Mobile phones at golf clubs - your view?

[Cernunnos]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Only problem with switching a phone completely off & not just simply set to silent, is that in the completely off mode, you do not know if you have any missed calls. Whereas in silent, they will be shown as missed calls when you get to the halfway house, or back to the car to put away the clubs. Not everyone is comfortable with leaving messages on answer services, even important ones.

 

[Herbie]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Whats to stop team members calling each other round the course to see how who's doing, or calling a mental coach for advice, or calling a pro to ask what to do?

Sounds funny, but once something is readily accepted by the majority a small can of worms always comes along you can be sure.

Why is it that something that simply is not needed at all on a golf course gets so many feeble reasons for its acceptance simply because it is a tool that is available to the masses

Where is the respect by those who want to use them for those who see them as a annoyance or at least distracting and rude?
You would rarely hear of someone saying "Im not taking it on the course because it may put someone off or annoy others".

You might hear "stuff em, Ive got one so Im using it".

If you could hear someone thinking you might hear "Im incapable of life without one, or the entire world will never be the same if Im not there to answer my mobile over the next 4 hrs!"

If no one can make a decision when you are away, employ better staff or let the decision wait or stay at work, simple.

The reality is that when the vast majority of people use mob phones they lose all control of their senses, you can tell this by the voices they use, the dance of the wanderer that comes with a call or the motionless zombie freeze during the call along with the lost coordination to pull their trolley or put a club back in the bag, surely not a time for decision making

Someone mentioned business conducted on courses and this is true, but usually the parties concerned are togeather in a group and there is no problem, unless of course they can only talk to each other on the mob when 2 feet from each other

I played golf with a neighbour who runs an engineering Co that has work all over the world. On his Blackberry 24/7....except when he played golf with me. If he can switch off for 4 hrs everyone can.

 

[backwoodsman]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I'm in the "not on the course & not in the club-house" camp - you don't "need" a phone on a golf course. If you seriously cannot be out of touch for 4 hours then you need to think about whether you should be on the course in the first place.

How many times have you seen someone take a call, then leave the course immediately? Not many I'll wager. Which means the call cannot have been that important. Yes they are part of modern life but we can manage without them for a bit. I'm all for keeping somewhere free from unnecessary yacking. We do not live on Kakrafoon...

 

[viscount17]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Do not like phones being used as phones on the course. Too many take a 'quick call' and pace around the tee while doing so - don't even have the courtesy to call others through - after all they're only going to be a minute aren't they? NOT

I'm probably a bit old fashioned, or just old fogey. I'm not hugely comfortable with the way some use phones in public, certainly some of the overly loud conversations can be acutely embarrassing - many of the subjects would never have been discussed let alone at full volume in pub, club and supermarket.

carry them, on Silent by all means but if you take a call on course you must automatically give way - no matter how short the call turns out to be, and if you get a call in the clubhouse move somewhere away from everybody else.

 

[Cernunnos]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Give way? even if its...!

"Sorry I'll have to phone you back I'm on the course..." click..!

Which would take all of 3 seconds to do.

That said I'd ignore my phone anyway, but that's beside the point.

 

[madandra]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I would say BAN THE RINGTONE on the course and in the clubhouse. That way if there is an emergency or a very important call you can be buzzed on vibrate and you can politely step outside or be excused to make the call.


General chit chat should be avoided both on the course and within the clubhouse.

 

[DCB]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I generally don't take the phone out onto the course unless absolutely necessary. I am currently in a job where I have to take a turn on an emergency call rota. On the occassions I am on call I do have the phone with me 24/7 and if on the course, it stays in the bag and it is on vibrate when in the clubhouse. So far, I've never had to use the phone on the course or in the clubhouse.

Don't generally like to see people use them on the course or inthe clubhouse.

 

[Faldo_Fan]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I personally believe phones should never be allowed on the golf course. They are a great hinderance when, as probably mentioned, you are mid stroke and all you can hear is a ring or message tone, it is very off putting and extremely rude. I will admit, mine does sit in the bag on silent as I refuse to leave it in the clubhouse (we do not have lockers). It will not get looked at though until I am putting my sticks away in the car.

I do not mind them in the clubhouse though, it's no different to being out for a meal or having a drink with your friends in the local. My club allows phones in the clubhouse and nobody has ever complained. However, I played a round at a friends club a few weeks ago and when I put my phone on the table (still on silent) a committee member of said club approached me and asked me to put the phone away and make sure it is switched off. I was quite shocked at this, obliged, drank my drink and we headed back to my clubhouse (12 of us) and put the proceeds into the bar there. I am of the mentality I go on the course to play, off the course to socialise.

