Hitting before letting somebody play through.

[Dave2512]

I'm confused as to how somebody could be complaining about pace of play before the round starts.

You haven't met my step-dad. I swear it's his only concern. He gripes about the pace before, during and after. He's the guy that starts sizing up the potential groups ahead watching people on the range. Never cleans his ball and doesn't mark it unless he has to. If we are on pace to finish early he's excited about it. Drives me nuts playing with him.

[DocWu1948]

What I would have done is hit at the next tee, and if they catch up while we are going to our second shot, we step aside on the fairway and signal them to hit and play thru. This assumes the course was as described, empty. But prior to that, if I knew the course was empty, it would have been galling to make that offer on the first tee to a couple. You don't know if they are faster or slower than your group. If they catch you on course, you know.

[krupa]

You haven't met my step-dad. I swear it's his only concern. He gripes about the pace before, during and after. He's the guy that starts sizing up the potential groups ahead watching people on the range. Never cleans his ball and doesn't mark it unless he has to. If we are on pace to finish early he's excited about it. Drives me nuts playing with him.

I used to be like that about lift lines when I went skiing.  I would analyze the parking lot, check out the ticket windows, and never stop to take breaks.  If  I could ski to exhaustion before the place got crowded, I considered it a good day.

One day I realized that I was spending too much energy worrying about stupid crap that was out of my control and I suddently started enjoying it much more.

I still hate to see a foursome go out in front of me (I usually play alone) but I'm perfectly happy staring at clouds or trees blowing in the wind or the squirrel that just ran by...  Golf isn't a race, after all.

[Dave2512]

I used to be like that about lift lines when I went skiing.  I would analyze the parking lot, check out the ticket windows, and never stop to take breaks.  If  I could ski to exhaustion before the place got crowded, I considered it a good day.

One day I realized that I was spending too much energy worrying about stupid crap that was out of my control and I suddently started enjoying it much more.

I still hate to see a foursome go out in front of me (I usually play alone) but I'm perfectly happy staring at clouds or trees blowing in the wind or the squirrel that just ran by...  Golf isn't a race, after all.

Next time I play with him I am going to pack a picnic just to annoy. I don't mind playing fast but there are times when we've driven 2 hours to play a nice course, basically a family outing, and he want to blaze though and get the freak out of there. I don't get it. I am a very fast golfer but shit I only get one day off a week. Last thing I want to do is end up sitting around at home wishing I was still golfing.

[Moppy]

I'm confused as to how somebody could be complaining about pace of play before the round starts.   Did they have an earlier tee time and you cut in front of them?  Or did they just assume you'd play slow because you started off with bad drives?

I don't get it.

It was as I described, they showed up while the first three of us were hitting, we had a lady hitting from the reds who hadn't hit yet, one of us, only one of us, my drive and the other drive hit so far were fine, went to hit again after chunking his drive. He probably felt bad because we had both got within about fifty yards of the hole, it was a short par four and we were hitting from the whites. We had an official tee time from Golf Now, at the office the guy said there was nobody behind us for an hour. These were probably members who only had to check in and drive down to start playing, which is how they got up on us so fast. We did not cut in front of them. Anyway, my buddy goes to hit again and she says:

"Are you you going to hit two balls from every hole? You know that you are only supposed to hit one.. yada yada yada."

Then of course, my buddy chunked his second shot, and his third. I think he was pretty flustered. I hit it over the green from taking too much club, etc, etc. Maybe her husband just drove to the next hole because he was embarrassed of her. I am not sure I would have forgiven my wife for something like that right away.

I think the lady was just crazy, but from now on, I am letting people hit through.

[Dave2512]

Playing two balls tends to get under people's skin. Honestly it annoys me and it's usually an indication that golfer is going to be slow. It happened to us a couple weeks ago. We had a 2:40 time and the group ahead duffed their drives, couple of them hit another ball. It took them quite a while to find the balls and play enough shots to get out of range. Long story short it was 3:02 by the time we finished the first hole all because of what they did. On the next tee one of them hit 3 balls, 2 hit a tree about 20 yards left of the box. It took them 11 minutes to get out of range. Usually I'm not a clock watcher but that course has POP clocks the size of a trash can lid on every tee. Before I could play my second shot they blew the horn due to a fast moving storm. I would have politely asked to play through at the next tee.

