Thoughts On Getting Paired Up With Randoms?

[krtgolfing]

13 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

When they called and said "I would like a tee time for 10:15" was your response "We can get you off with another group at 10:15 but if you would not like to be paired up we can get a twosome off at Noon, what works better for you?"

 

Because again, no local run of the mill course is booked every 10 mins with a 4some every single day.

 

I just looked at the tee time sheet for the local muni here. I only saw two spots for singles on 7/23/2021 at 9 minute intervals... Getting a tee time at this course has been a struggle since they have reopened...

Edited July 21, 2021 by krtgolfing

[david.c.w]

10 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

Because again, no local run of the mill course is booked every 10 mins with a 4some every single day.

 

LOL (seriously, I laughed out loud)

 

[david.c.w]

  duplicate post

Edited July 21, 2021 by david.c.w

[bekgolf]

If I want to go out as a single I go to a course that lets people out at first light before the pro shop opens.  Not all courses allow it but some do if they know you.  I settle up with the pro shop as soon I pass by after they open.

 

Maybe this can be an option for you OP?

 

About getting paired up with randoms:  I mostly enjoy it.  I also enjoy making chit-chat with people and hearing new stories so there is that.  The only thing I don't like about randoms is the occasional angry golfer or the super slow guy who hangs out at the green thinking about who knows what after everyone has putted out.

 

The terrible or new golfer who has a good attitude and keeps pace of play is always welcome.

 

 

[Soloman1]

Lived as an expat for 25+ years and the culture for most of the years was that you couldn't book a time as a single at 99% of the courses. You had to book at least three people. No "strangers" would be paired up. It was considered too uncomfortable. What if you simply don't like that person?

 

Most people don't do things with people they hate or don't even like. That's what marriage is for.

 

The rest of the society was similar. No one talked to you on trains or planes, no one even made eye contact.

 

I loved it. It was relaxing. I dislike the whole western thing of sitting down on a plane and the person next to you babbles on and on and I really don't give a crap about their work or lives. People on a 40 minute flight want to exchanges business cards, phone numbers and think that you're going to be their best friend and you're going to have a BBQ next week. Sheesh.

 

But that's the way American golf, air travel and everything is. You can't even stand in line for a burger without people yappin' at you about politics and nonsense.

 

Y'all need to learn how to shut up. That would make pairing up easier. 🙂

[2bGood]

23 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

When they called and said "I would like a tee time for 10:15" was your response "We can get you off with another group at 10:15 but if you would not like to be paired up we can get a twosome off at Noon, what works better for you?"

 

Because again, no local run of the mill course is booked every 10 mins with a 4some every single day.

Nope that was not something we would say.

 

But what we did get was people call and say (this was the most common). "My friend/wife/husband/child is just learning golf, is there a good time fo us to come at and play in a group on our own?"

 

Answer was - if you come by after 5pm on Sunday it usually pretty slow etc. 

 

As for no local course being booked solid. I have to say during covid I actually saw many of local courses being booked 100% solid - 7 days a week. A few even went to only allowing you to only book foursomes. Supply was low and demand was through the roof. In our area golf was one of the few things you could still go out and do. 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by 2bGood

[Bonneville85308]

3 hours ago, Scrubby said:

It seems to be new thing that courses are doing, pairing 2 randoms together in the same golf cart.

 

I guess they want to minimize golf cart gas/electric expense as much as possible, but pace of play can be negatively affected.

 

Are you new to the game? I've been playing at least weekly since the mid 1990s and just about every public course (and many private courses) I've played across the country has always paired randoms in the same cart except for about 9 months in 2020 due to COVID.  For as long as I remember, you would only get your own cart if you were in a threesome paired with a twosome who booked together (they share one cart and you ride solo on the other), if you were the only rider in the group/the others were walking, if you paid an extra fee, or obviously if you were playing alone. Most courses in my area are back to the way things were pre-COVID with randoms sharing carts except for a few high end courses that won't force people who didn't book the time together to ride together.

