Why are course marshalls so angry

Generally retired people who work for min wage for the love of the game, yet by the end of the day they are angry. Not sure why. They really don't speed up things up and get to drive around in a golf cart all day

Light beer

I imagine anyone in customer service who has to deal with drunk people all day would have little patience at the end of the day.

Dealing with entitled douche bags will make you angry. Or so I've been told.

It's a very thankless job. A lot of them are paid very little if at all. Arguing with disrespectful / entitled / drunk players that are just out for their single annual golf game gets old. There is a schedule to keep in golf, too. A slow group can throw off times and you gotta hope you can somehow make it up. The attitude presented when asking a group to play a little quicker the 2nd or 3rd time is normally a little hostile. I've never had a marshall bitch me out the first time talking to me.

And whoever said light beer, that's hilarious. Those old timers love their bud heavies or flask of grandpas cough medicine.

They think they own the course and they are constantly regulating people doing stupid stuff. Plus most are Low T old men.

Lol...Seldom do I come across a happy or even civil marshall. I play a course on occasion where the marshall is always on your ass. I told him to call Peter Jacobsen who designed the 3 holes that clogged this place up. He didnt find it funny.

I ranger at two courses in the Detroit area. I must admit, we do have a few bad rangers (maybe 5 or 6 out of 85 at both courses). But, the vast majority are cool and respectful. Rangers do take a lot of xxxx from some people and there are a few of them don't seem to have the ability to let it go when they deal with the next group of golfers they may have some issue with. I've had only a few customers flip out on me, but I just laugh at them and then give the choice to improve their play/behavior or they will be invited to leave.

If all the rangers at the course are treating you unfairly, complain to management. You would be surprised that the inside people and/or the pro don't really know what certain rangers do on the course. Better yet, put it in writing. Or, play somewhere else. For a long time there was a course in the Detroit burbs that had excessively idiotic rangers (Pine Trace). Everyone called them Golf Nazis and I stopped playing there. I've heard they have improved on this, but with 140 public courses in the area I still take my business somewhere else.

Last, there are a few that really are too old to do the job correctly.

> @Moo said:

> I ranger at two courses in the Detroit area. I must admit, we do have a few bad rangers (maybe 5 or 6 out of 85 at both courses). But, the vast majority are cool and respectful. Rangers do take a lot of xxxx from some people and there are a few of them don't seem to have the ability to let it go when they deal with the next group of golfers they may have some issue with. I've had only a few customers flip out on me, but I just laugh at them and then give the choice to improve their play/behavior or they will be invited to leave.

>

> If all the rangers at the course are treating you unfairly, complain to management. You would be surprised that the inside people and/or the pro don't really know what certain rangers do on the course. Better yet, put it in writing. Or, play somewhere else. For a long time there was a course in the Detroit burbs that had excessively idiotic rangers (Pine Trace). Everyone called them Golf **** and I stopped playing there. I've heard they have improved on this, but with 140 public courses in the area I still take my business somewhere else.

>

> Last, there are a few that really are too old to do the job correctly.

>

>

To old? Please explain that one

> @DrippingWet said:

> > @Moo said:

> > I ranger at two courses in the Detroit area. I must admit, we do have a few bad rangers (maybe 5 or 6 out of 85 at both courses). But, the vast majority are cool and respectful. Rangers do take a lot of xxxx from some people and there are a few of them don't seem to have the ability to let it go when they deal with the next group of golfers they may have some issue with. I've had only a few customers flip out on me, but I just laugh at them and then give the choice to improve their play/behavior or they will be invited to leave.

> >

> > If all the rangers at the course are treating you unfairly, complain to management. You would be surprised that the inside people and/or the pro don't really know what certain rangers do on the course. Better yet, put it in writing. Or, play somewhere else. For a long time there was a course in the Detroit burbs that had excessively idiotic rangers (Pine Trace). Everyone called them Golf **** and I stopped playing there. I've heard they have improved on this, but with 140 public courses in the area I still take my business somewhere else.

> >

> > Last, there are a few that really are too old to do the job correctly.

> >

> >

>

> To old? Please explain that one

By too old, I mean they have lost a certain amount of function. I'll give you a couple of examples. We have a guy in his 80's that rambles on with the customers on the course. He is always telling them about some new theory of his to speed up play. The irony of this, of course, is that his very action is slowing down play...and it irritates the players. I take over after his shift and golfers often stop and tell me to keep that guy away from them. It's possible that he may have an early stage of some age-related dementia. A second guy is also in his late 70's or early 80's. He has absolutely no idea how to correct domino backups on the course and often I have to attempt to clean up his mess. He has been doing the job for years and every ranger knows they have to check on him on his side because he can't do this simple job.

