That one guy you HATE playing with...

[hoselcocks]

I can't stand the guy who takes his game way too seriously. This usually translates into excessive pre-shot routines and just all around slow play, drives me nuts. You don't have any cameras on you, you are playing at a $35 city owned course, just hit the damn ball. We have a few like this in our league and I've bit my tongue for years, maybe this year I will let loose.

[WalleyeDave]

The guy that gives unsolicited golf advise . That about sums it up.

[GrAvEL_eXpReSs]

Play with a guy who will step over the flag to get to his cart with out stopping to pick it up. Also digs balls out of the cup with his putter... Me and the other guy just mark down how many dumb !@# things he does during the round and just laugh about it.

[tsecor]

The guy who drives the cart right near the green......wont stop talking during your swing...has no sense of your line on the green......

nee

[DavePelz4]

Our group has 14 guys +1 that is joining us this year. We've been playing together for 19 years now and of course, we have that one guy. Highest handicap in the group by 10 shots but the bigger issue is his lack of on course awareness, etiquette and propensity to over self-serve while playing. We play a Stableford season long competition and last year's payout was $3,500 so this is a bit more than a S n Giggles group. I run our handicaps, schedule events, create personalized scorecards with tee boxes, individual yardage (ages are 30s to 70s), have a workbook with approximately 35 connected spreadsheets and generally it takes 4-5 hours to prepare everything and another 3 hours post event with all the machinations of scores, skins, par 3s, etc.

So...about our GUY. I'll give him the latitude of not being able to count his strokes, but it's nothing for him to look for a ball beyond the time limit, walk in your line when you're putting, decide he wants to putt even when you're mid stroke, cough, talk, etc. in your swing. When he goes to tee off in front of the markers, and is graciously reminded that he needs to tee off at or within the margin of the teeing area, he refers to you (me) as the f***** Rules Guy. Even though our scorecard has a place for the gross score, shows hole by hole handicap and has a box for the net score, he can't complete it without assistance and generally holds up the post round scoring/skins payouts, etc. Um...we've had custom scorecards for 7 years now and this is pretty simple math.

In one event this past year, we were on the second hole which was a par 5. His tee shot went into the junk 1 fairway over and we all saw it happen. He insisted he could find it and took off. Two of us literally finished the entire hole before he hit the ball for a second time. The person riding with him thankfully had infinite patience as this was at least a 10 minute delay finding a ball that could only be found by a golf ball sniffing terrier.

Although my alcoholic beverages start post round, I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys whatever during the round but again, be respectful of others, the course and don't delay play. As you can imagine, the emptier the bottle gets, the more his inhibitions are released.

I've talked with him as have several others. Don't care if he or anyone plays bad but stay on pace, be respectful of the course and other players and have some awareness of what's going on in your group. Scarily, he wants to add a "friend" who he said "is a lot of fun like me."

I'm truly concerned about our upcoming season and the potential of a double bogey.

 

 

[farmer]

Dave, I commend you for not running your guy off, but I would never let him win a penny, unless it was a witnessed hole-in-one. With all proprieties observed.

[braincramp52]

You're a much better person than I am Mr. Pelz

[DavePelz4]

Thank you both for your kind words. Believe me my patience has been tested and I have not always been as kind as I could have been. I administer our group but I don't make decisions on who, rules, etc. That is always a consensus decision and I abstain from voting so I can't be accused of any bias or anything benefitting me. The thing is, he can be a nice and funny guy and because I administer things, I'm the target of his frustration/anger, etc. We're blessed to have such a diverse and fun group who play by the rules and watch everyone. But as the title of the thread goes, he's that One Guy...

[VNutz]

I was wondering how long it would take until I read this.

[tacklingdummy]

You didn't get the text that we changed the tee time? Darn cell phone companies.

[DavePelz4]

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the winner of our 2019 competition. Youngest guy ever to win who also had his first HIO, lowest round under par and is always nattily attired.

Care to add to or correct any statement?

Also, note that I didn't comment on any of the 327 times he nearly hit me even though I was 60 yards to the right and behind him.

