Stange/Funny Things in Heard in Your Golf Shop/At Your Course/Range

[WristySwing]

 

For the March guy: "Super sunny, low 60s with a two weeks of wind before hand to dry it out. We will be running like it's July out there! I suggest you book you and a few foursomes for as many rounds as you can get as we are going to be booked way out with weather like this!"

[Pworld]

"i usually hit it over 300. I need to get loose"

 

[bowilbury8]

Have you met Brandon Dune? He's a great guy and has an awesome course.

[WristySwing]

A friend of mine who works Big Box retail told me that a customer tried to get him fired recently. The customer was trying to get the Scotty Cameron and Bettinardi putters down off of the top shelf (about 7-8 feet high) with another putter as a grab stick. My friend told him to hold on just a second and he would grab a step stool and get it down for him. When he comes back the guy is gone and the cashier told him he stormed out. He wrote a letter and the district manager called him, in typical corporate fashion, to see what they could do to win him back as a customer. The guy said he had never been treated so poorly in his life and wanted the associate fired for making him feel stupid.

Yeah, okay.

[OrangeGravy]

I imagine you felt how I did the first time I saw someone using a spinning reel upside down and reeling backwards. I was so confused, I just sat there with my mouth agape

[Sean2]

I was talking to a fitter I know and he had this customer come in looking for a new driver. He compared his driver to a bunch of different shafts/heads with no meaningful results. He had an idea, gave the guy the club and the customer was gaining a legit 20 yards. The customer was thrilled...and then he looked at the shaft and saw it had an "L" on it. The customer told the fitter he only plays stiff shafts and despite seeing no distance gains insisted on buying one of the drivers they tried earlier...with a stiff shaft.

[shotmark]

I had someone come in to the shop a few years ago wanting to buy some Tom Austin wedges. After my initial blank look and a few minutes of confused conversation it turned out he wanted Cleveland Tour Action and had misinterpreted the writing on the clubhead.

[DaveLeeNC]

I am not a fitter but 20 yards just based on shaft flex is really surprising. This guy must have a swing that is sensitive to flex and is just 'better' with more flex.

Of course I am the opposite - I can swing about any flex shaft (although there are limits). And I don't like the feel of super stiff shafts, even though (at least back in my club building days) I can hit them just fine.

dave

[handicap28]

For some reason, anytime somebody speaks to me when I’m practising at the range they always end up being a bit weird (maybe it’s me!).

I had one guy tell me he wouldn’t go and see a pro for a lesson as they obviously won’t tell you how to fix your swing otherwise you wouldn’t need to come back for more. The longest club this guy admitted he could hit was a 6 or 7 iron and he couldn’t hit a wood off the tee. His handicap was mid-20s, I’m playing off around 10 (dont claim time be great but improving all the time with regulars lessons) but then decided he would try and give me a lesson himself. Had to move bays as he kept on going on and on about what he did in his swing and why I should try it.

Had another guy tell me he was an engineer and had figured out the golf swing himself and was now playing off low single figures. Told me which club he was a member of - turned out to be the same one as me. Could check his handicap and no where near single figures - as I could have guessed from watching him hit balls at the range.

Last story I can remember for now. Guy in the bay next to me was being custom fit (to be fair the guy fitting him was not very interested or paying much attention). Started speaking to me - telling me he played off 25 handicap and didn’t want to get any lower so he could keep winning against his mates. Told me he didn’t need more distance out a club as he could hit a 7 iron at least 180 yards. He then proceeded to hit every 6 iron around 120 yards - no difference between good and bad shots - and made the excuse that his swing was off because he had just spoke to his wife! When it can down to recommendations for clubs - he discarded anything in the better range of clubs as they were to expensive (hey - new clubs are expensive now) and went for some Callaways. Having been told they would only be released in 2 weeks time he said unless I can leave here now with clubs then I won’t bother. Obviously not understanding a fitting.

