As if the game itself wasn’t frustrating enough, sometimes it’s not your swing that ruins the round, it’s the people you are playing with.
On or off the course there are certain habits people have that will quietly drive you mad, the kind that chips away at your enjoyment without you feeling like you can call them out.
And I’m not talking about the big obvious things either, I’m talking about subtle things that are much harder to call out; the golfing equivalent of eating from a very loud rustling packet at the cinema, or eating tuna in an enclosed office space. During my time as a coach, I’ve heard them all. Here are 7 of my favourites and how you should handle them.
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Constant Moaner
If there is a problem to be found or a dark cloud in a blue sky, this person will find it. From the moment they pull up in the car park they will find things to moan about; the competition set up, the locker rooms, tee times, course condition, their own golf, it goes on and on.
The trouble is spending 4- 5 hours of your leisure time with someone like this can be extremely draining and really put a downer on what should be an enjoyable time.
The first thing to realise is that some people are just built this way, and they likely don’t even realise they are doing it. My suggestion is to go for some light humour when the moaning starts.
“You can have one more moan on this hole then that’s it”, or “You do realise we are here because we are meant to be enjoying ourselves”
Sometimes a gentle nudge can wake them up to the fact they are even moaning and that you have noticed. If, however, their moaning persists, that is when you have to put your imaginary ear plugs in and do all you can to make their complaints background noise and prioritise focusing on your own game.
Backhanded Compliments
Now this is a sneaky one and something that winds me up because deep down I think this person knows exactly what they are doing. The tricky thing with this, is that it’s so subtle. Everything sounds like a compliment, but there is always a little sting in the tail. You are left smiling in the moment, and then five seconds later thinking, hey, hang on a second!
“That was a great shot…for you”
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