Cringeworthy Moments in Golf

[Txstcatman]

So this popped into my head today. I frequent Imgur and there's a popular section on there called Cringeworthy, things that almost make you feel ashamed or embarrassed or just weirded out by others without actually being a part of the situation going on.

 

I was playing a round today and a few things stuck out to me about my playing partners (random grouping). As a disclaimer, these things could easily be just annoying occurrences or maybe I'm just channeling recent stress into this train of thought.

 

1. When two guys share/hit the same club off every tee box. Two guys in my group obviously knew each other and have played together before. Every hole that called for driver, they shared the same club out of one bag. This was like 12 times during the round. This doesn't bother me on the range when a buddy wants to give your club a swing or two, but it seemed so awkward to me to see it done consistently through a round. I've handed my driver to Hula to try just because I wanted his feedback on the setup but I don't assume I can just grab his club out of his back every hole.

 

2. The incessant golf philosopher. One of the guys from the above case was also Mr. Philosophy. Trying to expound on excerpts from this or that sports psychology book or how so-and-so said this or that. While I think most of us could use a bit of training in the subject to improve our mental game, but the golf course and mid-round isn't the best place to be preaching to others. It seemed like every other shot was followed by his philosophical commentary and it began to feel a bit embarrassing. I didn't say much about my shots because I didn't want him trying to put me on a path he thought was good for my mental approach.

 

3. Funny how this same guy is a common theme for my thread. I think I found a trifecta of sorts in this guy. If like to refer to him here as "The Babe" because every hole he very loudly called his shot. Usually it revolved around hitting a "baby fade" to account for wind or to make a certain yardage (aiming for the 150 marker on a short,

 

Ok so rant over.aybe these aren't cringeworthy but they get that way to me today. I've experienced others but these stuck out to me today. Care to share?

[mizuno_lover]

I think the thing that makes me cringe the most is playing with cliche guy.  You know the one, he's the guy that has a cliche for every occasion including "that'll play", "crushed that one", "that's on the dance floor" and "get in the hole" when you hit your tee shot on a 500 yard par five.  Clichés are everywhere and golf is no exception but when they are rattled off with no emotion and like some kind of golfing android is playing with me it certainly makes me cringe and maybe make a mental note to avoid him on the time sheets if possible.

[silver & black]

LOL! I cringe at the guy that gets sooooo pissed off when he makes a bad shot (most of them) when he's only been playing the game for 2 years. I'm like; dude.... you haven't been playing near long enough to be pissed about anything!

[Txstcatman]

I've experienced both too. Sometimes I get mad at myself but only when things implode after I've spent lots of time working on things during practice. That perfectly striped 8 iron on the range will just disappear on course haha!

[sp0rtsfan86]

Nothing is more cringeworthy than a duffed drive that makes it 30-50 yards. There's no moment in golf I hate more or want to run away when it happens. All you can do is stand there in silence.

[jbil8802]

Nothing is more cringeworthy than a duffed drive that makes it 30-50 yards. There's no moment in golf I hate more or want to run away when it happens. All you can do is stand there in silence.

I did this yesterday. Had 245 to the flag and hit 3W to 10 feet. Lipped out the birdie putt and made par. I was playing with my instructor. He has no solutions to my problems anymore.

[alfriday101]

I did this yesterday. Had 245 to the flag and hit 3W to 10 feet. Lipped out the birdie putt and made par. I was playing with my instructor. He has no solutions to my problems anymore.

It doesn't matter if you hit your wedge on the first shot or the second, the result is the same.  

[Kor.A.Door]

Nothing is more cringeworthy than a duffed drive that makes it 30-50 yards. There's no moment in golf I hate more or want to run away when it happens. All you can do is stand there in silence.

Especially when it happens in the member member tourney, and you do it on hole #1, with everyone watching.

[apprenti23]

I have a buddy who has the WORST temper! Every time he hits a bad drive I think to myself "oh boy" and then he slams his driver head into the tee box leaving a massive crater. I remember him hitting a poor chip and here comes the wedge toss. I immediately yelled out "stay up there!" It did. Along with four bunker rakes! Sometimes I just hate playing with guys who just snap like that.

