Genuine Excuses

[stefanovic]

501 Excuses for a Bad Golf Shot (2004 book) does not appear to list genuine excuses.

Can't judge the wind 100 feet above me, might be one.
However when playing an unfamiliar course I played to the wrong green. I'm red-green colour blind and two greens were in front of me. I failed to notice the green with the red flag and played to the other.
As about 1 in 12 males have this problem then why are flags ever red?

So what else might be a genuine excuse?

 

[Slime]

501 Excuses for a Bad Golf Shot (2004 book) does not appear to list genuine excuses.

Can't judge the wind 100 feet above me, might be one.
However when playing an unfamiliar course I played to the wrong green. I'm red-green colour blind and two greens were in front of me. I failed to notice the green with the red flag and played to the other.
As about 1 in 12 males have this problem then why are flags ever red?

So what else might be a genuine excuse?

At my place, a red flag is indicating the hole is near the front.
Yellow flags for centre and white flags for the back of the green.
I think this is fairly common place these days.

 

[Papas1982]

At my place, a red flag is indicating the hole is near the front.
Yellow flags for centre and white flags for the back of the green.
I think this is fairly common place these days.

Like that at most places i thought. I always reasoned it was done that way as it ties in with how we judge course length from tees. Ie Red (ladies) shortest. Yellow (mens) middle and Whites (championships) longest.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

At my place, a red flag is indicating the hole is near the front.
Yellow flags for centre and white flags for the back of the green.
I think this is fairly common place these days.

Definitely what happens at my place too. I'd like them to use just one flag for big events like club championships to make it a little different

 

[duncan mackie]

I though genuine excuses were called reasons?

 

[PJ87]

501 Excuses for a Bad Golf Shot (2004 book) does not appear to list genuine excuses.

Can't judge the wind 100 feet above me, might be one.
However when playing an unfamiliar course I played to the wrong green. I'm red-green colour blind and two greens were in front of me. I failed to notice the green with the red flag and played to the other.
As about 1 in 12 males have this problem then why are flags ever red?

So what else might be a genuine excuse?

If there are no green flags on the golf course then it doesn’t matter because you will surely see the flag just as a different colour....

Not like your confusing it with yellow or white...

 

[Blue in Munich]

If there are no green flags on the golf course then it doesn’t matter because you will surely see the flag just as a different colour....

Not like your confusing it with yellow or white...

Truly typed by someone neither afflicted by the problem nor with any understanding of the issue. Well done.

 

[PJ87]

Truly typed by someone neither afflicted by the problem nor with any understanding of the issue. Well done.

Considering red green colour blind normally can’t see the pigment of red and green I fail to see how this would affect anyone on the course. White and yellow flags (no green pigment) so the red one would just look an off colour.. the green grass would look different.. he wouldn’t not see it

My grandad is red green colour blind and doesn’t stop him driving. He knows what each colour looks like to him and the order in which the lights are so it’s fine.

So yeah nothing 👌

 

[FuzzyDuck]

Played a 9 hole course recently (Andover) where most greens have two flags, on the first 9 you play to the red flag, on the second you play to the yellow.

 

[TreeSeeker]

Considering red green colour blind normally can’t see the pigment of red and green I fail to see how this would affect anyone on the course. White and yellow flags (no green pigment) so the red one would just look an off colour.. the green grass would look different.. he wouldn’t not see it

My grandad is red green colour blind and doesn’t stop him driving. He knows what each colour looks like to him and the order in which the lights are so it’s fine.

So yeah nothing 👌

I literally cannot see the red flag until i'm say 100 yards away, its ok if I know the course since I can just assume its red but, in honesty red is a terrible colour choice and makes the flag much harder to see.

 

[stefanovic]

I literally cannot see the red flag until i'm say 100 yards away, its ok if I know the course since I can just assume its red but, in honesty red is a terrible colour choice and makes the flag much harder to see.

Totally agree with that. I sometimes had to ask a playing partner where the flag is. On an unfamiliar course I would not even know the location of the green unless it was pointed out to me. A red tee or ball got lost very quickly.
How about courses taking note of this. Blue, white and yellow would be good.
I understand colour blind people can now apply as train drivers as they are changing the signal colours.

 

[Foxholer]

H'mm. Two clubs I've belonged to changed from Red, Yellow and White to Red, Yellow and Blue - for better 'visibility' of ther different colour. Another couple, including current, use zones. Current has a Par 3 (an 'evil' one) to start, so zone is obvious, while another had a board showing 'zone of the day'.

 

[Blue in Munich]

If there are no green flags on the golf course then it doesn’t matter because you will surely see the flag just as a different colour....

Not like your confusing it with yellow or white...

Considering red green colour blind normally can’t see the pigment of red and green I fail to see how this would affect anyone on the course. White and yellow flags (no green pigment) so the red one would just look an off colour.. the green grass would look different.. he wouldn’t not see it

My grandad is red green colour blind and doesn’t stop him driving. He knows what each colour looks like to him and the order in which the lights are so it’s fine.

