TPC Champions Service

[Phireside]

Wondering if anyone has encountered some unwelcoming service from one of the starters at the Champions course?

played yesterday morning joining a husband and wife and another single. When I walked up to the bag drop I asked if I could ride solo as I may need to duck out early to catch a flight depending on pace. The young guy at bag drop was a bit hesitant but relented in the end and asked me to mention it in the pro shop. When I paid, I mentioned it and the fellow inside was fine with it.

 

When I pulled up to the starter stand, the guy asked if he could combine the carts with the other single. I explained my predicament. He then verbatim told me I was "high maintenance and one of those guys". Now this was my 5th round in 5 days and each of the 4 previous, I was given my own cart and not once did they even ask us to combine with other singles. I only asked at TPC because I knew from last year that at Stadium the put singles together.

 

So after my encounter with this guy, he proceeds to shout at the other single who was standing out of his cart near the bag drop to "hey, get over here". If you know the layout, you know the bag drop and starter stand are not far apart.

 

Now that all 4 of us are at his stand he launches in to the longest most awkwardly uncomfortable spiel about the course, the tees we should play, how fast we should play, and that if we lose sight of the group in front, we are out of position. His spiel takes so long that the group in front is tapping in and finishing the hole before we can get a tee in to the ground. Guess we were out of position on the first ball.

 

Once we finished on 1, one of my playing partners comments that we can relax now that we are out of his sight.

 

It was the most uncomfortable and unwelcoming experience I've had at any course in the area. I doubt I'll be returning to either of the courses in the future.

 

On the topic of own carts, I'm in favor regardless of whether I had a flight or not. If I'm solo, I'd rather my own cart anyway. I also think it helps with pace of play and I don't feel like I'm troubling anyone if I want to have a cigarette or listen to some music on low volume. I guess I am "one of those guys"

 

And for the record, if any of the other courses asked me to share a cart I would have.

[teejaywhy]

> @TheShaun said:

> ... asked if I could ride solo as I may need to duck out early to catch a flight depending on pace...

> ... Now this was my 5th round in 5 days and each of the 4 previous, I was given my own cart and not once did they even ask us to combine with other singles...

>

Possible flight to catch all 5 days? Ha ha, just busting your balls. Guy sounds like a dick. Hope you enjoyed your visit despite. But perhaps you are a bit high maintenance... lol.

 

 

 

 

[Bonneville85308]

I play there maybe once every 3-4 weeks, usually as a single paired with other random people, and never get any attitude from the staff. However, I almost never object to riding with a stranger unless the guy is like 500 lbs and takes up the whole seat or something. The starter usually asks where I'm from, if I've played the course before, and when I tell him yes I have, he usually just tells me what the hole position number is and if there are any CPO restrictions. Since their tee sheet is usually near-full from dawn until early-afternoon, perhaps they are hesitant to let too many carts out with solo riders out of fear of running out of them before the early rounds start finishing?

 

That course is routed tight enough that if you had to leave early, it wouldn't be a big deal just to yank your bag off the shared cart and walk in. Or if you called the shop and asked them to send someone out to get you, I bet they would.

 

[Arizonalefty59]

They were fine to me last week. They even let me out an hour early. I may be in the minority but I just go to play golf, I could care less about the service.

 

Maybe just a fluke thing, everyone has bad days.

[Phireside]

> @teejaywhy said:

> > @TheShaun said:

> > ... asked if I could ride solo as I may need to duck out early to catch a flight depending on pace...

> > ... Now this was my 5th round in 5 days and each of the 4 previous, I was given my own cart and not once did they even ask us to combine with other singles...

> >

> Possible flight to catch all 5 days? Ha ha, just busting your balls. Guy sounds like a dick. Hope you enjoyed your visit despite. But perhaps you are a bit high maintenance... lol.

>

>

>

>

haha, didn't care about a solo cart the other days but it was nice to have. Maybe like lefty59 says, the guy was just having a bad day..

 

[Arizonalefty59]

This dang heat makes all of us grumpy lol!

[SilverBullets]

I play there a lot (20-25ish times year).... there are typically 2 starters I see there who alternate days. Both have always been great to us. I will say, based on the things you are saying, I have a feeling I know which starter you are talking about. One of them is a fairly sarcastic guy who likes to give a little s***. I'm wondering if you were misinterpreting his sarcasm here. I only say that because he's used the 'oh, you're one of those guys...' line on me in the past before we both started chuckling.

 

However, their bag drop dudes are never pleasant and always make everything more challenging than it should be.