We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Does this ever happen to you?

S

Sterrell

New member
Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
It has been a very odd and unpredictable winter here in northwestern PA. With that said, I have been anxiously waiting to go out and get back in to the groove.

I went to the local course here that has a few putting greens to practice wedge shots, etc.

As I am practicing some chipping and bump and runs, this guy says, "Pardon me, but I have some tips, if you'll hear them."

Eye roll. "Uh, sure."

So this guy keeps going on and on about crap that doesn't even make sense.

I might not have the best technique in the world as a guy who barely plays 6 rounds a year.

However, I had multiple chip-ins and hit the flag several times. Meanwhile, this guy with "all the advice in the world," wasn't even close on most of his shots and they constantly would run off the green into the fringe.


Blah.
 
I was just trying to help!


I don't go out to practice as much as I should, and unless I am looking for help I just say no, thanks.
 
It happens all the time. Some good, some bad, but I try to be friendly about it as much as possible.
One does not have to be great at the game to understand the technique. Someone might watch me swing a club and think this guy has no clue and no chance. Somehow I manage to beat it around the course.

I think its not in great form, but if I am playing with someone and see something very easy to fix, depending on the situation, I might mention it to them. It really depends. Unsolicited advice is not always a good thing, but its not always a terrible thing either. In my opinion any way.
 
Smalls does that to everyone he meets. Just stay away from him.
 
Driving range "pros" are the worst....the only thing worse than that is getting paired with that guy for a full round.
 
JB said:
It happens all the time. Some good, some bad, but I try to be friendly about it as much as possible.
One does not have to be great at the game to understand the technique. Someone might watch me swing a club and think this guy has no clue and no chance. Somehow I manage to beat it around the course.

I think its not in great form, but if I am playing with someone and see something very easy to fix, depending on the situation, I might mention it to them. It really depends. Unsolicited advice is not always a good thing, but its not always a terrible thing either. In my opinion any way.
Click to expand...
If I see someone hitting good shots and I am hitting crap shots, I would be more inclined to be receptive to the advice. But not from some random guy who comes up to me. I've seen you play, and while you think it's not pretty, it is effective, and I would likely listen to what you had to say if even you were just a random person who I saw hitting shots. I might even solicit some advice from someone who appears to know what they are doing.

In general though, I don't like it unsolicited. If like in the OP's example though, if a guy can't chip to save his life, I am not going to listen to him!
 
Last edited:
I take all the help I can get, lol. The short game is generally the only decent part of my game, so I'm pretty confident in my ways, but always worth hearing someone else's critique. Pretty sure my setup/swing looks like a squirle in a bag of nuts, but I seem to get it done most of the time.
 
My favorite was the guy that was at the chipping green with me and I was lucky enough to be playing with two friends that are very good. I mean very very good and both are female.

We go to the first tee box and are paired with the nice young man, dressed to the nines and is very quiet. He asks if the girls would like to go to their tees to tee off or wait for us from "back here". There response was just do your thing, we will play from back here with you guys if you dont mind. "Are you sure"? Yep, they are sure.

One of them shot 33 on the front, the other 35, but on the #4 tee, they offered some friendly advice because the young man had been struggling so far that day. A few high fades (Im being kind) and one of the girls said you only need to fix one tiny thing and it should work out for you. And she explained exactly what to do.

She missed the fairway on #10 (first one all day) and he turns to me and says "Like I need advice from a girl that cant hit the fairway".
 
I listen and nod my head. When they're done talking I tell them that I will run those ideas by the instructor I pay for lessons.
 
There was an older guy I knew from my old club who works at a course I use for putting practice quite often that did this to me on the putting green one night. He actually helped me quite a bit in noticing something I couldn't see my myself. It wasn't groundbreaking or anything. Just a simple thing that actually helped me quite a bit going forward. I did want to run away when he started talking to me though.
 
Cant say its happened much to me at all.

Might be because Im usually sending thin rockets across the chipping greens, so people tend to stay away
 
JB said:
My favorite was the guy that was at the chipping green with me and I was lucky enough to be playing with two friends that are very good. I mean very very good and both are female.

