Mobile Phones

[Tim Martin]

If you aren’t on the golf course and in or around the clubhouse what’s the concern with heading to your car to make phone calls? My biggest issue is people not wanting to listen to someone else's call so if you are on the course put it on vibrate and handle any urgent calls/texts with discretion out of earshot of your playing partners. Finally there is a wide disparity of opinion as far as what is urgent.

Who cares?  I DGAF if I am at the range or putting green and the person beside me stops for a few minutes to take a call or to send an email/text.  It isn't impairing my enjoyment. Holding up play on the course to take a call is a different story, but hopefully you can have his/her peers to shame him to not slow down the group.

I’m not interested in listening to anyone else’s phone conversation in any social situation given the choice.

[David Cronan]

True story:


I was playing in a tournament at a club where I was a member and decided that no distractions would take me away from my goal of winning a few hundred dollars in shop credit. So before I walked into the locker room, I turned off my phone, put it in my locker, had breakfast, warmed up on the range and putting green and set out on my aforementioned quest.


As I entered the clubhouse for a post-round lunch, I turned on my phone and checked for messages. There were 8 new ones, all from a familiar number, which was strange for any day, let alone a Saturday morning. There were also 2 texts, both from my now ex-wife. Our 7 year old daughter had fallen awkwardly off a skateboard, breaking her ankle in two places in the process.


I'm all for phones on a golf course.

[Rob Marshall]

Here is a story told to me by the club manager where most of the members are also members at clubs like Cypress point, Augusta, and similar places.


The club has a no phone policy. Guy is having a conversation on his cellphone, Another member walks by, stops and is looking at the guy on the phone. Guy on phone tells the person on the other end to hold on for a minute. He says to the other guy "can I help you?". The other member says "there is a no cellphone policy". The guy on the phone extends his hand and introduces himself. The other member shakes his hand and tells him his name. Guy on the phone says "nice to meet you, now go fuck yourself". One billionaire to another. Too funny.

[Tim_Weiman]

The presence of cell phones on golf courses isn’t the only problem. Unfortunately, it is combined with the absence of grumpy old men in golf in America: the guys who taught young kids how to behave and move.


So, this week I was playing at a public course behind some teenage kids. Two were on the right side of the fairway looking for their ball. Two were sitting in their cart on the left with their eyes glued on their cell phone.


The guys on the left waited for their friends on the right to find the ball before putting down their phones and looking for their own balls.


All this occurred while the green was clear and my group stood waiting on the tee.


Cell phones should be banned on golf courses, especially in the hands of anyone under 30 years old.

[Jason Thurman]

True story:


I was playing in a tournament at a club where I was a member and decided that no distractions would take me away from my goal of winning a few hundred dollars in shop credit. So before I walked into the locker room, I turned off my phone, put it in my locker, had breakfast, warmed up on the range and putting green and set out on my aforementioned quest.


As I entered the clubhouse for a post-round lunch, I turned on my phone and checked for messages. There were 8 new ones, all from a familiar number, which was strange for any day, let alone a Saturday morning. There were also 2 texts, both from my now ex-wife. Our 7 year old daughter had fallen awkwardly off a skateboard, breaking her ankle in two places in the process.


I'm all for phones on a golf course.

How did you play?

[Chris Hughes]

Here is a story told to me by the club manager where most of the members are also members at clubs like Cypress point, Augusta, and similar places.


The club has a no phone policy. Guy is having a conversation on his cellphone, Another member walks by, stops and is looking at the guy on the phone. Guy on phone tells the person on the other end to hold on for a minute. He says to the other guy "can I help you?". The other member says "there is a no cellphone policy". The guy on the phone extends his hand and introduces himself. The other member shakes his hand and tells him his name. Guy on the phone says "nice to meet you, now go fuck yourself". One billionaire to another. Too funny.

Heard a similar story (less aggressive) that involved Mike Pascucci...


...an initiation-fee refund check was handed to the purportedly aggrieved after his round (final round at the club). 


[leave it in the car]

[Michael Morandi]

What don’t you understand about the discrete use of mobile phones, especially for texts and email?  Pascucci can refund a million dollar check to someone who violates his rule but isn’t this a fail on his part to begin with for not vetting the billionaire properly in the first place?  For better or worse, we live in an era where being out  of communication for 4-5 hours in the middle of the day is almost inadvisable. If you can’t trust certain members to behave appropriately get rid of them, or send them a warning letter. My experience is that the few clubs that prohibit mobile phones for texts and emails  are just trying to prove how elite they  are.

[Chris Hughes]

 If you can’t trust certain members to behave appropriately get rid of them...

