Should I feel screwed

[Swingtheclub]

Disqualification in a tournmament

Hi

I am more venting than anything, to say the least I am not happy right now.

I have been looking forward to our clubs invitational for a month now. My games in fair shape and I figured I had a chance to be in the hunt.

Got out there early looked at the score sheets saw who else was in Championship flight, paid my entry and got my gift bag.

In my gift bag was a fancy phamplet, and I asked someone what it was . They said it was a rules sheet and schedule of events. I stuck it in my back pocket as I can't read it without my glasses anyway. I warmed up and then talked to the starter and he pointed out the three guys I was playing with.

Once I introduced myself to my playing partners one of them turned out to be and old friend. I asked if anyone had read the rules and was there anything I needed to know.

I was told USGA rules in effect except we could role it in our own fairway.

I then went out parred the first two holes three putted the third for a bogey parred the fourth then on my fifth whole of the day I shanked it in the woods (a great moment for my annual el hose) and made a triple bogey seven.

I then finished with thirteen pars in a row. Posted my 76 and did not feel to bad about things. I was five back maybe third or fourth place.

Now first I was not paired with anyone else in championship flight.

Now when I got home I pulled the rules thing out of my pocket and wanting to know if there were serving lunch after tomorrows round I read it.

The first thing I saw was Championship flight will play blue tee's all other flights white tees.

Since no one told me different I played the white tee's the same as my playing partners. When I saw this I called the Pro and DQ myself. He said something to the effect that didn't the starter tell you??? No buddy I think I might have remembered that.

My question is should I just except the total responsibility for this or do I have a right to be a little pissed at the people running the tournament?

Mostly I am mad that the pairings were made under the buddy system instead of by handicap. If I had been playing with people in my own flight I would still be in the tournament.

I look forward to your comments

[trossignol]

It is all you. Sorry Mate!

[chop180]

I have to agree with Trossignol, it's your responsibility to know the particular set up for your flight. The fact that you went with the say so of a pairing partner, can't really throw the blame on them, they were telling you what they knew to be true.

[DRGJR72]

Seems like poor communication from the golf shop/starter/tournament committee. Club Championships or invitationals are typically the more important events on the calendar at country clubs, so any course that I was a pro at the important events had alot of effort put into those events to make sure a situation like yours did not occur. Seems a weird way to hold a club championship/invitational where you can make pairings based on the buddy system. I have never run across that for a championship or important event.

 

My only question would be when you signed up for the event, did they not have on the information sheet what tees the championship flight played from, assuming that you wanted to play in the championship flight?? That would be the only area that I would think someone could say hey that was your fault.

 

Sorry man, tough way to learn a lesson, but one that could have been avoided through better communication.

 

Dan

[BILL12x]

No one but you, but I do also agree with Dan. If this was a big event, you should have been paired by handicap and there should have been some oversight, but it still comes down to you not reading the rules.

[Johnny]

DQ'd yourself was the correct call..

[Swingtheclub]

DQ'd yourself was the correct call..

 

 

Once I saw what had happened and caught my breath there was no question of the DQ. I just picked up the phone.

 

I still think it was a poorly run tournament and doubt I will play in it again.

[paulyb]

No matter what tourney you play in it is highly advisable, as you have already found out, to read the rule sheet. One place I play uses an option to a rule to dis allow practice putts on the hole just played. It has caught many a competitor.

[Diesel]

good show to you for DQing yourself, cause i garuantee that more than 50% would NOT have done so...

 

seems like a lamely run tourney though, and probably not worth your sweat...

 

no idea why they would pair you up with people playing from the front tees, and you had to play from the back...

[ApexGrind]

All you. but maybe you have justification to be a little pissed. Has this been the case every year for a long time? If not then maybe a sign at the starter's shack or first tee stating something like that would have been nice.

[Swingtheclub]

You know I been doing this for forty four years and agree with you on reading the rules sheet. Just this time I did not have much time to go back to my car in the parking lot get my glasses and read it. Without my glasses I was helpless too.

 

I have no problem taking most of the blame for this , but I am still pissed.

 

Think about me the next time your in a tournament, when you get to the first tee and the starter hands you your scorecard and says Gentleman tody we are playing from the white tees all USGA rules are in effect good luck.

[RNF]

I feel for you kenk7us2002, You did the honorable thing. That is a victory over many other sportsman.

