Near violence on the course; what were the circumstances?

[curt_jr]

my short version of this story - par 5 with an elevated tee box. in one landing area, there's a flag you can raise to let the group behind you know you're there, "don't tee off" basically. Well the group behind had been hitting up on us all day, and we weren't playing slowly by any means. Busy day, cheaper public course... we're all waiting on each shot. So we're in the landing zone, waiting for the group in front to clear, when a ball landed a little bit behind us. We're already frustrated with these guys to an extent, but I can understand if they didn't see the flag. So I lowered the flag a few feet, and raised it up again once or twice just to signal that we were down there. Then another guy tees off and lands it right behind our carts, which tells me they didn't care at all. So we're really annoyed at that point. When the third ball landed, we'd had enough. One of us in the group took their approach club and sent the third ball right back up the hill. Luckily it was sliced a touch, so couldn't have hit anyone, but it felt like a little bit of justice.

 

Didn't hear a word from them as far as an apology or slow-play accusations, but we didn't see their ball landing behind us for the rest of the round.

[karstens_ghost]

Guys, the correct thing to do is not replace the pin in the hole. Leave it on the ground.

[tw_focus]

At one local course, it's about a 300 yard walk between the 9th green and the 10th tee, but you can take a shortcut across the 18th fairway and reduce the distance to like 150 yards. I take that shortcut in the early morning, but never if there's a chance of a group playing 18 since that hole is a reachable par 5 and balls can be coming in blind.

 

Ok so we're playing 18, guy hits a decent drive and a pretty good second shot leaving about 30 yards to the green for eagle. I'm setting up to take my third shot from farther back and sure enough, here comes Mr. Shortcutter. Mr. Shortcutter doesn't even look up or acknowledge people are playing the hole, but whatever. I see him so I just hang back and wait for him to walk across the fairway on his way to 10. Just a minor etiquette breach, all is okay until Mr. Shortcutter sees a ball sitting in the fairway and decides to pick it up, right in the line of sight of the owner!!!!!!!!

 

I would challenge anyone NOT to get in a fist fight in this situation.

Edited February 26, 2021 by tw_focus

[GolfTurkey]

There are 2 groups at my course that tempt fate. We have a small driving range between our 10th and 18th fairways. Depending on the driving range tees used, you are limited to a 4i, 7i or 9i (there is a net at the end).

 

1. There are a couple old geezers who bring their own shag bags to the range. When they're done hitting, without a word or apology they wander off into the middle of the range for 20-30 min finding and picking up their balls amongst the thousands of range balls, expecting everyone else to wait for them.

 

2. There are a bunch of freeloaders who walk to the end of the range and start whacking balls back the other way. Apart from the insult of them not paying, you have to avoid hitting the longer clubs allowed in case you hit them.

[TomRUtah]

The only time I witnessed a near-violent event was 25 years ago.  A very busy day, stacked up on every hole.  The group behind had already been hitting up on us for several holes.  My group is near the par 5 green playing our 3rd shot when a player in the group behind deliberately hit into us.  One of our guys (mid 30s, stocky, active military) kindly asked Mr. Impatient (early 60s, slim, wrinkled like a prune) to not hit into us.  That's when Mr. Imp launched into an expletive-filled tirade, accusing us of playing too slow.  Our guy stated what was obvious to anyone out on the course that day: we couldn't play faster; it was stacked up on every hole.  He reiterated—this time more assertively—to stop hitting into us.  Mr. Imp got even angrier, had more choice words, and then came threats of bodily harm.  That's when our guy said he would gladly wait for him in the parking lot after the round if that's how he wanted to solve it.  Mr. Imp moved toward our guy, raised his club as a weapon, and said he'd mess him right here, right now.  That's when both groups intervened to prevent bloodshed.

I immediately called the clubhouse for a marshal.  After the marshal spoke to both groups, he told us it was a "he said, she said" matter and no further actions would be taken other than everyone needing to behave.  Afterward, I spoke to one of the course pros about it and shared my opinion that the ****** bag should have been permanently banned.  He informed me that the marshal and the Mr. Imp were friends.