Ever happen to you? Alone on the range and then -- INTRUSION.

[BenSeattle]

Several times a week I will hit balls on the range at a nearby muni golf course. The range has two decks, it's covered and has heaters and good mats. Typical, right? I always go to the lower level where there are some 25 well-defined stalls separted by short dividers. I'm always there early, before day breaks here in the winter around 7:30 a.m. so again today I was the only golfer there for quite a while.

 

Perhaps half an hour later, another golfer walks in, gets his balls and -- get this -- picks the stall directly behind me. Now, I don't claim to own the range and I can practice in a crowd just as well as the next guy but it struck me as more than odd that with 24 other stalls to choose from, he camps out immediately to my back. Oh yeah... while I'm not putting on a Ben Hogan-like ballstriking clinic, I can more than get it airborne -- unlike the chop behind me who proceeds to clank, shank, fizzle and fozzle balls until I can't stand it any more.

 

I pick up my clubs, jacket, umbrella, radar, balls and clubs in order to move some four stalls away. I finish my bucket in relative peace. Please... I'm no 'golfing eliteist' who can't stand to be around lesser players; I pick up games with all levels all the time. But doesn't it strike you as just a little strange that the latecomer would set up shop in the stall right behind me when he had the entire range to chose from?

 

Or is it only me?

[sheldonjhacker]

OP-I feel your pain. There are some odd ducks out there. And they are reproducing daily !!! Just further proof that God made more horses-asses...than horses ! :russian_roulette:

[Hawkeye77]

Behind you?

 

Maybe he was hoping you were Koepka.

[cardoustie]

Don't wear purple thongs next time

[rama5]

perhaps its the positioning - aiming at a certain spot consistently that he's accustom to? thus he can't adapt to change and needs his comfort zone at the range to help him in his endeavors

[ChronicSlicer]

Maybe he thought you were lonely and needed a friend. Or vise versa.

[Zac1321]

he probably realized he sucked and didn't want to be in front of you where he felt like you might be watching and judging. when i was just getting started learning i would get as far away behind people for that reason

 

really weird to go the stall directly next to you though

[Fade]

At one of the ranges I use they don't switch on more heaters than needed to accommodate the usually small group of golfers practicing during the winter, so that tends to lead to golfers practicing close to each other.

[SBH9458]

Hate it for you OP. Seems the guy would have wanted his own space too. Note also we have no heated ranges nearby. At all.....

[DRRicks]

I think you answered your own question...this guy didn’t know enough to follow the “unwritten” rules of range protocol.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

perhaps its the positioning - aiming at a certain spot consistently that he's accustom to? thus he can't adapt to change and needs his comfort zone at the range to help him in his endeavors

 

That was pretty much my thought, as well.

 

OP may just have been in the area that the other bloke likes to hit from.

 

edit: though to go to the adjacent stall seems a bit unnecessary.

[03trdblack]

It's worse when that guys picks the urinal right next to you when there's a free one further down the line!

[farmer]

Have to admire the OP's dedication, early in the morning in the winter. I would have moved further away, to get out of total miss range.

[RSinSG]

"clank, shank, fizzle and fozzle balls"

 

Very descriptive. I can see this guy in my minds eye. I'm fortunate that I work a few hours a week at a nice course and get to use the far end of the range which is off-limits to the public. Never have to put up with oafs with their cigars and music. (That should start some fireworks.)

[Oh Hi Carl]

My friend was at a fancy resort over the holidays and was using the range next to a guy who was regularly muttering and cursing while practicing. My friend started getting irritated and looked up to examine the guy. It was then that he noticed the secret service nearby and realized the guy was a former US president. And I won't say which one.

[lchang]

My friend was at a fancy resort over the holidays and was using the range next to a guy who was regularly muttering and cursing while practicing. My friend started getting irritated and looked up to examine the guy. It was then that he noticed the secret service nearby and realized the guy was a former US president. And I won't say which one.

 

Why not?

[ArtMBgolf]

Ben, You are correct. That guy was a rude idiot, especially knowing he hits some off the walls.

Beginner or pro, there is no good reason to go next to someone, when there is lots of room elsewhere.

 

There is a somewhat recent Range Etiquette topic, with more situations like this.

[BenSeattle]

My friend was at a fancy resort over the holidays and was using the range next to a guy who was regularly muttering and cursing while practicing. My friend started getting irritated and looked up to examine the guy. It was then that he noticed the secret service nearby and realized the guy was a former US president. And I won't say which one.

 

 

The following is true. Several years ago I was scouting out private clubs in the Seattle area and was invited to play Overlake C.C. in the VERY high-dollar area of Medina, WA. Not much of a golf course, if you want to know the truth. (That's where Bill Gates built his massive $100 million mansion on Lake Washington years ago.) Anyway, I was on the range -- striping it, of course :-) -- when I noticed a big bald guy just slashing, hacking and chopping at a bucket of balls. And very vocal about his relentless ineptitude. This being in the early afternoon, the club hadn't set up a game for me, so the host pro went over to this ferocious hacker and said, "Say, Steve, we have a prospective member looking to go out. Are you playing this afternoon?" Steve paused from his axe-work and said, "Sorry, I have Little League later today."