Exactly.

[Sean_A]

I am not the sort of guy who feels a need to make rules about how to use leisure time. I don’t like the idea of phones on the course/in the club, but I am only one person. I have only seen phones abused rarely and the worst culprit is one of my mates. He is a complete idiot about his phone and won’t change.

I took my first ever call on a course the day, but it was short and done only after seeing nobody was behind and my playing partner was already on his phone 😎. Bottom line, live and let live. But folks, don’t lose sight of why you are on a golf course. It’s easy not to stay in the moment. I feel sorry for people who are seemingly unable to do so.

Ciao

[David Cronan]

True story:


I was playing in a tournament at a club where I was a member and decided that no distractions would take me away from my goal of winning a few hundred dollars in shop credit. So before I walked into the locker room, I turned off my phone, put it in my locker, had breakfast, warmed up on the range and putting green and set out on my aforementioned quest.


As I entered the clubhouse for a post-round lunch, I turned on my phone and checked for messages. There were 8 new ones, all from a familiar number, which was strange for any day, let alone a Saturday morning. There were also 2 texts, both from my now ex-wife. Our 7 year old daughter had fallen awkwardly off a skateboard, breaking her ankle in two places in the process.


I'm all for phones on a golf course.

How did you play?

As it was a club event being played on a Saturday morning, I'd wager that "slowly" would best describe guess.

[Ian Mackenzie]

True story:


I was playing in a tournament at a club where I was a member and decided that no distractions would take me away from my goal of winning a few hundred dollars in shop credit. So before I walked into the locker room, I turned off my phone, put it in my locker, had breakfast, warmed up on the range and putting green and set out on my aforementioned quest.


As I entered the clubhouse for a post-round lunch, I turned on my phone and checked for messages. There were 8 new ones, all from a familiar number, which was strange for any day, let alone a Saturday morning. There were also 2 texts, both from my now ex-wife. Our 7 year old daughter had fallen awkwardly off a skateboard, breaking her ankle in two places in the process.


I'm all for phones on a golf course.

Or, your (ex) wife calls the pro shop, tells them about the family emergency and they dispense a golf cart to quickly whisk you to your car and then off you go to the E.R. This is MORE efficeint unless you check your phone every hole. Then you are THAT GUY...;-)


Some like 3-4 hours w/o electronics and count me in that camp.


Some prefer to be constantly connected, so as YOU vet clubs for YOUR prefernces, you can opt to NOT join a facility that limits your freedoms.


Do as you please just dont force your phone habits on others. Be discrete, be courteous and use common sense and good judgement.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Times are changing. It's only going the way of more allowances for cell phones.

Phones have, among other things… GPS and stats tracking apps on them. Live scoring is on phones.

Someone texting or taking a phone call isn't distracting to me. It doesn't affect my enjoyment. If they do it in an obnoxious way, that's on them, not the object.

Someone being rude, playing slowly, etc. can do that. But those things can happen with or without cell phones. It's not the existence of the cell phone that guarantees those things, it's the behavior and choices of the individual.

I had my cell phone with me today. I looked at it once. My friend had his. He looked at it once. It was running a GPS app for the rangefinder I use, and the one time I looked at it was to show the friend a feature of the app/rangefinder. Otherwise, if my wife and daughter had an emergency, I was available. My daughter had some food poisoning or something (fine now), so I was seeing the texts on my watch, discreetly.

In other words, people are still the thing, not the objects. A doctor looking at a laptop while spending money at my club? How does that negatively affect me? It's not like someone blaring country music on the tee box 50 yards from me.

The people are what some of y'all don't like, not the objects. Ban the objects, though, and you're gonna either have a bunch of people skirting or subverting, or they'll just choose to go elsewhere. Feels like a losing battle to me…

[Ian Mackenzie]

In other words, people are still the thing, not the objects. A doctor looking at a laptop while spending money at my club? How does that negatively affect me? It's not like someone blaring country music on the tee box 50 yards from me.

The people are what some of y'all don't like, not the objects. Ban the objects, though, and you're gonna either have a bunch of people skirting or subverting, or they'll just choose to go elsewhere. Feels like a losing battle to me…

Could not disagree more...;-) Plus, NO ONE here is advocating for banning anything. That is, i agree, inane and the sole providence of the most elite clubs in the world.


People have thousands of places to 1) use their laptops and 2) have lengthy phone conversations.


Asking them to engage in these practices in specific designated areas is the epitome of compromise, understanding and accomadtion for it respects both sides of the issue.


But, the minute your habits and needs are foisted on others, then you are the one that has created the conflict.
Golf clubs are where you relax, unwind and make friends. Sure, in 2024 shit has changed and we need to recognize that.


