Thoughts On Getting Paired Up With Randoms?

[Murphy76]

7 hours ago, Abh159 said:

 

 

 

PS, for what it's worth $125 isn't really that much for a round of golf...

 

 

For some of us it is......

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, akronswitness said:

I understand that, my whole point to this being that I've noticed it becoming more 'mandatory' this year at every course I go to than it ever was in the past

 

Not too many courses I've been to mandate it, they let you play with whatever amount you booked the tee time for. This year though is different and my whole purpose for making this thread was to Guage how many people would prefer to not play with randoms if it was a choice.

 

Then I guess it turned into something else and it was such a hot button topic lol

 

To your questions:

 

Do I prefer to play alone? no. I would rather roll the dice on random strangers than play alone when I travel on my own. I find playing alone more like practice than golf.

 

Do I prefer to play with my three buddies and no random single? meh. Don't care either way. 

 

[TomRUtah]

I've lost count how many times I was partnered with other golfers, and I don't recall ever having a bad experience.  I've met some truly nice people this way.  I suppose a possible alternative for the OP is to book early in the a.m. or toward the end of the day.  I'm most successful getting on as a walk-on at those times, sometimes going out by myself.

[Flip4000]

5 hours ago, caniac6 said:

Just pay the foursome rate for a tee time if you want to play alone.

This is the way

 

If you dont want other people to join your group buy the other spots in the 4some.

[Mr. Grumpy]

Met some pretty cool dudes today. Was added with 2 Baptist preachers once, they could handle a joke. Paired with a guy who played music the entire round, hated it but rolled with it and shot a season low. 

 

I don't mind playing by myself, but I have never had a bad experience when others join in.

[r3www]

Recently paired with randoms to round a 4some as a single and shot one of the best rounds I’ve had in awhile. No expectations to play well and pressure to gamble with the usual group. Guy and his wife I played who were newer to the game but kept up with pace asked me if it’s annoying getting paired with people like us. To which I responded with what do you mean by people like us. Loved every minute of it. 

[Trouble_shooter]

I’ve always had good experiences getting paired with randoms. I’ve picked up some pretty good tips playing with randoms, but I don’t mind playing by myself either.

[Righty to Lefty]

I rather enjoy both playing with strangers, playing with the fellas, or playing by myself. All are unique experiences in their own right and I see each as a challenge because the objective is to play good golf at the end of the day.  When I play by myself I try to see if I can stay hooked up and put together a good round. When I play with my buddies...we have a money game and I am trying to stay hooked up and play a good round, and when I play with a stranger, I have no idea whether or not they are a good player or a beginner, but I still want to see if I can stay hooked up and play a good round. Then again my drive is to play good golf in all scenarios regardless of who I'm playing with.

 

 

[ND2005]

17 hours ago, akronswitness said:

Sometimes I just want to tell them 'Im paying you to golf this course, for $125+ I should be able to play however I want. Your not paying me to golf here, Im paying you".

 

This is the major problem with your post (which has many). 

 

Paying $125 doesn't give you the privilege to do whatever you want. 

 

 

[MtlJeff]

1 hour ago, ND2005 said:

 

This is the major problem with your post (which has many). 

 

Paying $125 doesn't give you the privilege to do whatever you want. 

 

 

 

You sound like the bouncer at that strip club i was at recently.

[MtlJeff]

I started playing golf at 22 as a single, so it would've been pretty crappy if i couldn't have gotten into groups back then. You learn pretty early on which groups want to talk to you and which don't. If they didn't want to talk, i was always cool just doing my own thing

 

If you're a 3-some with your friends, you don't have to become the single's best friend. "Nice shot" here and there will suffice. If we can't even do that as a society anymore --We've got bigger problems.

[Zac1321]

13 hours ago, akronswitness said:

Thats not true, Ive been to many courses that do. Especially on weekends because they are trying to get as many people out to play as possible. Why have 100 golfers in 10min intervals when all the course has to do is change it to 5min and get 200 golfers. Ive actually been to a course that is known for double booking tee times in anticipation one wont show up. Really nice course and really popular to play so they jam as many available tee times in the day as humanly possible.