[mizuno_lover]

That moment when you catch someone doing something they aren't supposed to be doing like moving a loose impediment that causes their ball to move.  You can tell they're not sure if you saw it or not and then the debate that goes on in their head about copping to it or not.  I will add that it is always gratifying when they just give you the score with the penalty added.

[revkev]

1.  I cringe whenever I see people playing from the tips at my local muni and hitting driver off of 1 or 10 -

 

That club choice proves that either they don't belong there or they are in the under 1 percent of all golfers who play on a tour or a DI Golf team. 

 

Since it's Florida we do have more than our fair share of that under 1 percent category and I have seen Web.com tour players, Hooters Tour players, LPGA players and DI or very good lower division college golfers frequent our Muni - but most of the time I see guys who think they regularly drive the ball 280 when it's 250 and who get on 2 (a 600 yard par 5) and start the process of backing up the entire course for the day.

 

2.  I cringe whenever I see anyone playing from the golf tees at my club's sister course.  See above (there is a set behind the golds but no one is that foolish). 

 

3.  I cringe when I see guys taking forever to line up their 3 footers on number 2 because it's going to be that way all day and they will putt better if they take a quick look and let it fly.  (It doesn't bother me on number 1 because most people start the day off with this hope that causes them to step outside of their normal routine - it's on 2 that the normal routine surfaces.)

 

 

1,2,3 make the $400 per month that I'll be paying for the Bayou club worth it.  I will save 50 to 70 hours each year of my life for things other than being on the golf course in the hot sun standing around doing nothing by playing the bulk of my rounds there.

[HighFade]

Shirt, $80

Pants, $120

Belt, $50

Belt Buckle, $40

Shoes, $150

Clubs, $2,000

Score, 127

[Jmikecpa]

Shirt, $80

Pants, $120

Belt, $50

Belt Buckle, $40

Shoes, $150

Clubs, $2,000

Score, 127

So you have played golf with my brother????

[jdiddyesquire]

Fine. I hit a tee shot two weeks ago that went like a laser 90  degrees off the tee box over a house and into an upstairs bedroom through their window.

 

I had a nice talk with the homeowner shortly thereafter.

 

How I hit that shot, I have no idea. It was hot. I'm blaming slippage.

 

Now THAT'S cringeworthy.

[sp0rtsfan86]

Fine. I hit a tee shot two weeks ago that went like a laser 90  degrees off the tee box over a house and into an upstairs bedroom through their window.

 

I had a nice talk with the homeowner shortly thereafter.

 

How I hit that shot, I have no idea. It was hot. I'm blaming slippage.

 

Now THAT'S cringeworthy.

Played wtih two women at a executive course. One hit a straight laser across the street and nearly hit an apartment about 50 yards away. I think I played thorugh after about 3 holes.

[mizuno_lover]

Fine. I hit a tee shot two weeks ago that went like a laser 90  degrees off the tee box over a house and into an upstairs bedroom through their window.

 

I had a nice talk with the homeowner shortly thereafter.

 

How I hit that shot, I have no idea. It was hot. I'm blaming slippage.

 

Now THAT'S cringeworthy.

Diddy, that is what we call in cricket a square drive.  It's not an easy shot to hit with a cricket bat but even harder to do with a golf club.  The good news is you probably would have scored six runs or at the very least 4 for your efforts

 

Having said that it reminds me of a time I was at my club when I was in the Army.  I was exactly 90 degrees and 10yards from the guy that was teeing off the first.  I can remember thinking I was safe where I was standing.  Wrong!  The ball whistled past my face and I can remember the sensation of the air displacing as it went past my head.  Scary stuff.  He certainly cringed.

[Kenny B]

We have two holes on my practice course; a par 4 #5 heading Northnext to the short par 4 #8 headed South. The Blue tee on #5 is directly opposite the Red tee on #8. A guy hitting right-handed on #5 had his back to a lady hitting right-handed on #8. Mind you... their backs were to each other. The guy teed off and hit the lady!! How did he do that! I don't know; I wasn't there, but the next day the pro who owns the course put up a fence between the tees!

