Golfing with people who don't care about golfing

[iceman777]

Unfortunately Im a 20 handicapper and because few of my friends now  play , I either go as a single or dont play . What I guarantee anyone I  play with is , while I may stink , Ill never slow them up . If I get to seven or eight ,  I just pick up . Ive played with many good golfers and it seems that they are  more concerned with how they are playing, and as long as I dont slow them up , they are fine .

[Yukari]

37 minutes ago, iceman777 said:

Unfortunately Im a 20 handicapper and because few of my friends now  play , I either go as a single or dont play . What I guarantee anyone I  play with is , while I may stink , Ill never slow them up . If I get to seven or eight ,  I just pick up . Ive played with many good golfers and it seems that they are  more concerned with how they are playing, and as long as I dont slow them up , they are fine .

This.  I couldn't careless whether someone is a good player or not as long as they don't fall behind the group in front. 

I concentrate on my own game to forget about other stuff.

[boogielicious]

12 hours ago, Feeling it said:

I guess you have never sucked at golf. You seem to be all about you. Good luck with that.

Your point is a bit sarcastic, but right on. When I play with newbies, I try to be very patient because I was there once. I'll help if they ask and encourage them letting them know that we all went through this phase. It makes the round more enjoyable and helps them see that golf is a game that is meant to be fun to play.

[dzclarkcpa]

On 9/8/2016 at 0:10 PM, Zekez said:

I have absolutely no desire to golf with anyone who is pretty bad at golf.   In my job I socialize constantly and while I am an outgoing person who does enjoy socializing, I have zero desire to socialize around a golf course with someone who sucks at golf.  

And this is the reason golf will struggle moving forward.

I love to play with new golfers. I carry a single digit handicap, can be really good (and can be really REALLY bad). I love the opportunity to show them that just because you have been doing it for a long time, or just because you hit some great shots, you can also have holes that you fall apart. 

New golfers are already self conscience enough without being told how horrible they are. 

[bweiss711]

On 9/8/2016 at 0:10 PM, Zekez said:

I have absolutely no desire to golf with anyone who is pretty bad at golf.   In my job I socialize constantly and while I am an outgoing person who does enjoy socializing, I have zero desire to socialize around a golf course with someone who sucks at golf.  

 

Not to be the off-topic police, but this thread wasn't intended to be about golfing with terrible golfers.  Its about golfing with people who's objective was not to go out and play the game of golf with the intention of doing their best.  Instead, their objective is purely social, and they just happen to be having that social experience out on the course.

I've played with plenty of bad golfers, myself included, but as long as they are striving to play the game, and score their best, they are still playing golf.  They are playing it poorly, but they are still playing the game.  In the scenario i described in the OP, I would have been much less thrown off if he just played poorly and was 20+ strokes over par after 9 holes.  But instead, he wasn't even trying.

[amished]

I play with a bunch of different people as well as going out on my own quite a bit.  It'll take me a little bit to get into what my partners "goals" are for that round and then I just accept it and go with the flow.  I'm not a great golfer but I'm lucky enough that I do fairly well without a practice swing (don't ask me why, in the past I've never felt right with a practice swing so I used to take 5-10 swings slowing everything down, getting into my own head and making me worse.)  So I can talk, get up to the ball, whack it, then continue talking if that's what the situation calls for.  I also do just love golf so I'm fine trying to compete and score as well as you can, talking about the tour, talking about new clubs, physics of a golf swing, etc.

Just depends on who I'm golfing with!

[jkelley9]

If you're going to play with somebody you've never played with before you need to automatically prepare your mind that the round isn't likely to be your best. Since you never know how the other golfer will play, how much of the rules they know, if they know the etiquette, etc. You certainly should not go out in hopes to shoot your best round.

In these instances, personally, I plan to just have fun and don't care about score.

Being paired up is a little different, you kind of want to assume they know a lot of the above things and will be courteous to whatever level of play you're expecting barring it being irritating to them.

[Kalnoky]

Just want to interject real quick: the guys who talk about how much money they make.. I find that super tacky. Is that a thing in golf?

I don't care how much money you make or what you inherited. Have some class man. 

[MrFlipper]

On 9/8/2016 at 10:10 AM, Zekez said:

I have absolutely no desire to golf with anyone who is pretty bad at golf.   In my job I socialize constantly and while I am an outgoing person who does enjoy socializing, I have zero desire to socialize around a golf course with someone who sucks at golf.  

Saw this post quoted deeper into the thread and had to come back and look at it. 

You are a 10 handicap and don't like to play with those that suck? 

I remember not so long time ago playing in groups where if you were higher than a 4 or 5 handicap you weren't welcome, they didn't like playing with golfers that sucked. LOL. I guess sucking perspective is all relative. 

When I was first learning, one of us shot 75 or better consistently, while the other 3 of us (including me) were shooting 130+. I figured if he could play well with us, I can sure play well with anybody, regardless of skill level and/or etiquette level.

