*Caution* Rant: Snobby young golfers

[idrive]

Years ago I was playing in a Tournament, got mad, threw my club.

Was DQ'd and they fined me $75 (willow creek c.c. SLC,ut)

 

Golf courses should adopt some sort of policy regarding these types of situations.

Sure would put an end to most of the tempers.

[oregongolf]

Another thing that I usually do when a teenage golfer starts doing this, is to be outright rude and start laughing every time they chuck a club or curse. If they toss a club really far, I will generally say something along the line of "too bad you couldn't hit your last shot as well as you tossed that club" or "it was the clubs fault, you should break it." Some may construe that as unsportmanslike, but I feel that what they are doing is unsportsmanlike, and the quicker that they walk off of the course, the quicker I can get back to enjoying my surroundings.

 

lol, that's terrible, but still very funny.

[gregcindyh]

Doesn't matter, old, young, just hate uppty atitudes. My remedy, be kind and kill them with your game! Did it at our club championship and our city amateur to a bunch of young complainers. I'm 48. "Old guys rule"

[MR MIZUN0]

Well, I'm 15, and would never pull a stunt like that in front of adults, or even my friends, it is stupid to do that, just get it back on your next stroke!!!!

[The Big Pinch]

The few times I have been paired up with younger golfers have been very enjoyable experiences. Just wanted to get that in.

[lacosteguy]

It probably does not help that the Pros at golf courses for the most part, and I am sorry when I say the VAST majority of pros at golf courses are the biggest a**'s and as rude as can be. The better golfers at golf courses and clubs that are older I also think are missing any type of personality and think they are god's gift.

The sport in general is a snobby sport, and sadly when your walking into a golf pro shop at a public or private course your met by people that are as rude as they come in life. The Pro's.

Not sure if this has anything to do with how kids are, but maybe. And maybe when they started playing and were paired with better golfers that are older, there is a good chance those golfers were just rude and lacked personality. If you believe kids get traits from older people or those that are suppose to be the model of what is good or people they want to be like....there is not much hope then...not with rude pros at the stores and golf courses and older golfers that are good and have a chip on their shoulder. Kids are impressionable, and get it from somewhere.

[sigmamason]

Okay, I hope I don't step on any toes here...but, i'm gonna do a little ranting!

 

Played in a 2-man scramble last week...just a fun, 22-team scramble at a small course. It was two days. One of the days I had a great time. Paired up with two other teams...they didn't do so swell (shot 6 and 10 over). We didn't do so hot either (1 under), but we had a good time giving each other hard times!

 

Another day I was paired up with 2 more groups, one group was a group I know...good guys, decent golfers, real funny. The other group was 2 high school boys...and you could tell they were serious about their golf. Had the plaid shorts, polo shirts, matchin belt/shoes, visors (mind you, this is the most redneck/casual golf course in this area), and of course they had their collars on their polos flipped up for added visual effect.

 

Their first day, they shot 1 under as well. Just enough to get them into the top of the 2nd flight with us. The next day (when we played with them), they shot 5 under...on the front NINE (we only got to play 12 holes b/c of lightning...so they just used the front 9 for scores, can we say sandbag?). Yeah they would up winning our flight (with the next two groups closest to them shooting even on the front nine)...getting around $200 a piece (which is in violation of UIL rules b/c they are on their HS golf team), but thats not what bothered me the most.

 

Whats up with these kids that play with the $1300 Nike blades, Scotty Cameron putters, fancy range finders, etc etc etc and act like golf owes them something? One kid was a good kid, the other...made the day not fun. He'd hit a SLIGHT push..."GOD **** IT!! MOTHER *************" On and on. Throwing clubs 20 feet...slamming his club into the ground. After EVERY shot that wasn't perfect. If it rolled off the back, you could expect "What the **** was that?! ****ing piece of ****". If it, god forbid, missed the green entirely....better close up your ears and watch for flying clubs. One time, he flubbed a chip and proceeded to chunk his PW AT the green...it landed about 4 feet from the fringe...and yeah b/c it was raining put a big hole in the fringe.

 

But come to think of it, I saw ALOT of these kinds of kids when I played in high school at area tournaments. LOTS of kids getting SOOOO mad. Like they are just supposed to be freakin excellent. I just wish they would realize what an idiot it makes them look like, and how much they ruin a nice day of golf for everyone around them.

 

Okay, sorry...rant over!

 

(Also, i'll add that I myself am a young golfer, 24, but even when I was 15-16 I knew the difference in being respectful and courterous to the course and the rest of the players in my group. So don't take it in that I think all young golfers are snobby just b/c they have nice clubs...this is aimed at the young golfers (and OLD golfers as well!) that take the game so seriously they disrespect themselves and all around them)

 

 

I am a little late with this, but it is not the equipment, it is the lack of home training...Mom or Dad never said no and when they attempted to say no, it was met with his reaction that you saw. They caved in and he thinks it is ok to do that all the time.

