"A question that has been posed frequently on tour is: why do professionals demand deafening silence while they are hitting their shots?"

Caddie Colin Byrne on the oddity of professional golfers' sensitivity to noise while hitting their shots:

It was so quiet on the seventh tee last week during our second round, despite a gaggle of local supporters as we were playing with Miguel Angel that day, I became aware of a bee hive in the distant undergrowth, buzzing away as my player settled over the ball. Surely it didn’t need to be that quiet?

I had time to reflect on the brouhaha at the recent Ryder Cup in Wales as I was listening to the silence in the south of Spain and once again wondered why we just don’t install a subtle speaker system in the playing areas of the course, exuding a general but consistent sound of life and humanity co-existing in the often too precious air on the golf course?

Then, of course, there would be no need for irate, frustrated professionals to growl at the spectators or set their caddies upon photographers. Golf and life could thrive in harmony.

If we can accept raucous behaviour at arguably the biggest golf event in the world, why do we demand the complete opposite the next week? Perhaps its time to accept the idle babble of an exuberant Andalucian gathering and then the photographers could snap away merrily in search of their winning shot without putting the players off theirs.