 

Also, if you book a GolfNow hotdeal time as a single, you pretty much have to expect that you will be playing (and riding with) with randoms who also bought into that time, unless the course isn't busy and they let you all tee off separately. Which is a "bonus" and not a right.

 

Of course, you can solve this "randoms paired in a cart" issue by walking and only playing courses that are reasonably walkable.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Bonneville85308

[akronswitness]

28 minutes ago, 2bGood said:

Nope that was not something we would say.

 

But what we did get was people call and say (this was the most common). "My friend/wife/husband/child is just learning golf, is there a good time fo us to come at and play in a group on our own?"

 

Answer was - if you come by after 5pm on Sunday it usually pretty slow etc. 

 

As for no local course being booked solid. I have to say during covid I actually saw many of local courses being booked 100% solid - 7 days a week. A few even went to only allowing you to only book foursomes. Supply was low and demand was through the roof. In our area golf was one of the few things you could still go out and do. 

 

 

 

Thats true, but I think we play in extremely different areas. I think what everybody needs to understand is not every golf course is the same and/or operates the same. The golf courses around me dont operate like the golf courses probably around you or have the same demand as the courses around you--so its all different for everyone. 

 

Im looking online right now and one of the nicer courses in the area has probably 15+ different tee times open right now for the rest of the afternoon all 8-9min apart. Which tells me they currently dont have many (if any) people playing from 2pm-7pm. Thats where I keep saying general public neighborhood course is not constantly booked with 4somes every 10min of every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[larrybud]

So, what do you think, that there's some vast conspiracy just against you?

8 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

Im looking online right now and one of the nicer courses in the area has probably 15+ different tee times open right now for the rest of the afternoon all 8-9min apart. Which tells me they currently dont have many (if any) people playing from 2pm-7pm. Thats where I keep saying general public neighborhood course is not constantly booked with 4somes every 10min of every day.

So book at that course.

 

I mean, seriously, what do you think that there's some conspiracy against you personally to prevent you from making a tee time?

 

Your "general public neighborhood course" is going to be cheaper, and probably more filled than one of the "nicer" courses.

[larrybud]

20 hours ago, akronswitness said:

 

So we agree that the only reason courses mandate foursomes is because of financial reasons because all foursomes on a course does not make the golf faster. I thought more people would just prefer to play by themselves sometimes or just with a friend without randoms filling out the group if that was a option--guess I was wrong on that one.

 

Believe it or not, courses are in business to make as much money as possible. Odd, I know, right? That the goal of business is to make money! Amazing!

[2bGood]

14 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

Thats true, but I think we play in extremely different areas. I think what everybody needs to understand is not every golf course is the same and/or operates the same. The golf courses around me dont operate like the golf courses probably around you or have the same demand as the courses around you--so its all different for everyone. 

 

Im looking online right now and one of the nicer courses in the area has probably 15+ different tee times open right now for the rest of the afternoon all 8-9min apart. Which tells me they currently dont have many (if any) people playing from 2pm-7pm. Thats where I keep saying general public neighborhood course is not constantly booked with 4somes every 10min of every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is one thing I can agree with you on. This is world forum and there is big variation between regions when it comes to some aspects of golf.

 

Having said that some basic of the golf industry hold true in most locations. 

[dokex]

A Baltimore city course that I used to work at had a single who would show up before dawn on the weekends to join the first group that had a spot. He had Tourette's. The first time was a threesome who always paid for the fourth spot, saying they had a buddy who would "catch up". It was worth it for them to pay a phantom fee to prevent the Tourettes guy from joining them.

[Zac1321]

6 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

Thats true, but I think we play in extremely different areas. I think what everybody needs to understand is not every golf course is the same and/or operates the same. The golf courses around me dont operate like the golf courses probably around you or have the same demand as the courses around you--so its all different for everyone. 

