Golf Etiquette - Are My Expectations Reasonable?

I do not disagree with anything you posted.

I do think tour players can be sensitive flowers when it comes to movement and noise though.

Really only after they have addressed the ball though, at least that was my experience when I was volunteering. Once they stepped up to to the ball, that was the only time that they asked for silence and stillness.
 
Really only after they have addressed the ball though, at least that was my experience when I was volunteering. Once they stepped up to to the ball, that was the only time that they asked for silence and stillness.
Even still. I guess I'm used to noise. Constant noise is one thing. Sudden noises, at the inopportune moments, can be disastrous for me. But a lot of tour pros practice with headphones in. You would finger that they could deal with background noise better.
 
Really only after they have addressed the ball though, at least that was my experience when I was volunteering. Once they stepped up to to the ball, that was the only time that they asked for silence and stillness.

That is basically the standard I'm suggesting is reasonable. I'm not saying people have to stand still wherever they are. I'm not saying they can't talk to each other quietly. By peripheral vision movement, I'm talking bout someone who is within 6 to maybe 10 feet of you in a place where a sudden movement will be clearly seen. By noise, I'm talking about a sudden noise at the top of the backswing that is clearly noticeable.

So I'm talking about whether it is good manners for someone who is 10 to 20 feet away to say, pop the top on a can of soda at the top of your backswing. I don't think that's polite. Others, I gather, think it's not a big deal.

Again, I do appreciate the various points of view, even if we are all not in agreement on some aspects of this.
 
Personally noise doesn't bother me neither does movement. If that kind of stuff effects you, your head might not be in the game. I'd learn to play no matter what. Focus on the shot at hand, swing and move on.
 
That is basically the standard I'm suggesting is reasonable. I'm not saying people have to stand still wherever they are. I'm not saying they can't talk to each other quietly. By peripheral vision movement, I'm talking bout someone who is within 6 to maybe 10 feet of you in a place where a sudden movement will be clearly seen. By noise, I'm talking about a sudden noise at the top of the backswing that is clearly noticeable.

So I'm talking about whether it is good manners for someone who is 10 to 20 feet away to say, pop the top on a can of soda at the top of your backswing. I don't think that's polite. Others, I gather, think it's not a big deal.

Again, I do appreciate the various points of view, even if we are all not in agreement on some aspects of this.

Hold on, those specific examples are different. saddened noises mid swing, especially if it was quiet before the swing started, that's a problem for me to.

Everything in your above post is reasonable to me.
 
Personally noise doesn't bother me neither does movement. If that kind of stuff effects you, your head might not be in the game. I'd learn to play no matter what. Focus on the shot at hand, swing and move on.
I agree that stuff doesn't really bother me either but I'm just curious about the best guys on tour then. They are constantly bothered by movement and noises. That camera guy yesterday with spieth is a good example. Do you feel their heads aren't in the game? Genuine question not trying to say anything bad
 
I think maybe your friend is playing you, he knows how to get in your head and is doing it. I play with a regular group (all good friends) and we all have our quirks, some of it bothers me, some not.

But if you let them know it bothers you and gets you off your game they will win that $2 every time. We had a old guy (I am old, this guy was real old) and he would constantly walk on my line and others on the putting green, I thought he was just clueless but then I realized he has been playing golf for 50 years and knows better. Once I told him to please stop walking all over my line on early morning wet greens he did.

If he (your friend) is not doing it on purpose then he needs to be told so he will learn, heck if he is a friend you should be able to say " hey Sh!$head stop all the crap when I am over the ball" not in front of others but over a beer later.
 
You need to pick your battles. I have a solution. I played solo today and never once distracted myself in my back swing ( ok, twice) that's the only solution besides turning pro. Most people don't take golf as serious as us junkies.


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In this context, I disagree. But I recognize the world is changing.

Double hoo.

Ive read every post in this thread. And you opened it by saying perhaps your expectations. We're unrealistic. I don't think you really meant that or are willing to accept it.

Almost every one has chimed in saying they believe in and practice a lot of the dosage etiquette items you laid out.

Yet in the same breath almost every one also said they learn to accept others don't and they block it out. Yet instead of accepting that people learned the game in different eras, with different circumstances, you continue to insist that everyone else is wrong and others must adhere to your standards.

