This weekend's big match - Winter Greensomes Semi-Final

This Sunday sees me and my partner trying to make the Final of the Winter Greensomes.

We reached this stage 2 years ago, but lost 2 and 1 after being all square going down 16 and me putting a drive in the middle of the fairway.

After my recent cut, our handicaps are 12 & 17. Our opponents are 13 and 16, so we've lost the one shot we did have.

I'm playing well so I'm confident, but they're a dangerous partnership as they're made up of the current order of merit leader and a 16 handicapper who can hit the ball a good distance and would be off a lower handicap if he played more.

Matchplay - love it.

Merc take a leaf out of the LJ book of etiquet and scare them on the first tee and don't shake hands before, letting them overhear you tell your partner that it'll be all over by the 15th ...

Doc wrote:Merc take a leaf out of the LJ book of etiquet and scare them on the first tee and don't shake hands before, letting them overhear you tell your partner that it'll be all over by the 15th ...

I don't think that's going to be possible as I don't possess the Essex gene

Greensomes isn't proper golf

Sorry, great exuse to use my fave smiley

Good luck Merc.

Also nice that your handicaps are matched - I find matchplay much better when there are no shots being given. It feels more pure.

I played greensomes once, but it was a long time ago. Is there a minimum number of tee shots you must take from each player?

drive4show wrote:Greensomes isn't proper golf

Sorry, great exuse to use my fave smiley

I don't disagree with your view on that one, but it is certainly more enjoyable than foursomes.

raycastleunited wrote:Good luck Merc.

Also nice that your handicaps are matched - I find matchplay much better when there are no shots being given. It feels more pure.

I played greensomes once, but it was a long time ago. Is there a minimum number of tee shots you must take from each player?

I agree completely about no shots being given. Yup, it feels more like pure matchplay.

No, there's no minimum number of tee-shots to be taken. In the quarter final, I contributed 8 and my partner contributed 10 of the regulation 18, but I did make the big contribution on the 19th (nearly aced it, in fact).

Good luck Merc

An ace on hole 1 at your place would have been nice! Danger everywhere if you miss the green - tougher than it looks

MustPuttBetter wrote:Good luck Merc

An ace on hole 1 at your place would have been nice! Danger everywhere if you miss the green - tougher than it looks

Cheers, mate.

Indeed, you're rarely very disappointed if you walk off the first with a bogey, especially in a Medal.

Yeah good luck, hope the weather is reasonable too.

And scratch foursomes is a great format of the game, played in all top level matches from club level right up through county, national and international levels

drive4show wrote:Yeah good luck, hope the weather is reasonable too.

And scratch foursomes is a great format of the game, played in all top level matches from club level right up through county, national and international levels

Cheers, D4S.

I think that's the important point - scratch foursomes.

I can see why that would be fun for Cat 1s, but it's not as much fun for Cat 3s and 4s.

I look forward to enjoying it one day

We're getting mullered - three down after three.

A half, by Jove!

3 down after 4.

Another half - we went from looking like we may lose it to having a chance of a win.

3 down after 5.

A win! We weren't favourites but my partner drained a 15 footer for par.

2 down after 6.

Sounds like the fightback has started!

Go Mercurio!

I missed a smelly 3 foot left to righter - hole lost - bollocks!

3 down after 7.

Halved hole.

3 down after 8.

A putt to win the hole and we almost ended up losing it - hole halved.

3 down after 9.

The end is nigh - hole lost - we're too wayward today.

4 down after 10.

And another gone.

5 down after 11.

Doo Doo Doo - Another one bites the dust.

6 down after 12.

We've got 'em on the rack!

They managed to cope with the pressure and finish us off 7 & 5.

I was utter bobbins today.

So you're allowed mobile phones on the course, are you? I'd have been really annoyed if you'd been my partner or opponent. Perhaps if you'd concentrated on playing rather than updating us after each hole, you might have made a better fist of it.

