wtf is with cell phones on the course?

[caddishack]

Nothing irates me more than listening to a fellow golfers phone ring every 15 minutes and then when you ask who the hell is calling, he says ...oh it's my wife, she wants to know this or that....!! Give me a break!! Ban the fricken things from the course or better yet someone has to invent a device that blocks all signals around the course. If you can't be there... then don't go!!!

Nothing can be so important that you have to be reached. Shoot, what did these people do 20 years ago?

My opinion only, but I bet there's going to be at least 3 pages of threads for sure lol

[Mule56]

Nothing irates me more than listening to a fellow golfers phone ring every 15 minutes and then when you ask who the hell is calling, he says ...oh it's my wife, she wants to know this or that....!! Give me a break!! Ban the fricken things from the course or better yet someone has to invent a device that blocks all signals around the course. If you can't be there... then don't go!!!

Nothing can be so important that you have to be reached. Shoot, what did these people do 20 years ago?

My opinion only, but I bet there's going to be at least 3 pages of threads for sure lol

Already was 3 pages once before. Old subject with two different points of view. I'm on call 24-7-363 (2 days I'm not). I could not play if I didn't have my phone on. But I'm not rude enough to let it interrupt my partners. My partner at the Ryder Cup didn't even know I made a call until after I apologized.
Mule

[guitarman]

Nothing irates me more than listening to a fellow golfers phone ring every 15 minutes and then when you ask who the hell is calling, he says ...oh it's my wife, she wants to know this or that....!! Give me a break!! Ban the fricken things from the course or better yet someone has to invent a device that blocks all signals around the course. If you can't be there... then don't go!!!

Nothing can be so important that you have to be reached. Shoot, what did these people do 20 years ago?

My opinion only, but I bet there's going to be at least 3 pages of threads for sure lol

I'm not so sure there will be pages and pages of threads over this as its been covered before. Not too long ago.
I also hate cell phones on the course and usually leave mine in the car. I provide 24/7 support for the company I work for and have told them that when I'm on the course I won't have my cell phone.
I was golfing with someone from LGF last Sunday and had my cell phone on me. I forgot to leave it in the car and forgot to turn it off. My wife calls me and starts in on some unimportant question. I immediately interrupted her and said I'm on the golf course I just forgot to turn off my cell. I hung up and turned it off.
Unfortunately in the meantime I was getting ready to putt for par. My partner assuming I would be on the phone awhile picked up my ball and handed it to me before I could get off the phone. I couldn't really get mad as I know how much cell phones annoy me on the course. At least it was only a bout an 8 inch putt and he pretty much gave it to me. Still I like to putt out those birdie and par putts.
I have a friend that never goes anywhere without his blackberry and it drives me nuts on the course. My wife always takes hers as well. Her excuse is, "incase someone gets hurt" I guess thats a valid excuse to have it but I wish she'd turn it off.

[BdaGolfer]

I leave mine on, but only on vibrate mode. I have never used it, and would only do so for an emergency, which is why it's left on. I would hate not to be able to help someone because I had to wait for my phone to "boot up". Hopefully I never need to.

Alan

[Anthony]

Guilty.... Especially when playing on weekdays.... Add to that if I'm in a cart. I really don't care (though it should be on vibrate).

I have my own business, and with a Blackberry if I'm waiting between holes I may have work that can be done or something that pops in my head that I can take care of.

Phone calls I usually do not need, but can listen to messages and quell emergencies.

That is why these old private clubs and their antiquated rules bother me.;)

[guitarman]

Guilty.... Especially when playing on weekdays.... Add to that if I'm in a cart. I really don't care (though it should be on vibrate).

I have my own business, and with a Blackberry if I'm waiting between holes I may have work that can be done or something that pops in my head that I can take care of.

Phone calls I usually do not need, but can listen to messages and quell emergencies.

