An Etiquette Question

[Wes Bucey]

I once saw a "lady of a certain age" run her powered golf cart right into a lake, no big hills leading to the lake to "blame the terrain."

She got out, grabbed her club bag and waded back to shore. I have no idea if it was mechanical failure or driver error, but in my opinion she had plenty of room to turn away from the lake. She wasn't yelling or swearing the way I might have if the equipment was at fault, but then she wasn't an uptight guy looking to avoid blame. She was on the third fairway, I was teeing off on the fifth. I never heard "the rest of the story."

 

[Joe Cruse]

Steel,

it was a friendly foursome, just possibly a bit on the high side of a "beer or 12" on the course after a midnight shift .

That reminds me, on this same course, on only the 2nd or 3rd time I had ever played golf, I got my first birdie: a real one. Hit my tee shot into a group of trees. We found my ball with some blood a a few feathers on it. Yikes!

 

[D.Scott]

I had a similar experience Joe. My drive was right down the fairway and looked beautiful until it struck a seagull in mid flight. The ball dropped straight down (the bird followed shortly) and under the rules, I had to play the ball as it lay. I would be allowed to determine if it was still playable but I was not allowed to clean it or improve the lie. Great game - did you ever notice that golf spelled backwards is flog?

Dave

 

[Charmed]

Flogging the ball

...Great game - did you ever notice that golf spelled backwards is flog?

Dave

May be they thought flogging the ball is a good idea and came up with golf. And "birdie" must have something to do with what you and Joe describe.

 

[Joe Cruse]

Great game - did you ever notice that golf spelled backwards is flog?Dave

Yes, Dave....every time I swing a club

Talking about our "birdies" reminds me of that Randy Johnson pitch that nailed a bird during a game. Whatever was left of that poor bird, it surely wouldn't have needed cleaning before cooking.

 

[Wes Bucey]

About 30 years ago, I topped a grassburner on the first tee and killed a chipmunk about 50 yards off the tee. The gallery of old timers sitting on the benches nursing morning coffee and offering sarcastic comments after other duffers screwed up the first drive sat stunned for almost a full minute until one old guy stood up and addressed everyone in earshot,

"Da_n! He killed it! He actually killed it!"

I never did regain my composure and shot a round of 114 when I normally shot in the high 80s or low 90s. Worse - no one in my foursome mentioned it the whole day, which absolutely made it the "elephant in the room."

 

[Charmed]

All the official reasons for being fine(d)

Dear Covers:

Here are all the reasons why a player can be fined by the PGA. The article is written by John Feinstein, contributing editor for Golf Digest magazine.

https://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=1887352

It includes:

1. Yelling at an answer machine (Paul Goydos).
2. Calling yourself or the golf ball a name.
3. Passing gas loudly at the first tee. (NO exceptions made for other tees!)
4. Just making anyone angry. (Now, this must include a lot of players.
Some players can make a lot of people angry just by winning!

However, just thinking about calling some a"----ing a------" is OK. You just can't say it out loud.

Charmed

 

[Wes Bucey]

The article doesn't list ALL, only some of the more humorous ones. I remember some pros almost came to blows on the ninth green of Olympia Fields at the 2003 U.S Open when one younger pro walked across the line of an older pro to trade his wedge for a putter even before the older pro had begun to line up the putt. I didn't catch the whole exchange because I was in the stands behind the green, but I distinctly heard Dick Cheney-type epithets being vocalized.

That, of course, was a USGA event, not PGA, so perhaps the PGA fines don't apply.

 

[Randy Stewart]

I enjoy golf, I got bit by the bug big time this year. However, if I can't have fun I'm not going. During the Ryder Cup the roads around Oakland Hills were closed to through traffic. Most courses I've played are by a main road and you must play close to the road at some point. People blow their horns, trucks are driving by, a police car goes off, and at one course a train goes by. All things that I have learned to deal with, plus I can't afford to throw a club at the train!

How about the guy making the free throws in Basketball? Rumeal Robinson of Michigan made 2 clutch free throws to win a National Championship as time expired. Talk about a tight situation and there is more room percentage wise for a golf ball to fit in the hole than there is for a basketball to fit through the rim! But a pro golfer can't make a putt without complete silence. To me it's absurd, but that goes along with most of the arrogance found in the game. And that's to be read as High Priced Courses, Exclusive Country Clubs, etc. not to the majority of the people who play the game. I paid $145 to play at St. Andrews once, but that was just to be able to say I did it.

IMO the display of self centerness shown by our Ryder Cup Team rivaled only the US Olympic Basketball team. As Leon would say "All my fumbles wouldn't have hurt us, if my team mates had been there to pick them up!" "There may not be an I in team, but there is a ME".