So yeah nothing 👌

Does he suffer from protanopia, protanomaly, deuteranomaly or deuteranopia?


Trichromacy
Normal colour vision uses all three types of light cones correctly and is known as trichromacy. People with normal colour vision are known as trichromats.

Anomalous Trichromacy
People with ‘faulty’ trichromatic vision will be colour blind to some extent and are known as anomalous trichromats. In people with this condition all of their three cone types are used to perceive light colours but one type of cone perceives light slightly out of alignment, so that there are three different types of effect produced depending upon which cone type is ‘faulty’.

The different anomalous conditions are protanomaly, which is a reduced sensitivity to red light, deuteranomaly which is a reduced sensitivity to green light and is the most common form of colour blindness and tritanomaly which is a reduced sensitivity to blue light and is extremely rare.

The effects of anomalous trichromatic vision can range from almost normal colour perception to almost total absence of perception of the ‘faulty’ colour.

People with deuteranomaly and protanomaly are collectively known as red-green colour blind and they generally have difficulty distinguishing between reds, greens, browns and oranges. They also commonly confuse different types of blue and purple hues.

People with reduced blue sensitivity have difficulty identifying differences between blue and yellow, violet and red and blue and green. To these people the world appears as generally red, pink, black, white, grey and turquoise.

About half of people with anomalous trichromacy will see the world in a similar way to those with dichromacy but their ability to perceive colours will improve in good light and deteriorate in poor light. Often their colour perception can be as poor as it is for those with dichromacy.

People with anomalous dichromacy can have either inherited colour blindness, in which case their ability to see colours will remain the same, or they can have acquired it, in which case their condition could get worse, or possibly improve over time

People with dichromatic colour vision have only two types of cones which are able to perceive colour i.e. they have a total absence of function of one cone type. Lack of ability to see colour is the easiest way to explain this condition but in actual fact it is a specific section of the light spectrum which can’t be perceived. For convenience we call these areas of the light spectrum ‘red’, ‘green’ or ‘blue’ . The sections of the light spectrum which the ‘red’ and ‘green’ cones perceive overlap and this is why red and green colour vision deficiencies are often known as red/green colour blindness and why people with red and green deficiencies see the world in a similar way.

People suffering from protanopia are unable to perceive any ‘red’ light, those with deuteranopia are unable to perceive ‘green’ light and those with tritanopia are unable to perceive ‘blue’ light.

People with both red and green deficiencies live in a world of murky greens where blues and yellows stand out. Browns, oranges, shades of red and green are easily confused. Both types will confuse some blues with some purples and both types will struggle to identify pale shades of most colours.

As stefanovic, TreeSeeker and I can tell you from personal experiences, we will all have difficulty to some degree picking out a red flag against a green background. Because of the issues it creates people with anomalous trichromacy can be prevented from flying planes or driving tube trains.

If you actually had any personal experience of the issue then you'd understand, but you don't; all you know is that your grandad had it and he could drive a car so therefore there's no problem in picking out a flag on a golf course as far as you can see. Which in this instance is not beyond the end of your nose.

 

[backwoodsman]

All of which goes to show that one of those "balls" on the flagstick is probably the more usefully inclusive indicator of pin position

 

[HomerJSimpson]

All of which goes to show that one of those "balls" on the flagstick is probably the more usefully inclusive indicator of pin position

They would be but I've found they can slip down the flag as they tend to get loose with people "placing" the flags down regularly and in the wet and so are not always a representative postion to where the flag is.

Surely with the amount of GPS/lasers out there now, there has to be an argument for a club to have one standard set of flags (and certainly time efficient for the green staff) in white which isn't so hard for the majority to see with maybe a secondary set for big club events and matches. When I started Wimbledon Common had two sets (red and yellow to signify inward and outward holes) but there was nothing to give you an indication of distance on the green other than your eyesight. Perhaps we need to go back to that with the exception of using common technology (and personal choice if you want to use it) to work out distances

 

[clubchamp98]

My mate has this , it’s a problem when he plays snooker as well.
He just asks his pps where the flag is .
Didn’t his pps notice he was aiming at the wrong green?

 

[Orikoru]

My mate has this , it’s a problem when he plays snooker as well.
He just asks his pps where the flag is .
Didn’t his pps notice he was aiming at the wrong green?

I don't remember there being any flags in snooker

 

[clubchamp98]

I don't remember there being any flags in snooker

I don't remember there being any flags in snooker

Might make it more interesting if there were in the pockets.

 

[stefanovic]

I don't play snooker any more. Too embarrassing when I pot the wrong ball. No problem identifying the red and green. Its the brown ball I cannot tell from the reds.
As for traffic lights, I can tell the red from the green because the green looks silvery to me.

 

[USER1999]

No good asking me. I find those pink castle tees just vanish on a green back ground. Not mine, obviously, because I play with manly, proper wooden tees, but my poncy playing partners use pink ones.