 

They dont care if you had a terrible slow day on the course, they just made 20k in one Saturday afternoon. 
 

so name them. name 1 of "the many" that do this.

 

They do not

[betarhoalphadelta]

Actually, I have the opposite problem compared to OP. We have a little par 3 exec course right near my house that I play as short game practice, and often they don't have a starter on the first tee. Which means that people who don't want to play with other groups decide, on their own, to play as singles or twosomes.

 

The course is already full of terrible hackers. Many who don't understand pace of play. And now they split up groups slowing down play even more for everyone because they don't want to be paired up. 

 

Every foursome that splits into two twosomes adds 10 minutes to the round. There are 7 par 3's in the 9 holes. You can only have one group on a hole at a time, so that means that it takes [roughly] twice as long for those two groups to play each hole than if they were paired up as a foursome, and thus means that everyone behind them is that much slower. 

 

Played there on Sunday and it was 2 1/2 hours for a par-29 1,115 yard course. Got to the tee on 5, which is one of the typical backup points (it's a VERY short par 4 and players wait for the green 210 yards away to clear before duffing their tee ball 40 yards), and quite literally there were two twosomes, a foursome, and a single waiting to tee off. 

 

In a perfect world, I would have forced the twosomes to become a foursome, and asked the single to join our group (would have made us 5, but we weren't holding up play). 

[akronswitness]

2 hours ago, ND2005 said:

 

This is the major problem with your post (which has many). 

 

Paying $125 doesn't give you the privilege to do whatever you want. 

 

 

 

More or less to referring the fact that when you pay big money at a course, you feel like you should be taken care of. The most expensive courses I have played have often been BY FAR the worst in customer service. Rude people in the clubhouse, stuffy atmosphere and often feel like Im doing them a favor by playing their course--not the other way around as it should be. Im paying money for a service, like anything else. When you pay top dollar for something, I expect a little more. I expect to be taken care of a little bit better if Im paying hundreds of dollars to golf in Florida than I do paying $45 to golf at a course in Ohio.

 

Also, I dont think a simple request of 'hey, can we please not get paired with another group--we would prefer to play alone today' is some sort of back-breaking customer request.

Edited July 20, 2021 by akronswitness

[driveandputtmachine]

Golf has once again become popular.  It is something with a lot of social distancing built in during the height of the pandemic.  People remembered, wow, I really like this game it is great I am gonna play some more.

 

So you have an increase in the number of rounds that want to be played, and in almost all markets across the US the availability of rounds(more courses opening up) has not happened.  If I own a golf course and it is public why would I not book all of my available tee times.  Whether in 8,9,10 minute increments?  I know why, I wouldn't.  Golf courses have plenty of problems, and revenue generally is problem number 1,2, and 3.  Want nicer greens?  More water/chemicals/manicuring.  Want nicer surrounds?  Mulch and pine straw aren't free.  Want better drainage?  Pipe, rock, and trenching machines aren't free.  Want the fairways nicer?  More mowing, more people. more equipment.  

 

So either join a private club or get over it.  I know many would be pissed if they were trying to snag a list minute tee time, couldn't and then went to hit balls anyway to get out of the house and watched multiple two or threesomes teeing off that had paid for all four slots.  That's a good way to have your course bashed in reviews, though not as bad a pace of play will get you bashed.

 

Lastly NO COURSE DOES 5 minute tee times.  NONE.  Show me a site where you see five minute tee time spreads.  It doesn't exist.  No group of four can play four shots in under 5 minutes and be moved out of the way for the next group to tee off.  One bad hole and the course is completely jammed up.  It just doesn't work.  The worse the golfers are, the more closely spaced tee times screw your pace of play.  Even if they play fast having to hit the ball three or four times on every par4 or par5 before reaching the green takes time.  I heard in LA they once had 6 minute spacings, but the average round lasted 5.5 to 6 hours.  

 

It is generally accepted in the golf world that because of the varying skills of golfers that 8 minute tee times are the absolute minimum spacing you should use.  5 minute tee times would work if you played as only twosomes, or for very good groups of three that all are pretty solid players.  Most courses from reports I have seen have increased their times from 8 to 10 or 10 to 12 an increased the cost per round.  Yet according to every statistic I have seen golfers rating the courses are rating them higher even paying more because rounds are 4 hours to 4.5 instead of 5 to 5.5.