LadyPutt wrote:So you're allowed mobile phones on the course, are you? I'd have been really annoyed if you'd been my partner or opponent. Perhaps if you'd concentrated on playing rather than updating us after each hole, you might have made a better fist of it.

LadyPutt wrote:So you're allowed mobile phones on the course, are you? I'd have been really annoyed if you'd been my partner or opponent. Perhaps if you'd concentrated on playing rather than updating us after each hole, you might have made a better fist of it.

LadyPutt wrote:So you're allowed mobile phones on the course, are you? I'd have been really annoyed if you'd been my partner or opponent. Perhaps if you'd concentrated on playing rather than updating us after each hole, you might have made a better fist of it.

just what i was thinking.

However i would have been delighted to be your opponent !

LadyPutt wrote:So you're allowed mobile phones on the course, are you? I'd have been really annoyed if you'd been my partner or opponent. Perhaps if you'd concentrated on playing rather than updating us after each hole, you might have made a better fist of it.

Yes, because we were set fair to win being 3 down with 3 holes played

It also looks to have passed you by, that for the next 6 holes after the updates had started we were level.

No-one knew that I was reporting and the reasons I started reporting was because a) I wasn't playing well and knew it wasn't going to improve, b) I was enjoying the irony of playing bobbins after the build-up I'd given it, and c) I thought it may have been of mild interest to some on here.

I can laugh at myself, Lady Putt. I suggest you simply learn to laugh.

P.S. Thanks, Mary, you've helped me retain some faith in golfing folk.

Lighten up People. If you had been playing him or playing with him, and he had delayed play then , and only then, he'd be fair game to have a go at!
Hes not about to win some life changing comp either. We are in an era called the 21st century and some of the old farts on here could do with moving into it or start checking out and take the pressure off our overburdenned NHS.
Ever wondered why kids see it still as an old farts game? Sometimes it feels like ? That's a great emoticon don't you think?

Matelot

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but calling people 'old farts' because they frown on someone giving a running commentary via mobile phone is bang out of order. There are clear guidelines about using phones on the course and I'm pretty sure that updating an internet forum isn't one of the recommend uses.

Also, using the excuse of being 3 down after 3 and playing bobbins is tantamount to throwing in the towel. I would be pretty p*****d off if any partner of mine took that attitude. I've been in what appeared to be pretty hopeless situations on more than one occasion and managed to turn it around.

Looking through the amount of posts on here recently and some of the subjects I found his comments interesting. I wouldn't be happy if he did it as my partner but wouldn't give two hoots if he was my opponent. Times they are a changing and judging by the missing generation, sorry make that generations, in our clubhouse and clubhouses up and down the country, then golf clubs needs to quickly get into the new age or get used to possibly closing down in the very near future.

drive4show wrote:Matelot

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but calling people 'old farts' because they frown on someone giving a running commentary via mobile phone is bang out of order. There are clear guidelines about using phones on the course and I'm pretty sure that updating an internet forum isn't one of the recommend uses.

Also, using the excuse of being 3 down after 3 and playing bobbins is tantamount to throwing in the towel. I would be pretty p*****d off if any partner of mine took that attitude. I've been in what appeared to be pretty hopeless situations on more than one occasion and managed to turn it around.

You are old farts!

I was livid when I read Lady Putt's post (and still am). None of you know how it was out there. My partner's game was as bad as mine (of the 13 holes played, we used 9 of my tee shots - including 7 of the first 9 holes).

Did I upset anyone? No, I would never look to do that.

Did I affect anyone's game? No, again, would never look to do that.

Did it affect my own game? No, I KNEW I wasn't going to play well for a few reasons:

1) I currently have pain in both my wrists and left shoulder,

2) I NEVER play well in cold and heavy rain, and

3) I was stiff/sore from playing yesterday and simply wasn't swinging freely

Did I break any rules? No.

Did I waste my time providing a bit of entertainment to a few joyless, fuddy-duddies on a golf messageboard? Yes.

