Playing the list is why you had a twitter meltdown this weekend went down i just thought yesterday before i got ready i don't know if rick's tweeted much this weekend. So i searched on on google rick shields golf twitter found it very easily go and give them a follow if you're not already and you didn't melt the hell right i don't know what i'm only texting is everything all right what was your melt that explain to listeners why you had a twitter meltdown this weekend went down didn't it yeah it did right i'm gonna set the scene. So as you mentioned a minute ago twitter isn't my favorite platform in the world it is quite volatile quite um unpredictable. And everything really though i feel like every single voice on twitter you hear where facebook instagram youtube you don't hear every voice every comment because there's so many and the way that the platforms are set up you can kind of pick. And choose what you read twitter's not like that is it no. So i was looking through twitter checking up on the golf i'd watched a lot of the golf troopers told i hadn't watched much john's uh maybe i did watch a bit on thursday actually just to get the light of the golf course i did thursday because we did a break 75 on friday i was talking about it. For me i wasn't that excited about the us open. For a number of reasons obviously the event i couldn't get really behind any particular players for this week for whatever reason the golf course didn't really excite me that much i could see how tested it was going to be i just didn't feel like there was anything that's one big reason you're forgetting on friday you become a massive football fan. And that was a bloody waste of time yeah that was 90 minutes of my life i'm never getting back you go come on the white men come on the lights go on marcus sterling um no no i did i watched the football. And that was that was more disappointing than the thursday golf to be honest. So so yeah anyway through the through the weekend i wasn't that bothered i was flicking through it i watched quite a bit on saturday because it kind of started to get a bit heated up i started to see a bit of movement on the leaderboard. And the leaderboard was looking pretty stacked not the top of the leaderboard that was quite a lot of kind of names that i felt might have just dropped off eventually. But just underneath that layer it was bubbling like rory brooks bryson uh louis houston hazen uh i think john rahm yeah obviously. And i'm looking at leaderboard going oh oh this could be good tomorrow night. So sunday it's a california tee off so it's much much later for us in the evening so i do hate that yeah i do it's hard to watch. So kind of watch out my phone oh no sorry i need to come back early then.
Don't i. So sunday afternoon i'm sat around looking at twitter thinking i wonder what people are talking about in the golf world what are people looking at. And i stumbled across a video which i hadn't seen footage of live when it happened on saturday i believe and it was a clip of bryce deshambo one of the best players in the world respected icon superstar role model to many people watching old young male female he is a role model whether he likes it. Or not doing something that i didn't agree with and he's not the only one and this isn't anything new but he did something that kind of i watched. And i was like i need to say something about this i'm not happy about this i feel like something new if he said to anyone it's going to be to you. So exactly exactly ricky two fists rickard he's gonna listen to me so he to set the scene i can't remember which kind of hole it was around the back nine where there's. Or was it i came. And what hole it was anyway it's by the coastline you can't miss left left is the ocean coastal it's dead. And on the right hand side you've got spectators you've got crowds and you've got you've got the world i think in the clip it said you've got from here to atlanta to the right because you really have the rest of the usa is to the right bryson knowingly hits it down the right hand side he smashes one big long drive sweeps up his tee sticks in his pocket. And everyone's thinking that's down the middle of the fairway i don't know what the problem is. So far rick you look at that shot and think he has absolutely striped that there's no reason. For any any alarm there's no worries there's no anything that that is gonna the next.
Clip i'm going to see on this video is the ball bounding down the fence 500 yards down the hill that's like this ball is going to be bounding. And bouncing and he's gonna have a wedge left into this par five yeah okay unfortunately that's not what i saw ah what i did see was the ball a missile okay give me a rough estimation of ball speed well it come he's hitting at the moment coming off the club face at 200 miles per hour now it does slow down obviously from that point. So once it lands it's not traveling at 200 miles per hour thankfully but it's it's traveling fast i actually don't know the speed of a ball when it lands well depending yeah 50 60 miles per hour 70 miles per hour. So this missile this hard let's call 100 miles an hour for the story's sake let's call it that and it's on fire yeah of course. So so this golf ball then.
Lands in and amongst a crowd of spectators unwilling not not having a clue that that their life in that a split moment is in jeopardy yeah. But surely shout out fall to warn them rick well that's where the story does get a little bit twisted guys okay because that's not what what took place. So there was no shout there was no warning there was no marshalling those spectators had no idea that golf ball was going to land near their feet their ankles their heads their children their sitting there might be having a little drink chilling out watching the girl thinking this is lovely i'm here at torrey pines this is i'm enjoying my day next.
