Your most unpopular Golf opinions?

[huskydawg]

Tim Finchem is a pill pusher.The PGA Tour is a tax cheat.Tour players are douchier than the squeaky clean image the tour would have you believe.

[LICC]

There is no good reason why the PGA Championship is still a major.

Most golfers are fooling themselves if they think they get significantly different performance from different brands of golf balls.

[fillwelix]

It was Calvin and Hobbes who said you can do anything if you just verb it

[Brass_Bullseye]

I wouldn’t say these first two are unpopular opinions but I’m just gonna rant:

If you’ve ever referred to a fairway wood as a metal, you’re out. Golf doesn’t want you. Go play Quidditch you nerd. If you’ve ever said “less than driver” referring to another club, I get to use that Less Than Driver to smack you in the beanbag. Now for more unpopular opinions:

At 49 I like pants better than shorts. Enough with the “pants are pretentious” crap. There are plenty of lightweight tech styles that keep you cool. Most men over 40 look terrible in shorts, especially when they hang below your knees or even worse, don’t get anywhere close to your knees. Regardless of shorts or pants, tucked shirts with a decent belt always looks better than untucked shirts. White pants are fine and white belts with white pants are fine. White belts with anything else look terrible. The majority of Athletic style golf shoes look like geriatric mall walker shoes. My foursome plays preferred lies on high traffic public courses that don’t maintain their fairways very well and that includes old divots. Gimmes are inside the leather which means the length of the grip, not the distance between the head and the grip. OB is a dumb rule and stroke & distance was dumber. The USGA adopted the same drop-in-the-fairway-and-add-two-shots rule we’ve been playing for twenty years. That said, OB should die immediately. Everything including course boundaries should be lateral hazards or penalty areas or whatever the blue coats are calling it these days. Drop with a stroke and play on. Same with lost balls. Drop with a stroke and play on. Two stroke penalties are stupid.One mulligan per round is fine. But if you shart your mulligan - OB, water, chunk, skull, etc. - sucks for you. Ball's in play.

[DLev45]

I'm with you on #1 re: pants. I have caught a lot of crap for wearing lightweight pants in the summer when its in the 80s or 90s, but I have hairy $%#$# legs and would prefer to not have to bathe in sunscreen prior to the round.

Doubtful the shorts crowd is even wearing sunscreen on their legs, but they won't be seeing me in the waiting room at the dermatologist when they have to get a plug or two taken out, so I have that going for me I guess.

[BKN1964]

Do you have a proposal for what they should be renamed?

[dubbelbogey]

There are already more descriptively named alternatives for these terms that are commonly used in some (large) golfing circles: stroke play, better/best ball, alternate-shot.

[straightshot7]

You should play the game by the rules or don't play at all.

I'm not referring to obscure, difficult to understand rules.

I'm talking about basic rules like re-hitting from the original spot when you go O.B.

Not improving your lie when you're in the rough.

Not taking a "breakfast ball".

Etc.

If you're one of these people who does things all day long and then tells everyone about how you broke 90 or the 76 you shot, etc:

You are insufferable. Grow up. How do you live with yourself and your lies?

[BKN1964]

Ah, got it. Thanks. It obviously went over my head.

 

[patrickleeleep]

Along with this, if you think it might have gone OB, just hit a quick provisional. Adds like 20 seconds instead of minutes with all the stupid confusion when you get down there for a "drop".

[bigred90gt]

Perhaps because we're not playing on the PGA tour? Just a thought.

 

I live on the Gulf Coast in Texas and while I love walking, it can be oppressively hot and humid at times (more than 1/2 the year here). My wife also has no desire to walk the course, and since I play 99% of my golf with my wife, I'm in a cart. On the odd occasion my wife cant play for whatever reason (usually when she is on call or actually at work), I will play with another group and most of the time will walk. Golf for us is leisure time, time away from the grind of our daily lives. I'm not out there to grind out around the course over every shot with a competitive drive to play the absolute best possible round of golf I can. I'm out there to enjoy the outdoors, enjoy the company of my wife on the course, have a few beers and play golf. I usually bring a 6 pack (muni course, BYOB) for the day and am typically bringing a couple home after it's over. People play the game for different reasons. I used to be the guy who refused to drink on the course, always grinding, trying to win and playing tournaments every week. I just dont enjoy that anymore, and have a new appreciation for the game and the way we play it. As such, unless it's cart path only, we're not walking.

 

That being said, I have no problem with people walking, and cannot fathom why some of y'all have a problem with people in a cart. If you dont want to use a cart, dont. If someone else does, great, let them. Why would it matter a hill of beans to anyone else if someone is riding in a cart?

[klebs01]

Carts cause slow play issues, cartball courses have even greater pace of play issues, carts ruin the aesthetics of the course, carts damage the course, cart paths ruin the aesthetics of the course, and cart paths cause playing issues.