 

Im looking online right now and one of the nicer courses in the area has probably 15+ different tee times open right now for the rest of the afternoon all 8-9min apart. Which tells me they currently dont have many (if any) people playing from 2pm-7pm. Thats where I keep saying general public neighborhood course is not constantly booked with 4somes every 10min of every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

your arguments make no sense.

 

Just about everyone who has posted is in agreement that it is perfectly reasonable to make a request to not play with other people and most golf courses will oblige at slower times when the course isn't busy which is perfectly illustrated by your example of tee sheets being wide open on a wednesday afternoon.

 

Just about everyone in this thread is not in agreement that its reasonable to expect a course to honor your request during peak time. A large part of your argument has centered around the fact that you can typically only play during peak golfing times (weekend mornings) and how you would like if courses would allow less than foursomes during the times you golf. you would be hard pressed to find a public course in the country that isnt in the middle of nowhere that isnt booked solid on a weekend from 7am until mid afternoon.

 

[Soloman1]

5 minutes ago, larrybud said:

 

Believe it or not, courses are in business to make as much money as possible. Odd, I know, right? That the goal of business is to make money! Amazing!

 

Woah... this can't be true anymore. That's dark ages stuff. Can you cite some sources that this theory still exists?

[akronswitness]

11 minutes ago, Zac1321 said:

your arguments make no sense.

 

Just about everyone who has posted is in agreement that it is perfectly reasonable to make a request to not play with other people and most golf courses will oblige at slower times when the course isn't busy which is perfectly illustrated by your example of tee sheets being wide open on a wednesday afternoon.

 

Just about everyone in this thread is not in agreement that its reasonable to expect a course to honor your request during peak time. A large part of your argument has centered around the fact that you can typically only play during peak golfing times (weekend mornings) and how you would like if courses would allow less than foursomes during the times you golf. you would be hard pressed to find a public course in the country that isnt in the middle of nowhere that isnt booked solid on a weekend from 7am until mid afternoon.

 

 

False-- the general consensus is that I am a completely idiotic, entitled, two-faced a*hole if I even as so much request something of the golf course because nothing is expected of them but to let me play golf. Nothing more, nothing less. Pay money, show up, golf and hope it doesnt suck. If you have a bad time because of the pairings or staff, tough sh*t its a business--try again next week.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by akronswitness

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, akronswitness said:

 

Because again, no local run of the mill course is booked every 10 mins with a 4some every single day.

 

Of course not. But you also complained that you can't play off-peak times because you and others you want to play with have kids. 

 

If you're playing weekend mornings, they're filling your group. 

 

Heck, here in SoCal I can't think of a single public course that you can still CALL for a tee time... You go to the online booking site and look for available times. Oh, and for quite a few of them, you'd better stay up until midnight 7 days prior to the day you want to play when the tee times are released to the public, because if you wait until 6 AM all the good peak weekend morning times are gone. 

 

If I look at my typical local course? There are ZERO tee times available right now prior to 2:20 PM, and that's for two spots to fill out a twosome that already has two players. For Sunday the first available tee time is a single at 11:50 AM to fill out a group that already has 3 spots booked. You'll have ZERO chance of actually being allowed to play as a twosome before twilight rates start... The course is literally that full EVERY weekend.

 

3 hours ago, akronswitness said:

 

The original question was: If it was a option would you prefer to get matched up with randoms or play with just your group?

 

I personally have no issues with getting matched up. It's part of the game. 

 

But per your question, if it were an option, there might be times I prefer it. I'm playing next month with my FIL who will be down here from Oregon and who I rarely see. Would I prefer a twosome? Yes, but I don't expect them to make that option available, if the course can sell those two extra spots to someone else. I have no entitlement because I know how busy courses are these days.

 

That round will be on a Thursday morning at a course that charges $133/round on a weekday. I looked at tomorrow's tee times to compare as it's also a Thursday, and there's only one spot open for a single to join ANY group within an hour before or after our 8:50 AM time. So even though nobody has booked the remaining two spots in our foursome for the day in question yet, I'm quite sure it'll be full by that morning. 