[Jeremie Boop]

On 9/8/2016 at 1:10 PM, Zekez said:

I have absolutely no desire to golf with anyone who is pretty bad at golf.   In my job I socialize constantly and while I am an outgoing person who does enjoy socializing, I have zero desire to socialize around a golf course with someone who sucks at golf.  

Hope that glass house doesn't come crashing down on you with those rocks you are throwing. If the quality of someone's golf game is what determines whether you enjoy playing with them, that's pretty sad. Sounds to be quite shallow. The quality of someone's attitude while playing means much more to me than how good they play.

[Yukari]

4 hours ago, dzclarkcpa said:

And this is the reason golf will struggle moving forward.

I love to play with new golfers. I carry a single digit handicap, can be really good (and can be really REALLY bad). I love the opportunity to show them that just because you have been doing it for a long time, or just because you hit some great shots, you can also have holes that you fall apart. 

New golfers are already self conscience enough without being told how horrible they are. 

Lol. Me too!!!

For example, I shot 88 this past weekend. And today with a client, I shot 77. Go figure. 

[newtogolf]

I don't care if my golf guests are good or bad golfers or if they want to be good golfers or not but it does impact the way I play.  I'm inspired to compete when I play with golfers who are the same or better than me.  I really enjoy playing with better golfers because even if I know I can't beat them, I feel those competitive juices flowing even more in trying to keep up with them.    

When I play with golfers who don't care about their score the focus changes from playing golf to just hanging out and hitting golf balls.  In those cases I don't worry so much about the score as I do making good swings and working on things I've discussed with my instructor.  I'm also more likely to try shots that I wouldn't if I was competing.  

[dzclarkcpa]

Great example of this last weekend at a partner event at our course. My partner (who I had never met before) failed to show up. Pro shop paired me up with another guy who partner had gotten sick. I was playing off an 8, 10 strokes better than my partner and about 20 strokes better than the 2 other guys we played with.

I don't know that I have had a more enjoyable round. The other team were two older gentlemen who were absolute blast to play a round of golf with. Even though we were in an MGA event and normally I try hard to score, I found that in this round I was just enjoying the outing. Some of the stories were fabulous and even though I obviously scored better, I found joy in just being with them.

[David in FL]

On September 8, 2016 at 7:25 PM, iceman777 said:

Unfortunately Im a 20 handicapper and because few of my friends now  play , I either go as a single or dont play . What I guarantee anyone I  play with is , while I may stink , Ill never slow them up . If I get to seven or eight ,  I just pick up . Ive played with many good golfers and it seems that they are  more concerned with how they are playing, and as long as I dont slow them up , they are fine .

You're welcome in our group any time!  

[Moppy]

You know, I played with a guy once who played two over on the back nine, we only played nine. Even though I was trying to keep up, he would often drive nearly to the green on a par 4, it took me at least two strokes to catch him, and he would pitch on and close in those cases fast too. It was such a mismatch that picking up when I did a double par was not enough to keep him from spending a lot of his time politely waiting. He never said anything, but I wouldn't play with that guy again out of respect for his game. Part of it was that he played from the whites to accomodate me.

[Zekez]

On 9/9/2016 at 2:54 PM, dzclarkcpa said:

And this is the reason golf will struggle moving forward.

I love to play with new golfers. I carry a single digit handicap, can be really good (and can be really REALLY bad). I love the opportunity to show them that just because you have been doing it for a long time, or just because you hit some great shots, you can also have holes that you fall apart. 

New golfers are already self conscience enough without being told how horrible they are. 

I'm not telling anyone how bad they are.  I just pick my golfing companions judiciously.

On 9/8/2016 at 6:25 PM, Feeling it said:

I guess you have never sucked at golf. You seem to be all about you. Good luck with that.

If you were referring to me, then yes i did suck at one point.  When i started,.  But even then i wasn't horrible.  And when i sucked I played with my friends who were also at the same skill level as i was.

On 9/9/2016 at 5:22 PM, Jeremie Boop said:

Hope that glass house doesn't come crashing down on you with those rocks you are throwing. If the quality of someone's golf game is what determines whether you enjoy playing with them, that's pretty sad. Sounds to be quite shallow. The quality of someone's attitude while playing means much more to me than how good they play.

It won't come crashing down on me.  And aren't you being as judgmental as i am by being condescending about my "shallow" character?  But like most people you'll miss that point.  I can't dictate who I play with without being shallow, but you can criticize me for my opinion and it's cool.  Check.

[Groucho Valentine]

Lots of people see golf as just a social opportunity or as a way to exercise. And that is totally cool. I find these types enjoyable to play with. Though the only chance i usually get to meet these types is when i drop in someplace for 9 after work. 90% of my golf is with usual groups or in tournaments, which are with ultra-competitive better players. So its a nice change of pace to play with someone who has a more light view of golf, sometimes. 

Edited September 15, 2016 by Groucho Valentine