Forum meets

I have nothing but admiration for anyone that organises any size of meet, as there are always people mess you about. I ran my clubs winter league for a while, and I remember the last year we had 2 new members put their names down to play in it. 1 chap was never heard or seen after he put his name down and said he was keen to play, and another just never turned up again having said he wanted to play and when asked said he hadn’t been phoned to say he was playing that weekend….the sheet was in the mens changing room.

I will organise a small meet at my own club later in the year once I’m fully back up to speed, but it will be limited in numbers to perhaps 8 or 12 so that it doesn’t get too unwieldy.
 
hambugerpete said:
I little simplistic don't you think? I've played golf with some absolute bell ends who id never want to play a round with again. Probably happy to never speak to again to be honest.
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To me I think it is more about how people express their views than what their views are for the most part - obvious exceptions such as racism, homophobia, sexism etc... aside. I get on well with plenty of people who disagree with me, what makes a difference is that we constructively challenge each others ideas, and try to learn from it, rather than just attack the individual. Online and through text it's really easy to misinterpret things and see them as personal attacks, so how people write here wouldn't make me prejudge them if I've never met them in real life.

That said, being relatively new, as a first impression it can feel like there is an established group of people that to newcomers may not feel accepting. I'm not saying that's intentional, it's easier to engage with those we are familiar with than those who are new, but that dynamic probably discourages some people from joining meetups, and as the established group shrinks over time as commonly happens it creates the feeling that meetups are a thing of the past, whether it's true or not.
 
Golf is fun said:
To me I think it is more about how people express their views than what their views are for the most part - obvious exceptions such as racism, homophobia, sexism etc... aside. I get on well with plenty of people who disagree with me, what makes a difference is that we constructively challenge each others ideas, and try to learn from it, rather than just attack the individual. Online and through text it's really easy to misinterpret things and see them as personal attacks, so how people write here wouldn't make me prejudge them if I've never met them in real life.

That said, being relatively new, as a first impression it can feel like there is an established group of people that to newcomers may not feel accepting. I'm not saying that's intentional, it's easier to engage with those we are familiar with than those who are new, but that dynamic probably discourages some people from joining meetups, and as the established group shrinks over time as commonly happens it creates the feeling that meetups are a thing of the past, whether it's true or not.
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Definitely right.

I play golf regularly with lots of different guys, from all walks of life and ages. They will have completely different views about hundreds of things than me. But, when you are in someone's company on the golf course, you basically talk about golf, or generally take the mick out of each other. Occasionally, some of the guys might broach a subject that is a little more sensitive. Like immigration, sexism or politics. But even if we all have completely different views, you can just jovially discuss them and wind each other up in a friendly way. None of us are there to get serious about these sorts of topics, they are just casual conversation (you'd only start to walk away when these views are clearly more extremist).

However, in a forum, often people will come on because they are interested in certain topics, and happy to express their views. They may specifically come on to talk about pretty trivial stuff about football, LIV golf or whether a plane can take off on a treadmill. But, because that is the reason they are specifically there, the conversation will often get very serious fast, and then people fall out. Face to face, you wouldn't have time to spend hours talking about how a jet engine works. The chat, if it started, would be over in a few minutes tops.

It is the curse of forums. I only know one chap on the forum (that I'm aware of), though I knew him before I joined. It's true, that after discussions with some in here, there may be a few I wouldn't be eager to play golf with and I'm sure one or two wouldn't want to play with me. But, reality is different. Every single one of us probably have more things in common that we don't. But in forums, we only tend to shout loudest when we disagree with something. So, after a "heated" exchange I have with anyone in here, I'll still try and tell myself that they're probably a pretty decent human being, and the fact they enjoy LIV golf or hate WHS shouldn't count too much against them in the grand scheme of things. Maybe there is also a blessing to these forums, in that people can let off steam without upsetting people face to face.
 
I've probably played golf with a hundred different people (including some from this forum at Forest Pines), I can only remember one occasion where I thought "he's a **** so I'm never playing with him again". Naturally, we drew one another in that year's winter singles knockout. I let him have the tie and found someone else to play with. Life's too short to spend in the company of bellends; luckily the vast majority of people (or just golfers?) are generally OK.
 
LincolnShep said:
I've probably played golf with a hundred different people (including some from this forum at Forest Pines), I can only remember one occasion where I thought "he's a **** so I'm never playing with him again". Naturally, we drew one another in that year's winter singles knockout. I let him have the tie and found someone else to play with. Life's too short to spend in the company of bellends; luckily the vast majority of people (or just golfers?) are generally OK.
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Evidence that being a ****** sometimes pays off, from a competitive point of view :ROFLMAO:
 
WirralC said:
I organised one at the now closed Frodsham and played another one at Beau Desert which was attended by Mike and Jezz from the magazine. Crawford used to organise some belters in Scotland. I was doing the forum write up in the magazine at the time and they always seemed like really good days.

Having returned to golf and the forum over the last year I think the whole dynamic of the forum has changed, feel like a moaning old git saying things were better in my day but the forum was definitely better a few years ago, but I suppose it depends on what you want from a forum. It used to feel a bit like being part of a big golf society whereas now its more like any other forum, a bunch of strangers arguing with each other.
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Holy moly , is it really you ??????? Been too long !!!

I won that frodsham meet , that was a while ago now !!!!
 
At one point there was a forum shield that went to some events. I got it for the first one I organised at Royal Ascot and I think it went to another event the following year but then it never appeared again
 
WirralC said:
Being able to mention the magazine name and possibility of a mention in the mag was always useful for negotiating good deals
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Do you think the drop off in printed media sales has affected the weight that this used to carry? It certainly didn’t work when I approached a potential H4H site.
 
A big problem for an organiser is when there are call offs close to the date and the club requires full payment. Many will sign up and pay a deposit, and happy enough or accepting to lose deposit if they have to call off. But the organiser is still on the hook for the full amount - should the call off be expected to pay? That’s tricky - and could prevent some signing up. I’ve just written off £70 from a meet I organised…ok with that I suppose as I recognise his circumstances were v difficult…but not going to do it often…

Maybe an answer is that the cost of call-offs is distributed between those playing. Maybe the organiser includes a call-off contingency fund in the original cost per player - and if the contingency isn’t required it can go back to the players; put in any prize pot ther might be; put to charity.

That all said I must get my H4H deposit and charity donation done for @richart
 
Oddsocks said:
Do you think the drop off in printed media sales has affected the weight that this used to carry? It certainly didn’t work when I approached a potential H4H site.
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Yes possibly, print magazines were definitely more popular when I was involved. There were at least 4 golf, GM, golf world, golf punk and today’s golfer. 2 of them are now no more sadly. I do think GM cutting the connection to the forum was a mistake as it was one of the things that set it apart and probably got some loyalty
 
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