You need to take a step back and look at what you're coming out with. I love the game, but not your attitudes which stink. Your prejudices and parochial views say everything about you. Hopefully, such views in golf will die when you do.

Thanks, Matelot. Your level of understanding is as highly regarded as your golf club.

Well done Merc, you've really endeared yourself to the vast majority of the people on this forum

You are the one that needs to take a step back and rethink your attitudes.

drive4show wrote:Well done Merc, you've really endeared yourself to the vast majority of the people on this forum

You are the one that needs to take a step back and rethink your attitudes.

My attitude's fine, D4S.

I try not to leap to assumptions as well as keeping my prejudices to a minimum - that gets me a long way. You should try it - you may start enjoying life.

Mercurio wrote:
My attitude's fine, D4S.

I try not to leap to assumptions as well as keeping my prejudices to a minimum - that gets me a long way. You should try it - you may start enjoying life.

Please enlighten me, what prejudices do I have??

drive4show wrote:

Mercurio wrote:
My attitude's fine, D4S.

I try not to leap to assumptions as well as keeping my prejudices to a minimum - that gets me a long way. You should try it - you may start enjoying life.

Please enlighten me, what prejudices do I have??

That doing what I did today was bad.

Merc

Does your club have a mobile phone policy? Mine does, it clearly states that phones may only be used on the course in emergencies, ie to summon medical assistance. I suspect that your club will be the same?

If you think your actions today are acceptable then that's fine, you carry on doing so. But if I were you I'd prepare myself for a few roastings from people that find your behaviour totally unacceptable.

Don't expect an invite to my course. But then again you wouldn't want one because I'm a prejudiced old fart.

Using a mobile phone on my course is taboo, except in case of emergency,

An alcoholic is now recognised as some one who has an illness, I would class that someone who cannot spend 3/4 hours on the golf course without using a mobile phone in the same category

drive4show wrote:Merc

Does your club have a mobile phone policy? Mine does, it clearly states that phones may only be used on the course in emergencies, ie to summon medical assistance. I suspect that your club will be the same?

If you think your actions today are acceptable then that's fine, you carry on doing so. But if I were you I'd prepare myself for a few roastings from people that find your behaviour totally unacceptable.

Don't expect an invite to my course. But then again you wouldn't want one because I'm a prejudiced old fart.

No, we don't have a mobile phone policy, but, there again, we're not solely a golf club so there'e probably some modern thinking in that.

You're going on like I was making phone calls. What does it matter to you or anyone else if what I was doing did not affect nor was even noticed by anyone else? You have continuously failed to provide me with a good reason as to why what I did was a problem. I most definitely do feel my actions were fine because they did not affect anyone else nor did they provide an advantage to me. Even if my partners had seen me with the phone in my hand today, they would have just assumed I was using the golf GPS App on it. So again, what is your problem?

The one thing that hit home from reading your post is that I take the good spirit at my club for granted. When people like Diggers used to complain about golf clubs being stuffy and full of old farts, I used to take issue with him. I now see why he said such things - it's because they are and it's simply that my club seems to be the exception.

My club is 17 miles from my home and the 42nd closest course, but I won't ever leave because everything about it is great. I would like to think that they put me on the Committee because they like who I am, how I do things and my outlook. When you consider that we have a lot of people in their 60s on the Committee and as members, it hits home how wrong other clubs are doing things.

oldparwin wrote:Using a mobile phone on my course is taboo, except in case of emergency,

An alcoholic is now recognised as some one who has an illness, I would class that someone who cannot spend 3/4 hours on the golf course without using a mobile phone in the same category

Firstly, I thought you said you weren't availing yourself of my posts any more, you hypocrite.

Secondly, what drugs are you taking for you to make a comparison between an alcoholic and what I did on this thread (this is a rhetorical question - I'm merely highlighting that you're a sandwich short of a picnic).

