Earplugs for golf

[hunterdog]

I’m showing my age here. I have come to understand that while playing golf today every cart has to have music, slightly louder than the other cart, and no two carts can evidently play the same music. Now, apparently, it is acceptable to talk while others  are playing their shots. Frankly, I found it all a bit distracting. Does anyone else want to turn the volume down a bit on the golf course and have you tried earplugs, AirPods, or anything else, and how did it work?

[GolfnGatorNC]

IMO, music isn't the bad part by itself, it's the player controlling it.  I play with a bunch of groups and a lot of different people so I always ask if they are ok with the music which we can't hear more than 10 ft from the cart.  If someone says no music, no problem but that is very few times because it's low enough.  I don't play music in serious tournaments. 

 

The talking is BS, but that I usually handle by backing off a shot and saying something nice.  If it happens a second time, they'll get the point that this will be a 5+ hour round if they keep talking during my swing because I'll stop and reboot a few times while looking at them. 

 

But usually it's all about communicating and everybody is cool.

[SnowbirdTom]

I'm on the course 3-5 times a week, never had an issue with loud music?  If it ever happens, I'll ask the offending group to lower the volume to keep the distractions down.  Got a speaker on my bag and I keep the volume at the "can't hear it from six feet away" setting while following my e-cart.

[Hawkeye77]

Could be a rules issue, but that may not be relevant to the situation if not keeping a handicap.

 

I've used earphones with my little iPod on the range and even that music tends to take out the sensory aspect to the point where I just don't do it any more.

 

I tried earplugs for hunting and hated them and gave them up quickly and frankly hunted without for years (and yep, my hearing is luckily perfect, lol), but now I have hearing protection that allows me to hear all the normal ambient noise but "cancels" the report of the shotgun.  Sort of forced into that by getting more into using ear protection for handgun range shooting and finding out the benefits of the technology - for hunting they fit in my ear, not "muffs".  They wouldn't be any good for golf, haha.

[GHIN n Juice]

I’ve never been so offended by other's music as to need/ want earplugs.  At its core golf is a social game.  Maybe fishing is a better fit. 🤷‍♂️

[bekgolf]

10 hours ago, hunterdog said:

I’m showing my age here. I have come to understand that while playing golf today every cart has to have music, slightly louder than the other cart, and no two carts can evidently play the same music. Now, apparently, it is acceptable to talk while others  are playing their shots. Frankly, I found it all a bit distracting. Does anyone else want to turn the volume down a bit on the golf course and have you tried earplugs, AirPods, or anything else, and how did it work?

 

The retort is "hey, don't let my golfing get in the way of your conversation".  That usually does it.

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

On 4/27/2024 at 5:47 AM, hunterdog said:

I’m showing my age here. I have come to understand that while playing golf today every cart has to have music, slightly louder than the other cart, and no two carts can evidently play the same music. Now, apparently, it is acceptable to talk while others  are playing their shots. Frankly, I found it all a bit distracting. Does anyone else want to turn the volume down a bit on the golf course and have you tried earplugs, AirPods, or anything else, and how did it work?

 

I'd say ear-plugs would be worth trying. They will allow general conversation in a quiet space, but the trouble is you won't hear anything like a "Fore!" well enough to recognize it in time. Yet, I never did find that "FORE!" really protected me because I never could really tell who it was coming from. LOL

Ear buds are a good way of filling your ears with noise that you find more acceptable, be it white noise, music, or otherwise. Anything that can aid in your focus.

 

I've used ear-buds as a means of drowning out other noise and it can be hit or miss.

 

You are not wrong to point out how rude it is for people to drive up to the tee box next to yours with blaring music or otherwise hooting and hollering (Yup, that too). It's self centered and rude no matter how you slice it even if the person playing the music isn't intending to offend anybody (That's the self centered part).

 

I am non-confrontational so I rarely say anything, and so I, too, tend to look for coping mechanisms as you are. I'd rather not ruin somebody else's game, and so I absorb it and find other ways to deal with it. The last time I politely even said anything, they looked at me like I was some sort of weirdo. Really.

 

Sorry, but there's something wrong with that no matter how great the rest of GolfWRX is at coping with it.

Edited April 28, 2024 by Mikey_HACKilroy

[ShortGolfer]

Musicians wear high fidelity earphones to protect their ears when performing on stage.  I wear them to noisy events like movies and concerts.

Sound reduction is 18 dB.

[byoshio82]

This seems fitting to me 😂😂😂

 

I don’t however think it’s too much to ask for someone to turn the music down around the tee boxes or greens especially when approaching another group. Or for the course to have a policy to turn down music when approaching tee boxes or greens/other groups. 

