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

First topic message reminder :

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.

Matelot golfer wrote: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.

Another child none of us grown ups are all that interested in what you have to say now go tell mummy to get your dummy as its past your bed time

drive4show wrote: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.

So, you're thinking about your round all the time, even when you're not playing a shot? Is that what you're telling me? If so, that goes against everything I've been told to do between shots.

I concentrated 100% on every single shot I played today (as I always do). For the reasons I've already said above, I didn't play well - you seem to have a problem either reading what I type or taking it in. Which is it?

oldparwin wrote:

Matelot golfer wrote: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.

Another child none of us grown ups are all that interested in what you have to say now go tell mummy to get your dummy as its past your bed time

Please stop embarrassing yourself - it's painful to watch.

Just call Nurse and ask her to give you a couple of pills (not from the stash of blue ones you have, though, otherwise you'll be up all night).

If you want to be taken as some sort of serious philosopher OPW why come out with such a stupid statement as mobile use equals an illness. Put your ear trumpet down as the matron will come and empty your commode in a minute before putting the lights out in your home. Then hopefully the variety club bus will drop you off at the course in the morning for the'Coffin-Dodgers' handicap cup presented by Bruce Critchley. I love banter, bring it on my friend, lets see what you've got left!

Merc

I don't have a problem reading or taking in what you are saying.

Can I suggest that you have a problem understanding what is required on the golf course to perform to the best of your ability when playing in a competition?

It is indeed D4S. He is a really down to earth guy. He takes great pleasure in making sure he does in no way co-ordinate his socks with his trainers. When we marshalled at the Ryder Cup we walked nearly a whole practice round with him and he and Luke have become very close. He even let us know what Montys pairing were going to be the night before the 1st round of matches but we could not get any odds on it with any bookies the night before. I thought that was going to be our Del Boy and Rodney ' tomorrow well be millionaires' moment but alas it was not to be. Picked and deserved a good bag ito carry inthe end after caddying for Duffy Waldorf for many years and the Dane who's name slips me at the moment.

Matelot

That wasn't banter, that was just insulting someone you don't even know.

I think like most caddys he was a more than average player, gave it a go on the South African circuit but never worked out for him. Carrying Luke s bag has brought great financial rewards for him but he remains true to the bloke he always was before becoming one of the top caddys on any tour.

Matelot golfer wrote:If you want to be taken as some sort of serious philosopher OPW why come out with such a stupid statement as mobile use equals an illness. Put your ear trumpet down as the matron will come and empty your commode in a minute before putting the lights out in your home. Then hopefully the variety club bus will drop you off at the course in the morning for the'Coffin-Dodgers' handicap cup presented by Bruce Critchley. I love banter, bring it on my friend, lets see what you've got left!

Sorry son your to young to understand what banter is, like I said before get to bed and leave us grown ups to discuss important matters

And calling someone a child he doesn't know is not. What a strange and scewed view of the way this thread has played out this has become.

How old am I then OPW. You know nothing about me, you might be surprised , maybe I just get the younger generation better than you? But I suppose you being the know it all you come across as I don't feel the need to waste my time.

Are the patronising 'son' statement. I can just imagine it "step aside young man, the old officer and I have had this tee time for 40 years and anyway, the juniors have tee time allocated between 1600 and 1610 at this time of year. Now move along my good boy , I need to hit my 13 wood to this 120 yd par 3'. Pathetic

Matelot

I've always considered you to be a pretty decent guy that posts some good stuff on this forum. Please think about some of the stuff you've put on this thread. To coin a phrase, it's not big and it's not clever. Don't spoil all the good work you've done in the past in building up the respect that you have on here

Fair enough D4S. I wanted to stay out after a couple of posts. However, most ridiculous statement by OPW to say using a mobile is an illness, come on, then has the temerity to start calling people children deserves to be ridiculed. I will post no further on the subject.

Oh my what an interesting read...can't believe the emotional content over some on course txting.

From experience most courses do say no phones in the clubhouse or course, car park only - ours does but walk into the clubhouse on a satuday afternoon and you will almost certainly see 2 or 3 in use (txting or browsing), so yes there may be rules but it's not uncommon for them to be ignored.

I personally don't have a problem with it nor do I have a problem with people wearing jeans but...if the dress code says No Jeans then I don't wear jeans. Would I pull a fellow member/visitor up for wearing jeans or using a mobile phone...probably not but I certainly know a few who would and I'd prefer them not to be given ammunition.

Now....Merc, you may genuinely believe it didn't affect your game, it may well not have and fair play if it didn't Personally I couldn't do a an updating commentary on my phone AND maintain the level of concentration and competitive edge required to win a match, although given your thinking after you went 3 down, you were never going to win unless your opponents completely imploded so the use of the phone was immaterial in terms of the result, you'd already lost the match!! In pairs, regardless of format, I'm talking with my partner all the time, discussing tactics, yardages, clubs, discussing what we're observing in opponents, where we think we can take holes, the importance of keeping a ball in play to put pressure on etc etc, simply no time at all to doodle on the phone. But that's just me

Matelot golfer wrote:Fair enough D4S. I wanted to stay out after a couple of posts. However, most ridiculous statement by OPW to say using a mobile is an illness, come on, then has the temerity to start calling people children deserves to be ridiculed. I will post no further on the subject.

There's no need to stop posting, just keep it on topic and non personal

drive4show wrote:Merc

I don't have a problem reading or taking in what you are saying.

Can I suggest that you have a problem understanding what is required on the golf course to perform to the best of your ability when playing in a competition?

You can suggest it, but you'd be wrong. You don't know me. You don't know how I felt today. You don't know how hard I was trying. You don't know how I prepare for shots. You don't know how well our opponents played.

