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Attitudes of people are not what they used to be. Far too many people today seem to think that they can rant and rave when things are not going their way. A lot of screaming and shouting has never helped matters in any of life's pursuits and only ever serves to create further disruption and confusion.

How many times have we witnessed angry outbursts on the golf course?

How many four letter words do we hear?

How many clubs have we seen thrown or banged into the ground in anger?

Tempers get short, frustrations grow, patience wears thin, but does that mean we should let events on the golf course get to us? No doubt we've all fell foul of proper behaviour a few times, and found that our loss of attitude control only harmed our game further.

Good golf demands that we take our lumps as and when they are handed to us. We've all had bad bounces, sometimes all the way out-of-bounds.

We've all had putts that are dead centre all the way, yet somehow they've caught the edge and spun out.

We've all had a bad lie on a fairway that is perfect in every way except for that one spot where our golf ball now happens to be. And we've all ended up in that footprint in the bunker that someone somehow forgot to rake.

Stuff happens but losing our cool does not, and will not, make the situation any different or any better.

Keith Pearman's way

In the past couple of weeks, Keith Pearman has been reminding me of the importance of patience and politeness on a golf course. Keith has been talking about what the game of golf is really all about - integrity, honesty and gentlemanly behaviour.

Keith does not tolerate poor behaviour by golfers and will pull players to one side should there be a need to do so.

As with slow play, the best way of dealing with bad behaviour is to tackle it head-on.

Like Keith, we should speak to the person behaving poorly and remind them that golf is meant to be played in a spirit of good behaviour.

Keith will take the individual aside and speak very clearly and very frankly with the person that their behaviour is out of line with how golf should be played.

We should all take a leaf out of Keith's book. If nothing else, we should all commit to ensuring our own behaviour would pass "The Keith Pearman Test" each and every time we tee it up. I think mine would pass muster most of the time, however it doesn't always, so I need to do better.

Unfortunately, there is no direct penalty for poor behaviour, however, proper etiquette is very important when playing golf. Most golfers in Bermuda conduct themselves properly on a golf course but, regrettably, there are a few who don't, some of whom might surprise you.

We should all remember Keith Pearman's approach to golf which is to conduct ourselves in a manner that is respectful to the game and to others.

Golf is certainly not easy, but throwing clubs, banging them on the ground or using profanity, doesn't make it any easier. It just makes it less pleasant for everybody else.

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