Be honest. Do you *really* need it to be so darn quiet when you are about to tee off or make your putt? This is actually a pet peeve of mine. Maybe it's just that I'm used to noise, but it's almost like needing to show off to need it to be so quiet. Bring on the noise! That's my vote. What's yours?

Well, I guess it depends. I have a buddy that holds a conversation on the tee box. He just can't be quiet. Nothing personal, and he's not trying to mess anyone up, but he's a Chatty Patty. I don't mind but I do prefer if as I get ready to take the club back, people be reasonable about the noise and sudden movements.

Or give me a mulligan

As long as people are talking beforehand, and don't start just as I swing, I'm fine with it. When putting, I don't care.

If someone yells from another hole right as I'm swinging though, that makes me mad.

I don't care. I am just not good enough for it to matter. Sometimes, silence creeps me out. If I know EVERYBODY is looking at ME, it can get into my head.

The noise doesn't really bother me. But when we're on the course, golf etiquette should be practiced.

Once we had a group behind us who caught up to us at the tee box (we actually had to wait for the group in front of us to tee off). As we are teeing off, the group who had caught up to us started to have a conversation. We kept looking back at them and did some "ahems" to get their attention, but they just kept on talking. Now that is rude.

So today, wound up bogeying a hole because of a poor tee shot due to people talking. it was my fault as I was over the ball and getting ready to hit, heard them, and started to try and time me swing to when they would be stopping. Didn't work. Should have just backed away and reset.

I have had that happen also and it is as someone else said golf etiquette is the key. Golf is a game of rules and that is one of them. One of the best ways to avoid making noise for the group in front of you is not to drive up to the tee box until they are gone. Noise while I am putting does not really bother me but when you are in your back swing and someone gets loud it is distracting. I remember when I first started golfing I took a golf etiquette and rules class and I had my son take one also. I think that taking the class made me appreciate the game more and it also made me feel more comfortable out there because there are so many rules it is a little intimidating when you have no clue.

The funny thing is how something that you don't think "should" affect you does...yesterday I was getting ready to hit a wedge into a green. Guy from an adjacent hole was behind/along my green (he obviously hit a bad shot) and I figured he was far enough away that he wouldn't affect me. Wrong. He must have hit his shot just as I was about to hit mine, because I flinched and mis-hit my wedge. I (like Tony) don't get as bothered on the putting green by noise. Although I have learned that if a bug lands on my ball I have to shoo it off before putting or I get messed up thinking about it.

I don' like it to be too quiet...
I am then able to blame someone or some thing for my just missed shot.

Jack; mostly, I don't care about a little noise or movement around me. I figure if I'M FOCUSED on what I'm doing, a little outside noise isn't going to me noticed.

I don't like it to be completly quiet either. I'm used to noise, I actually don't like the quiet. I also don't want someone yaking in my ear either though. If you are on the course with me, just make some noise. I dislike the kind of people who only start to talk right when you are ready to swing. It's like a physch out or something.

A low mumuring in the background is fine, it is like white noise.

I would have to agree that the background noise is normal. It does not bother most people. And I enjoy the conversation with the people I play with. That is part of the fun. The thing that gets me is when someone tells you what you should or should not do right before you take your shot. The funny thing is they usually have a higher index.

Lee Trevino used to always talk to himself (outloud),
before, during, and obviously after a lot of shots.

Same here.