Frustrating day on the course RANT

:D

My god what a frustrating day on the course, game, playing partners, a**holes ahead of us, you name it I had it. Show up as a single and get paired up with a threesome, usual scenario.

Turns out one of the guys makes Ben Crane look like Lanny Wadkins he's so slow. I swear I saw the greens get shaggier by the hole waiting on this guy. I could tell by the 3rd hole this was going to be a rough day. I stuck to my own game though, which was pretty good except couldn't make a putt. Turns out he's a real nice guy, just slower than mollasses in January in Michigan. Going into the back 9 we had a 2some ahead of us, and a twosome behind us. We let the twosome play through to catch up with the guys ahead god knows we weren't gonna catch them. Anyhow all was okay till 17.

We waited on 16 for the guys to clear before hitting (somehow we caught them). We then had 2 lost balls and some dude 3 putted, so we spent a good 10 minutes by the green. We get to the tee of the Par 5 17th, and it's all clear ahead (Downhill dogleg, semi-blind).

We tee off without a hitch, head over the hill about 250 off the tee and see the group ahead at the bottom of the hill :D . I go find my ball which I know is in the fairway and the azzhat up ahead yells back "looking for your ball, I hit it back to you!" :D So I go up to the guy and ask why the hell he would do that to which he replied, "cause you b@st.... hit into us".

At this point I'm furious inside, and only semi-calmly asked, "Do you think we have :clapping: Xray vision? How the hell were we to know that you were 330yds over the hill!!! if your still in the way park a damn cart at the top of the hill so we can see you!" He then mutters something about stop hitting into us and I'll stop hitting your ball. At this point I look over at the rest of his foursome, and they're just looking down shaking there heads in disbelief. I walk over to the 2 older guys we let play through earlier and appologized to them for not knowing they were there and hitting into them. I then asked if they could tell me where my ball had been so I could drop, and get back into my cart. Loudmouth then gets mad that I didn't apologize to him. :D God I've never wished more that I had my 1 iron with me to beat him senseless. I told him if he hadn't been a $(#%&$(*% about the whole thing I would have but that he would have to settle for kiss my ...... This didn't sit too well, but as the rest of my foursome decided to come down and see what was going on he finally decided to be smart and keep his mouth shut.

Somehow I birdied that hole after that whole mess, and parred the 18th for a very disappointing 74 (+2). I hit 15 GIR, 1 dbl bogey (OB ball), zero 3 putts, 8 true lipouts. Could not buy a damn putt to save my life.

Thanks for reading.........I need a few :cheesy:

From a new golfers perspective this seems to be a hot topic for golfers everywhere. The thing I don't understand is this. If I'm going to play a course that is close and reasonably priced then I expect to have a slow round if I can get on at all. I expect to play with people that are better than me and worse than me. I expect to play with slow players and fast players. Having that expectation prior to even leaving to go play keeps me from getting frustrtated at those very things throughout the round. In my limited time golfing I have learned that the less expensive convenient courses are almost always like that, at least in my area. Now to flip the coin. If I happen to have a little extra money, which is rare, I will book a tee time at a nicer more expensive course. The difference in pace of play alone is incredible! I've also noticed that not only do these courses have fewer players they are also in general better players overall.

Hopefully you can adjust your expectations prior to going to your next round and have a much more satisfying round. :clapping:

Ya I hear ya and I totally agree with the ready golf rules. I do my best to abide by them and tactfully advise others when they are not.

The point I was trying to make was depending on the course your playing your expectations may not be realistic.

Re-gripping your ball fetcher? Now thats a good one! :clapping:

I'm sorry, fellas, but ain't no way I'm going to "prepare" myself for some bunch of yahoos who think a 5-hr round is OK. It doesn't seem to matter how fancy the green fees are ... and friends complain about private clubs -- pace of play has become criminal in this country. It isn't so much that the jerks in front of us were slow -- they were just lousy golfers and with the course backed up had the cahones to hit multiple mulligans off EVERY tee. The only good thing about that was that they didn't often pick them all up. Got a few Nikes for the shagbag. There really ought to be some way to legally and successfully inquire whether a player is ready for a particular course and/or capable of playing from whatever set of tees.