[TiScape]

On 4/27/2024 at 7:44 AM, GHIN n Juice said:

I’ve never been so offended by other's music as to need/ want earplugs.  At its core golf is a social game.  Maybe fishing is a better fit. 🤷‍♂️

Reminds me of WRX’ers that are so serious and so offended (affected) by others here they feel the need to block ‘em. At its core, SM is a social activity. Maybe log off and grab a 🎣 🤷🏼‍♂️

[tatertot]

Nobody thinks their music is too loud. 

 

Very similar to no player admitting they're slow.

[Chunkitgood]

On 4/27/2024 at 9:44 AM, GHIN n Juice said:

I’ve never been so offended by other's music as to need/ want earplugs.  At its core golf is a social game.  Maybe fishing is a better fit. 🤷‍♂️

One aspect of social activities is that they have an associated groups of informal rules called etiquette.  To not follow them is generally called being unsocial or even antisocial.  It is the social nature, such as it is, of golf that requires adherence to such rules, one of which is that you just don’t under any circumstance voluntarily make noise that might distract another player.  It’s not that you don’t make noise that would bother you, it’s that you don’t make noise that might bother somebody else.

 

If you have not learned from this and other posts and playing in general that playing music on the course does in fact bother many people, and hence might bother any random person exposed to it…well, now you know.

[GHIN n Juice]

Etiquette is based on acceptable social norms.  With the popularity of portable speakers and the fact that many golf companies are now making them, I’d say music on the course is acceptable and as long as the volume is at reasonable level it is proper etiquette.  If this offends you, or anyone else, well, go fishing.

[TiScape]

 Golf is a great game as it teaches us a lot about life. For some of us it’s too late but great for younger players.
 I’m ’easy like Sunday morning’. Music, no music, whatever. I can adapt and make it work. Now a few years ago my son and I got paired with a couple guys and one had his music up pretty loud. He asks before teeing off if it bothered us. I said I was fine with it. My son who was about 16 at the time said he wasn’t a fan. So the guy turned it down. My son turns to me and says it’s still a lil loud. I told him he could deal with it.

 Back to my point about golf helping to teach us about life. In the real world you are going to run into situations that are not ideal and are beyond your control. You are going to need to find a way to deal with it. Life

Edited April 29, 2024 by TiScape

[596]

Can't stand music on the course.  I'm there for peace and quiet. I've tried to listen to music through my earphones but even on the range I don't like it. 

 

If you want to, go ahead. You'll be out of my range in a minute. 

 

But I do rock out while cycling. No headphones but my helmet is Bluetooth.

[skraly]

It’s a symptom of the world in general-what I want super-cedes what anyone else might want.  I don’t really care how much it might irritate you.

I play at a public course and can routinely hear music from a couple of fairways away.

[otto6457]

I don't care unless it's stupid loud.  I just find it sort of sad that someone can't be quiet in the beauty of a golf course with nothing but their own thoughts for 3.5 hours.  The endless noise we face in our everyday lives is exhausting.  To hear the breeze blowing, the birds chirping, and perfectly struck golf shots, is therapy for the soul.

 

Besides, and I don't are who you are.........your playlist sucks.

[hunterdog]

2 hours ago, GHIN n Juice said:

Etiquette is based on acceptable social norms.  With the popularity of portable speakers and the fact that many golf companies are now making them, I’d say music on the course is acceptable and as long as the volume is at reasonable level it is proper etiquette.  If this offends you, or anyone else, well, go fishing.

I have no problem with people playing music on the course at reasonable levels. I just don’t care for loud music, playing from two different carts at the same time, near the tee, requiring people to talk louder, to be heard over the music, while players are trying to play their tee ball. I think it is loud and distracting. However, like you say, it’s now part of the game and I have to deal with it. Which brings back to my post. For players such as myself, who prefer to have a lower volume while playing, what would be wrong with using some form of noise canceling earbuds, maybe even playing music that I prefer, as opposed to be forced to listen to two different songs, being loudly played, and having to listen to people talk while I try to play my tee shot?

 

And by the way, I played in a competitive team match today and our opponents played music, but at a lower volume, and no one was talking while we played our shots. Everyone had a great time. 

[bobfoster]

I hate music on the course. And it is suddenly becoming really common.(There have been a bunch of threads about this is the past couple years.) IMO, the growing presence of it coincided with beginning of LIV. Another great gift LIV has given to golf - normalizing what used to be considered (until very recently) grossly impolite behavior. I do not WANT "Golf, but Louder!!!" Happy Gilmore is a funny movie. But it is definitely not fun to actually play with a Happy. Anyone playing music at a volume loud enough to be heard by anyone other than their own foursome on the teebox is simply an utterly narcissistic, selfish person. Golf isn't the NFL, or NHL, or a damn NASCAR race. 

