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Does this ever happen to you?

rollin said:
I really dont know why people take so much offense to advice givers. I know some can be a pain in the but. However its only rare from my experience and other than that i think that most people do simply just want to honestly help especially if they notice something. A freindly rsponse like "thank you but I am working on what my instructor said" or "thank you, I really appreciate it but I'd rather do my own thing". And usually you'll just have a very friendly enviornment after that.
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In my opinion it is kind of presumptuous. We generally don't think it is acceptable to poke our nose in other people's business elsewhere, but somehow it is kind of okay at the golf course.

I do agree that short game technique isn't overly complex and lesser skilled players can have a solid understanding of it. But I think that knowledge is only part of the skill set for instructing people.
 
Really only been offered advice once. I was practicing 50 yard pitches. He came over and gave some advice (I wasn't really listening). After he was done, I challenged him to a "closest to the pin". He catches it fat and leaves it 20 yards short.

Months later he tries to give me advice again, and as he's walking up I kinda glare at him and he did an about face lol.

Turns out the guy is a "regular". I practice at a little par 3 course that has a great place to practice 50-70 yarders and have seen him many times. He tries to give advice to everyone he passes.

I lose the majority of my strokes around the green so I don't usually elicit many people trying to give me tips. I have been at the range next to scratch and + players and we'll usually start a conversation. If advice is given it's usually me asking them.
 
Swing advice from strangers really bothers me. These individuals haven't played with me enough to know how my swing works or what I am trying to achieve.

One of my worst stories is actually with a good friend that I have never golfed with before. I find myself in a nasty green side bunker. While walking to the bunker my friend starts giving me tips on what I need to do to get out of the bunker. I politely nod and say "Ok", never intending to take his advice. He sees me set up to the ball and stops me! Shows me what I'm doing wrong and tries to get me to follow his advice. At this point I am very uncomfortable. I try to do what he says out of respect and fail to get the ball out. He tells me what I did wrong and continues coaching me out of the bunker. It took three shots to get he ball out. I was furious the rest of the round!

Lesson learned: When people try to give advice on the course, I tell them that I don't like to try new things during a round without working on them on the range.

One thing I do welcome is advice on everything but the swing itself. Say I find myself hitting everything 20 yards right of my target. I would totally welcome someone telling me "You know, you have been lined up to the right all day". Same goes if someone sees me standing too close or far away from the ball or something similar. Just no mechanical swing tips please!
 
This is one of the reasons I have a baseball bat in my golf bag. Nothing sends them running quicker than a "the only club in my bag I know what to do with is my trouble wedge".

I've only had to do that once though. I'm not proud of it, but that guy was insufferable and it got the desired effect.
 
When we are on the range with a bunch of THPers at a gathering or get together (non-event), I will sometimes hear a driver in the background and say something like "Bet thats ABC driver" and usually I get it right. Someone last time came up to me and said the guy is struggling with his driver, why dont you tell him why (low swing speed, w/ super low spin and low launch driver was just not working).

Because people dont want to hear it. Right or wrong, people dont want to hear correct info, especially if it invalidates a purchase they made. While I would never say anything of the sort, a quick 3 sentences would explain a lot to people.

Playing with Howzat just 2 weeks ago, we encountered this as we were paired with someone. The guy was struggling, and when I explained why it all clicked for him. But you could tell he never knew much about equipment outside of grabbing what he liked or what was hot.
 
JB said:
When we are on the range with a bunch of THPers at a gathering or get together (non-event), I will sometimes hear a driver in the background and say something like "Bet thats ABC driver" and usually I get it right. Someone last time came up to me and said the guy is struggling with his driver, why dont you tell him why (low swing speed, w/ super low spin and low launch driver was just not working).

Because people dont want to hear it. Right or wrong, people dont want to hear correct info, especially if it invalidates a purchase they made. While I would never say anything of the sort, a quick 3 sentences would explain a lot to people.

Playing with Howzat just 2 weeks ago, we encountered this as we were paired with someone. The guy was struggling, and when I explained why it all clicked for him. But you could tell he never knew much about equipment outside of grabbing what he liked or what was hot.
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If only you guys could have seen his face when JB offered to let him try a 12* driver. Priceless.
 
i have never had this happen. mostly because i rarely play with anyone better then me.........i know i need new friends. :act-up: i dont really offer advice to people unless they ask which they do sometimes.
 
JB said:
When we are on the range with a bunch of THPers at a gathering or get together (non-event), I will sometimes hear a driver in the background and say something like "Bet thats ABC driver" and usually I get it right. Someone last time came up to me and said the guy is struggling with his driver, why dont you tell him why (low swing speed, w/ super low spin and low launch driver was just not working).

Because people dont want to hear it. Right or wrong, people dont want to hear correct info, especially if it invalidates a purchase they made. While I would never say anything of the sort, a quick 3 sentences would explain a lot to people.