[Soloman1]

I played with a guy (until it became unbearable) who would get mad at people standing still 30 yards away from him while he was on the tee box because the color of their shirt bothered him.

 

I played with another guy (until it became unbearable) who screamed, threw his clubs and stomped around like a wild man at every poor shot. To him, if Tiger Woods can do this, why shouldn't he be able to do it as well? He ran out of people who would play with him and gave up golf. Golf is better off without him.

[VNutz]

Nothing of what you said is incorrect.

[deadsolid...shank]

And hits it half a mile, you forgot that!

DP, the more I hear about your season long game, the more envious I get.

[Hawkeye77]

Having had the great privilege of tagging along with your group one fine Saturday in western Illinois I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized I was in the clear in your first post!

LOL, I will say in all things whether golf, pickup basketball, playing cards, hunting and fishing trips and so forth - beware the person who pushes the boundaries and isn't self-aware enough to understand when he wants to invite someone he thinks is fun (meaning like-minded!) usually (but not always) nothing good comes of it. I can think of a couple of notable exceptions, but few and far between.

[deadsolid...shank]

That’s true, I heard VNutz and BMan almost booted DP4 out of the group for bringing me along.

[Hawkeye77]

Me too! But, our group pretty much plays the same course 95% of the time and various combos are playing after work and during the week and on Sundays and we just aren't set up for something organized - would be fun (for this golf reason mostly) to live in a larger metro area and have the freedom to play various courses every week, although once a week vs. 4-5 times a week I'm not sure I'd take in the trade. We are just so "anti" playing for $ in general I just don't see us ever doing something structured. Still, going to push for some more "away" dates this summer assuming I'm back and full strength and if they don't want to travel, then F 'em, I'll head down to Iowa City and play with my daughter a few times!

[deadsolid...shank]

That sounds like a good solution anyway. Man, I miss my old groups. Small town as well, a couple different courses for the majority of play, and maybe eight or ten different people on a regular basis.

It’s supposed to be almost 70* here today in northern Colorado, I don’t know if I’ll even play.

[Stinger83]

 

In my experience the guys who say "they play golf to socialize" are the ones that never shut up. Don't focus on what they're doing. Step in my line. Don't repair pitch marks. Drink too much and eventually end up cussing and throwing clubs cuz they have no clue why they keep hitting a slice into the woods. Those are the dudes I hate playing with

 

The guys who are serious golfers - know the etiquette. They're always aware of the situation, their pace of play, and where someone is. The "social" guys - completely clueless to everything around them

 

 

[Hawkeye77]

Don't say that, golf gods are always listening!

[deadsolid...shank]

I played. Four holes. Makes eight for the week.

[BassCatchr77]

I would for sure find some new people to play with, it will change your life

[Stonewalled]

This is my men's league best ball partner, but he only tells the stories after he has hit. Not sure how many times a round I have to give him the shhh up look when the rest of the 4 some is trying to hit. He is quite comical and well liked but....... ST?U while were hitting.

[kc_hacker]

Mine is a single we were paired with at random. The constant complainer guy.

 

I had a friend in town who wanted to play TPC Scottsdale. Three of us went and they put a single with us. The single was a member there.

 

We're introduced and he's already complaining about the group in front of us. We hadn't even made it to the starter, and he didn't know the group in front of us, he was just complaining. He complained about the pace of play for four holes even though the course was full, the group in front of us wasn't slow, and despite all of the people, the pace wasn't bad. He wouldn't stop talking and was driving all of us crazy. Not a legitimate complaint was made, just a bunch of whining.

 

The fourth tee box is a bit behind the third green and off to the right. As we're heading down the fairway, we get near the group in front of us. The idiot says something to them and all four from the group in front of us respond. I couldn't hear what was said but they were not happy.

 

Two holes later, I had had enough. I said "my friend is from out of town and may never get to play here again. You're ruining our day. Would you shut the **** up?" I said it forcefully and I was standing uncomfortably close. He didn't speak again until the 16th hole.

 

When we got done, I went into the pro shop and said "what in the hell is up with that guy?" They confessed he had been out there for awhile and had burned enough members that not a single member there would play with him. Pretty easy to see why. Now the guy just shows up and slaps his name on any open spot on the tee sheet with whatever unsuspecting saps draw the short straw that day.