Unfortunately you are going to occasionally run into inconsiderate groups like that wherever you go. In my experience they are not common enough to be the main cause of slow play. Not to mention if the course had a marshall worth his salt they would have been dealt with accordingly.

The biggest cause of slow play that I see is caused by courses being overcrowded with less experienced golfers. I have never played a private course so I can't comment on them.

Crazy thing was, this guy wasn't a hack........he shot 86 for the round. This guy knew how to play, it was just like watching paint dry. I also expect a 5 hour round when I play on the weekend, because of overcrowding and people not playing ready golf. But to not be able to play in under 4:30 mid day on a Wednesday is absurd.

I have to agree with you. I have no problem with slow play--especially on the weekends on a course that I know is overcrowded. However, people need to understand the concept of timeliness. There's nothing more annoying than a super slow group playing on a Saturday morning with guys that have no clue and are hitting a zillion shots. I've played with my father-in-law and the only time he plays is when we visit (once a year) and he will pick up.

That guy was way out of line. You have to give people the benefit of the doubt on something like that. I was playing once and was in a similar situation. I hit a shot over the green on a course I'd never played before. I didn't realize the tee box for the next hole was right behind our green. When I got up there this guy is going psycho thinking I hit into him. I told him it was a mistake and didn't realize there was that little real estate behind the hole. He continued to be a jackoff while his playing partners just looked away. One of the guys in my group got in his face and asked him if he wanted to fight--needless to say the guy changed his tune real quick.

Big thing, play at a decent pace. If you've already hit double par for the hole just pick up and putt on the green. If the game is going that bad score should be the least of your problems. I might not always play well, but I know to finish on time.

Just my thoughts about this.

I've noticed over the many years that I've played this great game that the respectful behavior of this game is rapidly declining on most courses, especially publc and semi-private courses.

I actually caught myself behaving poorly just yesterday afternoon when the starter was trying to let another group off ahead of our foursome, even though we were on the teebox and ready to go. I could've handled the situation better in hindsight, but instead I blew up at the guy. He finally admitted his mistake, apologized many times, and allowed us to tee off on the back nine so we had nobody in front of us.

My point here is, we all live with enough stress in our daily lives. We should be thankful that we have the opportunity to even play this game that we all love so much. The golf course should be a place of solitude, a place to leave all the stress and BS that we all deal with everyday behind. There really is no need to bring it out on to the course.

I for one am going to make a concious effort to do just that. This game is tough enough, no need to make it any tougher by letting little things(and they truly are little in the large scope of things) on the course bother you.

Again, just my take on things.

Well said todd1100, I agree completely.

I felt obligated to post on this topic again after the round I played last night. I found it a bit ironic as my girlfriend and I get paired up with two guys that are actually worse than us. We tee'd off just before 5:30 and finshed just after 7:30 for a nine hole round. Both of the guys were very nice and polite. One of the guys was having a really bad round. In fact I don't think he hit one shot clean and probably lost about a dozen balls just through nine holes, actually make that eight holes as it was too dark to play the ninth for me cause I don't see worth a crap at night. I felt bad for the guy because he was playing so bad but I also found myself getting frustrated at him as well. He did pick up a few times but we were clearly holding up several groups behind us and the holes in front of us after the second were all clear. He was very slow with his warm up routine which he did before every shot. I'll say this about him though, he was way more persistant than me cause if I was playing that bad I would have walked off the course after the third hole. :clapping:

So far I have been fortunate to have never been behind a slow group except for last Sunday. Myself and my playing partner try to get to the course as soon as it opens so that we can be the first on. We got there a little late and the first tee box was stacked up with about 4 groups in front of us. The twosome that was ahead of us were the slowest players I have ever been behind. It took us over two hours and 35 minutes to play 7 holes. One of the guys would take countless practise swings, pick up some grass check the wind speed, take some swings, walk up check the yardage, take some swings, take a stance and then hit the ball, which he would duff or hit fat and his ball would go 30 yards and then he would repeat his routine. It was very frustrating.