 

Now to your delima. Unfortunately, some clubs have been slashed and cut back and can not afford sufficient staff any longer. I don't know if that is the case with regards to your situation. I have been rather lucky to be employed at facilities where I did have the available staff at my disposable where as I am on the 1st tee getting every group off. This is the "old school" way. Unfortunately with cut backs, it is not the nrom anymore.

 

What I do hate to see is that this incident will preclude you from further participation. Chalk it up to experience and move on.

[Swingtheclub]

Well as a former Class A Member myself I doubt it will slow my participation, but I may not play in this event again out of protest.

 

There was no shortage of staff. What mainly got me was the buddy system tee times they used yesterday. Instead of pairing people by flights.

 

If I am not assured that it changed next year I doubt I will play.

[emc]

It's a lesson learned, a bit annoying that you weren't told by the starter but that's life. If it makes you feel better just last week I got DQ'ed for not signing my scorecard, and I would have come 2nd and all. Just make sure it never happens you again

[aec4]

You were given a rules sheet. Yes, the starter telling you would have been nice, but the rules/conditions of competition are your responsibility. However, one thing I'll say is I do not like the idea of not pairing guys in the same flight together.

[animalistic]

I like the way you came back afetr the triple

[Joe Schmoe]

DQ is the right move. If you feel screwed complain to the organizer/club and request a refund of the tournament fee. I wouldn't expect to get a refund, but it would surely send the message that they need to do a better job informing people of whats going on.

[mcputter]

I feel for you dude. It's a hard lesson to learn.

It reminded me that a few years back I was playing in the Club Championship at a municipal golf course. It was my first event of their men's club. They gave out one scorecard and one set of rules for the group and some other guy kept the card. I played well that day and thought I had the first day championship flight lead. However, it turns out there was a local rule that you had to mark on the scorecard your front nine and 18 hole finishing times (as an effort to combat slow play.) Our group never fell behind the group in front of us, but our whole foursome was DQ'd. I lodged a protest and the head pro let us play the 2nd day pending the final ruling. Even though I shot the lowest 36 hole score by two shots, the DQ stood. Man was I pissed. After that event they changed it to a two shot penalty but I never played in any of their events again. Now I make sure to read the local rules before I tee off.

[hattrick3518]

they gave you the rules to read them.

you wouldnt be in this predicament if you just read the rules

sorry

[Swingtheclub]

Several of you miss one small point I can not read without glasses.

 

Which I normally do not carry to the golf course. That is why I asked my fellow playing partners about the rules and told them I can't read them.

 

Its still my fault i accept that but lighten up a bit.

[ApexGrind]

I can sympathize. I can't deal with putting my readers on and off, on and off, while playing so I got translating bifocals (trifocals actually). Thats the kind where as you look down you get into the intermediate and near parts of the contact. Now I can read and keep score but my ball is really blurry when I putt... When you asked the guy should have just pulled it out and buzzed through the bullets.

[GoingPro]

Was this the first time you played in the "invitational" at your club? Has your handicap changed that significantly that you were a white flighter last time, but now in the blues?

 

My opinion is you should not feel screwed. You said you got there early, so you knew there were soem things you wanted to do, pay up, see who was signed up, etc. Did you alotte time to warm up? It seems like you made sure you had time to do what you wanted to, but the HUGE inconvenience of putting on reading glasses is not something you wanted or were prepared to do, so you tried to rely on others to take care of that for you. OK, that sounds harsh, but essentially that is what happened, right?

 

As for leaving your reading glasses at home, do you never need to read anything when you are at your club? If they change the menu, do you insist the waiter/waitress read you all the new items and describe the ones they took off the menu? Do you ask playing partners to read you your bill to determine how much to tip?

 

so bottom line, I guess, in your question of should you feel screwed that you were given the rules to something you were really looking forward to playing in, yet you went out onto the course without really knwoing if you understood the rules for certain and then violated said rules? Were you screwed, no. Were you careless, yes.

[leekgolf]

Hi

 

I am more venting than anything, to say the least I am not happy right now.

 

I have been looking forward to our clubs invitational for a month now. My games in fair shape and I figured I had a chance to be in the hunt.

 

Got out there early looked at the score sheets saw who else was in Championship flight, paid my entry and got my gift bag.