[DavePelz4]

Naaa...they loved you but were both still miffed over a round at Tanna Farms!

[Roody]

The worst story I have, is about a former friend and former co-worker. I say former because eventually I got fed up with his crap, and I don't talk to him anymore. This story is from about 10-12 years ago.

He wasn't a good golfer. But he thought he was. I think it was because he had a massive ego, and couldn't stand to be inferior to anyone else at anything. Whenever he'd hit a bad shot he'd cuss, throw clubs, etc. I'd estimate he was probably a 28-30 handicap.

There were a couple times that his temper tantrums got some of the guys in our group to get out of the cart they were riding in with him, grab their clubs off the back, and walk for a few holes to get away from him.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. That stuff alone was bad enough. But that's not the worst.

One day myself, another friend, and captain temper tantrum showed up for a tee time at one of our local public courses. We were waiting for our turn on the first tee, and the ranger approaches us. He says "hey guys, would you mind if I paired this single up with you to make you a foursome?".

As I was about to utter the words "sure, that'd be fine...", captain temper tantrum shouts out "NO! NO! I didn't pay to come out here an play with a stranger.".

I was in shock. I couldn't believe how rude he was. I said "dude, c'mon, it's fine" and he cut me off with "NO!". There were several guys standing on the putting green, and you could see every one of them stopped what they were doing, and a few of them were shaking their head in disgust.

My other friend asked him what the big deal was, and he just kept flipping out about it.

It was the last time we ever played golf with him. I was glad when he quit my company too. He was a jack@ss to work with as well.

[Barfolomew]

Mr. good shot g'shot g'shot g'shot as you spray it.... dude saying good shot to everyone that hits, wait until you actually see where it lands cause that last one was crap you chop hahaha

[RainShadow]

Have a couple of guys in our club no one want's to play with.

Basically 20 caps melting down over bad shots.

I got paired with one a few weeks ago and finally told him "Hey, you're a 20 handicap, you aren't going to hit very many good shots. Celebrate those and quit throwing a tantrum over the bad ones". This guy is 73 years old.....

 

 

[ozarkgolfer]

I played with a guy (lets call him Joe) on weekends who organized the tee times and the two other guys in our group and we played very early Saturday and Sunday mornings....and we are like minded - we play fast and honest. And we would play midweek as well. Fast. It was always super friendly and while he was scoring better than I on a regular basis, we had no issues at all. However, after about a year, my scoring got better and I became the dominant player in the group. That changed everything for Joe - when he was occasionally winning, he'd be cock of the walk and Shooter McGavin and bragging big time. When he was being on the other end of the scoring, it was pretty unbearable and he started not counting all his shots. The other one or two guys who he could beat, he was always happy with....with me, it became unbearable. I tried riding with one of the other guys in the group and he sulked. So, I explained to the group I wouldn't be available so much on weekends and ducked out of sight for a couple weeks, then came back to the game and found another group. A couple times, I even showed up as a single and saw Joe's car in the parking lot, and rode over to one of the other local courses.

After a couple months, I would occasionally run into Joe and the guys - they remained a threesome - near the starter's shack, me in one group and them as their threesome here and there. It was all fairly friendly, but I was asked point blank by Joe's other friends (they became friends of mine) why I wasn't playing with them. So I explained I was not enjoying my time with Joe and could not see a way around the problem. Then Joe went in for a pacemaker and did not make it out of surgery. I now occasionally play with the other two guys - one of them goes out of his way to say hello. I'm fine with it and they seem to be too.

I guess my answer is enjoy your golf and if you cannot enjoy it with who you are playing with, just move on. Lots of golfers out there.

[strug'-a-ling]

It's a really tough situation if your two other friends like this new guy.

Eventually, they will notice your disdain for the new group member and the subject will come up.

At that point, you'll have to decide whether or not to cultivate a new circle of golf buds.

Being retired, I leave the course to the kids still with jobs on the weekends.

The senior retirees with whom I regularly play on weekdays pretty much all know each other.

Some groups with whom I play are more compatible than others, so it's something through which most of us probably go.