 

If you can show me a tee sheet with 5 minute gappings I will be surprised, and I will also say that obviously whoever manages that course is a complete moron and you should never spend your money there.

[akronswitness]

17 minutes ago, driveandputtmachine said:

Golf has once again become popular.  It is something with a lot of social distancing built in during the height of the pandemic.  People remembered, wow, I really like this game it is great I am gonna play some more.

 

So you have an increase in the number of rounds that want to be played, and in almost all markets across the US the availability of rounds(more courses opening up) has not happened.  If I own a golf course and it is public why would I not book all of my available tee times.  Whether in 8,9,10 minute increments?  I know why, I wouldn't.  Golf courses have plenty of problems, and revenue generally is problem number 1,2, and 3.  Want nicer greens?  More water/chemicals/manicuring.  Want nicer surrounds?  Mulch and pine straw aren't free.  Want better drainage?  Pipe, rock, and trenching machines aren't free.  Want the fairways nicer?  More mowing, more people. more equipment.  

 

So either join a private club or get over it.  I know many would be pissed if they were trying to snag a list minute tee time, couldn't and then went to hit balls anyway to get out of the house and watched multiple two or threesomes teeing off that had paid for all four slots.  That's a good way to have your course bashed in reviews, though not as bad a pace of play will get you bashed.

 

Lastly NO COURSE DOES 5 minute tee times.  NONE.  Show me a site where you see five minute tee time spreads.  It doesn't exist.  No group of four can play four shots in under 5 minutes and be moved out of the way for the next group to tee off.  One bad hole and the course is completely jammed up.  It just doesn't work.  The worse the golfers are, the more closely spaced tee times screw your pace of play.  Even if they play fast having to hit the ball three or four times on every par4 or par5 before reaching the green takes time.  I heard in LA they once had 6 minute spacings, but the average round lasted 5.5 to 6 hours.  

 

It is generally accepted in the golf world that because of the varying skills of golfers that 8 minute tee times are the absolute minimum spacing you should use.  5 minute tee times would work if you played as only twosomes, or for very good groups of three that all are pretty solid players.  Most courses from reports I have seen have increased their times from 8 to 10 or 10 to 12 an increased the cost per round.  Yet according to every statistic I have seen golfers rating the courses are rating them higher even paying more because rounds are 4 hours to 4.5 instead of 5 to 5.5.

 

If you can show me a tee sheet with 5 minute gappings I will be surprised, and I will also say that obviously whoever manages that course is a complete moron and you should never spend your money there.

 

You just said it. The courses that Ive been to that try to jam as much people out as possible with tighter tee times DO let single, twosomes and threesomes go out--so its not nearly the problem as a bunch of foursomes packing the course. It prevents bottle necking as long as everybody follows a very famous golf rule...let others play through and pace is never a problem.

 

I also get the feeling we are talking about two different types of courses. Its became evident 90% of this board are semi-pro golfers that only play top level courses and frequently travel out of state for golf in FLA, AZ, SC and CA. When you go to those places, sure--they are typically rule enforcing nazis. I am referring to 'average joes' type of courses in rural Ohio. The courses that typically have 11-17 handicap golfers. Im talking about the average neighborhood $35-55 per round course that players of ANY skill level play at--Im not talking about golfing Muirfield CC.

Edited July 20, 2021 by akronswitness

[chippa13]

I still haven't seen the name of a single course with 5 minute intervals. This has apparently become a trolling exercise.

[akronswitness]

8 minutes ago, chippa13 said:

I still haven't seen the name of a single course with 5 minute intervals. This has apparently become a trolling exercise.

Deleware Golf Club, did it all last year every weekend during the pandemic when more people golfed.

Brookledge Golf Course, notorious for double booking tee times causing 4-6 groups waiting to get off on the first tee.