That is why these old private clubs and their antiquated rules bother me.;)

Thats exactly the situation a friend of mine is in. He owns his own business and has his blackberry on all the time. We've gone out as a twosome and have been paired up with strangers. I've been embarrassed as he talks on the phone while others are teeing off. Or we get on the green and he takes a call holding us up. Then gets mad if we finish off and leave as others behind us are getting ready to bomb their balls at us.
Weren't you one that likes to finish his rounds in under 4 hours? I don't know how you manage to play a round talk on the phone and get done in under 4 hours.

[Anthony]

Thats exactly the situation a friend of mine is in. He owns his own business and has his blackberry on all the time. We've gone out as a twosome and have been paired up with strangers. I've been embarrassed as he talks on the phone while others are teeing off. Or we get on the green and he takes a call holding us up. Then gets mad if we finish off and leave as others behind us are getting ready to bomb their balls at us.
Weren't you one that likes to finish his rounds in under 4 hours? I don't know how you manage to play a round talk on the phone and get done in under 4 hours.

I stated I am in a cart often (weekday rounds) and only when held up do I use it.

Trust me I've never held anyone up.

[iyell4]

. Or we get on the green and he takes a call holding us up. Then gets mad if we finish off and leave as others behind us are getting ready to bomb their balls at us.
Weren't you one that likes to finish his rounds in under 4 hours? I don't know how you manage to play a round talk on the phone and get done in under 4 hours.
if someone in your group is on their cell phone, i believe your foursome should just play on and move on ... eg. if you all are done putting and he's still on the phone .. pick up his ball, put the flag back in and head for the next hole.


... the foursome on the tee-deck back there is waiting!

[guitarman]

I stated I am in a cart often (weekday rounds) and only when held up do I use it.

Trust me I've never held anyone up.

So your saying you make the calls you don't take them? Because if you take your calls, who knows when you'll get called. It could be when your on the green etc.
Also I find its not much fun going out for a round with a guy that when he is held up decides he wants to be on the phone. What about the poor sap thats stuck golfing with you. I guess he just gets to twiddle his fingers while waiting. Its nice to have someone to talk to you when your being held up.

[Anthony]

So your saying you make the calls you don't take them? Because if you take your calls, who knows when you'll get called. It could be when your on the green etc.
Also I find its not much fun going out for a round with a guy that when he is held up decides he wants to be on the phone. What about the poor sap thats stuck golfing with you. I guess he just gets to twiddle his fingers while waiting. Its nice to have someone to talk to you when your being held up.

Sorry if I multitask. With the Blackberry I'm using my thumbs, and can still carry on a conversation. May also do it while partners are hitting. Not a huge habit, just something I may do.

There are those who use them and those who do not. I try and be discreet and also understand partners who do as well.

If I have a very important call I may return it when necessary. Unfortunately I consider my industry a service industry and want to stay on top.

[BowmanvilleJim]

I like to have my Blackberry on for sending a receiving email. I have my blue tooth ear hook on all the time so I never miss a phone call. I can just talk as I walk, talk as I putt. It's great.

I never noticed if my playing partners are bothered by it because I'm too busy tak'n care of business!

Just kidding. I check the blackberry between 9's if it's during work hours otherwise it's off and in the car and I don't bother.

[Phnert]

mine is taken to the course..BUT i leave it in the car...so when im done...i check for missed messages...the calls can only be about 4.5 hrs old.

[wayland]

Sorry if I multitask. With the Blackberry I'm using my thumbs, and can still carry on a conversation. May also do it while partners are hitting. Not a huge habit, just something I may do.

There are those who use them and those who do not. I try and be discreet and also understand partners who do as well.

If I have a very important call I may return it when necessary. Unfortunately I consider my industry a service industry and want to stay on top.

This is a part of Blackberry user etiquette that I dont agree with.

Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation with someone when all of a sudden they grab their Blackberry and starting scrolling down the message to read it? You pause for obvious reasons and they go, "keep talking, I just got an email".

