Pressure to hit up on group ahead?

[dubbelbogey]

Real situation from this summer: 65+ year old gentleman with less than perfect eyesight playing with a 20-something - strong hitter, but not highly experienced. There's a group about 300 out from the tees. Younger player is waiting to tee off, but older guy pressured him into hitting. Ball flies full 300, and is definitely too close for comfort to the group in front.  Older guy does the right thing, takes responsibility and quickly and profusely apologizes to the group in front - who were understandably miffed, but ultimately understood once it was explained. Lessons learned by all involved.

 

[jmevox]

I had this guy and his son behind me a few months ago and the father almost hit me about 3 times. Each time i was waiting for a group ahead of us. Probably hole 9, im waiting to tee off as the group infront of us is in the middle of the fairway. The son said, “we will play through.” I point and said where are you going to go? Also, you guys almost hit me 3 times. The father says “not my fault i hit the ball so far.  If you’re not on the green im going to hit the ball”

 

I said no problem but next time the ball is going to be flying back and i hit the ball far too. 
 

That ended it. The son kept quiet the dad was a real di**. 

Edited December 3, 2021 by jmevox

[Ri_Redneck]

On 11/25/2021 at 4:49 AM, Clubhoe said:

Bit of a vent here, but when Ive had to wait on the group ahead to finish on the green, I've had several remarks over time (and twice today), hinting that I should hit.

 

Today 2 older guys, who I haven't played with before said "its over 200 meters" and the other said a couple of holes later "your 220 into the wind". And not in a helping yardage way.

 

It happens a lot I've noticed. Why would I take the risk, if its within my reach?

Maybe I haven't showed much that day, but who are they to question that?

I've gotten to the point where I won't play with older guys for the first time.

 

Anybody feel uncomfortable waiting with the judging eyes? And how do you respond?

 

Any time I get this I simply say "You're welcome to go on up to your ball and I will hit when they clear the green."

 

BT

[Pastit]

On 12/2/2021 at 3:37 PM, jmevox said:

I had this guy and his son behind me a few months ago and the father almost hit me about 3 times. Each time i was waiting for a group ahead of us. Probably hole 9, im waiting to tee off as the group infront of us is in the middle of the fairway. The son said, “we will play through.” I point and said where are you going to go? Also, you guys almost hit me 3 times. The father says “not my fault i hit the ball so far.  If you’re not on the green im going to hit the ball”

 

I said no problem but next time the ball is going to be flying back and i hit the ball far too. 
 

That ended it. The son kept quiet the dad was a real di**. 

Install a short tee-peg green side of the ball so that it’s invisible. 

[RandyMatheny]

If there’s a group on the green that I can reach I wait.  The fear of hitting them is in my head and thus make a bad swing.  I’ve seen a guy career one (hits his driver 215 and knocks a 3 wood on from 240) because he didn’t think he could get there.  I also think about it’s either wait now, or wait on the next tee box, or probably both.  If they said something about the distance, and I thought they were serious, I would just say that I hit it farther than they do, or back when they were my age 50 years ago, they could probably get there too.  While you’re waiting on the next tee, you could get advice on how they used to stuff their feathery.  

[Pastit]

7 hours ago, RandyMatheny said:

If there’s a group on the green that I can reach I wait.  The fear of hitting them is in my head and thus make a bad swing.  I’ve seen a guy career one (hits his driver 215 and knocks a 3 wood on from 240) because he didn’t think he could get there.  I also think about it’s either wait now, or wait on the next tee box, or probably both.  If they said something about the distance, and I thought they were serious, I would just say that I hit it farther than they do, or back when they were my age 50 years ago, they could probably get there too.  While you’re waiting on the next tee, you could get advice on how they used to stuff their feathery.  

Its not just the fear of a hit IMO. Nothing worse than being up ahead and having to worry about the hit behind but also the noise of the hit during a putt or swing. 

[mshills]

Pressure to hit up is nothing compared to the pressure you’ll get if you do hit up!

 

Forget that. No one is going to make me play when I’m not ready to play, and the first step in being ready is ensuring the green/fairway is clear. There isn’t a worse feeling in golf than hitting too close or hitting into the group in front, and there is really no excuse for it. 

[MWL_9]

Wait until you are comfortable to hit.  If you are worried about hitting into the group ahead of you, you're not focused on your shot

 

I typically respond with "better to be safe plus we'll just have to wait on the next shot anyway"

[llewol007]

Ive been there and I usually talk down the situation. I say Ya I should hit so I can light a fire under their Arse. Of course I follow up with, last time that happened, I almost nailed the guy and felt bad about it. So Ill give em a little more time to walk off the green.