Howeber, as soon as the doctor is "working" on his laptop at the bar, then the finance guy, the professor, the businjess owner and the Trustafarian will pop open their laptops and now you have a fucking Starbucks at your club. That disrespects all the members who dont want that.


Hard Pass. The slippery slope is real.


Then you will have some shit head surfing porn at the bar and when confronted, he will make an argument in his own defence that limiting his ability to do what he/she wants is a violation of some stupid law or you are discriminating against his laptop habits and now the fuclking bopard has to call "balls and strikes" on content viewed in the bar. Give me a break.


Take your laptop upstairs, around the corner or in a designated space that almost all clubs have and all parties are happy.


but, If you cannot see that and accomadate the wishes of others and curb your need to be connected, or take your connected habit to a designated space for just this one sliver of time in your day, then youre what's known as a "xxxxxx = xxxxxx....


Hey, you do not have to make the choice to belong to a club that has these rules in place. In fact, you are empowered to vet your club criteria and pusue membership at those clubs that share your values when it comes to overall digital liberties.


In the exact same way that some people do not join: 1) Jewish clubs 2) catholic clubs 3) snotty clubs 4) party clubs 5) all male clubs or 6) non-diverse clubs.


If you do not agree with the rules at the club, then take your need for your selfish personal electronic  freedoms down the street where you can enjoy your screens in the company of like-minded people.


It's a free world after all.

[Tim Martin]

In other words, people are still the thing, not the objects. A doctor looking at a laptop while spending money at my club? How does that negatively affect me? It's not like someone blaring country music on the tee box 50 yards from me.

The people are what some of y'all don't like, not the objects. Ban the objects, though, and you're gonna either have a bunch of people skirting or subverting, or they'll just choose to go elsewhere. Feels like a losing battle to me…

Could not disagree more...;-) Plus, NO ONE here is advocating for banning anything. That is, i agree, inane and the sole providence of the most elite clubs in the world.


People have thousands of places to 1) use their laptops and 2) have lengthy phone conversations.


Asking them to engage in these practices in specific designated areas is the epitome of compromise, understanding and accomadtion for it respects both sides of the issue.


But, the minute your habits and needs are foisted on others, then you are the one that has created the conflict.
Golf clubs are where you relax, unwind and make friends. Sure, in 2024 shit has changed and we need to recognize that.


Howeber, as soon as the doctor is "working" on his laptop at the bar, then the finance guy, the professor, the businjess owner and the Trustafarian will pop open their laptops and now you have a fucking Starbucks at your club. That disrespects all the members who dont want that.


Hard Pass. The slippery slope is real.


Then you will have some shit head surfing porn at the bar and when confronted, he will make an argument in his own defence that limiting his ability to do what he/she wants is a violation of some stupid law or you are discriminating against his laptop habits and now the fuclking bopard has to call "balls and strikes" on content viewed in the bar. Give me a break.


Take your laptop upstairs, around the corner or in a designated space that almost all clubs have and all parties are happy.


but, If you cannot see that and accomadate the wishes of others and curb your need to be connected, or take your connected habit to a designated space for just this one sliver of time in your day, then youre what's known as a "xxxxxx = xxxxxx....


Hey, you do not have to make the choice to belong to a club that has these rules in place. In fact, you are empowered to vet your club criteria and pusue membership at those clubs that share your values when it comes to overall digital liberties.


In the exact same way that some people do not join: 1) Jewish clubs 2) catholic clubs 3) snotty clubs 4) party clubs 5) all male clubs or 6) non-diverse clubs.


If you do not agree with the rules at the club, then take your need for your selfish personal electronic  freedoms down the street where you can enjoy your screens in the company of like-minded people.


It's a free world after all.

Ian-Well stated. Thanks for your post.

[Rob Marshall]

"Ian-Well stated. Thanks for your post."
[/size][/color]
[/size]Great post Ian.[/color]

[Erik J. Barzeski]

People have thousands of places to 1) use their laptops and 2) have lengthy phone conversations.

Right, people. The guy typing on his laptop, you'd prefer if he just sat there not talking to anyone? That's not the same as having a "lengthy" phone conversation.

But, the minute your habits and needs are foisted on others, then you are the one that has created the conflict.

Right, you as the person. The object isn't the offending thing. It's the person making the choice that's offensive.

A guy talking loudly at the bar, hitting on the waitresses, making racist remarks, etc. is also not something you want at your club. He doesn't need a computer to do it, and the computer isn't the sole determinant of whether the behavior is boorish or whatever.

That disrespects all the members who dont want that.