I know that we as humans can multitask. God forbid you can't walk and breathe at the same time. That's not the point. If you switch attention from the person you're conversing with to diddle your crackberry, it's plain rude. If your phone goes off and you say "sorry, do you mind if I take this call? it's urgent...." and the other person has no problem with it, sure go for it. But regardless of if you can do several things at once, it's common courtesy to give the other person your full attention.

If it's so important that you stay on top, you might want to give up all things enjoyable in life and just focus on work for 17hrs a day.

I know there are people who need to carry them. That's not the problem I have, it's the etiquette involved when using one.

Here's a funny work experience...
Remember back in the late 90's when Palm Pilots were the rage? Our company only gave them to management and it was extremely annoying to sit in a meeting and you have a couple of managers not paying attention, just sitting there playing with their PDA's (email, AvantGo, games, etc). Well one day I went out and borrowed an Etch a Sketch and put it in my briefcase and took it to this meeting. As sure enough, the PDA wielding managers starting using their PDA's within minutes of the meeting start. So as cool as I could act, I went to my brief and pulled out the Etch-a-Sketch and just starting doodling on it. The room burst out with laughter and the managers smiled and apologized and refrained from doing it thereafter.

[Greywolf]

mine is taken to the course..BUT i leave it in the car...so when im done...i check for missed messages...the calls can only be about 4.5 hrs old.

Ditto.

[goshawk]

As stated in a previous thread on this subject, I keep my phone on vibrate while on the course. No one knows when I'm on the phone because I do so away from other golfers and just pick up my ball and keep the 4some moving. I don't answer it. If the call is important enough, there will be a message left. I check it when driving to my ball. If I HAVE to return the call, I do so from the rough after picking up my ball. I figure that's enough respect for my playing partners, and since I'm not playing for money it really doesn't matter what my score is.

[The Bun]

Nothing irates me more than listening to a fellow golfers phone ring every 15 minutes and then when you ask who the hell is calling, he says ...oh it's my wife, she wants to know this or that....!! Give me a break!! Ban the fricken things from the course or better yet someone has to invent a device that blocks all signals around the course. If you can't be there... then don't go!!!

Nothing can be so important that you have to be reached. Shoot, what did these people do 20 years ago?

My opinion only, but I bet there's going to be at least 3 pages of threads for sure lol

Quite to the contrary there are alot of more important things than golf going on in my life and because of business and family responsibilities I do carry my cell phone. I try to use it as discretly as possible. As for what I did twenty years ago, I can pose this question to you. Do you still ride your horse to work?

-Bun-

[caddishack]

What year you living in? horse? well I see I going to get 2 pages out of the thread lol

[the_har]

man, who pissed in your cornflakes caddyshack???

[The Bun]

What year you living in? horse? well I see I going to get 2 pages out of the thread lol

Ya, I guess that one went right over the old noggin:rofl:

-Bun-

[Anthony]

Quite to the contrary there are alot of more important things than golf going on in my life and because of business and family responsibilities I do carry my cell phone. I try to use it as discretly as possible. As for what I did twenty years ago, I can pose this question to you. Do you still ride your horse to work?

-Bun-

20 years ago people doing the same thing as I do today got away with it and I'm sure there were no questions. Anyone today the same way they did 20 years ago would be out of business in a week....

Sorry I don't have email, please mail it to me.

Sorry no voice mail (phone will keep ringing).

No fax available.

Once I finish typing the report on the smith corona I will put it in the mail

5:02 - Don't bother calling, no one will answer

Should I go on????

[Bellyhungry]

Here's the conclusions I have for on-course cellphone/blackberry usage:

- SMB owner who is lacking in staffing, thus having to be involved in all decisions
- Micro manager who fail to delegate or empower staff members
- Overbearing wife or untrusting husband, or needy family members in general
- Ineffective hiring and staffing resulting in having to make even the most minute decisions in the company/department
- Narcissist who just like to let others know how important/busy they are (Maybe Josh Stone or My Chemical Romance is on the line)

[Anthony]

Here's the conclusions I have for on-course cellphone/blackberry usage:

- SMB owner who is lacking in staffing, thus having to be involved in all decisions
- Micro manager who fail to delegate or empower staff members
- Overbearing wife or untrusting husband, or needy family members in general
- Ineffective hiring and staffing resulting in having to make even the most minute decisions in the company/department
- Narcissist who just like to let others know how important/busy they are (Maybe Josh Stone or My Chemical Romance is on the line)

I am the smb, and I probably shouldn't be on the golf course and then again shouldn't be working late at night or weekends either. Also I'm scatterbrained thus this comes in very handy....