[Bonneville85308]

42 minutes ago, dokex said:

A Baltimore city course that I used to work at had a single who would show up before dawn on the weekends to join the first group that had a spot. He had Tourette's. The first time was a threesome who always paid for the fourth spot, saying they had a buddy who would "catch up". It was worth it for them to pay a phantom fee to prevent the Tourettes guy from joining them.

 

I think this guy must have moved to Phoenix, there is a very similar guy that shows up at one of the muni courses here at the crack of dawn without a tee time and does the same thing. I think he means well and isn't a jerk but he never shuts up the entire round and is constantly making grunting, throat clearing sounds, talking to himself or not realizing nobody is listening to him.  I've seen random twosomes in back-to-back tee times join up together or other singles tell the starter there was mix-up with their tee time to avoid playing with him. I'm able to tune him out and actually don't mind playing with him as he plays at a decent pace.

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, akronswitness said:

Im looking online right now and one of the nicer courses in the area has probably 15+ different tee times open right now for the rest of the afternoon all 8-9min apart. Which tells me they currently dont have many (if any) people playing from 2pm-7pm. Thats where I keep saying general public neighborhood course is not constantly booked with 4somes every 10min of every day.

 

 

Great. Go play there. If you book it right now it's REALLY unlikely someone else will be in your group as I can't imagine the course filling by the end of the day. 

 

Or do you, perhaps, NOT want to book between 2-7 PM on a Wednesday afternoon; you just want to go out as a twosome/threesome during peak times?

[2bGood]

10 minutes ago, Bonneville85308 said:

 

I think this guy must have moved to Phoenix, there is a very similar guy that shows up at one of the muni courses here at the crack of dawn without a tee time and does the same thing. I think he means well and isn't a jerk but he never shuts up the entire round and is constantly making grunting, throat clearing sounds, talking to himself or not realizing nobody is listening to him.  I've seen random twosomes in back-to-back tee times join up together or other singles tell the starter there was mix-up with their tee time to avoid playing with him. I'm able to tune him out and actually don't mind playing with him as he plays at a decent pace.

I play with 'that guy'. He is super fun once you get past the quirks.

[akronswitness]

44 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Of course not. But you also complained that you can't play off-peak times because you and others you want to play with have kids. 

 

If you're playing weekend mornings, they're filling your group. 

 

Heck, here in SoCal I can't think of a single public course that you can still CALL for a tee time... You go to the online booking site and look for available times. Oh, and for quite a few of them, you'd better stay up until midnight 7 days prior to the day you want to play when the tee times are released to the public, because if you wait until 6 AM all the good peak weekend morning times are gone. 

 

If I look at my typical local course? There are ZERO tee times available right now prior to 2:20 PM, and that's for two spots to fill out a twosome that already has two players. For Sunday the first available tee time is a single at 11:50 AM to fill out a group that already has 3 spots booked. You'll have ZERO chance of actually being allowed to play as a twosome before twilight rates start... The course is literally that full EVERY weekend.

 

 

The demand in my area is not nearly that high. People golf, but local courses are not flooded. There are a few courses that are really popular so I know what Im getting there, but the vast majority have a steady stream on weekends but nothing that makes you pull your hair out.

 

Half of these courses Im talking about dont even have Starters or Rangers. You just get your cart key from the clubhouse when you pay, hit the snack bar for any food/drinks you want and then roll up on the 1st tee. Sometimes your told your playing with randoms and sometimes your not. When it is packed, Ive seen people see carts piled up on the 1st tee and head straight to the 10th tee box to play the course backwards. That actually happened to me over the weekend. We came out from the turn and there was this guy with his 11 year old son teeing it up on the 10th tee who was never in front of us. People just do what they want and play. Its not some super strict, rule enforcing type of stuffy enviorment typically found at higher end clubs where you feel like your being watched 24/7 by a Marshall.