 

[WristySwing]

Nice ones. Those last two really hit home. I've had a self proclaimed guru from Instagram or YouTube or something come through and start filming at our shop (without our permission). They said they wanted to film the practice, making it sound like he just wanted to use a GoPro or something. No problem, we allow that so guys can watch their swing or send it to their coaches. Guy was 20-25 min late showing up, had booked an hour practice session and started introducing where he was and filming around the area and trying to explain on camera why his numbers were what they were. Almost everything out of his mouth was complete non-sense and he had me go fetch him a shaft and head to try because he wanted to prove how mechanics trump all fittings and it was unlikely he would see any sort of change (saying this to the camera of course). Handed him the club and it was immediately 20 yards longer on carry multiple times in a row. He stammered something to the camera and by that point I got my boss, telling him this guy was weird as heck and did you know he was filming a YouTube channel or vlog or something? Nope, wasn't aware so my boss confronted him asking what he was doing and the guy was all defensive that it was none of his business as he had rented the bay. My boss finally shut him down by saying, I am the owner and I have a right to know what you are filming inside of my business. The guy angrily turned the camera off and explained it but by that point his practice time was basically over and we told him he had 10 minutes left, which annoyed him further. He sent me a link to the "review video" he posted online that described in a long essay what he was trying to do with his swing and through in a jab that there was a "misunderstanding about the time so apologies for the short video." No, there was no misunderstanding, you were half an hour late showing up, your time was x to y, not when I show up to whenever I feel like leaving o'clock.

Third point, as a fitter, I get this a lot. People not understanding that a fitting is not a lesson. I can't count the amount of people who would come into our smaller location (1 bay) and be shocked we had no inventory for them to leave with. Sorry, let me climb up on the roof and grab that set of Srixons bent exactly to your lie angle with that obscure graphite shaft I told you was basically hand made. Or the other guys who do a fitting because they heard a lot about it but really have no idea what they are actually doing there (my friend told me I had to do this, what am I doing here?). Sometimes if the person is extra rude about not "understanding why I'm here", I fire back with "I don't know, why are you here? You booked the appointment what were you expecting out of this when you agreed to the $100 fitting fee and saw our website?". Usually shuts them up pretty fast and clears the air for me to do my job.

[Stinger83]

When the slowest guy in the group, who's on his second box of balls, is complaining about the pace of play at the turn

[UCBananaboy]

This was in the mid 2000s: 20+ Handicap cart boy insisted on playing Pro V1s. He would go in, buy a sleeve, make the turn, and buy another sleeve because he had lost the first sleeve on the front.

One of the guys in the pro shop suggested he just buy the cheaper Maxfli Noodle.

The kid refused because he'd "rip the cover off something like the Noodle."

 

[tangojay]

Worked part time at a golf resort in Mesa AZ in the late 80's, it was frequented by golfers from all over the U.S. and Canada. We would normally be booked heavily from November to about May.

One "gentleman" asked the head pro who was working tee sheet if there was any tee times ( it was about 9am) before noon, the pro said "Are you staying at the resort" the man said "No, I am staying at ********** in Scottsdale" , the head pro said "Sorry sir, we are booked solid and I have some resort guest I have to work in", the man then did something incredible, he then placed some bills on the counter, the head pro asked "Sir, what is that?" the man said "A gratuity", the head pro turned red and in a rather stern voice said "A gratuity is AFTER the service has been rendered, BEFORE it's a bribe, please take your money and leave the resort!", man did not know what to do, he walked out, the customers who witnessed this, just smiled and nodded in approval.

[MikeW2]

Once on vacation in Myrtle Beach, I was looking around the pro shop before our round. Early AM, guy walks in and he’s obviously still feeling it from the night before. You could smell the booze on him from 15 ft away. He grabs two boxes of Pro V’s pays and leaves. About 10 minutes later he comes back in and grabs 2 more boxes of Pro V’s. When got to the register he asked the kid working if he could cut him a break on the price as he’d just “accidentally” hit both boxes of those brand new balls on the driving range. The kid did give him like 10% off or something then he and the other attendant died laughing once he left. Kid said to me that happens more than you’d think.

[Boricua Golf]

I just love listening to guys on the range when they talk about how bad they are hitting the ball, but then they say "I know what I am doing wrong", but still doing it, then they ask someone to look at their swing, they get told what they are doing (even taking video), and the response is the same "I know, I know", yet still repeating the same swing...just funny, they know what's wrong (at least that is what they think) and yet still doing it!!!!

[WristySwing]

Golfers are the dually the most vain yet the most overly confident group of people I have ever met. Everyone hits it 250+ easily. Everyone hits a 3 iron both ways on command. None of us can putt ad none of us are capable of a making a single decision without consulting at least 3-4 other people who are at best just as knowledgeable as we are before anything is purchased. Even if the original advice giver is one of the best fitters/club gurus going.