My playing partner is just now learning to play golf and while I'm no pro I'm teaching him the basics of the game. The first thing I taught him was when he is playing with me we play ready golf.

Slow play is the biggest problem in golf. The USGA is so good at trying to attack technology for the everyday player they do not even understand the irony that they are making the one problem they do a terrible job of working on even worse.

And golf course owners do not have enough balls to take matters in their own hands and correct the problem. They are so worried about losing the revenue that pace of play means almost nothing to them. A full tee sheet is the major priority. Sure, on days the tee sheet is full the starter is a little more aggressive telling people on the 1st tee to keep up, but after that at best you encounter this useless group of people called marshalls.

Sometimes I wish I had a bullhorn with me when I am lounging around in the cart in the middle of a fairway waiting for the group in front of me to get to the green (then get off the green!). That way I can click the button and announce them "Golf your ball please!"

Slow Play has to be in the top 3 of my major golf pet peves. I wish there was away to get this point accross to all the players. I don't mean this in a negative way by any means but it at our courses around here it seems to be the senior citizens that are the slowest. They take carts, which you would think would help pace of play, but when they wander around the fairways and talk over each shot with there playing partners and ask for feedback on what club to use and argue about the distance it still takes forever.

What they also seem to do is play late in the afternoons during the week when all the working people are trying to get a quick round in before dinner or a kids ball game. Why can't t hey play in the morning when there is no one on the course.

I know there are also some young golfers that are slow also, but in my experence at our 2 local courses (1 private 1 public) its the seniors that are the slowest.

Please excuse me I'm not implying that all seniors are slow golfers by any means.

Just my thoughts about this.

I've noticed over the many years that I've played this great game that the respectful behavior of this game is rapidly declining on most courses, especially publc and semi-private courses.

I actually caught myself behaving poorly just yesterday afternoon when the starter was trying to let another group off ahead of our foursome, even though we were on the teebox and ready to go. I could've handled the situation better in hindsight, but instead I blew up at the guy. He finally admitted his mistake, apologized many times, and allowed us to tee off on the back nine so we had nobody in front of us.

 

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I would've been pissed off too. Why should someone be let off in front of you if you're in the tee box. A perfect example was a couple of weeks ago. We had an 8 am tee time. As we're headed over to the tee box the starter walks up and checks us off. I looked at his list and he had just let off the group with a 7:30 time. I'm sorry, but why even have tee times if they aren't going to be enforced. The people late might not like it, but that's too bad. When I was stationed at Nellis AFB (Las Vegas) they would call you up and if you didn't check in you had to wait until the next tee time.

If you ask me I think a lot of people just come out and play, but never get to really learn about the etiquette and some of the rules--that would make things a bit easier if you ask me.

...We had an 8 am tee time.  As we're headed over to the tee box the starter walks up and checks us off.  I looked at his list and he had just let off the group with a 7:30 time.    I'm sorry, but why even have tee times if they aren't going to be enforced.  The people late might not like it, but that's too bad.  ...

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Of course, I would have been caught out a few times because I'm almost habitually late. But it sure would be swell on those days when a course is particularly backed up if the starters would enforce the posted rule around here (muni and most public) that players are expected to report 30 mins before their tee time.

Agree with others that marshalls need some serious training on how to properly police the pace of play. Only one area course is serious. Clocks at every other teebox. You only get one warning, then you are history and no refund. Because the course hosts PGA tournament, they can get away with it. Everywhere else, the owners are concerned about offending some oaf.