Who Are These People?

[SixtySomePing]

You run across lots of people when you play golf, many of whom you may know. Some very good, some very bad, some cheaters, some just duffers, hackers, some athletic, some just have no game at all. Does their personality and life off of the course if you know them, match their game or their attitude when they play? Has anyone's temperment on and off the course ever been a surprise to you? Who are these people?

[Thrillhouse]

My opinion is that golf tends to expose your frailties. If you like to cut corners you'll cheat, if you have a short temper you'll get angry, if you're neurotic and whiny you'll whine, if you're jovial you'll be out there having fun.

 

The only people who I've seen who had different personalities were competitive players, who had a competitive personality and an away from golf personality. I'm like that, pretty outgoing and joking around away from golf and definitely that way when I'm playing for fun, but in a competitive situation I don't really interact much, just kind of go about my business. It's part of the reason why competitive golf is so draining, I can't just be myself.

[Medic]

I believe that a round of golf would tell a perspective employer everything they needed to know about their candidate.

 

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

[MtlJeff]

Golf is an easy sport to be yourself in. I think it's because you're not going directly against someone. So it's easy to be friendly and easy going even in a match.

 

I think you see more divergence in sports that are really head to head. When I played football it was common to see real sweethearts off the field go crazy on it, because you have to get in character for that stuff. Like you'd have this great friendly guy 99% of the time be running around on the field yelling like "were gonna drink their blood!!!!" lol

 

Good times. Golf is different. People can just be themselves

[Ferguson]

Does their personality and life off of the course if you know them, match their game or their attitude when they play?

Not always.

 

 

Has anyone's temperament on and off the course ever been a surprise to you?

Hell yes. Worked with a guy for nearly 3 years. He was in finance - fairly introverted, well-spoken but quiet. One day we decided to play golf with two other guys. This guy had one beer and the floodgates of expletives opened right up. It was enjoyable to see him miss a shot just to see and hear his reaction. M-fer this, GD-it's and CS-er that.

 

 

Who are these people?

Best guess. They come from pods.

[North Butte]

The people I know from both golf and Real Life seem much the same in either context. The quiet and polite guys on the course are that way at work or home or whatever. The jumpy, intense ones seem to be Type A in real life.

 

I recently had occasion to deal in a professional setting with a lawyer I have played lots of golf with. Except for the fact he was wearing a suit instead of shorts he seemed at exactly the same as on the golf course to me. Of course he's one of those back room deal making kinds of attorneys and they probably have a better disposition for golf then the gung ho ambulance chasers!

[Conrad1953]

My opinion is that golf tends to expose your frailties. If you like to cut corners you'll cheat, if you have a short temper you'll get angry, if you're neurotic and whiny you'll whine, if you're jovial you'll be out there having fun.

 

The only people who I've seen who had different personalities were competitive players, who had a competitive personality and an away from golf personality. I'm like that, pretty outgoing and joking around away from golf and definitely that way when I'm playing for fun, but in a competitive situation I don't really interact much, just kind of go about my business. It's part of the reason why competitive golf is so draining, I can't just be myself.

 

I agree with Thrill. A good example is Steve Stricker. Not a nicer guy

around from what I've heard but a very intense competitor when he's

in that mode.

 

I don't play competitive golf so I'm always easy going on the course

but I can easily see that if I was in a serious competition my mindset

would be different.

 

As for people revealing themselves on the course; absolutely. If they

have character flaws or suppressed behavioral issues they'll likely

put them on display on the course, lol.

[596]

Golf is really no different then any other sport we can play. With some exceptions, people are the same when they play as when they work.

[SammyShaf]

I think it depends on circumstance. When nothing is on the line, I am a jovial golfer. When competing, I get zoned in and quiet. I had a friend who was rattled by the fact so much so that he commented after a huge money match ($1) that I was fun to play with, but not to play against. He was shocked how I could go from a Trevino personality to a Hogan at the suggestion of a wager. I think it amounts to hating to lose and being incredibly competitive.

[larrybud]

Has anyone's temperament on and off the course ever been a surprise to you?

Hell yes. Worked with a guy for nearly 3 years. He was in finance - fairly introverted, well-spoken but quiet. One day we decided to play golf with two other guys. This guy had one beer and the floodgates of expletives opened right up. It was enjoyable to see him miss a shot just to see and hear his reaction. M-fer this, GD-it's and CS-er that.

 

Have you ever been with the guy outside of work, non-golf related? Being in finance, he may have just had a "work" persona.

[scomac2002]

Played today with a guy that I've known for several years in my capacity as a club employee. This is the first time I've played with him. He has always had a lot to say, talking up his game and his car collection. Found out pretty quickly that he had a good tee game, but the rest of his game tapered off pretty drastically from there. Always had an excuse for the miss-hits.

 

By the third hole he decided to lecture me on the proper way to repair a ball mark on the green... I thought this was pretty humorous and even more so when he repeatedly referred to his fat shots as hitting it "flat"...

 

Once the round was over this guy was really into high gear monopolizing the conversation in the clubhouse; a braggadocios know-it-all that wouldn't let anyone else get a word in edgewise! I had had enough when he brought out his cellphone to show us pictures of his Mercedes 600 sedan that he claims to have bought for $3000 despite its new list price of $190K just because it needed some work -- $6000 in total -- and the previous owners were divorcing!

 

I would not let this guy keep score because he was full of more sh*t than a mushroom factory. I don't have a clue how anyone can put up with him!

[Kaysquare]

I play golf frequently with a person who really believes in playing "honors"....it's the way the game "should be played". UNLESS, this person is playing badly, then it's "You know we always play ready golf"!!! :taunt: