Why do pro golf tours not allow their players to use cell phones on the golf course during tournament play?
Many professional golf tours (i.e. the US PGA Tour, European PGA Tour, LPGA Tour) do not allow their players to use cell phones / pda on the golf course during tournament play. Why is this the case? What are they afraid the players will use the cell phone / pda while they are playing a tournament except for the bad ring during a swing?
Why would even the tours have to put it in a policy? It should be common courtesy to not use a cell phone…in terms of using the phone. However, what about checking email in between holes? Why can’t one do that just like in a business meeting?
What makes you all think I am for or against cell phones on the course? Just by asking the question why the tours have to put it in their policies (i.e. put it in “writing” / “law”) does not imply what my personal perference is one way or the other. The question is being asked for the purpose of WHY organizations have to put things in a “law” in the first place….like the smoking ban in restaurants which in various states in the USA have implemented over the past 10 years. Personally, just so people focus on answering the question and not “why” the question is being asked, I play golf and I dislike cell phones and thus do not carry one to the golf course.
February 13th, 2010 at 9:57 am
It’s rude, disruptive, and it doesn’t look very professional. I’m sure a lot of the players are too focused on their game to have a chat just then anyway. There is big money at stake, and this is a business, they can chat after the round is over.
February 13th, 2010 at 11:00 am
they have a rule because people in this day and age have no regard for proper etiquette. how many times have you been on a train, resturant, movie line… etc. and someone is blabbing away on their cell phone with no regard for who is around them.
why would it be necessary for players to have to be on a cell phone while they are playing a tourney? I can’t believe this question was even posed!
February 13th, 2010 at 11:55 am
If you even have to ask means you are one of those people that take one to the course. It is rude and annoying. If any of my playing partners had one, I would belt them.
February 13th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
well said by all the people who answered. cell phones are just a plain pain the rear. i have two of them, with two different companies. i leave them both in my suv, turned off when i play. even if it just to whack it around for an hour when i can grab the time. Barry Bonds takes a timeout to answer with the count 3 and 2. Football, basketball, hockey, soccer all have a new time out signal to answer a cell phone. Let me know when they pass it so I will no longer watch sports.
February 13th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
They neither want nor will tolerate the annoying and sometimes downright stupid ring tones which most phone owners seem to have, not will they tolerate the ignorance of somebody making or taking calls whilst play is in progress.
It’s a pity that so many other organisations don’t take similar steps to prevent this nuisance all the time.
February 13th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
So next baseball players will be calling for pizzas in the eighth inning while still on the field? Or maybe Pavarotti would call to make dinner reservations while singing an Opera?
Cell phones are supposed to be a lifeline if your car breaks down or if you are being threatenend, not a fixture attached to you.
Besides it just looks TACKY.
February 13th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
why would they want to??
that just a stupid question they wouldnt want the distraction!
February 13th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
This has to be the wierdest question I have ever seen on Yahoo. A golf pro does not have a phone on a golf course because he or she has enough to think about while playing. I think your concern with cell phones is pathalogical. Please seek professional counseling immediately.
February 13th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
whats to stop someone from using a phone with gps or a golf edition phone that can gicve you an advantage. but yeas id say mainly etiquette
February 13th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Not only on the Tour !, but private clubs also ban the use of cell phones on the course and in the clubhouse. It is to do with courtesy and respect for others. I suspect you are not a golfer otherwise you would not query such a sensible ruling. Watch the frustration that cell phones and camera phones cause players when they are used by spectators at Tournaments. The tour ruling is supported by every member of the PGA for obvious reasons.