Thing i'm trying to get this. For the kind of sound do it really hard punch your face really hard let's see come on let's see that look right let's everyone now rick's going to punch his hand let's see how hard he can do it no i don't want to hurt myself. But like if that ball was going to come in i feel like i want to get a ball. And smack it against your microphone right it hurts okay. So that ball landed into the crowd bounced never sounded right then.
No it would have hurt if it landed somewhere right there's like a thud in the ground definitely luckily very luckily it didn't hit anyone okay yeah it bounced through. And it landed into a position that the commentators the a lot of people saying that's that's perfect like that's in a good spot it's the rough being trampled down he's got a good line into the flag he's avoided the trouble so was the aim in there then.
Do you think. Or allowing his miss to go that direction a million percent yeah a million percent because it's. And apparently a lot of players were hitting it over that right hand side. But this particular and then.
I'm gonna kind of confirm about what i think about bryson in a minute because that's got a little bit twisted in this translation this golf ball finished in an ideal position his second shot into the green. Or whatever it may be i didn't see the rest of the clip from there but for me that was a perfect time where that ball was was definitely heading towards people people's lives were in danger it's been an age-old tradition in golf that a simple four-letter word is shouted okay as a warning. For fore i typed that word a lot yesterday that is the most simple thing to do as a goal. For the most courteous thing the the right thing for etiquette everything to shout for at the top of your frigging voice to warn people the golf ball is coming your way okay it goes back hundreds of years the first mention of the term four in the british golf museum is from 1881. So it's at least it's at least what's that a couple hundred years old nearly so this ain't new okay. And i believe it's about it was a there's two translations on it one it was to warn back in the day used to have four caddies yep i said have caddies down the fairway um to help look. For your golf ball speed up play whatever it may be and basically you'd shout four as a shorter version of four caddy to watch where your golf ball went that's one of the things another thing as well is it was apparently a abbreviation of before because the golf ball is going to be coming before you. So be be careful or a warning of whatever it may be so it's not new many many players shout it i've shouted it hundreds of times in my golfing life yes as of probably you have probably most people listening i like a loud shout out four yeah. And it's and like i say it's not new on twitter yesterday i was your first tweet then.
How did. So obviously i also did a poll i want to come to this first because i think this is really important even though this was out of order i did a poll do you shout four if your golf ball is heading towards people okay seven. And a half thousand people voted in four hours it and alarms me that it's not 100 yes the option is yes. Or no okay yes got 97 yeah no got three percent that could be people just doing it. For the last though i must admit a couple of people said i've got fat thumbs. And pressed no by accident right. But an overwhelming percentage of people are shouting. For are doing the right thing okay. And if you shout if you heard four you would cover your head duck knowing that a golf ball is coming your way yeah okay gives you a chance to protect yourself protect your head protect children with you a chance of just being able to cover your vital areas temples back of head whatever it may be. So you don't get absolutely battered by a golf ball so i i completely agree with you and i think i've said in one of the podcasts recently about it how it's ridiculous to not shout. For but i saw obviously some of the comments from people and just literally to play devil's advocate could there be an argument or discussion to say that when you're on the golf course and playing obviously people do shout. For for other players but when you go to them as a spectator it's your responsibility to also be aware of flying golf balls and and there's a risk that you could get hit and now that doesn't mean you shouldn't shout. For but but i saw a lot of people saying that i don't really know there is a risk getting hit obviously you're at a golf event. And i think people are kind of somewhat of an understanding of that. And i believe on tickets it does say only that there's a responsibility you know you might get hit um. And i get that that's golf that unfortunately does happen regardless of warning shouts regardless of whatever it is people will get hit famously brooks kepca hit a woman at the ryder cup. And took her eye out nearly killed her he did shout four. And that he still got hit and so you can't completely prevent it but at least as a player you've covered your own back there yeah you'd feel terrible still if you're brooks kepker. But equally you've hit a bad shot the spectators are there it's their own risk. And you've shouted four you kind of feel like i've done everything i could do covered your back okay. And i don't think. For one second he would have intentionally hit it towards people no not at that time because it didn't give him any advantage. So my first um tweet was shout. For ffs someone is going to get very badly hurt soon if this continues. And i did tag him in i tagged bryson the chamber with not that he's going to reply to me. But can you explain why you didn't shout. For is that what you said. Or can you explain why you didn't at bryson dechambeau. So that was a way of me kind of i didn't want to be accused of oh you why don't you just tag him in. And ask him oh i did have they said that tweet you know 2.8 000 likes. And it's been retweeted 217 times so then.