I only started to play golf properly 3 years ago. I started as a 20-handicapper and am now a 12 handicapper on a tight, unforgiving course. I regularly shoot better than my handicap on other courses. I've gone through enough experiences to know my game and to know when I'm going to play well or not. After three holes today, I knew I wasn't going to play well even before taking into account that I was regularly not hitting shots and would be waiting in the cold and heavy rain, but that didn't stop me trying on every shot. I didn't say I wasn't going to win after 3 holes, I said I wasn't going to play well.

I'm a new 12-handicapper - that in its self should tell you that I do not yet have the consistency of a golfer who can 'get around a course' when having a bad day. So, with all this in mind, how about you have respect for my own knowledge of my own game, and cease with the patronising and the prejudice which is making you come across as intolerant and unnecessarily unyielding.

What's got into some people on here? The Daily Mail is slower to jump to stereotypical conclusions than just about everyone on this thread.

If a course allows phones, there's pretty much nothing wrong with a quick post between holes. It's certainly better than it ringing while you're over a putt. That said, I doubt Merc would have posted if he'd been 3 up, so D4S has a point about concentration. Indeed, I doubt Merc would have got so defensive if he didn't know there was some truth to it.

As for golf clubs and stuffiness, it's getting better, but it also tends to be a good measure of the quality of a course. You won't find many courses on the Open rota or qualifying venues where you can wear short socks with shorts, something I hope I never come to understand!

JAS wrote:Oh my what an interesting read...can't believe the emotional content over some on course txting.

From experience most courses do say no phones in the clubhouse or course, car park only - ours does but walk into the clubhouse on a satuday afternoon and you will almost certainly see 2 or 3 in use (txting or browsing), so yes there may be rules but it's not uncommon for them to be ignored.

I personally don't have a problem with it nor do I have a problem with people wearing jeans but...if the dress code says No Jeans then I don't wear jeans. Would I pull a fellow member/visitor up for wearing jeans or using a mobile phone...probably not but I certainly know a few who would and I'd prefer them not to be given ammunition.

Now....Merc, you may genuinely believe it didn't affect your game, it may well not have and fair play if it didn't Personally I couldn't do a an updating commentary on my phone AND maintain the level of concentration and competitive edge required to win a match, although given your thinking after you went 3 down, you were never going to win unless your opponents completely imploded so the use of the phone was immaterial in terms of the result, you'd already lost the match!! In pairs, regardless of format, I'm talking with my partner all the time, discussing tactics, yardages, clubs, discussing what we're observing in opponents, where we think we can take holes, the importance of keeping a ball in play to put pressure on etc etc, simply no time at all to doodle on the phone. But that's just me

Thanks for the more considered response, JAS. It's what I would have expected and hoped from you.

I'm being absolutely honest when I say it didn't affect me. I wouldn't have done it if I was playing well (because I wouldn't want to change what I'm doing right) or in a singles match. I didn't have any pre-conceived ideas of doing it either. I only posted after 3 when I remembered this thread whilst walking to the 4th tee and laughed at the irony. I still wasn't thinking about posting every hole. We stopped the rot on 4, I posted in joy and it just rolled from there, but there can be no suggestion it negatively affected me when, after my first post, I contributed the tee shots on 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 during those 6 holes we were all square.

There wasn't that much talking because of the grim weather. As soon as the last person teed off (usually me), the rest were walking from the tee and retreiving the balls that weren't going to be played.

Since the back-street psychologist, D4S, is suggesting that I'm not giving 100% concentration, I'll remind him that I have said on a few occasions in previous topics that my preferred level of communication in matchplay is not to speak at all, but I can't go through with that for obvious reasons. So, yes, D4S, I'm not giving myself the best chance of success but not for the reasons you think.

Personally, I couldn't care less if my opponent turned up wearing jeans, and equally I couldn't care less if he was busy texting / tweeting / posting between shots. Different matter if it was my partner though, for the reasons pointed out by JAS.

My course has banned the use of smartphones as a DMD in competitions, because of the potential to use them for other outlawed purposes (e.g. measuring gradient, wind speed, air temp etc). Surprised that more courses haven't introduced this rule, which calls into question every ocasion that someone pulls out a smartphone on a course.

raycastleunited wrote:My course has banned the use of smartphones as a DMD in competitions, because of the potential to use them for other outlawed purposes (e.g. measuring gradient, wind speed, air temp etc). Surprised that more courses haven't introduced this rule, which calls into question every ocasion that someone pulls out a smartphone on a course.

Maybe clubs are simply choosing to ignore the silly consequences of one of the worst worded and unnecessary rules in golf.

smithersjones wrote:Indeed, I doubt Merc would have got so defensive if he didn't know there was some truth to it.

There's some truth in what?

I leave my phone in the car when playing golf.. which once led to the lady from the shop at a course I was visting running up to me to tell me my wife had gone into labour. Made me miss the green - how thoughtless.

In matchplay (and I've got some of that coming up), I'm not sure I'm menatlly strong enough to totally ignore what my opponent(s) is doing, but them texting or tweeting wouldn't put me off unless it delayed them hitting a shot. I personally wouldn't do it as I think it would break my concentration and make me play less well.

i have no problem with the updates/texting as long as it doesnt
go against a local rule or cause slow play. Merc did say that neither of these are the case.
Actually.... the only other thing i would mention though is that it may stop me from being a fore caddy for my opponents and partner. i think it would be quite disrespecful not to be watching while my opponent was hitting but as Merc said- it was inbetween holes and walking up fairways.
personally i dont think it would benefit my game but if merc thinks that it doesnt make a difference to him then by all means good luck to him