I exhaled

[wobbegong]

I posted this story in BBV4Life, but I figure I would share it with you golfers of course.

I witnessed one of the craziest things I have ever seen on a golf course yesterday. My dad who at the moment is trying to get on the Champions Tour was playing in a tournament. We were in a qualifier for a tournament, and end up going into a 7 man playoff for 2 spots.

On the green of the first hole, the last guy is putting out. He misses the putt. Immediately, after finishing the hole, he walks over to my dad, looks him dead into the eyes face to face, sighs, and says, "You exhaled when I was putting." My dad was standing at least 20 FEET AWAY, watching him putt and breathing normally like everyone else. My dad asks, "What, are you serious?" and then he semi laughs thinking he is joking but the guy looks him dead in the eye and says, "Yes, you exhaled when I was putting and you did it the last time we played!" (This was five months ago) My dad says, "40 years of playing and no one has ever said that to me, you must have excellent hearing." And then my dad turns his back and walks away.

On the next hole, another opponent walks up and asks my dad, "Did that guy just say what I though he said?" My dad nods his head still in shock. "He must be [censored] crazy!!" LOL

What would you have done in my dads position? Anyone else ever played with golf with deranged people with sonar hearing or have other crazy golf stories to share?


Cliffs:
In a playoff of a golf tournament
Guy is putting
Dad is standing 20ft away from guy, "exhales"
Guy approaches Father and confronts him after putt
Dad laughs and thinks he can't be serious
Guy is dead serious and reminds him that he did it in another tournament 4 months ago

[black knight]

Exactly the same...I think he handled it well...the villain was obv a hot head and kinda nuts.

[shemp]

Taking this version at face value as roughly accurate...

I think other guy is a loser because he was steaming over the putt because he felt distracted and then missed-- he had given himself a built-in excuse for his miss.

I still don't know about your dad. I've had people give heavy sighs, jingle coins, and do very well timed velcro golf glove pulls when playing for micro stakes or in men's club events and I'm sure that some of them thought of themselves as merely oblivious that I could possibly be distracted.

[tuq]

OP,

Maybe your old man really does breathe loud and not realize it. Without being there we have no clue.

That said, people with rabbit ears are tricky to play with. I see where they're coming from - it's common courtesy to STFU when someone is about to hit - but it sometimes seems as if they go out of their way to find sounds to screw with them. Also, if they're douches by default, it compounds the problem since they'll blame their poor shots on being distracted.

Last week I was playing with one such guy. He's part of our regular group and is always the victim. First hole, greens are slow and crappy, he hits a put that gets maybe 70% of the way to the hole from about 25 feet. He turns to a maintenance guy about 40 yards away who had a chainsaw and was cutting up the fallen limb of the tree and starts yelling at him. THANKS A LOT, WE'RE PLAYING OVER HERE, etc. What's LOL about it is that the guy clearly started cutting after he had struck the ball but it was a convenient excuse.

Guys like the villain in OP's story need to find a way to internalize for their own good. Think about the shot, the line, etc., and outside agents won't be as much of a problem. Yet some are better at this than others.

[wobbegong]

Tug I definitely see where you are coming from, but my dad has played professional golf for years where players have nothing but the utmost etiquette, and him breathing loudly could be the farthest from the truth. There was actually a busy road with cars next to the green which makes the villain's argument even more laughable.

That is something about the chainsaw. I can't stand when people immediately snap there head around after that hit a bad shot just looking for an excuse for their shot. Noises like that don't bother me when I'm playing, just as long as it doesn't become dead quiet in my backswing haha. Then it will break my concentration.

[black knight]

IMHO, also coming from other sports where fans are very noisy and you just have to deal with it, I've always thought golfers were pussies about noises and absolute silence (and this is from a competitive golfer).

[Jeremy517]

Did your dad win one of the two spots?

[Stagger_Lee]

Before the guys next tee shot ask him if he inhales or exhales during his backswing.

Or ask him why does his hand shake just after he strikes a putt.