[goshawk]

I guess you can put me into the SMB category as well since there's only one person in the company. But then it doesn't matter that much anyway because I've only received 2 phone calls on-course this year. Not much for anyone to complain about, even though none of them even knew I was on the phone!

[dekker]

I have a Blackassberry that is costumed for golf.It fits discreetly and I can walk,talk and chew without being aware of it. It's set on vibrate and has only gone off once on my backswing.Whoa!

[nearace]

Here's the conclusions I have for on-course cellphone/blackberry usage:

- SMB owner who is lacking in staffing, thus having to be involved in all decisions
- Micro manager who fail to delegate or empower staff members
- Overbearing wife or untrusting husband, or needy family members in general
- Ineffective hiring and staffing resulting in having to make even the most minute decisions in the company/department
- Narcissist who just like to let others know how important/busy they are (Maybe Josh Stone or My Chemical Romance is on the line)I go with number 3 :rofl:

[JEBS]

I do not want to knock anyone who needs to use their BB or phone to keep their work/life in order.. I think it is just sad that we (as a modern culture) cannot take 4-5 hours off to enjoy with out being bothered.. This just in time/ 30 minutes or its free world just causes more stress.. all these technologies to make our work lives easier just make us work harder to keep up with technology.. My buddy cannot be on the golf course with out checking/returning/creating email and I know if he puts it away he will just be thinking about it any way so I just let him be I just pretend that I am playing a round by my self.. Personally I just put a message that I will be unavailable until X time and take that time for myself. So far the world is still there when I am done...

I played a celebrity tournament for the CFL I was paired with another sales guy from another company and Russ Jackson (ex cfl) the fourth was a no show.. The other sales rep ran past me to put his bag on Mr. Jackson's cart to be with him.. I ran my cart solo ( did not mind at all) On the second hole the phone calls start with the other sales guy most are personal some are somewhat work related but not critical ... by the 8th hole the guys battery dies and I see in Mr. Jackson's eyes that finally this guy would just play some golf... nope.. He pulls out a back-up battery !!! Russ Jackson stops in the middle of the fairway.. takes his clubs of the cart, comes over to my cart and asks me if I would like to play some golf!! I said thats what I am here for and we palyed the rest of the round together and I had a blast!!! The other sales guy did not even get it ..just kept on talkin...

I understand the need for the whole cell/bb use I just wish we could just take time away from it!!

[pdonnelly]

So where did all these jobs come from since the saturation of cell phones? What are these jobs that are so necessary to be 24-7 within minutes or immediatly if not sooner to respond? If you're being paid to be on call, you're on call, use a vibrating pager. If you're not being paid to be on call 24-7 then somethings wrong or the boss is using you, or if you're the boss you are micro-managing or have tools working for you that can't be trusted to make a decision,(see micro-managing). One of the big killer now is not being unplugged from the grind, can't be away for 4 hours, someone needs me! BS! It is killing people, for hundreds of years people golfed with no worries, now that damn phone is going off on every hole, it's all between your ears or the spine is too curled to tell the boss don't call me when I'm off. How can you relax when you are connected 24-7, tell me, please. It is impossible. If you can't relax, how can you golf, cause you don't golf to relax, you relax so you can golf. If you can't relax, how the heck are you going to retire, or live long enough to retire. Leave it at home, don't give me any HS about not being able to. I have three kids, one with severe Spina Bifida, I'm not a surgeon, doctor or whatever. If it is an emergency the course can be called and an employee can come out and tell me what's up. You have to live and you can't do that with an addictive device stuck to you damn ear or buzzin or ringing or vibrating every few minutes. :)

[Snipes5150]

I agree with you guys 100% - I play with my dad a few times during the season, and he can't look away from that stupid blackberry. It's a useful business device - but they don't call it the crackberry for nothing

[bilinguru]

I own my own company too. Never made or received a phone call on the course. I let whoever needs to know that I'm golfing and if there's an emergency, I'll be reached. You can't play golf well if you're thinking about other things.