I don't see how someone sitting quietly at the bar or a table disrespects anyone.

Hard Pass. The slippery slope is real.

So is the logical fallacy.

The times, they are a-changin'. Like it or not, devices are ever more present. They're not the causes of the bad behavior, though. That's still on the human being.

[Tim_Weiman]

Erik,


It is unrealistic to think technology, e.g., mobile devices, doesn’t impact human behavior.


Tim

[Erik J. Barzeski]

It is unrealistic to think technology, e.g., mobile devices, doesn’t impact human behavior.

Of course it affects it; I've never said it doesn't.

But at the end of the day, the objects generally don't do much of anything unless you do something to make them do something (they'll ring when someone else calls or messages them, but you can turn off the sounds).

My point is that if you have a problem with a person taking a phone call, your problem is with the choices that person is making, not with the phone itself.

Like I said, I had my phone with me the whole time today, used it once to show my friend something. When I walk, it sits in the console area of my ClicGear. I rarely look at it. When I caddied Monday, it was in my back right pocket for 36 holes; I had to mark scores down for the group's live scoring after each hole, otherwise, I didn't use it.

I generally put my phone face down at dinner (or keep it in a pocket if that's comfortable), because it's not the presence of a phone that distracts me from talking to my wife or daughter, it's that I make a choice to talk with them or to interact with my phone instead. The human makes the choices; the presence of the phone might tempt them, but they're still in charge.

And more and more, young adults will choose NOT to join a club that doesn't let them take a photo of their meal or send a Snap of their great shot on the fourth or whatever. So long as they're not actually aggravating others… (and to me, a guy sitting quietly at the bar looking at his laptop is not bugging anyone, particularly if you walked up to him and he was happy to take a break to have a chat)… what's it matter if they have a phone in their pocket or step away while you're making a mess of the sixth to take a phone call from their wife about what she needs to get at the store for tomorrow?

[David Cronan]

True story:


I was playing in a tournament at a club where I was a member and decided that no distractions would take me away from my goal of winning a few hundred dollars in shop credit. So before I walked into the locker room, I turned off my phone, put it in my locker, had breakfast, warmed up on the range and putting green and set out on my aforementioned quest.


As I entered the clubhouse for a post-round lunch, I turned on my phone and checked for messages. There were 8 new ones, all from a familiar number, which was strange for any day, let alone a Saturday morning. There were also 2 texts, both from my now ex-wife. Our 7 year old daughter had fallen awkwardly off a skateboard, breaking her ankle in two places in the process.


I'm all for phones on a golf course.

Or, your (ex) wife calls the pro shop, tells them about the family emergency and they dispense a golf cart to quickly whisk you to your car and then off you go to the E.R. This is MORE efficeint unless you check your phone every hole. Then you are THAT GUY...;-)

Obviously, you've never met her. 

[Steven Wade]

I have played places where I was instructed to leave my phone in the car (in addition to waiting in my car for the host, and not being allowed in the clubhouse without the host). That’s fine, it’s not my club and to be perfectly honest I was just thrilled to be out there.


However, once I was playing in Cincinnati and I received a call from my sister. I did not answer the call because I was on the golf course. I immediately got another call from her, which again I didn’t answer, but I knew something was wrong. I texted her and got an immediate reply to call her. I apologetically asked to walk off by myself in a hidden spot and  make a call. It turned out that my mother, who had been suffering with dementia had begun to decline very rapidly. I had a rental car and my mother was about 4 hours away. I immediately left and drove there and was able to sit with her for about the last 45 minutes of her life.


I know this is an extreme example, but having the ability to be contacted is one of the double edged swords of technology. I favor an approach where we can discreetly monitor a few texts, have our phones on silent, not make or take any non-emergency phone calls, and hell, maybe even snap a cool photo of the Biarritz to text to our golf nerd buddies later.

[Michael Morandi]

Exactly. If a club has not set a standard of discretion, it has failed the culture test. If a member does not abide by this standard, or doesn’t impose it on their guests, the admission process has failed. Repeat offenders must be warned and then suspended. But don’t set a strict rule just to address the possibility of abuse. Set standards and insist that they be followed. We do it with electric carts. We can do it with mobile phones.


BTW, I do not think a laptop computer should be visible except in the most remote places in the clubhouse.

[Rob Marshall]

The last thing I want is my Doctor writing notes in my file while he is sitting at the bar where anyone could be looking over his shoulder.  If I saw my Doctor doing that he wouldn't be my Doctor much longer. Do your work in the office or at home.

[Cal Carlisle]

A "no cell phone" policy is mere child's play to my wife.