have to deal with others, and others aren't always how you'd like them to be. If he truly loves the gameplay of golf, this little etiquette flap won't mean a thing. Don't coddle the boy. That said, congrats on his first birdie btw.

That is how it is huh?

[MS256]

Most of the tee boxes where I play are close to the previous greens. If somebody on a green disrupts my tee shot it's my fault and if somebody on the tee box disrupts my putt it's my fault.

If we are on a tee box it's standard procedure to take a look at the green to make sure nobody is putting before we take a whack at the ball. It's also standard procedure on the green to make sure nobody on the tee box is getting ready to hit.

More times than not one group tells the other to go ahead and watch the putt or drive and maybe even offer congratulations if it's a good one.

As I said in another comment it's normal in our games for the guys to get pretty excited in the competition. They make fun of me because I act the same non-exited way after I make an eagle putt as I do when I make a bogey putt (it's just my nature).