 

They are fairly nice courses too for being public, not dog tracks. The course Im taking about is probably nice enough to be a private course if it wanted to. I just dont think the state/area I am in has that high of a demand for golf where nearly every course has the whole 9 yards and people are frothing at the mouth to get a tee time 7 days prior. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by akronswitness

[betarhoalphadelta]

8 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

The demand in my area is not nearly that high. People golf, but local courses are not flooded. There are a few courses that are really popular so I know what Im getting there, but the vast majority have a steady stream on weekends but nothing that makes you pull your hair out.

 

Half of these courses Im talking about dont even have Starters or Rangers. You just get your cart key from the clubhouse when you pay, hit the snack bar for any food/drinks you want and then go and people police themselves. Sometimes your told your playing with randoms and sometimes your not. They are fairly nice courses too, not dog tracks. I just dont think the state/area I am in has that high of a demand for golf where nearly every course has the whole 9 yards. You typically find that other stuff at private clubs, not public. 

 

Question. Is the tee time 10 minutes before yours and the tee time 10 minutes behind yours booked full with 4 players?

[averysdad]

I joined a semi private club about a month ago  and they have a twosomes is not always going to be cool policy but all 3x I’ve played so far, it’s just worked out where the shop attendant was like get on the 1st tee and go and we played as a 2some.The last time he said another 2some booked thru golfnow and the system paired them with you guys but when they were nowhere to be seen 5 mins before tee time he said go and have at it. So being a member does have its privileges I guess. As a public non member they won’t even let you make a tee time as a 2some before 1pm on the weekends. 
 

I see where you’re coming from OP but I think we’re all such die hard golfers on here for the most part that we just play as much as we all can and for the most part we don’t care so much about who plays with us.

 

 

 

[akronswitness]

14 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Question. Is the tee time 10 minutes before yours and the tee time 10 minutes behind yours booked full with 4 players?

 

Rarely. For example, at this course I went this past Saturday. I booked my tee time for 2 players and showed up and it was just us. There was a 3some in front of us and a 2some behind us. It was 11:00am on a Saturday. The course played fine while also being busy, we rarely ever waited and if we did, it was just for a few moments for the group to get off the green in front of us. We listened to music, we had fun, got to catch up with eachother, we played at a comfortable pace generally, ect. I love this course, its just too expensive now that they nearly doubled their prices. Its now the most expensive public course in the whole city.

 

However, the course I played on Sunday mandated the 4somes. It was chaotic, hectic, we got hit into on multiple different occasions and we waited 5-10min on every single hole while playing with a 1st timer who took a quintuple bogey on every hole. 5.5hr round and those were at a 10min interval with tee times. It was expensive as hell,  unhelpful employees and we got read the riot act by the starter before going off.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by akronswitness

[betarhoalphadelta]

3 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

Rarely. For example, at this course I went this past Saturday. I booked my tee time for 2 players and showed up and it was just us. There was a 3some in front of us and a 2some behind us. It was 11:00am on a Saturday. The course played fine while also being busy, we rarely ever waited and if we did, it was just for a few moments for the group to get off the green in front of us. I love this course, its just too expensive now that they nearly doubled their prices. Its now the most expensive public course in the whole city.

 

However, the course I played on Sunday mandated the 4somes. It was chaotic, hectic, we got hit into on multiple different occasions and we waited 5-10min on every single hole. 5.5hr round and those were at a 10min interval with tee times. It was expensive as hell,  unhelpful employees and we got read the riot act by the starter before going off.

 

 

 

Okay, so it's simple...

 

Course A: Not busy, not overloaded with demand (largely perhaps due to price), and they let you off as a twosome.

 

Course B: Crazy busy, hectic, course completely full if not over-full, and they forced you into a foursome.

 

If a course was forcing you into foursomes when the course wasn't busy, you might have a gripe. But they put you in a foursome when they were VERY busy. 

 

What's the issue here? You're not talking about a course that isn't busy. You're talking about a course that is slammed.

