Poor Sportsmanship on the Course

[Lihu]

Yesterday I was teamed up with a guy that wouldn't shut up, that constantly narrated his own game. Examples: "that was a great shot", "I'm delighted with what I just did", "I'm a bogey golfer, so I'm one point ahead right now" , and by narration I mean an unending stream of loud background talk blah blah blah . I think the only time he asked about me was to critique my swing.

A good golf partner in my opinion can talk, and engage.  Maybe it's a mistake to allow oneself to be randomly paired,. What do you guys think?

I wouldn't call this "bad sportsmanship" as much as a little too talkative?

Getting randomly paired up with folks is a great way to meet new people. Ones that you could like and become lifetime playing partners, and in this case, someone with whom you might not be all that compatible.

Take the good with the bad, and at least they all play golf!

[mcanadiens]

Whether you get good or bad,  it's a healthy thing to play with randoms. I'm a massive introvert, so this is actually a good way for me to work on that. When the guy happens to be an even bigger ass than I am, it's a chance to develop my coping skills. Not pleasant necessarily, but you chalk it up to experience.

I'd say 95% of the folks are at least tolerable in my experience.

[Hardballs]

One old boy at my club often gets ignored, possibly because he's clearly mad and breaks into uncontrollable laughter for no apparent reason from time to time but also because he talks constantly (and I do mean constantly - from the first tee to the 18th green, and yes that includes during your shots) but I've joined him a couple of times now. Durring that time I've learned that he's actually a pretty lonely bloke, won't tell you his life story (but trust me I could) and that his time on the golf course is possibly the only time he gets to talk to people .......and trust me he makes the most of it. Last time out he was 'coaching' me pretty much the whole way round, even insisted on me using his putter for half the round as it was better than mine, apparently. As we walked onto the 18th green (him on another 7 or 8 for the hole, forget which, me 1 under for the round and putting for birdie....... with his putter again, obviously) it almost occured to me to ask why he was giving me all the advice given the scores etc......... but I didn't. If I see him again I'll go out with him. All I give him is a 'sounding wall' to offload to, the way I see it he gives me the opportunity to practice with serious distraction (tight fairway, out of bounds one side, trees down the other, water in front and the bloke next to you begins to sing - trust me it's distracting) so to an extent we each gain something. Although if he shows me his invention for playing in the snow (basically a broom head with 2 nails pointing downwards placed upside down in the snow for you to put you ball on, I think I'll scream - had the demo maybe 10 times now and everytime he clouts the broom head not the ball...) All I'd say to the OP is you never really know what's going on in someone's life - maybe they're just a pratt or maybe there's a reason they feel the need to constantly bring attention to their own game. Personally I'd ignore it totally if you can.

Post of the week right here^^^ nice!