I think we all agree the necessity of Mobiles but I fail to see why they should be part of every body's game on the coarse when one rings.
Is it possible to have a local rule banning them with the exception of medical personnel or emergency staff.
I can hear the business set complaining now but there a times and places I believe

Most courses now have a 2-stroke penalty for mobile phone use as a local rule - check with your Match Committee.

i take my phone on course but have it on silent just in case something bad happens

Using a mobile phone on course should be an automatic three-month suspension. judgesmails take note!

QUOTE: amanda_wong @ Oct 13 2005, 08:36 AM

Most courses now have a 2-stroke penalty for mobile phone use as a local rule - check with your Match Committee.

It would be against the rules of golf for a committee to introduce such a local rule.
However, they may make there own disciplinary rule banning players etc as long as it does not involve the Rules of Golf.
See Appendix I Part A of the Rules of Golf

O.K. I reckon if you're playing social golf but a definite NO-NO if you're playing competition golf. My two bobs worth.

one of the guys I occasional play with has an engineering job that means he is often "on-call." he keeps his mobile on silent, gets well away from the group if he has to take a call and is willing to forfeit a hole if the call slows him up a lot. i'm not happy with that, but i'll live.

however, I think anyone who sets their phone to full ringtone on the course, or takes a call while people are putting or teeing really should get stuffed, preferably after thei phone has been rectally inserted with the blunt end of a driver.

QUOTE: dgstones @ Oct 13 2005, 09:37 AM

O.K. I reckon if you're playing social golf but a definite NO-NO if you're playing competition golf. My two bobs worth.

It is still annoying to the players on an adjacent green or fairway. Even if those in your group don't kick you or the phone into the nearest water hazard

in Club Opens around here - it's an instant DQ from the comp...

for normal club comps - club doesn't care...and as long as it doesn't bother the foursome - no one's gonna care...

can relate to the on-call...with oil rigs around, almost everyone's on-call..

i certainly agree with u about cell phones BUT...

i played in a pro am weeks a go with 2 good pros playing for a LOT of money like 10 grand or something. Myself and my partner both had our phones on silent but when we got to the 11th hole we both looked at our phones and had a number of missed calls. We called them back after we had teed off because we both should have been at work. Sometimes u just have to use your phone on the golf course!!!

All comes down to mobile phone etiquette. Fine to have one and use one, but not whilst someone (Within the group or another group) is about to have a shot. IN addition you should not use one at all if someone in the group says no.

To me it doesn't worry me at all (Actually better than heckling or mucking about), but I know some people have a real aversion to them.

QUOTE: rexgrunt40 @ Oct 13 2005, 05:38 PM

i take my phone on course but have it on silent just in case something bad happens

same here

I have mine with me but on silent and don't bother checking for calls very often.

Just used to having it I guess. I bit like how I feel "naked" if I forget to wear
my watch at any time. It's only then I realize how often I glance at it.

Back to mobiles, a pair of us just playing socially were teamed with 2 others. One
spent about 3 holes in a row on the phone, including having it tucked under his
chin, and talking, while he was putting!

QUOTE: thewizard @ Oct 14 2005, 03:05 AM

i certainly agree with u about cell phones BUT...

i played in a pro am weeks a go with 2 good pros playing for a LOT of money like 10 grand or something. Myself and my partner both had our phones on silent but when we got to the 11th hole we both looked at our phones and had a number of missed calls. We called them back after we had teed off because we both should have been at work. Sometimes u just have to use your phone on the golf course!!!

Sometimes u shouldn't be on the golf course

QUOTE: Ford Prefect @ Oct 13 2005, 05:28 PM

I think we all agree the necessity of Mobiles but I fail to see why they should be part of every body's game on the coarse when one rings.
  Is it possible to have a local rule banning them with the exception of medical personnel or emergency staff.
  I can hear the business set complaining now but there a times and places I believe

No necessity, was never needed 10 years ago, seems most people feel 'that they are an absolute necessity', more stroking the individuals ego.

QUOTE: Janjuc @ Oct 15 2005, 09:13 PM

No necessity, was never needed 10 years ago, seems most people feel 'that they are an absolute necessity', more stroking the individuals ego.

Gee, get out of the dark ages Janjuc. Nowadays people who work and have company mobiles are not useing them for ego. Kids have them ffs, the ego thing was 10 years ago. I'd bet my left nut that almost everyone who does take a mobile out on the course wishes they didn't have to!

I agree with OMG - I've been saved my a mobile phone on the course many a time - an eldery golfer had a fall about as far away from the pro shop as posisble - without the phone - someone had a very long walk to get this person help that was needed immediately.

the world aint going to revert back to being mobile-phone-less - we'll just have to get used to it!

At courses that don't have a ban on phones, I see no problem having it on silent in the bag.

But if you check missed calls or messages,

for crying out loud, if it isn't the death of a relative, it will wait until you have finished

. If it can't wait, then you weren't in a position to play golf in the first place. Asking somebody to take something out of the freezer for dinner doesn't quite qualify.

Nothing annoys me more than the so-called "polite" user who has it on silent, who then after checking messages goes and wanders off for a couple of minutes to return a call or two in the middle of the round!!