 

As I watched this unfold, I realize that "Steve" was none other than Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft at the time. (Today worth more than $42 BILLION.) Even today, I wonder what would have been said had we been paired together. "Let's make this fair. My two billion against your 200 dollars."

[Oh Hi Carl]

My friend was at a fancy resort over the holidays and was using the range next to a guy who was regularly muttering and cursing while practicing. My friend started getting irritated and looked up to examine the guy. It was then that he noticed the secret service nearby and realized the guy was a former US president. And I won't say which one.

 

Why not?

 

I'm too hesitant to start a political discussion. I'll say that my friend chatted with him a few times at the resort and said he was an extremely pleasant and likable person despite my friend disagreeing strongly with him over politics.

[Ferguson]

My friend was at a fancy resort over the holidays and was using the range next to a guy who was regularly muttering and cursing while practicing. My friend started getting irritated and looked up to examine the guy. It was then that he noticed the secret service nearby and realized the guy was a former US president. And I won't say which one.

 

Why not?

 

I'm too hesitant to start a political discussion. I'll say that my friend chatted with him a few times at the resort and said he was an extremely pleasant and likable person despite my friend disagreeing strongly with him over politics.

 

 

Did the lead SS guy have a band-aid on his forehead at a 45-degree angle to his temple?

[MattyO1984]

I feel your pain. The old range that we used to have opposite our course on what was leased land was quite a big space. Even if I was the only one there, which was frequently the case, someone always seemed to pitch up and then use it as an excuse to start talking. I love chatting to people but when I had maybe only an hour to practice, I always wanted to make the most of it.

 

Now the lease for that range has expired and the landownder has taken it back to build houses. The nearest local range has only 5 bays so even if you are wanting some peace and quiet, you are unlikely to get it. So now, I rarely hit balls without some kind of earphones in. Some of the time, I am not even listening to anything I am just trying to make it seem that I'm not there to be talked to.

[bcsquare]

I'm drawing similar situations to this, like the guy who picks the urinal next to you when the restroom is empty.

 

Not sure if the OP is like me but I like to come into the range at daybreak to practice in peace. Not trying to be anti-social but just want to work on my game and not have to listen to high school gossip or loud banter.

[cardoustie]

I may be a unicorn but I like chatting at the range. It's a pretty social activity at my club. Our request for couches in the covered area and a drinks fridge were turned down last year

 

The total stranger right against your back is a breach though

[dalehead]

I may be a unicorn but I like chatting at the range. It's a pretty social activity at my club. Our request for couches in the covered area and a drinks fridge were turned down last year

 

The total stranger right against your back is a breach though

 

I'm OK with that. I just hope you're aware enough to tell by my polite but cool replies that I'm not interested in a running conversation. Some folks are not.

[TMfan54]

This is probably not the case here since it sounds like he was a beginnger, but maybe the targets from the area you chose set up best for him. I usually like to find a spot that has a good angle for a target I plan on practicing that day.

[MattyO1984]

I may be a unicorn but I like chatting at the range. It's a pretty social activity at my club. Our request for couches in the covered area and a drinks fridge were turned down last year

 

The total stranger right against your back is a breach though

 

That would have made for a pretty cool range. Our old range which is sadly no longer with us had a nice little lounge with a few tables and chars with vending machines including hot drinks. It used to be pretty cool in the winter when there were a good bunch of guys that would go down and practice on set nights. It was all pretty much about the practice or, at the very least, keeping the swing going but in the lounge area you would get a good laugh and a bit of banter flying around. Miss that place!

 

In fact, as I type that, I remember on my 14th birthday specifically asking to be taken up there in the middle of December to hit balls and hang with the guys just because it used to be so much fun even though it was absolutely baltic out there.

[DavePelz4]

I have this same challenge with women who seem to flock to me on the range. Of course, they're with an instructor who say to do the exact opposite of what this guy is doing.

 

My brother can be so rude sometimes.

[Dpavs]

Explain why, when you have a brand new car, no matter how far away you park in a parking lot you come out to find something like this parked right on top of you and you will probably find your answer.

 

[TollBros]

Similar to the guy who takes the urinal stall right next to you when all others are open, or the person that parks next to you in the parking lot when you aren't within 8 other cars. It's always been a strange type of behavior I don't understand but have always been curious about. I'm sure some doctor somewhere has a name for this condition. Haha

[buckrogers71]

Yeah thats a bit much. Its like being at the gym. In the locker room I look first to see if anyone has a lock on a locker in the area that I intend on using, if there is, I move away (there are 3 U shaped areas) someone will ALWAYS put their lock above my locker (lots of lockers open), same thing with treadmills or elliptical machines, lots open, you gotta pick the one RIGHT next me (not cool, unless you are a smoking hot female). If I am hitting balls solo, I will wear headphones, with someone if the range isnt crowded I'll play some tunes (far from others as to not disturb them), if it is crowded, no tunes

 

Obviously the OP gets there early enough to work on his game. Its the fabric of society today....no thought process.