How Do Golfers Become Perfect Playing Partners

Most of us who play our sport do so in the company of regular playing partners, people we look forward to hooking up with each and every time we play.

Turn up at any golf club and, week after week, you will see the same fourballs turning up for the same tee-time.

So what makes the perfect playing partner?

Banter

Tyrrell Hatton please note - golf is meant to be fun.There are times when I watch the likes of Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick and get the feeling that they would rather be anywhere else other than on a golf course. Why can’t they take a leaf from Ludvig Aberg’s book? The young superstar plays the game with a smile on his face, the way it should be played.

I have also had to play alongside some pretty miserable club players and it often makes we wonder why they play. You spend all week looking forward to getting out there and then spend four hours cursing your luck, slamming clubs into the ground, losing your temper - and then come off the 18th green and tell your group you will see them at the same time next week. And their sprits sink.

The great thing is that we can choose who we want to play with and I avoid angry golfers like the plague.

For me, banter with like-minded people is what the game is all about. And when you find a group of golfers with whom you click there is simply no better way of spending four hours, followed by an hour or so in the clubhouse. The best golf clubs are the ones where laughter is the predominant noise, both on and off the course.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Understanding

The perfect playing partner will know what to say and when to say it. He or she will know when to keep their mouth shut if you hit a bad shot - and they will also know exactly what to say to make you laugh when things are going wrong. If you are a weekend golfer you know that things are going to wrong. How you and your mates deal with it is the key.

Gimmes

He or she knows that you absolutely hate three-foot putts. You know that you hate three-foot putts. You know that they know that you hate three-foot putts. They could easily make you hole them out, knowing you will miss at least 50% of them. Instead, every single time, you hear them say: "That’s good." And you reciprocate. Because you both know that golf is not a matter of life and death after all.

Playing Ability

The perfect playing partner will be somebody who competes to a similar level to yourself. There is nothing more dispiriting than going out there and being hammered every single week. You want the honours to be shared around. And in the ideal fourball, you don’t want to play with the same partner every time you are out there so you move things around.

Advice

Mr Perfect may think he has spotted what you are doing wrong but he knows you well enough to understand that you don’t want to hear it, especially while you are on the course. So he knows to keep his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself while you are playing. He may share his views with you while you are enjoying a beer.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Things in Common

You never run out of things to say because you have so much in common. In your twenties and thirties, back in my day, these conversations revolved around cars, work and women. In your forties and fifties it is more likely to be about the pressure of work, dreaming of retirement and holidays. When you reach your sixties and seventies the conversations will be along the following lines: "When are you having your hip replaced?" "How is that new knee working?" "Can you manage on your pension?" "Have you seen the price of a pint?"

Generosity

When you get to the bar, you know that you are not always going to be the one who is left to buy the drinks. The perfect partners know when it is their turn to put their hands in their pockets - and insist upon doing so. In other words, they don’t hang around in the changing rounds, knowing that you will buy a round when it isn’t your turn to do so.

Proximity

In an ideal world, your perfect partner lives fairly close to you and that means you can take it in turns to drive to the course. With a bit of luck, they also have a boot that is big enough to accommodate two sets of clubs and two trolleys.

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