has this happened to you?

Atticus808 · June 13, 2011

idiots

played The Ranch in Alberta awhile ago. it was Sunday morning and I believe there was a frost delay.
lawn mowers literally cut grass around us. and would sometimes stop when we shot, but at times they left the mowers running. they would be no more than 20 feet away letting the mowers run
and then I remember at one point I was about to chip the green, and a mower comes and mows the green right before my shot, in the middle of the round. changing the speeds.

don't play there

baseballfrk8998 · June 13, 2011

Should have treated them like the ball picker at the range! Hahaha. Totally kidding.

jswaykos · June 13, 2011

Nothing that extreme, no. But the last time I played at first light I waited for the mower to clear on a couple greens, but nothing right in front of me like what happened to you! But what was the course supposed to do? They've gotta cut the grass...

midweston · June 13, 2011

I was on the maintenance crew at a course last year.

The mowers cannot go on frost either, and it is important to mow it. It is unfortunate it happened to you, but it had to happen to someone. They have a job to do, and if they get behind in the mowing it can mean a mess for other days on the course. You have to understand the maintenance side. If they are mowing, just take your time and wait for them to get out in front. Then the rest of the round you will have the same speed. Again, sorry, but mowing has to happen. This does not mean this course did anything wrong or that it is a bad course.

schlyer · June 13, 2011

Every course I've seen mows from 18 backwards so that they only ever bug any group one time. Unavoidable.

midweston · June 13, 2011

We would send out two mowers and go one from 1,2,3, and one from the practice green to ten...11, etc. on normal days. We also were mowing at daybreak so the golfers wouldn't be affected. On tourney days or something like that, we may mow leapfrog from 1 all the way through. It just depended on the situation. I will say i've been hit at by golfers waiting for me to mow a green off because we had forgotten about a tournament coming up. They couldn't wait another 3 minutes for me to finish 18 green..that was very irritating.

-also, remember when you are paying greens fees, you are paying for permission to tear up the maintenance staff's work. You are paying to destroy the turf in reality. Just keep proper perspective.

Atticus808 · June 13, 2011

understandable. but why mow on a Sunday when it's busiest? why not mow Monday?
and why did they have to literally stop 20 feet behind me with the mower running?
I do get that I am tearing up their work, but they do also have to get that people pay to play their course. they are working cause of people playing.
and to just start mowing the green right before you chip? that's annoying

midweston · June 13, 2011

I would agree. We would leave our rough mowers running when people are playing through, not high throttle or anything, and certainly not 20 feet away. I would agree that it would be nice to stop for you to chip and putt in, but if they did that for you, the next group would probably be up on them (assuming you had one behind you) and it would take them all day.

I'm sure it could have been handled better, but I would bank on it being the frost delay...trust me when I say they don't want to be right up in your business either!! They probably golf some and would hate it as well.

Colum · June 13, 2011

[quote name='Atticus808' timestamp='1308002776' post='3304466']
understandable. but why mow on a Sunday when it's busiest? why not mow Monday? [/quote]

I would asume most golf courses mow the greens 7 days a week, if they don't the greens will be slower and less smooth. Presumably the frost delay is why they were mowing during play, I would understand from their point of view that it really is a must to finish the job as quick as possible, they simply can't wait for golfers to play their shots or the job would take them twice as long. Its an unfortunate part of the game that the grass must be cut, and in most clubs the course staff do have the right of way, I would guess if it hadn't been a frosty morning you wouldn't have seen the mowers as they would be mowing before first tee off.

Tupperwolf · June 13, 2011

My favorite was the guy on a mower at my home course who shut down his mower while our foursome was on the green. He waited until my three playing partners had putted and then fired up the engine of the mower just before I started my stroke. Really guy? You didn't notice that there were four players on the green, not just three?

hef63303 · June 14, 2011

Green speeds change all day as the green dry out. Get over yourself. If you play early in the day, you are going to run into maintenance. The grass does grow and it has to be mowed, every day.

jswaykos · June 14, 2011

Be nice to the grounds crew! The guys at my course are an added set of eyes on my ball, haha. Many a time I've had a mower point out my off-line shots.

midweston · June 14, 2011

[quote name='jswaykos' timestamp='1308072370' post='3306677']
Be nice to the grounds crew! The guys at my course are an added set of eyes on my ball, haha. Many a time I've had a mower point out my off-line shots.
[/quote]

They can be helpful or a hindrance. If it is your regular course, it is your decision...we always knew the poor sports and heard stories at lunch time about the things golfers did and said (unfortunately mostly negative about the seniors).