We go to the first tee box and are paired with the nice young man, dressed to the nines and is very quiet. He asks if the girls would like to go to their tees to tee off or wait for us from "back here". There response was just do your thing, we will play from back here with you guys if you dont mind. "Are you sure"? Yep, they are sure.

One of them shot 33 on the front, the other 35, but on the #4 tee, they offered some friendly advice because the young man had been struggling so far that day. A few high fades (Im being kind) and one of the girls said you only need to fix one tiny thing and it should work out for you. And she explained exactly what to do.

She missed the fairway on #10 (first one all day) and he turns to me and says "Like I need advice from a girl that cant hit the fairway".
Click to expand...

Of all the posts I've read of yours, this is one of my favorites. Hilarious story.
 
That's never happened to me, I've had some close friends and family give me tips, but never a random stranger.
 
Thankfully it has not happened for more than 5 years. It happened often from the same annoying guy when I used to frequent a public course close to my house. His advice didn't completely stop until I got paired up in his group one day and I was so motivated to crush him that I threw up a 4 under 67 with only one bogey. I kept telling him during the round that I had a lot of things in my swing I would like to fix but it was allowing me to get the ball around the course ok until my kids grew up and I had more time to work on revamping my swing. :act-up:
 
I'm really not a fan of unsolicited advice from strangers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have seen it happen a few times they seem to steer clear of me but listing to them spout all kinds of garbage from there mouth and then shank on gives me a good laugh
 
mikedean441 said:
Cant say its happened much to me at all.

Might be because Im usually sending thin rockets across the chipping greens, so people tend to stay away
Click to expand...

Wardy does that too!

Doesn't happen to me, and I usually keep to myself unless I'm with friends or I'm worried that the person next to me might kill or maim me with an errant shot or swing...
 
I think the worst is when you see bad advice given to a new player who is trying everything the bad advice giver is saying...I usually after awhile say something to the newer player to take advice with "a grain of salt" and to keep any major changes to practice at the range....at times it's painful to watch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JB said:
It happens all the time. Some good, some bad, but I try to be friendly about it as much as possible.
One does not have to be great at the game to understand the technique. Someone might watch me swing a club and think this guy has no clue and no chance. Somehow I manage to beat it around the course.
.
Click to expand...

Couldnt agree more with that. Pros have instructors and if they were that great they may be competing against them instead of teaching them. Truthfuly i believe that one doesnt have to be too good at all in order to undrstand things and offer advice. One may have a great understanding of the swing and also have a great eye at viewing others swings and yet not be much good at all at it themselves. Just because one is not good at something doesnt mean they cant offer usefull and correct advice.

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.
 
Thanks for all of the great stories and feedback. I wasn't expecting this post to get much action, and it's always fun when it does.

At first I was hearing what he was saying and pretended to act interested like "okay, yeah, I'll try that." But, then he just kept going on and on. I just wanted to to enjoy the beautiful day and actually swing some clubs, which I hadn't done since November.

If somebody offers tips (who is actually a great player), I'd be more than happy to hear it. However, when you're obviously doing worse than me, It's difficult to listen.

Thanks, but no thanks :)
 
It has happened a couple of times to me. What shocks me is how often i get asked for tips when playing with strangers. I don't like doing it but will on occasion.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
Driving range "pros" are the worst....the only thing worse than that is getting paired with that guy for a full round.
Click to expand...

I think it is worse for the ladies. My wife will no longer hit on the range unless I'm there with her.
 
No one offers me tips. Booze and a gun, sure.

But in all seriousness, tips don't bother me. If they go on all round, yes, I'll get a little heated. But a tip here and there is no biggie. It's not like I have to use it.
 
I luckily don't get it too often and when I do I try to be open and nice about it. It does kinda irritate me when an absolute hack is trying to give me advice especially after he just hits a terrible shot lol. Somehow he knows more than me but has an excuse for every bad shot he hits.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top