QUOTE: ttitheridge @ Oct 16 2005, 08:49 AM

At courses that don't have a ban on phones, I see no problem having it on silent in the bag.

But if you check missed calls or messages,

for crying out loud, if it isn't the death of a relative, it will wait until you have finished

. If it can't wait, then you weren't in a position to play golf in the first place. Asking somebody to take something out of the freezer for dinner doesn't quite qualify.

Nothing annoys me more than the so-called "polite" user who has it on silent, who then after checking messages goes and wanders off for a couple of minutes to return a call or two in the middle of the round!!

Sometimes, the mobile is the only thing that has

made

it possible to be able to play a round of golf. Following what you have said, because I have to return two calls consisting of maybe 4 mins out of your life then I should forgo my round of golf ... Bah, I'll make my calls and you can cry all you like, I'm not going to miss out on a four hour game that I love because two 2 min phone calls upset you!

QUOTE: ttitheridge @ Oct 16 2005, 08:49 AM

At courses that don't have a ban on phones, I see no problem having it on silent in the bag.

But if you check missed calls or messages,

for crying out loud, if it isn't the death of a relative, it will wait until you have finished

. If it can't wait, then you weren't in a position to play golf in the first place. Asking somebody to take something out of the freezer for dinner doesn't quite qualify.

Nothing annoys me more than the so-called "polite" user who has it on silent, who then after checking messages goes and wanders off for a couple of minutes to return a call or two in the middle of the round!!

I agree with your comment. If it is your girlfriend or whatever just leave the phone on silent and call her in the 19th. my returned call i made the other day made me a LOT of money so if the boys in my group were annoyed i couldnt give a flying fudge.

QUOTE: OMG @ Oct 16 2005, 09:01 AM

Sometimes, the mobile is the only thing that has

made

it possible to be able to play a round of golf.  Following what you have said, because I have to return two calls consisting of maybe 4 mins out of your life then I should forgo my round of golf ... Bah, I'll make my calls and you can cry all you like, I'm not going to miss out on a four hour game that I love because two 2 min phone calls upset you!

I think you missed my point.

If it is a call that can be returned after the game without major stress for either the caller or the receiver, then leave it. If it is someone from the office saying that the copywriter for the ad has half an hour to correct an error before going to print, I'll tolerate it.

I'm only upset because almost every time this frustrates me, even if it is work related, an hour or two 'til the game was over wouldn't have made a difference to the outcome and nobody was sitting on the phone hanging on the return call. Too many people with ordinary jobs seem to think that the lines of communication are as urgent as if they were Prime Minister. If somebody acts that way, I promise you I'll do the right thing that you'd want me to, and call them a cock head. Hey, it isn't my work place, so it shouldn't be my problem. I don't endow others in my group with my baggage.

Too many guys I know are so completely whipped when it comes to the expectations of their missus of when they can just ring and they have to stand to attention or she gets all burnt. If your missus lived for 15-30 years before she met you, then an hour here or there without your call won't threaten her vital signs. And these guys don't even have kids. Or when they are arranging what time to meet a mate at the pub around five hours later. Given the mate lives twenty minutes from the pub, ringing him a few holes later when we were done would have still suited just fine.

As a small business owner, the company to an extent revolves around me, so being contactable is a priority. I leave it on silent and depending on the urgency of the matter, I will make a call between holes if necessary. If it can wait, then I will return the call when I am finished or in the 19th.

If it doesnt directly affect you or your gameplay, then I dont see what the big bitch is about?

QUOTE: Huggy_B @ Oct 16 2005, 06:54 AM

As a small business owner, the company to an extent revolves around me, so being contactable is a priority. I leave it on silent and depending on the urgency of the matter, I will make a call between holes if necessary. If it can wait, then I will return the call when I am finished or in the 19th.

If it doesnt directly affect you or your gameplay, then I dont see what the big bitch is  about?

If your presence is so important to the business you shouldn't be away from it for a five hour stretch. If I were a customer of yours and you were visiting me with a proposition and iIf you felt you had to interrupt us to take another business call, you've lost mine. I would consider your business to be badly administered/staffed.

I speak as a sole trader.

QUOTE: AAA @ Oct 16 2005, 03:47 PM

If your presence is so important to the business you shouldn't be away from it for a five hour stretch. If I were a customer of yours and you were visiting me with a proposition and iIf you felt you had to interrupt us to take another business call, you've lost mine. I would consider your business to be badly administered/staffed.

I speak as a sole trader.

Come speak to me and dispense your "advice" when you turn over +$3 million a year with 3 employees. If I am with a customer, my phone is always off - and I think thats a long bow to draw as an analogy. My company does very nicely thank you, and its based primarily on having superior customer service.

It is good for the mind, body and soul to leave your business every so often or it becomes all encompassing and devours your life. Its not a regular thing, I maybe get away 2 or 3 times a year during the week, but also I have labour hire workers doing things for me on weekends at times, so I need to be contactable if they have any problems and I dont think thats such a big issues since its technically "my time".

QUOTE: ttitheridge @ Oct 16 2005, 10:48 AM

I think you missed my point.

Yep I did, thanks for clearing that up, I agree with what you are saying!