 

Again, Im not talking about high end courses in travel destinations. Im talking about your run of the mill public course in the midwest.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by akronswitness

[ND2005]

29 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

More or less to referring the fact that when you pay big money at a course, you feel like you should be taken care of. The most expensive courses I have played have often been BY FAR the worst in customer service. Rude people in the clubhouse, stuffy atmosphere and often feel like Im doing them a favor by playing their course--not the other way around as it should be. Im paying money for a service, like anything else. When you pay top dollar for something, I expect a little more. I expect to be taken care of a little bit better if Im paying hundreds of dollars to golf in Florida than I do paying $45 to golf at a course in Ohio.

 

Also, I dont think a simple request of 'hey, can we please not get paired with another group--we would prefer to play alone today' is some sort of back-breaking customer request.

If a greens fee is $125, then a foursome is $500. 
 
Booking a greens fee does not give you ownership over an entire tee time at any daily fee course. 

[RCGA]

31 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

More or less to referring the fact that when you pay big money at a course, you feel like you should be taken care of. The most expensive courses I have played have often been BY FAR the worst in customer service. Rude people in the clubhouse, stuffy atmosphere and often feel like Im doing them a favor by playing their course--not the other way around as it should be. Im paying money for a service, like anything else. When you pay top dollar for something, I expect a little more. I expect to be taken care of a little bit better if Im paying hundreds of dollars to golf in Florida than I do paying $45 to golf at a course in Ohio.

 

Also, I dont think a simple request of 'hey, can we please not get paired with another group--we would prefer to play alone today' is some sort of back-breaking customer request.

 

Budget baller mentality. 

 

I feel sorry for the single who got paired up with your group. 

[akronswitness]

Just now, RCGA said:

 

Budget baller mentality. 

 

I feel sorry for the single who got paired up with your group. 

 

Im sorry, when you pay a premium for ANY product that you own or service that you receive do you not expect it to work better or come with more perks than something that costs 1/3 the price or are you just ignorant? 

[driveandputtmachine]

4 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

You just said it. The courses that Ive been to that try to jam as much people out as possible with tighter tee times DO let single, twosomes and threesomes go out--so its not nearly the problem as a bunch of foursomes packing the course. It prevents bottle necking as long as everybody follows a very famous golf rule...let others play through and pace is never a problem.

 

I also get the feeling we are talking about two different types of courses. Its became evident 90% of this board are semi-pro golfers that only play top level courses and frequently travel out of state for golf in FLA, AZ, SC and CA. When you go to those places, sure--they are typically rule enforcing nazis. I am referring to 'average joes' type of courses in rural Ohio. The courses that typically have 11-17 handicap golfers. Im talking about the average neighborhood $35-55 per round course that players of ANY skill level play at--Im not talking about golfing Muirfield CC.

That's the problem though.....

USGA has done a ton of studying on pace of play.   Go and read up on it sometime.   

 

For a public course, semi-private, or bottom tier private course without a waiting list if everyone is bashing your course for 5+ hour and some even 6 hour rounds, people will play somewhere else.   The problem is right now many public especially courses DO NOT care.  They know there are more people than there are rounds available and will get their tee sheets full.  The managers and owners are dictating that they fill all groups and tee times.

 

I get it because money is always a problem at a golf course, so while the money is there to get these managers and owners are gonna try and get it.

 

Five or so years ago before I joined a private course, I as able to easily get tee times for a two some or three some and we were rarely paired with any fillers.   I am talking regular joe golf courses.   Full of guys from 8-20 handicaps.  Sure worse and better played them as well, but the vast majority were in that range.  Now you have people that started playing that are horrible that were bit by the golf bug, at least here in Atlanta, the much worse golfers are playing more, and more of them.  My one friend that was part of my regular group before myself and another joined private clubs still plays public golf.   We were talking about this the other day, even driving all the way up to lake Arrowhead they were still paired up with someone as they went out as a twosome.  Lake Arrowhead is roughly an hour north of where we live and even there they are getting hit by this.

 

If you book a tee time fore less than 4 you always ran the risk of being paired up.  The issue is now there are more people playing so you are more likely to be paired up than you were pre-covid.

[RCGA]

I found @akronswitness at the range yelling "i PaYEd $125 fOR tHiS ROuNd, I'll dO aS I pLEasE!!!11" 

 

 

 

[chippa13]

Delaware shows 9 minute intervals and Brookledge shows 8. I have a feeling that what you call double booking is merely the course booking all 4 slots of a tee time.