 

In my gift bag was a fancy phamplet, and I asked someone what it was . They said it was a rules sheet and schedule of events. I stuck it in my back pocket as I can't read it without my glasses anyway. I warmed up and then talked to the starter and he pointed out the three guys I was playing with.

 

Once I introduced myself to my playing partners one of them turned out to be and old friend. I asked if anyone had read the rules and was there anything I needed to know.

 

I was told USGA rules in effect except we could role it in our own fairway.

 

I then went out parred the first two holes three putted the third for a bogey parred the fourth then on my fifth whole of the day I shanked it in the woods (a great moment for my annual el hose) and made a triple bogey seven.

 

I then finished with thirteen pars in a row. Posted my 76 and did not feel to bad about things. I was five back maybe third or fourth place.

 

Now first I was not paired with anyone else in championship flight.

 

Now when I got home I pulled the rules thing out of my pocket and wanting to know if there were serving lunch after tomorrows round I read it.

 

The first thing I saw was Championship flight will play blue tee's all other flights white tees.

 

Since no one told me different I played the white tee's the same as my playing partners. When I saw this I called the Pro and DQ myself. He said something to the effect that didn't the starter tell you??? No buddy I think I might have remembered that.

 

My question is should I just except the total responsibility for this or do I have a right to be a little pissed at the people running the tournament?

 

Mostly I am mad that the pairings were made under the buddy system instead of by handicap. If I had been playing with people in my own flight I would still be in the tournament.

 

I look forward to your comments

 

Yes, it's on you. you did the right thing. My only quibble is the STUPID setup that would have had you on the back tees, and the rest of your group on more forward tees. That's ridiculous. I would never play in a tournament that did that.

[Swingtheclub]

Was this the first time you played in the "invitational" at your club? Has your handicap changed that significantly that you were a white flighter last time, but now in the blues?

 

My opinion is you should not feel screwed. You said you got there early, so you knew there were soem things you wanted to do, pay up, see who was signed up, etc. Did you alotte time to warm up? It seems like you made sure you had time to do what you wanted to, but the HUGE inconvenience of putting on reading glasses is not something you wanted or were prepared to do, so you tried to rely on others to take care of that for you. OK, that sounds harsh, but essentially that is what happened, right?

 

As for leaving your reading glasses at home, do you never need to read anything when you are at your club? If they change the menu, do you insist the waiter/waitress read you all the new items and describe the ones they took off the menu? Do you ask playing partners to read you your bill to determine how much to tip?

 

so bottom line, I guess, in your question of should you feel screwed that you were given the rules to something you were really looking forward to playing in, yet you went out onto the course without really knwoing if you understood the rules for certain and then violated said rules? Were you screwed, no. Were you careless, yes.

 

 

 

First off yes I played in it before , not sure I did last year (people tell me they played the blues last year) before they played the whites everyone that is. I am not sure I play in a lot of tournaments.

 

The main thing is no glasses( they were out in the parking lot in the car if I had them with me I am not even sure I did) and I asked as a matter of fact I asked once in the pro shop and once on the tee if there was anything special I needed to know.

 

It was a medal play tournmament played under USGA rules with the exception of rolling it in your own fairway and a couple of local rules I already know.

 

I have given this a great deal of thought. I take responsibility that it happened that does not mean I can not be pissed about it. When the Pro says did the starter not say anything? Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

 

I was a class A member of the PGA I would have never let something like this happen.

 

Ask yourself this I am not alone in needing glasses for reading . How many players do you think did not read the sheet?

 

When I asked the Pro if this happened to anyone else he was like uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I hope not.

[hattrick3518]

we dont have to give you sympathy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. but golf is an individual game, so i dont know why you would rely on anyone but yourself, i.e. bring your glasses to read something so you dont get shafted by your playing partners..

[Swingtheclub]

Actually I never wanted your sympathy, actually I just wanted to vent.

 

My only problem was with people saying stupid things like why did you not read them.

 

That simply told me that they did not read the initial post.

 

Then another guy said why did I not give myself enough time.

 

I gave myself the same amount of time I always do. Most people change there routine for a tournament I don't. I want it to be just like a Saturday or Sunday morning round.

 

The bottom line is I know the responsibility was mine, I always have.

 

I still believe in a properly run tournament it would not have happened.