Bad Attitudes
 

I was playing after work by my self as I usually do, and as I was walking off the 7th green, I see a catastrophe. Apparently, somebody missed a put (I assume) and slammed the toe of their putter into the putting surface leaving about a 2 inch deep hole the shape of a putter. Wish I knew who did this.

How often do you see damages on the golf course due to people who can't hold their tempers?

Rarely at my course. But once in a while, we will see a driver head mark on the tee box that you could tell someone slammed it on the ground.

All too often this type of thing happens, I used to show temper on the course (not to that extent) but all I ever did was raise of own B/P. There is nothing wrong with wanting to play well but unless you make a living at it feeding your family it should never get to that level if even then.

I have seen that kind of thing before. Once me and a buddy got paired up with two others and one of them slammed their putter into the green and left a huge gash. We called the clubhouse and had the pro come out. We wouldn't let him try to fix the damage because we felt he would just make it worse. The pro came and told the guy that did it he had to leave (they both left) and had the greenskeeper come to fix the damage.

I don't think that such things are necessarily signs of a bad attitude.

Emotional reaction, maybe, but one isolated instance or even several such reactions do not always mean that a person's overall outlook is bad.

Tiger is a perfect example. His "reactions" are legendary but does anyone believe that he has a "bad attitude"?


-JP

Not nearly to that degree, no. Bad attitude may not be the way to describe that but I can't think of another term right now. Maybe bad maturity or bad sportsmanship?

Yeah, I agree that bad attitude is a bad term to pair with this behavior. Destructively hot tempered. That would have been a little better I think.

Why not just call it a human reaction and leave it at that?

Everyone reacts to things differently, Some people laugh at funerals, for example, so does that make them bad people?

I think such reactions are borne of frustration especially if a person has been trying real hard to perhaps correct a specific problem or work on a different technique only to have the thing they were trying to fix rear its ugly head yet again.

No one enjoys failure and when it comes to something as personal as playing golf, I think that people's reactions to failure are magnified because there's no teammate or "outside agency" to blame for that failure.

Now if such displays are affecting others such as when someone's tantrum damages a green or a thrown club nearly takes someone's head off, then a line needs to be drawn and that behavior has to be addressed because it generally makes for a tense and negative (even dangerous) atmosphere overall.

What would bother me is if that person kept such behavior going all the time and over every little thing that's happened. But a momentary outburst - even a slammed club or a string of colorful epithets isn't something that bothers me. I do that myself and I think it's a great way to blow off some steam just as long as it's momentary and doesn't become some kind of permanent funk that casts a pall over everyone else's day.


-JP

Thankfully, it's pretty rare to see damage to the course like that. I've seen a few clubs bear the brunt of a few outbursts and either end up broken, tossed, or getting a new home at the bottom of a nearby water hazard. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/banghead.gif

This isn't because of temper. It is usually an accident, but people slide their feet when they are walking. (Lazyness) and it leaves huge streaks on the greens. I hate that..

Along the same lines and I mean no offense to anyone out there who is a larger size - I've noticed that some very heavy people will often turn on their spikes on the green when they bend down to pick up their ball. It really chews up the green.

some people drag their feet after missing an easy putt, it will damage greens. thats the only thing i really dont like, is damage to the greens, because it has potential to effect other players

Exactly. to be honest you can't do much damage to a fairway with a golf club.

I'm a husky fellow, but light on my feet for a big man. Like a rotund Grace Kelly. Wait. Make that Gene Kelly.

Kevin

Must be from eating all that cheese.

If you slam your putter into the green causing damage, that is just wrong, I don't care what the cause - in some cases it might even be called vandalism. If someone is that upset over missing a putt they should break their putter over their knee, or maybe even their noggin. LOL

Outside of the golf course, most people get frustrated during their normal day, but they usually find a way to deal with it so it doesn't affect others. Just my 2 cents.

p.s. - I'm a pretty big guy, but I've seen plenty of "lightweights" leave marks on the green from spinning in place, or dragging their feet.

Sometimes they damage themselves.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/11/ny...ces-heart.html

I'll have to pay better attention to that.Thanks for info I never noticed but I'll try and keep that from happening now on.