 

And every public course in this area extended intervals during the high Covid times. Nobody shrunk them.

[Zac1321]

are you relatively new to playing and just dont understand the norms? i enjoy playing by myself from time to time to but it is never a given. 

 

someone on here said something similar but what you want is the equivalent of going to a baseball/basketball/football game and thinking you are entitled to nobody sitting in your immediate area. could it happen? sure, but you are not entitled to that unless you pay to buy all the seats around you. 

[MtlJeff]

1 hour ago, chippa13 said:

I still haven't seen the name of a single course with 5 minute intervals. This has apparently become a trolling exercise.

 

There was a course around here that did 6 minute intervals , i don't know if they still do but when i played it ~ 10 years ago they were doing it. It was brutal as it would become a parking lot on Saturdays and Sundays. And by the time you got to 9AM they'd be way behind already

 

I have never seen 5

[NorCal678]

As someone who plays as a single pretty often, i don't think its a big deal.  

 

I do sales for a living so i'm pretty good with small talk and reading people.  If the people i am paired with want to chat, i'm down.  If they don't, I'll keep my distance.  No hard feelings.  

 

I have met some cool people and some not so cool people on the course.  I'm not a people pleaser so, if i don't like you, i have no issue giving off the signs that i don't want to chat, most people are respectful of that.  It's rare that i do that, but some people give off bad juju.    

 

I'll i really care about with randoms is attitude.  Keep that anger away from me.  I have also played some of the most fun rounds with randoms(one time this old told some of the raunchiest stories the whole round, hilarious).  Typically singles are there to play golf and work on their game, talking with the others in their group may be an added bonus but not an expectation, although that expectation may change for vacation courses.

 

 

[akronswitness]

1 hour ago, driveandputtmachine said:

That's the problem though.....

USGA has done a ton of studying on pace of play.   Go and read up on it sometime.   

 

For a public course, semi-private, or bottom tier private course without a waiting list if everyone is bashing your course for 5+ hour and some even 6 hour rounds, people will play somewhere else.   The problem is right now many public especially courses DO NOT care.  They know there are more people than there are rounds available and will get their tee sheets full.  The managers and owners are dictating that they fill all groups and tee times.

 

I get it because money is always a problem at a golf course, so while the money is there to get these managers and owners are gonna try and get it.

 

Five or so years ago before I joined a private course, I as able to easily get tee times for a two some or three some and we were rarely paired with any fillers.   I am talking regular joe golf courses.   Full of guys from 8-20 handicaps.  Sure worse and better played them as well, but the vast majority were in that range.  Now you have people that started playing that are horrible that were bit by the golf bug, at least here in Atlanta, the much worse golfers are playing more, and more of them.  My one friend that was part of my regular group before myself and another joined private clubs still plays public golf.   We were talking about this the other day, even driving all the way up to lake Arrowhead they were still paired up with someone as they went out as a twosome.  Lake Arrowhead is roughly an hour north of where we live and even there they are getting hit by this.

 

If you book a tee time fore less than 4 you always ran the risk of being paired up.  The issue is now there are more people playing so you are more likely to be paired up than you were pre-covid.

 

That makes sense. To your first point though is what I was referring to with the tee sheets being full. For whatever reason people want to claim I am lying about the courses I have been to and how they operate. Not every course operates with 10 min intervals even if they are supposed to. What I noticed for probably each of the last 2 years is that they just allot more tee times and squeeze people together off the tee.

 

Its not right, its not wrong its just a plan B option that I noticed some local courses take on their most popular days. They dont want to turn anybody down and say they are full, so they just create more tee times by putting them 4,5,6,7 mins apart especially in the early AM. Pace of play is generally never a issue with this. I just golfed a course over the weekend that only did foursomes and we still waited 5 mins on every hole from the group in front of us. So thats why I say just because everybody is in a foursome it doesnt guarantee great pace of play compared to a bunch of smaller groups.

