And they call this the gentleman’s game?
Only a few weeks have passed since the well known sometimes loved, sometimes hated local golfer Earl Martin blew his top after only 5 holes during a the qualifying round at this year’s Peoria Men’s City golf tournament.
In today’s Journal Star is a story about another local golfer who needs anger management counseling. The tournament is the rain shortened 36 hole stroke play championship held over the weekend at Newman G.C.
Tom Nibbelin, criticized the tournament committee for cancelling Saturday’s round, then demanded a refund of half his $10 entry fee. Nibbelin also wrote “W.D.” behind his name on the official tournament scoreboard. Behind a threat of calling the Peoria Park District police, tournament director John Gostele asked Nibbelin to leave the Newman clubhouse and then said he would not allow him to enter any future PPD tournaments.
I’ve got several problems with this guy- First, he’s quibbling about $5- not because he needs the five bucks, but because it is obvious that he just wants to argue.
Second, writing W.D. (withdrew) on the official scoreboard is a no-no. Writing anything on the scoreboard is a no-no.
Third, tournament director John Gostele is about the nicest man you could ever meet. For him to threaten to call the Police and ban this man from all future PPD tournaments tells me that Mr. Nebbelin really pushed his buttons and has major issues that go well beyond an official making a judgement call about the weather.
This guy reminds me of a kid throwing a fit at Walmart; I can just see him lying on the floor kicking and screaming- arms and legs flailing. It is unfortunate that we have to deal with these types of personalities, but I guess some people just can’t cope with things that are out of their control. I still hold out faith that Golf is the “Gentleman’s Game” and my experience confirms that fact. I’ve run into a few nutjobs over the years, but I have never met more kind and friendly people than I have on a golf course.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:13 am
Golf may be the “Gentleman’s Game,” but it is also very frustrating. I’ve tried playing a few times and I generally end up with thoughts of bending or throwing my clubs.
I do not condone this “gentleman’s” behavior; but I do understand frustration with the game. In this instance, I suspect he was probably frustrated with his own performance and decided to project his bad day upon others. For shame!
I’ll stick to darts and billiards. The other Gentleman’s games. They just seem to go better with a cool pint of bitter or stout.
August 21st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
I will stick to cat hunting, cathartic to say the least.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
For as popular as Golf is in this town, I don’t know of any golfing bloggers.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
If this keeps up I think they need to set up an anger management class which is required to be taken before tournament play.
Sad thing is before our kids are allowed to play a sport the coaches, directors, etc. go over what will and will not be tolerated and overall sportsmanship. Sounds like a few golfers need to take a few lessons in our youth.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Hey now, dueling with muskets was once a “Gentleman’s game” of sorts too, y’know.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:41 am
Interesting that you write about and make comments on something you never saw. There are always several sides to a story and Mr. Stewart didn’t get them all. If you know Greg Stewart….and I know him….you will know that he has people he likes and people he doesn’t like and will write whatever he wants to write regardless of the truth. Mr. Gostele didn’t tell me that I was banned from further PPD Golf events and the PPD Police were never called.
I’ve been playing competitive golf at local and state events for over 30 years and this was the worst event management I’ve ever seen. The top flight of players, who teed off early on Saturday, determined that they had “better things to do” than wait a couple hours for the weather to clear. The committee…and John Gostele…canceled the day’s play so the Championship flighters wouldn’t be “inconvenienced”. I came at my appointed tee time to find no one from the tournament committee there….and the weather clear….and the course playable. In fact, I played 18 holes in under 3 hours that day….with no rain or lightning.
On Sunday, there was visible lightening from hole 12 to 17 before a pouring rain finally brought the sirens out and play to a halt. I thought we should have stopped play when the lightening was flashing and told an official so. He said, “play on”. My mistake was playing further than hole 12. By hole 17 we were soaked, the course was soaked and bolts of lightning were still firing through the sky. I decided to withdraw and brought my clubs in. I mentioned to Mr. Gostele that I thought this was the most unprofessional and worst managed tournament that I’ve ever played in. He and his “crew” got angry and were the first to raise their voices. I raised mine in return. They said things I don’t think they would like to be made public and I returned volley. I wrote WD on the board because I wanted to make clear that I WITHDREW from the tournament and didn’t quit because of how I was playing. Then I left the clubhouse and went home.
The story of that day should have been the negligence of the tournament committee in not blowing the siren when lightening was seen. Stewart likes sensationalist journalism….tabloid journalism….and needs to keep a decent relation with the PPD for his job. We were once co-workers and he has stabbed me in the back more than once. I guess that was his little opportunity to take another stab.
Your silly little blog is another place that likes to take “stabs” at people without knowing the full story. I didn’t know this existed until a friend told me, today, about it after googling my name. I’m in India right now….far, far away from the small-minded hacks in Peoria….like yourself. Thank God! Not that India doesn’t have it’s own hacks. Bad, stilted journalism and tabloid blogs like this are all over the globe.
If you get to know John Gostele a little better, you might find that he has a dark side….like everyone. On that day, it came out. That wasn’t reported. Tabloid journalists, like Stewart, aren’t to be trusted and are rarely to be believed when it comes to the truth of a matter. There are some good people at the PJStar. Stewart isn’t one of them. He is the living picture of the unhealthy and unholy that inhabit the world of “entertainment journalism”. God help him…..and God help you.