[dokex]

1 hour ago, Bonneville85308 said:

 

I think this guy must have moved to Phoenix, there is a very similar guy that shows up at one of the muni courses here at the crack of dawn without a tee time and does the same thing. I think he means well and isn't a jerk but he never shuts up the entire round and is constantly making grunting, throat clearing sounds, talking to himself or not realizing nobody is listening to him.  I've seen random twosomes in back-to-back tee times join up together or other singles tell the starter there was mix-up with their tee time to avoid playing with him. I'm able to tune him out and actually don't mind playing with him as he plays at a decent pace.

When the marshal ran the flag up the pole at dawn, our guy would stand at attention, doff his hat, and belt out the national anthem at the top of his lungs. His nickname was Singin' Joe.

[akronswitness]

52 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Okay, so it's simple...

 

Course A: Not busy, not overloaded with demand (largely perhaps due to price), and they let you off as a twosome.

 

Course B: Crazy busy, hectic, course completely full if not over-full, and they forced you into a foursome.

 

If a course was forcing you into foursomes when the course wasn't busy, you might have a gripe. But they put you in a foursome when they were VERY busy. 

 

What's the issue here? You're not talking about a course that isn't busy. You're talking about a course that is slammed.

 

That was my argument against 4somes and pace of play. Both courses seemed equally busy and Course B just seemed like they didn't know how to handle it. They were frantically trying to put people together, find out if they were even at the course yet, ect.... 

 

Course A just let people go out in whatever grouping they signed up for and it was a much quicker and less stressful event.

 

If course B just did what course A did and let people who are ready at the tee go off it would have IMO been much better

[The Pearl]

1 hour ago, akronswitness said:

 

Rarely. For example, at this course I went this past Saturday. I booked my tee time for 2 players and showed up and it was just us. There was a 3some in front of us and a 2some behind us. It was 11:00am on a Saturday. The course played fine while also being busy, we rarely ever waited and if we did, it was just for a few moments for the group to get off the green in front of us. We listened to music, we had fun, got to catch up with eachother, we played at a comfortable pace generally, ect. I love this course, its just too expensive now that they nearly doubled their prices. Its now the most expensive public course in the whole city.

 

However, the course I played on Sunday mandated the 4somes. It was chaotic, hectic, we got hit into on multiple different occasions and we waited 5-10min on every single hole while playing with a 1st timer who took a quintuple bogey on every hole. 5.5hr round and those were at a 10min interval with tee times. It was expensive as hell,  unhelpful employees and we got read the riot act by the starter before going off.

 

 

 

 

Reading through your posts, it seems to me your issue is more a "course" management problem than a golfing problem and some of the problems you are having could be mitigated by employing a few common "veteran" strategies.  Play with the dew sweepers, get to know the pro shop folks, etc. 

 

Most importantly which solves all your problems is to find a reliable 4 to 6 playing partners. Fill the foursome. Problem solved. 

 

Sadly, many courses are run by idiots.  These courses should be avoided. There a couple in my area and we never, ever play them.  Luckily we have options.  Every course has its own culture.  Find the course that fits your culture, get to know the staff, treat them right and they will likely take care of you. 

 

If I can routinely get around a decent course in 4 hours or so, I will gladly pay a premium for pace of play. 

 

With that said, there is always a happy place where you can be all alone, golf at your own pace, and be in your own world.  It is called the driving range and the practice green.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by The Pearl

[betarhoalphadelta]

9 minutes ago, akronswitness said:

 

That was my argument against 4somes and pace of play. Both courses seemed equally busy and Course B just seemed like they didn't know how to handle it. They were frantically trying to put people together, find out if they were even at the course yet, ect.... 

 

Course A just let people go out in whatever grouping they signed up for and it was a much quicker and less stressful event.

 

If course B just did what course A did and let people who are ready at the tee go off it would have IMO been much better

 

They "seemed equally busy". Yet the tee time you booked at Course A didn't have anyone else book the other two spots in the foursome. The tee time prior to yours only had 3 people book and nobody tried to fill the single. The tee time after yours was also booked as only a twosome and nobody else had booked to fill the foursome. Sounds like there weren't enough people to fill every tee time. Yet course B was busy enough that every group went out as 4.