I agree with this 100%!
When i said phones should be allowed at golf clubs, i didn't mean that it was acceptable to hear ring tones or shouted phone conversations out on the course, you wouldn't strike up a conversation with one of your fourball as one of them was at the top of his backswing would you!
But as someone points out, inside the clubhouse bar it's....well a bar isn't it.
Fair enough in the dining room but i say fine in the bar, locker room, pro shop and car park.

 

[Parmo]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Nothing better than putting out on the 18th to clinch the match with the sound of Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries sounding from the Mizuno twister III.

 

[cm_qs]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Does anyone know where I can buy a bluetooth hands free speaker kit for a Motocaddy s3???

Seriously though, I think mobiles are a bit of a generational thing. Anyone over 35 (i.e. ME!) will most likely remember the good old days when we were free from the shackles of the ubiquitous mobile and yearn for a return to those simpler times. Younger folks are the complete opposite and tend to feel helpless and isolated without a constant global contact capability.

Personally, I hate mobile phones in every guise but they are undeniably useful and, as such, should be allowed on the course and in the clubhouse subject to "proper" usage.

Phones are not the real issue. Manners are.

 

[HarryMonk]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I dont see the problem with having phone on silent, messages/texts can then be left and replied to when possible. A simple text hurts nobody.

I do think phones should be allowed for emergency reasons, eg my wife is pregnant at the minute so I need a phone at all times, (just in case)

 

[Twire]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I do think phones should be allowed for emergency reasons, eg my wife is pregnant at the minute so I need a phone at all times, (just in case)

14 years ago when my wife was pregnant I never had a moby.......how on earth did I manage.

 

[Parmo]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I do think phones should be allowed for emergency reasons, eg my wife is pregnant at the minute so I need a phone at all times, (just in case)

14 years ago when my wife was pregnant I never had a moby.......how on earth did I manage.

Tin and wire?

 

[Wilts]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Isn't the reason many clubs ban mobile phones because they want to avoid loud conversations and annoying ringtones?

If phones were allowed and were only used in a silent mode and avoid the loud noises associated with phones what is the problem in using them?

and of course if they dont slow your round!

 

[Sneds]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I do think phones should be allowed for emergency reasons, eg my wife is pregnant at the minute so I need a phone at all times, (just in case)

14 years ago when my wife was pregnant I never had a moby.......how on earth did I manage.

People survived without cars 150 years ago. Doesn't mean we should remain in the 19th century.

 

[rgs]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I personally dont bring the mobile onto the course--my game of golf is my leisure time.

I have no probs with people carrying phones provided they are on silent, dont interfere with the game and are not used incessently on the course.

 

[mattdeeks]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

I don't have an issue with people having mobile phones on the course, as long as it is on silent and is for emergencies only.

Mine is always in my bag on silent, I'll check it occasionally as I have a young family and need to be contactable. I don't see the problem having a discreet look at the phone every now and then, as long as it doesn't slow play and not done directly in view of anyone.

No harm done, however conversations other than emergencies shouldn't be allowed but people will do it unless told otherwise.

 

[Herbie]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Have one by all means, bring it along, stick it in your bag,thats absolutely fine by me, but I dont want to hear it, nor do I want to see the dance routines etc.
Unheard and unused as a phone....brilliant!....discreet text as you walk down the fairway.....super! I think common sense and manners should prevail here.

 

[backwoodsman]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Have to admit I'm intrigued by the number of times " ... I need to be contactable..." has been used in the thread.
Few of us are so important - even to our families or work - that we can't be out of touch for an hour or three. "I want to be contactable", "I like to be contactable", "I'd rather be contactable" - fine. Need - for the duration of a round - nah; not for most of us !

 

[CrapHacker]

Re: Mobile phones/golf club - your view?

Have one by all means, bring it along, stick it in your bag,thats absolutely fine by me, but I dont want to hear it, nor do I want to see the dance routines etc.
Unheard and unused as a phone....brilliant!....discreet text as you walk down the fairway.....super! I think common sense and manners should prevail here.

Texters are as judt as bad.

Ok so it's quieter. But once a texter, always a texter. Talk about slowing the game down, or taking away the social side of the game. My daughter and her mates will be in a group of two or three, ignoring each other, but texting another group of mates who are probably within walking distance anyway.

And texting a conversation - what's that all about anyway. she has 500 texts a month to use. And she gets through about 480 of them.

No

Keep the fairways a distraction free zone.





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