There is another type that is too old, or rather, too worn out. There are few guys that have been doing it for years and have reached this point where they think it doesn't matter. I dislike this type the most. They are ripping off the course and the customers and should go find some other activity to do. We have this one clown that just hunts for balls for his entire shift. He doesn't even take a radio out with him, which means he is useless to a starter or the pro shop.

I look at the job in a very simple way. I am grateful to both courses for the opportunity to get lots and lots of free golf for very little work. Second, I am the advocate for all the golfers that want to play at pace and I run it tight. My turns are 2h 15 or less. I find the problems before they have domino-ed. And I treat people, even the uber clowns, with respect...but I get them to fix what is what wrong.

Lol. Dealing with the golfing public would make anyone angry. I see it every weekend. You watch our starter try to run a very tight ship and you’ll have groups take 20 minutes in the fairway on #1 which backs up the whole world. Or guys having to be yelled at to come on from the range , singles who refuse to be paired up and get angry when the starter tells them to go back to the pro shop etc. members showing up to the tee with no pro shop receipt showing their times , etc etc.

I think they hire grumpy old men as marshals. But it's not as bad as it was 30 years ago. Or maybe it is and I'm just older and grumpier.

This is the old adage a few bad apples......I'd suspect that most rangers are good and we don't even notice them, but what we do remember is the couple of bad experiences. That is the tough part about the service industry, you are more likely to be remembered for your one bad day instead of your 100 good days in between.

> @Pulledabill said:

> Lol...Seldom do I come across a happy or even civil marshall. I play a course on occasion where the marshall is always on your ****. I told him to call Peter Jacobsen who designed the 3 holes that clogged this place up. He didnt find it funny.

LOL, must have been playing Stone Creek in Oregon City. I know that stretch immediately when you mentioned it, horrendous golf holes for an otherwise well-designed golf course.

> @bladehunter said:

> Lol. Dealing with the golfing public would make anyone angry. I see it every weekend. You watch our starter try to run a very tight ship and you’ll have groups take 20 minutes in the fairway on #1 which backs up the whole world. Or guys having to be yelled at to come on from the range , singles who refuse to be paired up and get angry when the starter tells them to go back to the pro shop etc. members showing up to the tee with no pro shop receipt showing their times , etc etc.

This, it is on the golfing public to just be better. I worked in customer service at a retail store in college during summers. If the level of ineptitude for common sense I saw there from the general public translates to what a Marshall has to deal with on a golf course....I feel for them.

I don't mind Marshalls, in-fact, I like the overzealous ones. If I am not keeping up with the group in front or my group is behind, I want to know. Likewise, for those groups ahead of me, I hope they would do the same thing to them.

> @madchens said:

> > @bladehunter said:

> > Lol. Dealing with the golfing public would make anyone angry. I see it every weekend. You watch our starter try to run a very tight ship and you’ll have groups take 20 minutes in the fairway on #1 which backs up the whole world. Or guys having to be yelled at to come on from the range , singles who refuse to be paired up and get angry when the starter tells them to go back to the pro shop etc. members showing up to the tee with no pro shop receipt showing their times , etc etc.

>

> This, it is on the golfing public to just be better. I worked in customer service at a retail store in college during summers. If the level of ineptitude for common sense I saw there from the general public translates to what a Marshall has to deal with on a golf course....I feel for them.

>

> I don't mind Marshalls, in-fact, I like the overzealous ones. If I am not keeping up with the group in front or my group is behind, I want to know. Likewise, for those groups ahead of me, I hope they would do the same thing to them.

I agree. I adore our two. Both combined age of around 170 ( true story ) and either will light up a slow group in a heart beat.

> @bladehunter said:

> > @madchens said:

> > > @bladehunter said:

> > > Lol. Dealing with the golfing public would make anyone angry. I see it every weekend. You watch our starter try to run a very tight ship and you’ll have groups take 20 minutes in the fairway on #1 which backs up the whole world. Or guys having to be yelled at to come on from the range , singles who refuse to be paired up and get angry when the starter tells them to go back to the pro shop etc. members showing up to the tee with no pro shop receipt showing their times , etc etc.

> >

> > This, it is on the golfing public to just be better. I worked in customer service at a retail store in college during summers. If the level of ineptitude for common sense I saw there from the general public translates to what a Marshall has to deal with on a golf course....I feel for them.

> >

> > I don't mind Marshalls, in-fact, I like the overzealous ones. If I am not keeping up with the group in front or my group is behind, I want to know. Likewise, for those groups ahead of me, I hope they would do the same thing to them.