 

Sounds like course B was a lot more busy. 

 

I'd also venture that if Course A is the most expensive public course in the whole city, it has two effects. First, it only attracts better players who understand golf, pace of play, and probably aren't shooting triple digits (or if they are, know to do it quickly). Second, one of the ways that they have better pace of play is having fewer people on the course because fewer people can afford a round there. 

 

 

 

[DCSerafin]

6 hours ago, Soloman1 said:

Lived as an expat for 25+ years and the culture for most of the years was that you couldn't book a time as a single at 99% of the courses. You had to book at least three people. No "strangers" would be paired up. It was considered too uncomfortable. What if you simply don't like that person?

 

Most people don't do things with people they hate or don't even like. That's what marriage is for.

 

The rest of the society was similar. No one talked to you on trains or planes, no one even made eye contact.

 

I loved it. It was relaxing. I dislike the whole western thing of sitting down on a plane and the person next to you babbles on and on and I really don't give a crap about their work or lives. People on a 40 minute flight want to exchanges business cards, phone numbers and think that you're going to be their best friend and you're going to have a BBQ next week. Sheesh.

 

But that's the way American golf, air travel and everything is. You can't even stand in line for a burger without people yappin' at you about politics and nonsense.

 

Y'all need to learn how to shut up. That would make pairing up easier. 🙂

That’s what headphones are for 🤣

[akronswitness]

2 hours ago, The Pearl said:

 

 

Reading through your posts, it seems to me your issue is more a "course" management problem than a golfing problem and some of the problems you are having could be mitigated by employing a few common "veteran" strategies.  Play with the dew sweepers, get to know the pro shop folks, etc. 

 

Most importantly which solves all your problems is to find a reliable 4 to 6 playing partners. Fill the foursome. Problem solved. 

 

Sadly, many courses are run by idiots.  These courses should be avoided. There a couple in my area and we never, ever play them.  Luckily we have options.  Every course has its own culture.  Find the course that fits your culture, get to know the staff, treat them right and they will likely take care of you. 

 

If I can routinely get around a decent course in 4 hours or so, I will gladly pay a premium for pace of play. 

 

With that said, there is always a happy place where you can be all alone, golf at your own pace, and be in your own world.  It is called the driving range and the practice green.

 

 

 

I feel like your correct in a sense. A lot of the courses I have been to that try to mandate 4somes its hard to tell if they read above a 3rd grade level sometimes. Its often a complete disaster trying to organize everything from the clubhouse to the Starter to the groups. They are trying to figure out who is here at the course or not, if some of the group payed yet, where they are at and if they are ready to play, ect. Its a total cluster*** getting off of the first teebox. On top of that when 4somes pack the course you might as well kick your feet up because its going to be a loooong day.

 

1/2 of my hatred for pairings comes from playing partners themselves (like the guy who kept being condescending to my 1st time friend) or the college bros a few weeks earlier that were getting drunk out of their minds on the course. The other 1/2 of my hatred from pairings comes from the course themselves who seemingly more times than not have no idea how to handle it. A few weeks ago a friend and I went out and waited on the first teebox for our playing partners. The Starter told us to wait and let 2 other groups pass us to see if our other playing partners were going to show up. Enough time passed and he let us go off as a 2some. We are on the green putting on the first hole and the Starter comes racing down the fairway at us. He says "your playing partners showed up, go ahead and wait for them to play the 1st hole and meet up on the 2nd teebox." We were livid. We probably spent 35 mins waiting for these clowns and the Starter just wouldnt let it go and let us play.

 

So yes, I feel like I have very legitimate gripes with mandating 4somes IMO and thats where my desire for wanting to play with my own group comes from. I understand the courses need their money by filling out groups--but your not going to ruin my day of golf and put everyone in a bad mood because the courses more times than not are too inept to handle it.