[REJ]

Pleasantly surprised by the professionalism so far on this site. Carts serve a purpose. Point is that when all you've got is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. The overabundance of cart drivers on many courses have walkers being treated as a nuisance on the course and as an exception to normality. Walkers should never be treated as a nuisance and an exception to the normality of the game. Walkers are the game. This pace of play autobahn mentality is the issue. I've been hearing about some interesting dilemmas resulting from this issue and I respect management's need to make money. Let's keep golf walker friendly because its still a walking person's game. I don't mind letting people pass or accepting the opportunity to pass others. Some may have experienced a cart demon while others may have not.

[bigred90gt]

Carts don’t cause slow play issues, inconsiderate people cause slow play issues. My wife and I play 18 holes in less than 3 hours (typically 2-2.5) if we’re not held up by people, and she couldn’t break 130 if you paid her.

 

carts and cart paths “ruining the aesthetics of the course” is entirely subjective. I have never seen, with my own eyes in person, a course without cart paths. A “walking only” course would not survive here, especially in the summer. Carts only damage the course of the person driving it is inconsiderate to the conditions and/or not paying attention.

[bigred90gt]

I don’t understand the disdain each has for the other. I love walking, and I enjoy riding. I just love playing golf, mode of transportation not withstanding. The only thing that people need to remember is if you aren’t keeping up with the group in front of you and are holding people up, regardless if they /you are in a cart or walking, let people play through.

 

if you (not necessarily you, but the collective you) want to walk, great. But don’t give me grief or think somehow you are above me because I’m in a cart. We’re all out here playing because we love the game. As long as someone is respectful to the pace, the players and the course, play as you will.

[Singapore Joe]

Verbing weirds language.

[Strömsborg]

Please. You cant have the cake and eat it too. You can't tell people that golf doesn't want them because they use the wrong words while you at the same time make up your own rules. Why would golf want you? Then you make the irony meters explode by making hard and fast rules for the use of mulligans.

Feel free to have unpopular opinions but they need to have some internal consistency.

[Brass_Bullseye]

"You can't have your cake and eat it too," is a nonsense phrase. Of course I can. Because I'm awesome.It's fun to blow stuff up.I will.No they don't.

[Strömsborg]

I was going to compliment you for your take on athletic style golf shoes but it must have been a stopped clock moment. Another nonsense phrase.

[Hawkeye77]

LOL, as soon as I recover from upcoming elbow surgery we are golfing!

[Brass_Bullseye]

In college I played three months with a hernia. I don’t recommend it. By the time I finally decided to go to the doctor it was like I was hiding a grapefruit in my groin. I had surgery that very day.

[icegator337]

I usually prefer to walk if the weather's not terrible but there is absolutely a time and place for carts. I play in South Louisiana and when its 96 degrees and 100% humidity I don't really feel like walking through a warm soup for 4 hours so I'll take a cart.

OB and lost ball rules should be abolished for lateral hazards "golfing attire" shouldn't exist. People should be allowed to wear whatever they want at muni courses, even gym shorts, t shirt and sandals You should set rules to the skill level. A 45 handicap should be playing preferred lies throughout the course with a mulligan or two Golf course architecture is overrated The stuffy pretentious attitude from (generally) older players is one of the worst things about golf

[tacklingdummy]

Change the handicap system to average score over/under par adjusted to difficulty of course. Statistically, you only shoot your handicap or better 1 out of 4 rounds. It is not an accurate assessment of your golf game and average score is more accurate assessment of your golf game. OB and lost balls should be played as lateral hazards. Not sure why OB you receive lost of stroke and distance when it is similar to a hitting it in a hazard. Also, so many times, I have lost my ball near the fairway in the rough. You shouldn't get penalized stroke and distance. Both should be played just like lateral hazards.

[Shawn Paul]

If you have to use the ball alignment line on the ball to line up your putt you probably don’t know what you’re doing. Just like, my opinion man. 

 

Doesn’t care a bit when my granola friends tell me how bad golf is for the environment. 

 

I like Ricky Fowler and I always root for him. 

 

I don’t see the greatness in Rory McIlroy and I think he’s over rated.

 

The Ryder Cup is so much fun. If you’ve never been you may not understand. 

 

All should be allowed to wear shorts, but never jorts. 

 

If you think you’re playing too slow, you probably are.

[Strömsborg]

I think the lost ball/OB rule should be kept as is.

[Sean2]

Tell your granola friends that golf has given more than $3 billion, with a "b", to charitable causes. How many granola groups can say that?

[Miss_Tee]

Could you please expound on the first opinion. I use the ball alignment line to line up my putts and I'd like to think I know what I'm doing.

[BogeyBoogy]

People with low handicap worry to much about other people that play golf...(Their pace of play, Their use of Game Improvement Equipment, Their choice to Ride A Cart, Their choice to leave pin in or take pin out, Their ability to choose what set of tees to play from).

[caniac6]

The more rounds I play with other people, the more I value playing alone.

[lookylookitzadam]

Breakfast balls should not be a thing.

Instead, after a poor opening tee shot you should announce to your foursome that you are quitting the round. Quickly after the poor shot, begin a new round and continue on without the need for a breakfast ball.