My buddy and I once got paired with these two guys. One of them couldn't stay off the phone and was actually standing in a bunker with his phone between his shoulder and his chin talking away while he was lining up his shot. He says, 'Hold on a minute' hits his shot (naturally he doesn't even get it out of the bunker) and goes back to his call. My buddy and I wanted to kill the guy! This guys friend looked embarrassed and finally said something to him after 9 holes. Didn't make much of a difference. He couldn't live without the damn thing. Sad really. Think he shot 120 or something. Why bother?

[iyell4]

it is so common now that our equipment is designed for it,
my sun mountain cart bag has a special pouch identified with a label for sunglasses/glasses and yes, one for a cell phone. :)

[ginrin]

Jack Nickalaus has the right answer regarding cell phones.He does'nt carry one because nobody calls with good news:rofl:

[Weirfan]

I agree, however, will add my personal situation .....

I have an Autistic son and sometimes there are issues at school and they need me to come calm him down.

If I am golfing mid-week I prefer to have my cell phone on and always tell the others in the group . I have been called away from the course twice as a result....once was yesterday actually when he had to be taken to Emerg , after sticking a button up his nose:eek: but I was golfing twilite by myself

[JEBS]

I agree, however, will add my personal situation .....

I have an Autistic son and sometimes there are issues at school and they need me to come calm him down.

If I am golfing mid-week I prefer to have my cell phone on and always tell the others in the group . I have been called away from the course twice as a result....once was yesterday actually when he had to be taken to Emerg , after sticking a button up his nose:eek: but I was golfing twilite by myself

This is totally acceptable!! I think the gripe is for those who are more focused on the phone/bb than they are on the round.

If you are playing a round by yourself do what ever you want... If you are playing with a friend, colleague or business contact (even stranger) I think it is just courteous to direct your attention to your game and your group. Playing with someone who is on the phone or BB every 5 minutes is more painfull than a 6 hour round IMO.

I would never object for someone having their phone with them for family matters.

[goshawk]

Because of my businesses (instructor and driver for a medical equipment company), I do have to be on call. I've had to leave a course because a respirator HAD to be delivered to Sick Kids and an anesthesia console had to be delivered to CHEO in Ottawa (both times my boss payed for the rounds interrupted). Lots of times, I've had calls from new students wanting to arrange lessons. Not once did the people I played with even know I was on the phone until after the call when I told them. That's why there's a vibrate mode on the phone.

[iyell4]

now with bluetooth.
you can continue to play and keep your end of the conversation going over the cell phone..
no more bending your neck awkwardly to hold the phone to your ear whilst hackin' out of the ruff.
no more wire between your phone on your belt and your earpiece to get in your way when blasting out of a bunker.
yammer away .. hands free and wireless!:rolleyes:

[Louie]

Well obviously there is exceptions to the rule. My buddy Bun carries a cell in case of emergencies with his families and or business but there are people who abuse the use of cell phones. I do understand his priorities and respect them as well. I f you don't like the fact the person who is on their phone don't golf with them.

[kalch]

c'mon, I run my own business, no other employees. My business is executive search, and my making money to be able to afford to play golf comes from me 1. Connecting with busy executives
2. Ensuring changes interviews or candidates missing or companies cancelling interviews at the last moment goes through me, the point person.
3. I'm single and a hot date may call me back from the night before.


Although 1 and 2 do happen during the week, 3 rarely happens, and I don't carry my phone on the course on the weekends.