 

I honestly dont mind golfing with random people. A lot of the time its fine. Ive just noticed recently its been happening a lot more than in previous years and sometimes there are times where I would just prefer to play solo or just with my buddies and i wish I had the option if I requested it. Those opportunities are slim to none at this point compared to previous years to which you stated because of Covid--which makes sense.

Edited July 20, 2021 by akronswitness

[NorCal678]

21 hours ago, akronswitness said:

Small venting session...I was looking to get feedback on getting paired up with random players at the course. Ive golfed a lot more this year and have been playing some very nice courses. The one thing Ive noticed is by going to nicer courses, nearly all of them have the 'everybody plays in a foursome' ruling. Typically, Ive had good luck and have played with some really cool people, however its happened so much recently that Ive started to dislike it for a bunch of different reasons.

 

We went out yesterday and booked a tee time for 3 golfers. We had a third person join late so we booked the tee time available directly after the original. I think it was 2 of us at 1:00pm and my other buddy was booked as a single at 1:08. We asked the clubhouse if we could just combine/consolidate our two tee times since they are right next to eachother and play as a threesome. They gave us hell for doing that. I thought she was honestly joking when she said no. This was almost like the straw that broke the camels back with me.

 

Here are my newly developed thoughts on courses that mandate foursomes:

 

1) I want to get out and golf with my friends. I dont want to have to have smalltalk with a stranger for 4 hours. Im out there to have fun and enjoy talking, playing and catching up with friends/family. Sometimes private conversations are made on the course and its extremely awkward or difficult to do if your playing with randoms.

 

2) I found this one out a few months ago. Im on vacation with my wife. Im paying $125+ to golf this course. I just want to have some private/fun time with her on the course and again, I dont want to entertain strangers and tell them my life story about who I am, where Im from, what I do for a living, ect when Im on vacation.

 

3) Sometimes I golf to have a practice round and work out the kinks in my swing. Its hard to just have a practice round when you have to keep pace with the other people in your group and not slow them down. Theres some sort of weird pressure playing with randoms that you have to play well, making practice/hitting bad shots for the sake of science extremely hard.

 

I understand that nicer courses do this to keep pace of play. I get it. However, I feel like there should be a option to decline playing with random players for the sake of filling out a group of 4. Especially at the cost some of these courses Ive played are. Sometimes I just want to tell them 'Im paying you to golf this course, for $125+ I should be able to play however I want. Your not paying me to golf here, Im paying you". If I want to golf with just me and a friend, I should be able to have that option. Especially at some of the stuffier courses in Florida I was at, the staff made it seem like they were doing me a favor by letting me being there and golf their course. As if the cost I payed to be there meant nothing.

 

Does anyone else feel this way or am I the only one? 

 

 For $125 i would expect really nice conditions, not be able to do whatever i want.  I can't believe you were surprised they wouldn't let you combine tee times.  You're also playing a vacation course, so that $125 was inflated.  I paid $200 to play Bali Hai on the vegas strip.  Its a $100 course with a 100% markup for tourists.  Same deal when you pay $200 for a course in Hawaii(although the courses are really nice, lots of sun and free water will do that).     

 

If its that bid a deal you can just buy out the whole tee time.  If its a course you can call to make a tee time (don't believe the website, most of the time you can call the pro shop and not pay before the round), just make it for 4, and don't check in 10 min until tee off.  

[2bGood]

1 hour ago, akronswitness said:

 

Also, I dont think a simple request of 'hey, can we please not get paired with another group--we would prefer to play alone today' is some sort of back-breaking customer request.

 

Thing is, it is back breaking request. You asking them to not take in revenue. Not sure what kind of business you are in, but if a customer asked you to cut you revenue by 25%, 50% or 75% to make them happy - do you think that is a fair request?

 

 

1 hour ago, akronswitness said:

 

Im sorry, when you pay a premium for ANY product that you own or service that you receive do you not expect it to work better or come with more perks than something that costs 1/3 the price or are you just ignorant? 

 

I would assume the perks you are getting is a better course, with better conditions in a better (high demand) location. This is not always the case but typically why courses charge more. 

 

If you are really happy with the course you play and you think it is just as good as the more expensive course for a 1/3 of the price, then for 4/3 the price you can buy a foursome all to yourself. 

Edited July 20, 2021 by 2bGood