I think you find that IJP 'tweets' from the course and he's a pro player. Other People probably do this because they are young and computer/iphone/android savvy and can do it whilst walking or waiting on the next tee. I know of one guy at our club who runs a successful multi-million pound business, he still manages to play during the working week because he uses his phone discreetly as his business demands his time. At weekends he trys not to use it. Personally, I cant see the harm when waiting on a tee yet again behind a group of crusties topping the ball 60 yds up the fairway/rough yet still wont let you through. These are the same people that moan that the youngsters don't use the bar, probably because a round has now taken much longer because they were not played through and still have a job to attend to after the game.
I know the rules of most clubs say only to use mobile phones in emergencies.

The whole problem with golf clubs is that the world has and will move on faster than golf clubs run by people who still hanker after men only bars and think its OK for people of ethnic backgrounds to play golf as long as they are not members of THEIR club! Please wake up people, golf memberships are dying because golf clubs are on the whole still stuck in the stuffiness and class system of old.

Merc

your actions didn't affect anyone else? How about your playing partner? Pretty disrespectful to him that you were more concerned about updating a forum than you were about trying to win your match.

And what does modern thinking have to do with mobile phones on the golf course? What next, Andy Murray texting between games when playing a final against Federer?

For info, Poulter wasn't tweeting from the course during a competition round, he gave his phone to his mate in the gallery who tweeted on his behalf.

Wrong again D4S. John McLaren (Luke Donald's Caddie) is a close personal friend of my mate. In the times I have had the pleasure to be in his company he tells us some good dits, one being that he told us of the couple of occasions when waiting on a par 3 how poulter has had his phone out during this time and that Luke ribs him that he will be in the supposedly 'doo-doo' if the officials catch him.

drive4show wrote:Merc

your actions didn't affect anyone else? How about your playing partner? Pretty disrespectful to him that you were more concerned about updating a forum than you were about trying to win your match.

And what does modern thinking have to do with mobile phones on the golf course? What next, Andy Murray texting between games when playing a final against Federer?

For info, Poulter wasn't tweeting from the course during a competition round, he gave his phone to his mate in the gallery who tweeted on his behalf.

Arghhhhhh! Are you being serious? Where I have said that I was more bothered about updating a forum than winning the match?

Do you think I was bringing out a full PC, booting it up, pulling up an office chair and logging on? Have you ever actually seen an iPhone? I've already said that most messages took no more than 30 seconds to do. They were done either walking to the tee or waiting to tee-off (as we only had the honour on the 1st and 7th tees, I teed off last on 11 of 13 holes).

I've said it didn't affect my game and it didn't affect my partner's game - what on earth is wrong with you?

Merc

I have just realised, that you are just a spoiled little brat, who throws his teddy out of the pushchair when he cant get his own way, or when the grown ups dont agree with his opinion.

Now do as mum tells you, put the dummy back in your mouth, grab your teddy and get back into bed

Matelot golfer wrote:Wrong again D4S. John McLaren (Luke Donald's Caddie) is a close personal friend of my mate. In the times I have had the pleasure to be in his company he tells us some good dits, one being that he told us of the couple of occasions when waiting on a par 3 how poulter has had his phone out during this time and that Luke ribs him that he will be in the supposedly 'doo-doo' if the officials catch him.

Small world, Matelot!

John McLaren was the best man at our current Club Champion's wedding. They're very close mates, too.

oldparwin wrote:Merc

I have just realised, that you are just a spoiled little brat, who throws his teddy out of the pushchair when he cant get his own way, or when the grown ups dont agree with his opinion.

Now do as mum tells you, put the dummy back in your mouth, grab your teddy and get back into bed

And you're old and smell of wee.

Nothing wrong with me. When I'm playing in a competition, I give 100% concentration to the job in hand. Maybe if you had done the same you would be looking forward to your forthcoming final.

"And you're old and smell of wee.."

You have just proved my point

Merc, have you seen that new Samsung Galxaxy s4 mobile that comes with numeous free drugs to cure all mobile users ills on tap!! Never has a name, OLDparwin, been more apt or stereotypical ( use of mobile= illness)of all that drives anyone sub 40 away from joining golf clubs.