Talkative playing partners/fellow competitors...

I think it's fabulous - we should encourage more talking to each other

Also builds your resistance to distractions

Win:Win surely ....?
 
AmandaJR said:
So. How would you handle it? Should I just politely ask the first time that they stop chatting when I'm taking my shot? I guess that sounds obvious and of course the right course of action but we're talking women here :mmm:
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Say nothing, block it out and beat them.
 
HawkeyeMS said:
Last time I was faced with a situation like that I ended up asking the culprits if me playing my shot would interrupt their conversation, they got the message :D
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CMAC said:
"excuse me ladies, just let me know when you're at the end of a chapter and I'll play my shot"
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2 perfect responses, during the 2nd (or even 1st) occurrence - and even if they were blokes!
 
AmandaJR said:
A bit of history. MY first ever 4BBB (Ping Ladies Comp) I was out with and against one of those ultra sensitive players for whom I was always standing in the wrong place, leaving the flag in the wrong place etc etc. It was so ott and precious I swore never ever to be one of those players.

Generally I'm pretty good at not being distracted by noise around me but played today in a 4BBB (oddly enough the Ping comp again) and the chatter was constant. Being the longest hitter I was always last to go and it felt that every time I was over my shot they'd just carry on talking albeit reducing it to a very loud whisper. This was as often my partner as the other pairing. By the 13th I was ultra sensitive to it and backed off my shot twice to let them finish or hope they'd get the hint and shut up. On the 14th it continued on and again I backed off the shot twice and then the third time gave them my hardest Paddington Bear stare. As I took my backswing I again heard loud whispered chit chat and hit an ok shot but a bit thin and generally really cheesed off with it. I always remind myself not to be that precious player moaning about any minor distraction and/or blaming said distraction for a poor execution so tend to say nothing but fume inside instead.

On this occasion my playing partner noticed what was going on and suggested they were quiet when I was taking my shot. One player apologised profusely but the other said she had been put off earlier on the hole by my partner...suggesting what...she was doing it deliberately as retaliation??! I said to her "two wrongs don't make a right" and things went quiet with a certain hint of hostility in the air!

So. How would you handle it? Should I just politely ask the first time that they stop chatting when I'm taking my shot? I guess that sounds obvious and of course the right course of action but we're talking women here :mmm:
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Its only a game and your an amateur just get down and whack the ball
 
My wife had a brief spell playing golf before we had the kids.

She even managed to interrupt her own putting stroke.

She set up, stood there just about to put, stopped turned to me and asked what I would like for dinner later????????????

She keeps threatening to take up the game again as the kids are growing up..... Not sure about that one!!
 
I find it's HIDs and his friends who whitter on when I'm ready to take shots. I do tell them to shut up though.
 
Is there any particular reason (beyond custom and practice) why silence is necessary for a golf swing? It's not brain surgery, after all.

Most other sports, even technical ones, have crowds which are rarely quiet. Unless the noise is deliberately disruptive (boo!) then I can't see why it would be a problem unless a golfer lets it be.
 
pendodave said:
Is there any particular reason (beyond custom and practice) why silence is necessary for a golf swing? It's not brain surgery, after all.

Most other sports, even technical ones, have crowds which are rarely quiet. Unless the noise is deliberately disruptive (boo!) then I can't see why it would be a problem unless a golfer lets it be.
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Never thought about this before but hush seems to come about when something deliberate and considered is being done. i.e. taking a penalty in football or rugby, or just before the service in tennis. During the reactive part of the game noise seems to be the norm. What is slightly different about golf compared to most 'sports' is that every shot is like that, you can always choose your own moment when to begin your swing.

That makes golf doubly frustrating, you can't even blame your opponent brilliant play for your own dismal performance.
 
IanG said:
or just before the service in tennis.
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I think this is a good analogy. A similar type of physical/mental act. At wimbledon it's all hush hush. At the US open there will be flights taking off and landing just down the road, thousands of septics chatting away and eating/drinking while spectating. Same players, completely different mindset on noise, exactly the same number of doubles and aces (I'd imagine).

Noise doesn't matter. It's all in the mind...
 
North Mimms said:
I find the nearby whisper worse than the distant yell !
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Likewise. I can put up with loud people in the distance because you can block it out. I also find that I'm not partially listening either as it is so easy to hear what people are saying.

But whispering just behind me is so frustrating as I find it is my natural instinct to focus on the whisper.

I have played with some people who do this and I find it really puts me off.
 
pendodave said:
Is there any particular reason (beyond custom and practice) why silence is necessary for a golf swing? It's not brain surgery, after all.

Most other sports, even technical ones, have crowds which are rarely quiet. Unless the noise is deliberately disruptive (boo!) then I can't see why it would be a problem unless a golfer lets it be.
Click to expand...

It's different when noise is constant or expected.
It's the change in environment that affects your concentration on the task at hand.

Go to a busy range where loads of people are talking, laughing, making noise etc... and it won't bother you in the least because that is the environment you are in.
But this isn't the environment of a golf course.
 
AmandaJR said:
So. How would you handle it? Should I just politely ask the first time that they stop chatting when I'm taking my shot? I guess that sounds obvious and of course the right course of action but we're talking women here :mmm:
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Join in the conversation - tee your ball up, but rather than take your shot, just join the chat. They'll soon wonder why you're not taking your shot, and when they ask you can tell them. Then repeat as necessary.
 
rksquire said:
Join in the conversation - tee your ball up, but rather than take your shot, just join the chat. They'll soon wonder why you're not taking your shot, and when they ask you can tell them. Then repeat as necessary.
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I like this - a variant would be to tee up or address your ball then step away and just stand there - waiting....
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
I like this - a variant would be to tee up or address your ball then step away and just stand there - waiting....
Click to expand...

I've had to do that on the first tee of an important interclub trophy match- opposing team captain, lady captain and another all sitting on bench 6 feet away chattering away....which continued after I teed up ball and took stance.
 
Yep. HID does just that. Stands and waits BUT what he also does is just let his mind wander off the situation rather than listen and wait for them to finish. Then when they ask if he's going to take his shot he says "oh, you've finished talking...ok I'll go then".

I know I'd find that difficult but to turn and try and join in the chit chat would work a treat!
 
Well, i played with the Chatterers again this weekend (well one of them, who was keen to chat to the third in our group) and decided to take some of the advice from this thread.

When the non chatterer was teeing up, I made sure that I stood just far away enough from the Talker, so that she couldn't whisper to me without raising her voice. But she still didn't get the hint.

Finally on the 5th hole, I teed up, took my stance and the whispering was still going on.
So I backed off and said "I'll just wait until you've finished your conversation"

Did the trick and the rest of the round was played in good humour and with good chat, but only when someone wasn't playing their ball!
 
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