From micromcallister, 9/8/2003.
I played golf on Saturday, at Stonebridge, with my father-in-law, and two of his friends from Val d'Or. This turned out to be my worst scoring round of the year, thanks to a horrible display of putting.
My putting stroke has actually been quite reliable this year, having recently gone 72 holes without a three-putt. I had six three-putts on Saturday, and avoided a couple of four-jacks by making an eight footer on East 6 and a six footer on West 4. I can say, without hesitation, that my putting, and my game in general, was thrown off by a glaring lack of courtesy and etiquette on the part of one of my playing partners. This gentleman (not my father-in-law), had the fury-inducing habit of stepping in, or on one occassion standing in the direct line of my putts on, from what I can accurately recall, 12 of the 18 greens. Michelle Wie got in trouble this summer for stepping in the extended line of a playing partner's putt. If it were simply that, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But putting through footprints gave me a bad case of the yips. Granted, this wasn't the US Open, and I can be a bit of hard-ass when it comes to the common courtesies of golf. I shouldn't let crap like this bug me, but it does. This falls in the same category as the doode who won't turn off his constantly ringing cell phone at the movie theatre, or the tailgater who has his grill up your ass on the drive home.
I am willing to let the odd mis-step go on the greens, as people can make honest mistakes - for example, they may be so wrapped up in their own game that they don't realize where you ball mark is located for example. People who do this are usually quick to apologies for such an error.
After the third or fourth instance when someone walks in one's line however, it starts to become somewhat of a distraction, and you start to think that he might even be doing it on purpose. Happily though, I don't think he was doing it on purpose. Simply, and quite sadly, he just didn't care.
I'm quite willing to forgive ignorance, but not willing to forgive someone who just doesn't give a rats ass about how his actions on the golf course affects others. He either didn't think walking in a putting line impacted the roll of the ball (which it does) or impacted the concentration of his playing partner (which it did) - or, he simply didn't care. All of the above apply in this case.
It's not as though this gentleman was new to the game and unaware of the basic manners of golf - this person likely plays more than 100 rounds a year. I play golf for a few of reasons - for the cameraderie, to get outside, to walk around a nice setting for a few hours, and sometimes, to posting a decent score. At least I was outside in a nice setting on a nice late summer day.
Anyway, I've prattled on about this far too long, and I fear that I have revealed too much about how big a stickler I can be about these sorts things. Ah well, screw it. You've got to be passionate about some things in life, and as my father has often said, the way one plays the game of golf says an awful lot about what the person is like off the golf course.
About Me
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
don't step in my line
From micromcallister, 9/8/2003.
I played golf on Saturday, at Stonebridge, with my father-in-law, and two of his friends from Val d'Or. This turned out to be my worst scoring round of the year, thanks to a horrible display of putting.
My putting stroke has actually been quite reliable this year, having recently gone 72 holes without a three-putt. I had six three-putts on Saturday, and avoided a couple of four-jacks by making an eight footer on East 6 and a six footer on West 4. I can say, without hesitation, that my putting, and my game in general, was thrown off by a glaring lack of courtesy and etiquette on the part of one of my playing partners. This gentleman (not my father-in-law), had the fury-inducing habit of stepping in, or on one occassion standing in the direct line of my putts on, from what I can accurately recall, 12 of the 18 greens. Michelle Wie got in trouble this summer for stepping in the extended line of a playing partner's putt. If it were simply that, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But putting through footprints gave me a bad case of the yips. Granted, this wasn't the US Open, and I can be a bit of hard-ass when it comes to the common courtesies of golf. I shouldn't let crap like this bug me, but it does. This falls in the same category as the doode who won't turn off his constantly ringing cell phone at the movie theatre, or the tailgater who has his grill up your ass on the drive home.
I am willing to let the odd mis-step go on the greens, as people can make honest mistakes - for example, they may be so wrapped up in their own game that they don't realize where you ball mark is located for example. People who do this are usually quick to apologies for such an error.
After the third or fourth instance when someone walks in one's line however, it starts to become somewhat of a distraction, and you start to think that he might even be doing it on purpose. Happily though, I don't think he was doing it on purpose. Simply, and quite sadly, he just didn't care.
I'm quite willing to forgive ignorance, but not willing to forgive someone who just doesn't give a rats ass about how his actions on the golf course affects others. He either didn't think walking in a putting line impacted the roll of the ball (which it does) or impacted the concentration of his playing partner (which it did) - or, he simply didn't care. All of the above apply in this case.
It's not as though this gentleman was new to the game and unaware of the basic manners of golf - this person likely plays more than 100 rounds a year. I play golf for a few of reasons - for the cameraderie, to get outside, to walk around a nice setting for a few hours, and sometimes, to posting a decent score. At least I was outside in a nice setting on a nice late summer day.
Anyway, I've prattled on about this far too long, and I fear that I have revealed too much about how big a stickler I can be about these sorts things. Ah well, screw it. You've got to be passionate about some things in life, and as my father has often said, the way one plays the game of golf says an awful lot about what the person is like off the golf course.
I played golf on Saturday, at Stonebridge, with my father-in-law, and two of his friends from Val d'Or. This turned out to be my worst scoring round of the year, thanks to a horrible display of putting.
My putting stroke has actually been quite reliable this year, having recently gone 72 holes without a three-putt. I had six three-putts on Saturday, and avoided a couple of four-jacks by making an eight footer on East 6 and a six footer on West 4. I can say, without hesitation, that my putting, and my game in general, was thrown off by a glaring lack of courtesy and etiquette on the part of one of my playing partners. This gentleman (not my father-in-law), had the fury-inducing habit of stepping in, or on one occassion standing in the direct line of my putts on, from what I can accurately recall, 12 of the 18 greens. Michelle Wie got in trouble this summer for stepping in the extended line of a playing partner's putt. If it were simply that, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But putting through footprints gave me a bad case of the yips. Granted, this wasn't the US Open, and I can be a bit of hard-ass when it comes to the common courtesies of golf. I shouldn't let crap like this bug me, but it does. This falls in the same category as the doode who won't turn off his constantly ringing cell phone at the movie theatre, or the tailgater who has his grill up your ass on the drive home.
I am willing to let the odd mis-step go on the greens, as people can make honest mistakes - for example, they may be so wrapped up in their own game that they don't realize where you ball mark is located for example. People who do this are usually quick to apologies for such an error.
After the third or fourth instance when someone walks in one's line however, it starts to become somewhat of a distraction, and you start to think that he might even be doing it on purpose. Happily though, I don't think he was doing it on purpose. Simply, and quite sadly, he just didn't care.
I'm quite willing to forgive ignorance, but not willing to forgive someone who just doesn't give a rats ass about how his actions on the golf course affects others. He either didn't think walking in a putting line impacted the roll of the ball (which it does) or impacted the concentration of his playing partner (which it did) - or, he simply didn't care. All of the above apply in this case.
It's not as though this gentleman was new to the game and unaware of the basic manners of golf - this person likely plays more than 100 rounds a year. I play golf for a few of reasons - for the cameraderie, to get outside, to walk around a nice setting for a few hours, and sometimes, to posting a decent score. At least I was outside in a nice setting on a nice late summer day.
Anyway, I've prattled on about this far too long, and I fear that I have revealed too much about how big a stickler I can be about these sorts things. Ah well, screw it. You've got to be passionate about some things in life, and as my father has often said, the way one plays the game of golf says an awful lot about what the person is like off the golf course.