I really think you are letting this affect your enjoyment of the game and by your own admission may affect your friendship.

For both of these things I'm very sad for you.
 
Yet instead of accepting that people learned the game in different eras, with different circumstances, you continue to insist that everyone else is wrong and others must adhere to your standards.

I think you are misreading or misunderstanding, or perhaps overstating, what I have said. I certainly have not said that "everyone else is wrong," and I am not insisting that everyone must adhere to all of my standards. Indeed, in more than one post I have said the opposite. (And I also clarified my somewhat cryptic objection to the notion of the alleged "subjectivity" of golf etiquette.)

I am merely saying that, in this particular context (i.e. golf), it would seem like there should be some universally-accepted standards that should apply among players who try to be courteous to one another -- along the lines of not walking in someone's line or raking a bunker after you use it. In that vein, I would think that not making a sudden noise at the top of another player's backswing would be one of those standards that reasonably courteous golfers should accept.

I really think you are letting this affect your enjoyment of the game and by your own admission may affect your friendship.

I did not say anywhere that it will affect my friendship. To the contrary. (See, e.g., post #9.) You might have read all the posts, but you are reading quite a few things into them that are not there.

For both of these things I'm very sad for you.

You don't have enough information about my life and my beliefs to be "very sad" for me. If you knew about my life, you would be happy for me, as I am very blessed. This is merely a somewhat intellectual discussion about a matter that is trivial in the grand scheme of things (like many other things on this forum and other online "hobbyist" forums). But thanks for your concern. :bashful:
 
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Well ok then. Like everyone else I'm reading you wrong. You asked for thoughts I gave you mine. That's all.
 
If there is noise being made in my back swing I would say something. If it is friend, you can say it and not be rude about. Friends should be able to say things to one another and not get there feelings hurt to an extent. This he should not take personally.


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I agree that stuff doesn't really bother me either but I'm just curious about the best guys on tour then. They are constantly bothered by movement and noises. That camera guy yesterday with spieth is a good example. Do you feel their heads aren't in the game? Genuine question not trying to say anything bad
No, I think they are 100% in the game. I think there are certain noice at certain times that bother these guys. Had Jordan pulled off the shot, he would have never said a word about it. These guys have noice and movement while they play, all the time.

I understand some people need absolute vacuum like conditions to play, I don't get it but I understand. I've never played in complete silence. And the times I have gotten annoyed by someone moving or making noise, I have been playing poorly. I think peeps get hysentive when they aren't playing well. The blame falls on the outside agitator, never the level of play.
 
I guess it comes from having to focus tightly on repairs to equipment in a very noisy manufacturing environment but noise on the tee box almost never bothers me. I have my preshot routine and that seems to allow me to have a bubble of focus that can only be broken by very loud unexpected noises (like a nearby siren starting) that bother me in any way. People chatting, cameras, all that stuff fades as my focus increases.
 
I just went thru this very same thing with a guy I just started playing with last fall. It was quite annoying and since we typically have a wager, small I should add, I wasnt sure if he was doing it on purpose or not. I started out bt stepping away and regaining my composure, but he didnt get it. Finally I had to be more direct and he even asked me, very politely, about what bothered me, where he should stand, etc. Since those discussions I haven't had any issues. Sometimes being direct, with tact (which sometimes I can lack) is the best remedy.
 
I don't give a single crap about background noise, talking, goofing around, etc but if some oblivious assclown is continually firing his club into his bag in the middle of my backswing, he's going to get a "look" if I don't know them - and a "DUDE WTF?" if I know them. Most of the time it's accidental, of course, which is fine.

Also note the people intentially eff with each other during golf rounds, but most understand it needs to be done with some level of decorum. Putting etiquette as well, you can't be wandering around or fidgeting 5 feet from the hole directly between the hole and the other side of the green if I'm putting right towards you - regardless of if your marker is there. Just stay still for 3 seconds please.
 
Just a simple mention of this thread led to some of the funniest "distracted" excuses I've ever heard on the golf course today.

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I'm so focused on the ball that I usually don't see or hear what is happening around me. Personally, I stay quite and try to be still while my partners are hitting. I'm assuming they do the same for me because I never see or hear them.
 
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