[deejaid]

Guys that pull out their laser rangefinder on every approach shot to get the exact distance, then proceed to duff the shot, hitting a 50 yard dribbler nearly every time

[NiftyNiblick]

The following story took place several decades ago when my son was about eight. The offended party has got to be dead by now, so I can say what I did without fear of retribution.

 

Who remembers the suicide door Lincoln Continental convertibles of the early to mid-sixties?  This story takes place in the early eighties, but the grand old car still looked immaculate and gorgeous.

 

I was playing the last hole of a course that I had never played before, and, except for my young son pulling my bag trolley in anticipation of Chucky Cheese and a movie afterward, I was playing alone.  The trail ended with a long par three that ran up along side the parking lot. There were no white stakes to indicate that the lot was out of bounds, and there was no notation on the card, either.  That's when it happened.

 

I hooked my five-wood badly, and my 336 dimple Spalding Top Flite landed in the open, four-door convertible.  I did hit a provisional  ball, but I was disturbed by the absence of the white stakes.  When I went to the Lincoln to retrieve my first ball--thankfully, nobody was around but us--I saw a remarkable thing.  The ball did not roll to the intersection of the seat and the seat back.  The upholstery was beautiful tufted leather, and the ball stopped on top of a button in the middle of the seat.

 

Being in my thirties and having more stones than brains--I've ruined the alliteration in consideration of the hyper-sensitive--I removed my spikes which in those days were of course still steel.  With my young boy flabbergasted and looking for a place to hide, I climbed into the car, open the face of my sand iron, and lobbed the ball onto the green.  The leather covered button held its ground, and the leather surface, thankfully, did not tear. By this time a group had appeared on the tee and had to wait for me to tie my shoes before I missed the par putt.  I was fairly certain that they had missed the show, but if they didn't, nothing came of it.

 

It cost me a lot nevertheless. My boy never took up the game, largely, I believe, because of my incredibly stupid move that day.  He's a middle aged man, now, and still plays fast pitch softball. I thought that fast pitch was strictly a young woman's game and that men only played beer league slow pitch. Without golf, it appears, a man will find a fast pitch league to fill the void.  Instead of golf buddies, he still has his Little League pals from the Reagan era.

[Kenny B]

i played fast pitch softball until I was too old, then took up golf at age 45.

[evershady]

A few years ago I was play at The Amana Colonies course in Iowa. Very nice course two moments stick out one was a pulled tee shot right into the roof of a house. Terribly loud noise but nothing came of it but there had to be damage. The other I was getting ready to chip with a 60* wedge my buddy was pretty close to 90*off to the right walking to his ball, my shank hit him square in the back of the head, thankfully it was super soft and didn't hurt him. I didn't yell fore all I could say was "oh sh...t" couldn't have been too bad for him though because he later got a hole in one.

[NiftyNiblick]

This isn't really cringeworthy but more of a close escape from neurosurgery.  I once tried to force a full four-iron shot through a thirty inch opening between tree trunks just a few feet in front of me. The rebound knocked my hat off but didn't get much skull.  My playing partner remarked that with me involved, the damage would have probably not been that dramatic.

[Kenny B]

This isn't really cringeworthy but more of a close escape from neurosurgery.  I once tried to force a full four-iron shot through a thirty inch opening between tree trunks just a few feet in front of me. The rebound knocked my hat off but didn't get much skull.  My playing partner remarked that with me involved, the damage would have probably not been that dramatic.

 

Did you add your one stroke penalty?  

[NiftyNiblick]

If it was a scored round, I did.

If it was a beer and giggles round, I didn't.

We don't even carry scorecards for them.

[sp0rtsfan86]

I hit a bad shot on Saturdya that was 30 yards right of where I aimed. Hit the cart path curb and bounced litterally 90 degrees and nearly took out a guy standing on the tee. I came up apologizing explaining that there was no way I could have yelled fore. Luckily the guy was a fan of mine, took a picture and said he wished he got hit.

[Kor.A.Door]

Did you add your one stroke penalty?

I was wrong

[EthanSterlingPrice]

Tripping and stepping on your golf ball in front of a bunch of people. Happened at my first school golf tournament. THAT was cringeworthy.