I continued to go on to the and again the response was really really alarming um. For me i i put a subtweet under this this is also setting a terrible example to young golfers around the world who either idolize these superstars they have a responsibility to set the benchmark. And that that for me is a really important thing because you see it in football again jokingly i watch the football friday. And you're seeing the players not as bad anymore don't feel like it's as bad in football you might disagree where players dive and they roll over 10 times and they spit on the ground and i remember my wife we were watching at the time she went when i was because she was a teacher she had when i was teaching that's what kids do now they spit when they play football they roll around they try. And get they try and get penalties given to him the argument the referee because they're seeing their superstars do it you know they're these young kids watching football are seeing the best players in the world footballers spit swear disrespect the referee whatever it may be. And it filters down into junior football things like this players not shouting for for me is the set in such a bad example to junior golfers watching because it will filter down there'll be junior golfers out there going why should i shout. For yeah bryson doesn't. And others and others which i'll come on to in a minute then.
I go on to the fact that golf balls can kill because they can there's evidence of that golf balls have killed people started tweeting me evidence of matt wolfe not shouting. For so i also tagged a video with matt wolf not shouting for and again he should have done sometimes he does sometimes he doesn't um i said a good example of phil mickelson shouting. For and again he's not done all the time he's not done it forever but he did in this situation that video i've got off um. And then.
For me it was the the alarming responses i was getting off people that were giving players excuses. For not doing the most simple thing of shouting for question for you i don't know i actually answered this did bryson's caddy shout. For nobody shouted for that in that instance right there and and i think this is where because a lot of people were saying well around a player. And again i've been to many tournaments there is a lot of people there there's marshall the spectators there's scoreboard carriers there's referees there's caddies there's players right i wouldn't expect any other pl any other person in that situation just to maybe start the four i solely put on the player's responsibility unless it's unless it's like let's say. For example that golf ball mid-flight took a turn the wind hit it off the ocean okay bryson picked up his team walking away. And then.
Somebody's still watching the golf ball suddenly goes oh crap there's somebody in danger here and shouts on bryson's behalf but i still think it's the player's responsibility to start the shout off personally again i do agree with you. And i'm just trying to find different angles to look at but you wouldn't expect bryson to replace on divot would ya or to rake his own bunker so could it be argued that he's paying the caddy and it should be their job if that's what it is that's what i don't know i don't know i think there's i found it as well where i i don't expect a fan to shout. Or a marshall because again i feel like they could the player hitting the golf ball has the knowledge the ability to know i've hit that golf ball at said speed said distance that far off line i know where those people are stood i know my ball is going to land somewhere near there that's on the i think that's more on the play than anyone else maybe the caddy because like say. But i still i don't think you should pass the blame in this situation i think if you're gonna do it. And and i very very much respect players who do it on behalf of other players i think that's really good because i think there was a clip where matt wolf hit it into the crowd again don't quote me on exactly this. But louis usnaisen shouted because matt didn't awesome love seeing that because again give people warnings the next.
Thing i really really disagree with is this fact that people can't hear you when you're 350 yards down the fairway that again doesn't matter even if you do. Or you don't shout it cover your own back because again if you're a player shouting it and if you're a tournament like this the caddy shout the marshall shout the the other players you can here can't yeah you could hear somebody. And i get that the ocean that's still no excuse like i don't think that is an excuse to be able to not shout it. But going back to this kind of idea people were then.
Going on that um one being against americans that was one thing i couldn't believe i was reading people saying i'm against americans which i will tell you now i am not against americans why one bit the two examples i showed you of the bad ones were americans the example of a good one was an american it's just the footage i could find. So i'm definitely against that and most of the time i'm not against bryson like i actually quite like what he's doing to the game i know we've talked about him quite a bit on the podcast about the equipment he's using his golf swing his ability to do what he's doing with with his golf game a lot of that i really respect. And and i respect the grind i respect what he's he's looking at a situation going i can do this differently i can use better. And it can help me become a more proficient golfer huge respect. For that but don't forget that you are on tv you are being watched by hundreds of thousands of people around the world do the honorable thing the simple thing if you know it's gonna go towards crowd. And i honestly still believe that he hit it there on purpose as well which is also a big thing shout. For i then.
