The Niggle: What annoys you most on the golf course?
We all love to get out onto the golf course. It beats sitting in an office all day, right?
But what are your pet hates? Members of our team give their room 101s.
James Savage (JS) – Those who have absolutely no awareness of others out on the course. Standing on the green to mark scorecards. Not playing your second shot to a green 290 yards away when you’ve just hit it 180 off the tee. Leaving your bag at the wrong side of the green. Not waving people through. When people slow me down, I slow the people behind me down and that takes a huge amount of the enjoyment out of it.
James Tompkinson (JT) – More than anything, I can’t stand it when people decide to start handing out advice about your game when things aren’t going well. A couple of weeks ago I was taking a practice swing on the tee when a playing partner decided to tell me to ‘slow down’. It’s thoroughly infuriating and only serves to cloud my head before I take a shot. If I wanted advice, I would ask for it!
It drives me insane though when I help others but when my ball finds the trees, they’re nowhere to be seen Tom Lenton (TL) – Why can’t people keep an eye on their ball? There is nothing more infuriating to see your playing partner fumbling around in the complete wrong place only for you to trudge across the fairway and point it out straight away. Don’t drop your head and feel sorry for yourself if you’ve hit a bad shot – watch where your ball is going!
JS – Well if you’ve seen where my ball has gone why not tell me straight away rather than let me look in the wrong place? That really annoys me. I’m in the rough looking for my ball and my playing partners leave me to it, only to finally come over and say, ‘I don’t think it went over there’. Come and help me from the start!
Ben Ursell (NCG reader) – I always look for golf balls regardless of its direction and whether it’s my ball or someone else’s in competition or practice. It drives me insane when I help others but when my ball finds the trees, they’re nowhere to be seen.
Christian Maiden (CM) – When the greenkeeper fails to put both tee markers back on the tee, usually leaving just one! Where the hell do you want me to stand left or right?!
BU – Two other things that annoy me are a combination of golfer negligence and poor maintenance – pitchmarks that haven’t been repaired and bunkers that haven’t been raked.
Jamie Miles (JM) – Simple. The etiquette, or the art of how and when to let people play through. I reckon 20 per cent of golfers, if that, do this properly.
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