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I play regularly with 2 60-year old brother-in-laws and a 36-year old friend. We paired up, as usual .. me and one of the bro-in-laws against the other 2. for some VERY small stakes doubles skins. Now my partner has this terrible habit of standing right behind me, in my line, when I hit...even on the green. I've been playing with him for 4 years and have politely asked him to move numerous time. I've been getting less polite about it lately. He plays nearly every day, has been playing for years and should really know better. He did it to me on the tee twice yesterday and I told him not to do it again. Oh and he has a tendency to move around back there also. Late on the back I had a 7-footer for par to take the hole. He had a 6 footer a couple of feet over so he stands directly behind my line ... no more that 4 feet. I told him to move and he said "can't I watch the line ?". Well I sort of lost it. Instead of telling him to move back about 15 ft and watch the line, I read him the riot act , (FWIW, I'd been sinking a lot of putts and he'd been killing us on the greens all day) telling him that this wasn't just some strange quirk of mine but basic golfing etiquette, like keeping your mouth shut when someone is hitting. I apologized for getting hot the next hole and he said he was sorry... he just forgets and he knows another guy like me who that bothers I think the general consensus was that I was a bit of a about it. I didn't cuss him or anything but I did make my point rather strongly. Any thoughts or similar experiences ?

Sounds like to me he has problems with his eyes that need to be addressed. However I agree with what you did.

I think you've been more than patient with him, I have a buddy who tends to stand behind me at times, I'm a decent player and he's got some work to do and I know his reason is to watch what I do to kind of learn if you will, but none-the-less it's distracting to my game, and I don't like it and have told him about it and he just needs reminders from time to time.

I think your case is worse than mine, on the tee standing behind is really a bust in the ****, I don't like it at all, especially dancing feet kind of people...I would get worked up about it just like you, your human.

Have you ever asked him why he does it and why he continues to do it knowing it bothers you? I'd start firing off questions and see what kind of responses you get and try and go from there...question in such a way that his responses may help him expose his own issues and then he'll realize it's wrong what he's doing...sometime folks just don't have a clue until you clue them in by having them see their own light....did I make any sense?

On the green, it's fairly obvious to me that he's trying to get a read for his own putt and like I've told him "YOU JUST DON'T DO THAT!" On the tee, where it really gets to me and he does it there more often I think he's just trying to help out with watching my ball. I've told him to just take a few steps toward the back of me and he can see just as well. He said it's just a bad habit and to remind him, which apparently I'm going to have to continue to do. Oh & sorry but I had to edit one of your words.

It's always annoying having your playing partner(s) standing in your eye sight while teeing off, espcially when your not nessicarly on your game that day. One round I was playing in a playoff with another golf team member for the 5 spot for the district team. My coach was also playing with us, and on a couple tee boxes, he put his bag right by the right marker on the tee box, and he would stand by it. It was was kind of annoying, because I could tell he was watching me real close. I duffed 3 drives through out the day, and shot the worst round of the season. I ended up shooting a 53(!!)
It was a 3 round playoff, and I ended up winning, but I never said anything to the coach for standing were he was.

On the tee, stand a yard behind the ball , and take a practise swing as close to his dental work as is safe. If that does n't work, stand two yards..........

I'll remember that the next time I have this problem!

When tact and diplomacy fail,........

I like your style Lefty, but even though he is a pain in the in this respect, I still like the guy. I'll keep you advice in mind though.

Sorry about the use of "donkey"...hee, hee. Man and he still does it and needs reminders...holy criminess...I think you deserve and award for patience man...you have more of it than I do. I do like Lefty's suggestion though.

Its a difficult issue, that of where to stand when someone else is playing & where others should stand when we play...

.... Nothing is worse than someone standing just in the line of site, than someone, just outside of that peripheral vision.

Though to be honest to me its not so much the position of someone, than the invasion of personal space & as soon as we pick up a club, the boundaries of personal space increase three fold.

There is certainly good reason to spell out the exact requirements of of ourselves to others when we play, for the simple reason that we would expect to (or should) abide by others requirements, whether as regards to the rules of play or simple curtsy.

I think most of us know when we've done something wrong, as regards to our own conduct when others are trying to play.

A simple rule of thumb.............If you can see the eyes of the player putting or playing a shot, he can see you.

A solution to wazmankg's problem is to tell your line reading friend to stay behind you (out of eyesight) until you've struck the putt. Once you've struck the putt he can step quickly along the line to get the read. By doing this, you're not distracted by his position, because can't see him, and he can get the read he's looking for without bothering you. I find this works just as well on the tee box.

As i understand it, it is against the rules to stand directly behind someones line on a putt. He should know better. That would bug the heck out of me as well.

Not to make light the current discussion on this thread but this is nothing compared to my round this weekend. One of my regular (married) playing partners proceeded to ask a group in front of us to join up making us a group of five. Get drunk, hit on the girl endlessly and turn a round that began at 3:30 into a DNF on the 14th hole when darkness set in.

I am giving serious thought this morning of cutting this guy loose as a regular playing partner. I wish all I had to deal with this weekend was someone standing in my line of site on a putt and things would have been much better. I am hoping when he sobers up this morning he will realize his behavior and offer to pay for my next round. But then again monkeys might take wing and fly before that happens also.

I guess I should count my blessings Murph. Unless that guy is a very close friend, I'd cut him loose. I'd rather walk on and take my chances than put up with that sort of thing.