Watched yesterday several times he did it again yesterday not not one regard. For shouting four there was one really bad instance on 14 he was in a bunker short of the green thinned it through the back this the excuse of the excuse of um not being able to shout here. For doesn't exist 50 yards away there was there was zero excuse to shout it. And it clattered into the crowd i think a few people did shout it clattered into the crowd. And whatever and i was like that was. So that was simple that was a simple you've hit a bad golf shot i'm not saying that you don't hit bad shots everyone hits bad shots. And it's not nice it goes in the crowd um the other thing i found really really worrying what i heard people saying on twitter as well is this idea yeah they're aiming. For for the crowd so they can get a bounce back into the fairways are you actually having a laugh like that i don't think that's true. But also like that's why they're not shouting four yeah. But because i think how accurate you'd have to be to hit the crowd because it's just hitting the fairways that's nice. But also in this idea that if you're gonna shout four at least it gives the spectators a chance to cover their head which is the important thing if it hits their back. And bounce onto the fairway it still works still effective if it is the head kills the person bounce back on the fairway i would be interested to know because again i i'm the same as you i think they should shout. For it's ridiculous i think it almost looks cool if they shout forward loud it's like yeah i'm going to well. And ideally a direction and ideally a right or a left and again this isn't just to find it so i wonder is there actually a reason why they don't because i can't work out they would have grown up playing golf matt wolf's only what 21. Or 20 early 20s brighton's mid-20s they're not you know they've been playing golf as an amateur not that long ago and and it's a done thing and that's why i tagged him that's why i tagged him and stuff that's why i see what the actual answer is if there's an answer if the tour said don't shout it we don't want to set panic up. Or whatever it may be it doesn't look good doesn't look good on tv if you're shouting for give me that give me a valid reason and if it was across the board if no player shouted it okay that's something that tour decided to do i don't agree with it. But whatever it may be but that's not the case and you can see players other players are getting frustrated with players that don't shout. For like john ram who won yesterday will definitely come on too because he deserves more air time on this podcast than than the players who is not shouting. For on 18 or not 18 whatever hole it was yesterday 17. Or 16 he blasted it miles right big loud very obvious shout out for gave chance spectators to cover their heads and not get hit last two things i want to talk about first off somebody said about how spectators when they should know where to stand. And not to stand don't agree with that if you've got the rope you can stand outside the rope i don't think players. And i've been to many tour events if i've not played the golf course i don't really know where players are going to be landing the guy this is the problem with twitter without being disrespectful because a lot of people use twitter a lot of blonder have opinions you might know anything about golf you're engaging with a stupid opinion like i don't mean that everyone can have an opinion. But the person that said that might have started golf last week be not know anything about golf. And say and they want to have their say cause it's twitter and they can. And then.
You're getting them to annoyed by their opinion i know i almost think that they're the guys who think everybody should know as much about golf as they do i don't think they're the new people i think the guys who are saying that yeah the ones that believe that everybody should who go to a tour event know where to stand they go maybe that's not the best. But in general though everybody can have an opinion on twitter that's the thing. And when you start to obviously it's good to engage with your fans or listen to the podcast or views of your channel but when it's an argument like that where everybody wants to have the say it's almost like you can't win because 97 97 of people agreed with you which you saw on the poll but the three percent that don't are often the loudest in the room. And they want to say oh yeah. But they should know where to stand or it's this it's that and it almost rails you up more because it's like they're talking nonsense some people do it on purpose to annoy you like you said you're slagging off americans that's not like there's nothing to do with what country they're from. But that's what people are going to pick at twitter's not always the best place. But it's the good news gained 600 followers there you go people were saying that doing it. For clout i wasn't you get it from it yeah i'm doing it. For 600 followers i did it. For 600 followers i just won't mention that time i played you didn't shout for um no one joking you're very good at shouting four you've got a very loud four votes people have said like you don't do it on videos there's many evidence of videos we've done it on even the latest ming woo lee one that we did at saint andrews like i wasn't the player hitting the ball. But we all shouted four to the top of our voices because there was two ladies walking the golf course. And didn't realize we were playing golf like you've got a shot. For even said to my wife what if you heard four what does it mean it means a ball is coming my way what would you do duck. And cover my head like brilliant so even if if anything if i lost followers if if bryce nishambo never wants to talk to me again if he wants a boxing match whatever it may be if that's if that's what it's taken to educate at least some people won the important shouting for two what to do when when a four takes place i'm happy of annoying some people if we've managed to educate a lot of people yep good you're right feel better time to start your sleeves.