My parents would have beat the cuss words out of me for embarassing them like that...even if they were not there to see it. (I think the whippings I got from my parents were far worse than what I went thru when I pledged...)

Some parents don't see anything wrong with his behavior and will be the same ones calling the FCC protesting tiger or trying to get 24 off the air.

They live in a parallel universe...they ignore the actions of themselves and their loved ones (drinking with their kids, smoking with their kids, etc...) while getting outraged at the actions/behavior/presence of others that do similar due to heritage or dislike of that person...

 

Root core of that kid's behavior and others like him is the parent and the lack of discipline they instilled in him...

[JJLew]

Iam a young golfer and one day i will shoot 77 and next day 90 i never throw clubs or smash stuff. I may let out the off F**K under my breath. I have like 1700$ clubs. I treat them like gold because i was working a 2 jobs to get them. Dont catergorize all young golfers as spazzes

[Larwood91]

I am a junior but never do things like this. I think its annoying when I get paired w/ 3 people who don't even care at hs golf tournaments, yet they think they are tiger woods. Never been a fan of throwing clubs etc. even if I was and did throw a club or snap one over a knee etc, I would never see those clubs again. And my parents would put a stop to my being on the golf team. I definatly know what you're talking about but not all Jr.s are complete morons.

[smithg1053]

This is an interesting thread. About a month ago I happened by a driving range that was having a demo day and all the major OEM's were there except Titleist. So anyway I decide to stop and whack a few balls and headed for the Mizuno tent. So I get there...and there is one other guy hitting something of their's and I started trying a few of their clubs. So next door is the Nike tent.

 

Up walks a kid who looked to be about 15 or 16 and he had an entourage of several adults with him and he starts hitting something of theirs. No doubt the kid has talent and I heard through the adults that this is the boy who just won some sort of junior tournament. So now he walks over the Mizuno booth and the sales guy is talking to him. Well he grabs a club and walks up to hit where the other guy and I are hitting, and because of space...there is no room for him at the moment. The sales guy recommended he wait a minute and this kid REALLY gets an attitude and mumbles something about "why can't he move" pointing at the guy next to me hitting. Hey...I don't care if you are Mary, Queen of Scots, you don't act like that.

 

I didn't say anything but when I looked up at him and the entourage, I am sure they got the message. The guy hitting next to me was nothing short of pi$$ed. I felt like reading his parents the riot act. What a prima donna. Maybe I was just raised differently...but had I said something like that and my parents were standing there, I would have had my butt in a sling. I sometimes see kids on the course and most of the time they are really pretty cool, but sometimes you get a few who really need a lesson in manners and common courtesy. Of course I have seen a lot of "adults" who behave just as badly.

[mat562]

I've just seen this post.

 

For the original poster:

 

I agree wholeheartedly with the ranting about behaviour/etiquette etc. but I can't see the link between the clubs you play and being a blanking blank. Okay, perhaps I'm overly *****ly since I also play Nike blades and a Cameron puter, but I still don't get it. I don't throw clubs or act like the world owes me a living. I do swear a fair bit on the course, but not so everyone can hear. I was also a young adult (high school age on) who took my game very seriously and played to a decent amateur level. It doesn't make you a bad person.

 

The club comments seem similar to the 'anyone who plays Titleist thinks they're better than they actually are' type of comments and brand snobbery.

 

Nothing against the rant. I like rants. Just that bit of it.

 

Incidentally, some of the worst and most obnoxious behaviour I've experienced on golf courses has been at the hands of senior golfers. I was lucky enough to play junior golf an a decent private course, and I lost count of the number of times we were given a pretentious and quite obviously designed-to-boost-their-ego-in-front-of-their-contemporaries dressing down from members for some imagined indiscretion. Junior golfers were by far the best-behaved golfers on the course in my day (we daren't not be) and yet we were constantly targeted by the Gin Palace Brigade.

 

When divots weren't replaced and pitch marks weren't repaired it was invariably one of those idiots who were doubtless too busy crowing on about something or other.

 

Told you I like rants...

[Trxjw]

Just saw this thread as well. Looks like a good place to rant a bit.

 

I grew up in a town where most kids were like the kids you're talking about. The drive their parents bimmers and act like they're more deserving of everything than you are. I even went to the local private school on a scholarship and spent 4 years of my life surrounded by a lot of them. Interestingly enough, only a couple of the guys on my HS golf team were like the kids you are describing. Sure, most of them had money, but none of them flaunted it or were rude to anyone. It was actually most of the public school teams we played that seemed to have the chip on their shoulders. If they happened to beat us they thought they had just won the US-Am or something.

 

Needless to say, I've always had a real big problem with those kinds of kids. I don't care what kind of equipment they play, but if I see someone throwing a club or breaking a shaft that they didn't buy with money they earned, I get a bit upset about it.