>

> I agree. I adore our two. Both combined age of around 170 ( true story ) and either will light up a slow group in a heart beat.

I concur as well. Much better than the old farts that will drive right past a group who has an entire hole open in front of them

Marshals get criticized when they don't move things along well enough, and they get criticized when they tell ME to speed it up. Very few people are ever happy when they see a marshal, no wonder they get ornery at times. Personally, I've never had a problem. If I'm behind, I agree to speed it up as best we can. If we're waiting a lot, we POLITELY ask the marshal do to what he can to help speed things up. Its mostly in approach, in treating the guys with respect. If you act like an entitled a$$, you get treated the way you deserve.

[email protected] must live in a different part of the country that y'all do. I play a lot of different golf course in the Greater Houston area every year and seldom do I run into a marshall who is as bad as many here come in contact with. I only had one situation this past year that comes to mind and it really wasn't the marshall, it was the guy out of the pro shop who jumped my butt because the group behind me (yes behind me....in a tournament) was more than a hole behind us.

> @DrippingWet said:

> Generally retired people who work for min wage for the love of the game, yet by the end of the day they are angry. Not sure why. They really don't speed up things up and get to drive around in a golf cart all day

Did you think that working after retirement for minimum wage for the love of the game and golf cart "perks" all day would make them happy, or something like that? I don't get it.

Obnoxious golfers, that would make anyone angry,

All this working after retirement for minimum wage stuff is not on the mark. Most rangers do not get paid. They get free golf and other perks.

I golf for free on four courses, three of which are unlimited play. I work very, very few hours, and most of the work is a lot of fun (leagues and weekend starting is fun). In retail terms, I estimate I get about 8-10 free rounds a week, as I often golf 36. And there are lots of other perks too.

It's not about the money.

I've never left the course angry. I don't think I've ever been angry on the course at customers. A couple of times I've been angry with other rangers, but they are idiots that can't do the simple job.

So actually awake? That's progress, IMO.

> @madchens said:

> > @Pulledabill said:

> > Lol...Seldom do I come across a happy or even civil marshall. I play a course on occasion where the marshall is always on your ****. I told him to call Peter Jacobsen who designed the 3 holes that clogged this place up. He didnt find it funny.

>

> LOL, must have been playing Stone Creek in Oregon City. I know that stretch immediately when you mentioned it, horrendous golf holes for an otherwise well-designed golf course.

Exactly!! Like the layout minus the corner of the course. The marshalls and starters here limit me on play here and never on a weekend.

> @RickK said:

> [email protected] must live in a different part of the country that y'all do. I play a lot of different golf course in the Greater Houston area every year and seldom do I run into a marshall who is as bad as many here come in contact with. I only had one situation this past year that comes to mind and it really wasn't the marshall, it was the guy out of the pro shop who jumped my butt because the group behind me (yes behind me....in a tournament) was more than a hole behind us.

>

I’m with you on that one Rick. I play all over the Houston area, and I’ve never encountered a rude Marshall.

> @Hawkeye77 said:

> So actually awake? That's progress, IMO.

Nice to see the annual Steve and Eydie shot Hawk!

I play about a dozen different courses around here, probably seen 10 marshals in the last decade and actually talked to about 3. Rarely take more than 4 hours to play so maybe they just aren't necessary.

One of the 3 was last weekend and he was great. Had a threesome and I got to the club house first, paid, went to the range. My partners riding together show up, hit a bucket, we go tee off.

About hole 6 marshal shows up and let's us know "We have a problem here fellas, only one of you paid". Turns out my partner that made the res on Tee Off thought it was prepaid, but it wasn't. They went in at the turn and paid up. I got to give the stealing cheaters a ration the rest of the round. It was great. Believe me it will continue in the future, "Did you pay this time?"

> @sprcoop said:

> I play about a dozen different courses around here, probably seen 10 marshals in the last decade and actually talked to about 3. Rarely take more than 4 hours to play so maybe they just aren't necessary.

>

Maybe the ones who ARE there are actually doing an effective job.

Erin Hills has 15 minute tee times so there should never be a pace of play issue. Our first time playing it, the group in front of us was horrifically slow. There was a ranger present and active. After several warnings, he literally moved the group in front to the next hole and later in the round, he did it a second time. Even with that, we finished in 5:45.

To us, the ranger was wonderful. To the group in front of us I'm sure he was considered an angry marshall.

All about perspective.

Can't say I've run into a 'bad' or 'grumpy' marshall in some time. Granted, most are powerless to do anything anyway, which perhaps leads to some frustration?