Playing with Howzat just 2 weeks ago, we encountered this as we were paired with someone. The guy was struggling, and when I explained why it all clicked for him. But you could tell he never knew much about equipment outside of grabbing what he liked or what was hot.
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This post reminded me of something that I am guilty of.

I am a huge supporter of being fit for the right equipment. I come across people that are clearly playing the wrong equipment quite often. If it is someone that I am playing a round with, I usually ask them if they have ever been fit for clubs before late in the round. Typical response is "no". From there I will often suggest getting fit and what it could do for their game. I never suggest X Driver with Y shaft (nowhere near qualified). I simply talk to them about how every swing is different and that there are literally hundreds of shaft / club options to compliment every swing out there.

Nothing makes me cringe more than seeing an athlete swing a driver with a 105+ mph swing using an off the rack stiff driver shaft. The shaft looks like a wet noodle!
 
True,
Let me ask. How is that different than offering unsolicited advice about chipping or something? Genuine question, because I never say anything about golf equipment because as expected, based on the responses in this thread, people do not like unsolicited advice.
 
JB said:
True,
Let me ask. How is that different than offering unsolicited advice about chipping or something? Genuine question, because I never say anything about golf equipment because as expected, based on the responses in this thread, people do not like unsolicited advice.
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I agree, it may be unsolicited advice and I forgot that I do it until I read your post.

Personally, I see it being a little less imposing because I never point out anything in their swings or their equipment itself. I typically use my personal stories and experiences as a selling point for getting fit. Also, I am not trying to influence their current shot, setup, swing etc while out on the course. In short, I'm not screwing with their game in the moment. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I see it.
 
Thanks. I tend to agree for the most part, I guess I just view them as a bit more similar. Maybe its because of my experience.
 
I think you can get into someone's head by talking about clubfitting. Even if you don't offer specific advise on it, you can introduce doubt into their mind and derail them.
 
I don't like unsolicited advice either and all of the people I play with no this. So they'll always ask and if I say, "No, thanks" we just go about playing. I've never had a random come up and offer me tips, though. Honestly, I would politely tell him no thanks as well and just move on.
 
Being a range rat, I see/ get a LOT of unsolicited advice. My instructor has said to me " listen to them if you want to hit the ball like they do".. He refers to them as "Timmy Tipster"


YABBA DABBA DOOOOOOO
 
I don't want advice from a friend let along a stranger. Now this may be different for those of you who have low handicapper friends but not in my case.

When 99% of the "tips" someone is giving you are coming from something that saw in a magazine or on the golf channel, its just not relevant. My swing is its own weird little mess that I work on with my instructor and good things happen. A guy who I just watched bunt 40 balls in a 50 ball bucket into the right fence, who doesn't know my first name, popping by the tell me that I should think about a stack and tilt swing, is not only ridiculous, it is rude.

I have never come closer to full out losing my composure on a golf course than when I was a few years into playing and was starting to be just under 100 very consistently. We were paired with a 2some after work. I had 2 putted the first 4 holes, which for me then (and mostly now) is good enough to keep my and my sore card happy. I had lined up my putt on a green with a lot of breaks and as I take my putter back, this complete jackass we were playing with flies across the green and grabs it out of my hands as I start to bring it down. He then started blathering about how I had it lined up all wrong.....

To me that guy is the same guy who hangs out behind me at a driving range or on a putting green where I have my headphones in, working according to my improvement plan that I paid a PGA certified pro, to come up with for me.... and tries to tell me about how much I will benefit from teeing up my ball 3" higher...


I have taken good advice before from some very good players and also some less good but very intelligent players. In all honesty that advice was course management advice that has had major impacts on how I see a golf course. I wouldn't be interested in swing mechanic advice from anyone during a round and especially someone just strolling by at a range. The people teaching the pros use video for the same reason as the people teaching hacks like me, the human eye can't pick out all the intricacies of a golf swing when the club is traveling at 105 mph.
 
I'm not a fan of that kind of advice but I'll generally give a listen and see if I can learn something, most of it is delivered with good intentions lol.
 
I absolutely hate unsolicited advice on the golf course. Nothing makes me more mad. Shut your mouth and let me play.
 
I had an instructor that was teaching someone else tell me in a polite way that I didn't have a swing problem, I had a trying to kill the ball problem. That didn't bother me much because it was the truth and he was polite about it.

I later had a drunk guy that was on the range after a round try to give me advice. I'm not a good golfer, but this guy made me look like an all-star. He was extremely annoying, but I was nice because he was nice.

I also got paired up with an old man that was way too positive on the course for me. I appreciated what he was trying to do, but when I'm making dumb mistakes I don't do well with pep-talks.
 
I never give advice. I will only help someone with alignment only IF they ask. I do welcome advice from people I know are knowledgeable, but rarely from strangers.
 
There are only two people I take advice from: my swing coach and the assistant pro at my club. I'll listen, but I'll be annoyed.
 
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