 

That said, I'd never wear earplugs. I get way too much feedback from the sound of contact. (Plus, I want to hear someone yelling "fore" from an adjoining hole- has saved me on more than one occasion over the years.) So I am just basically learning to live with the rude a**holes who apparently think LIV is the standard for etiquette, or that a golf course is merely Topgolf, but on real grass. 

[jonsnow]

Never understood why some feel it is their right to inflict their crappy taste in “music” on those of us unfortunate enough to be in their vicinity. It started in beat up cars with stereo systems costing more than the clunker they were installed in. Now it’s infected golf. 
Your life is not a movie requiring a soundtrack or “walkup music.”

Edited April 29, 2024 by jonsnow

[PedronNiall]

1 hour ago, otto6457 said:

I don't care unless it's stupid loud.  I just find it sort of sad that someone can't be quiet in the beauty of a golf course with nothing but their own thoughts for 3.5 hours.  The endless noise we face in our everyday lives is exhausting.  To hear the breeze blowing, the birds chirping, and perfectly struck golf shots, is therapy for the soul.

 

Besides, and I don't are who you are.........your playlist sucks.

 

Having to hear what people play on carts gives great insight into exactly why the same 20 songs on rotation served stations so well for so long. I've met people who actually have good playlists, but once and only once has that been a person who also played music during a round. 

[bekgolf]

28 minutes ago, jonsnow said:

Never understood why some feel it is their right to inflict their crappy taste in “music” on those of us unfortunate enough to be in their vicinity. It started in beat up cars with stereo systems costing more than the clunker they were installed in. Now it’s infected golf. 
Your life is not a movie requiring a soundtrack or “walkup music.”

 

I'm fairly certain it's karma in my case.  My obnoxious teenage years are coming around to pay me a visit.

 

[Bogeyman_MD]

Like some others have mentioned, modern life is polluted with constant noise. Radio, tv, being accessible 24 hrs by cell phones, email in our pockets, horns, sirens, car alarms, electronics everywhere. I don’t see why we can’t just all agree to disconnect for a few hours on the course to just hear nothing but the sounds of golf. I mean you can listen to the radio on the way to and from the course, why can’t you enjoy some peace and quiet while there. That’s one of the biggest reasons I even play, to get away from all of that. And no, I’m not a boomer.

[Gsea]

13 hours ago, TiScape said:

 Golf is a great game as it teaches us a lot about life. For some of us it’s too late but great for younger players.
 I’m ’easy like Sunday morning’. Music, no music, whatever. I can adapt and make it work. Now a few years ago my son and I got paired with a couple guys and one had his music up pretty loud. He asks before teeing off if it bothered us. I said I was fine with it. My son who was about 16 at the time said he wasn’t a fan. So the guy turned it down. My son turns to me and says it’s still a lil loud. I told him he could deal with it.

 Back to my point about golf helping to teach us about life. In the real world you are going to run into situations that are not ideal and are beyond your control. You are going to need to find a way to deal with it. Life

This was not beyond your ctrl. Should have asked them to turned it down some more only thing your son learned was let the tools do what they want.

[TiScape]

1 hour ago, Gsea said:

This was not beyond your ctrl. Should have asked them to turned it down some more only thing your son learned was let the tools do what they want.

Of course I could have controlled it. I chose not to as I thought it was something that would help him down the road in regard to dealing with and performing under less than ideal circumstances. Because I know my child and you don’t, I thought it best for him 😉 

Edited April 29, 2024 by TiScape

[Nard_S]

Would rather play with music loving drinkers than those who abstain from either. Like talkers too. Love the characters who just can blab on in fun ways. In my view, they are all just trying to promote a loose vibe. What's so bad about that? So I'm less purist than I once may have been.. It's all fine within moderation.

[TiScape]

10 minutes ago, Nard_S said:

Would rather play with music loving drinkers than those who abstain from either. Like talkers too. Love the characters who just can blab on in fun ways. In my view, they are all just trying to promote a loose vibe. What's so bad about that? So I'm less purist than I once may have been.. It's all fine within moderation.

Yeah, it’s a loose good vibe thing for sure. And 💯 will take play music guy over overly serious guy that has rules for everyone that’s been grouped w/him and no matter where u stand you’re bothering him guy! 😜

 And not sure how the guy in my story got classified a “tool”? He offered up when greeting us “does the music bother you?”. When my son said it was a bit loud he instantly turned it down. Him and his partner turned out to be super cool, down to earth guys that played quick and were never “in the way”. All good, and a great day on the course.