 

That being said, there are guys that never seem to grow out of that attitude, and there are those guys that just can't relax and enjoy the game. I've played with a few guys that were so obnoxious that I seriously weighed the pro's and con's of running them down with the golf cart while they were cursing their last shank into the drink. I've even had a guy throw his club at me because he insisted I coughed during his back swing. I think that was the last time I knocked a complete stranger unconscious. ;)

 

Then there's the guy that swings out of his shoes, drives it into the woods and shoots a 120 but still points out the fact that he out drove you the one time he managed to hit the fairway. Buddy, just because I'm 6ft 200lbs doesn't mean I'm required to drive the ball 320 yards every time I go out. :clapping:

 

As far as dress is concerned, I always wear a polo shirt when I play. I wear them to work anyway, so it's just what I'm used to wearing. I also wear the plaid shorts sometimes, but that doesn't mean I'm some snob who will be upset when I don't shoot even par. :diablo:

[sync71]

I really don't think that the clubs or the clothes matter, it's what you like and if thats what you like and you can afford it then more power to you. But when people brag/flaunt about it then I get upset. We don't really have any juniors like that at my home course. Almost all of them have top of the line clubs and most of them dress tour proish if that makes sense. But they don't brag about it or at least what I know about. But enough of equipment.

 

 

I think a lot of it has to do with growing up and maturing and also how you are raised. My parents have always really really stressed how I need to be respectful, thankful, and so on. But I see it in school all the time were these kids think that they own the world and it owes them. And they think they can go around and do whatever they feel just like what you guys have said, a lot of kids have grown out of it and some never will unfortunately.

 

But throwing clubs, yelling, and throwing tantrums has no place on the golf course. It's one thing to get upset with how your are playing but everyone on the course or even in your group needs to know it. I can't stand playing with people that have to hit every shot perfect and if they don't it's the end of the world. I have this one friend will start out with a few pars and then if he makes a bogey he gets really pissed off, which I find extremely annoying. I'll be the first one to admit that I have broken a club out of anger. Last year I put a ball in the drink and throw my club down and I ended up breaking the shaft, and I'm still extremely embarrassed to say that I did that and that I lost my temper, it was a 15 dollar club from dick's that I was going to be replacing soon anyways so it was not much of a loss. I now couldn't take better carry of my clubs. I got my putter and irons as a gift, but everything else I pay for including balls, tees, gloves, shoes, and so on. And now I try and take as good as care of my clubs as I can. And ever since then I have put in a honest effort to just relax and enjoy being out on the golf course.

 

BTW sorry to hear that you had such a unpleasant round with that junior (to the guy who started the topic)

 

So no matter your age please try and act mature and think before you just start yelling and throwing clubs remember that you are out playing golf instead of working.

[golfer adam]

Reading this thread reminds me of myself a few years ago. I have wised up over the past couple of years as I realize that I am never going to make money at this game, and at the end of the day if you hit a bad shot, its not as if anyone has died, just accept it and move on. And the end of the day golf is a game, and is meant to be enjoyable. I can understand frustration if you are playing to make a living.

[jdub123]

I think we need to remember NOT all kids are like this, it is the select few idiots who ruin our reputation for the rest of us.

[sync71]

I think we need to remember NOT all kids are like this, it is the select few idiots who ruin our reputation for the rest of us.

 

 

I definently have to agree with this, because there are a ton of kids that are great golfers and great respectable people. But like everything there is always those kids that give the rest of us a bad name.

[dice055]

i am on my high school team i bare witness to these kids all the time kids. the ones that their parents threw into golf to be the next tiger, grew up at the local prestigous country club, newest and gretest clubs, play proV's. i mean they get pissed throw clubs during matches ive called a couple guys out on it and i love it everytime i get the chance to beat one when i have been scraping by to get descent clubs worked a whole summer to buy a full set these kids it was just handed to them thats great...my dad could easily afford to buy me titleist or callaways but i think hes teaching me to love the game more by putting time and effort into my game and paying for my own clubs.. i mean i get down when i hit a bad shot but seriously just take that and work it out at the driving range dont mess up your clubs over it and dont let it ruin the round golf i have found to be such a great game when everyone plays with etiquette no matter how good they are.

[j_wil_06]

Even though I am 19, and an ex-hot-head on the golf course, I totally agree with you that many kids our age are completely outta line! There is a difference between being frustrated after a bad shot, and throwing all your clubs down the fairway every time you miss a green or something.

 

(And I know this has very little to do with anything, but I HATE the whole plaid-pants, popped-collar, white-belt, Oakley-sunglasses-when-its-overcast-weather, thing! Haha I think it looks ridiculous, and it seems to me that many times these people are just compensating for their mediocre game. Mabye it's just me, but it's definitely not my thing)