[Moppy]

I would have politely asked to play through at the next tee.

Had they done that, we would have said yes and the whole thing would have been unremarkable. I just thought that by hitting before they got there when we told them they could play through on the second hole was some hidden golf insult or violation of norms we didn't know about and that made them mad.

[Dave2512]

Had they done that, we would have said yes and the whole thing would have been unremarkable. I just thought that by hitting before they got there when we told them they could play through on the second hole was some hidden golf insult or violation of norms we didn't know about and that made them mad.

Nah you are supposed to hit when it's you turn. If someone rolled up on me and asked to play through before we started I'd tell them to piss off. If they want to play earlier booking an earlier time is easy enough.

[k-troop]

on the first tee .... You don't know if they are faster or slower than your group. If they catch you on course, you know.

I made a poor assumption along these lines a few weeks ago.  Our course only had one nine open for play; the other 18 were tied up with a scramble.  It was a weekday and the open nine was relatively uncrowded.  I was a single walking, and I got to the tee right as a threesome pulled up to the tee--they had come straight from the ninth green and were replaying for their second nine.

I assumed I was faster than this group, as I can usually walk 18 in 2-1/2 hours if alone and unimpeded.  These three bubbas were a little older.  They looked at me a little perturbed as I pegged my ball and started making practice swings (on the far back tee, of course).  One of them said "you want to play with us?" as if they owned the course.  I agreed, assuming they would beg me to move on after a hole or two.

Boy was I wrong.  I spent nine holes practically running down the fairway to keep up with these guys.  By the time I got to the ninth hole (their final hole of the day), I was smoked.  They were all good guys though and it was a fun day.

[pepsiplusconker]

Sounds to me like they were a couple of pompous members who didn't book a tee time because they think they can turn up and have the run of the course.  They obviously got there and noticed there was a random 4 ball right infront of them, which is never a nice thing when your a single or double.

They were probably abit miffed at you not just saying to them "you guys might aswell get out infront of us because you're going to be playing through very soon any way" If I arrived as a single and there were 4 guys just teeing up on the first hole I'd expect them to ask me if I want to get away infront of them, same the other way around.

I don't think you were out of order though, as soon as they started being funny about it, I'd have just been funny back

[Strandly]

It was the first hole.  Two off of the first tee is a custom practiced so widely that I personally don't think it's reasonable for someone to get upset about that.

Really?  I've never heard of that.  I've seen people hit a second ball if they muff their first one from time to time but never when people were waiting.

[MS256]

Really?  I've never heard of that.  I've seen people hit a second ball if they muff their first one from time to time but never when people were waiting.

I know quite a few people that use it as a common practice, mostly because there is no driving range at either of the two courses I have played the most.

I don't have a problem with other people doing it but if I hit a bad shot and somebody says "Hit another one" I just reply that would only give me two bad shots to chase down instead of one.

I almost got hit last year by a moron that hit 3 balls off of the first tee. I had hit the ball into another fairway about 50 yards in front of the tee box. My son was driving the cart and when he saw somebody teeing off he waited for the guy to hit and started to drive to my ball.

It looked like the guy was going to hit another ball so I told my son to wait. This time I watched the shot and it was fine and in the fairway and the guy walked off of the tee box to his cart so my son drove to my ball.

I got out and was looking at the shot I needed to hit and heard a ball whiz past my head. This idiot had just hit yet another ball and didn't even see a golf cart and two people 50 yards in front of him. Evidently he had only gone back to his cart to get another ball.

I usually keep my cool on a golf course but that time was a huge exception.

[luu5]

Not to beat a dead horse, but so long as your group was keeping pace with the group you were following........there is no need to let anyone play through.

So if there is a group happy playing 6 hour round following another slow group, they do not have to let anyone through? One big problem is that one group not willing to pass another one causes the jam.

[Moppy]

Really?  I've never heard of that.  I've seen people hit a second ball if they muff their first one from time to time but never when people were waiting.

Define "waiting."  They weren't even there when he hit the first shot. Had they been there before we teed off, we would have let them through right then rather than have them breathing down our necks. Playing on a golf course that is usually mostly empty, with three good friends and a couple of drinks on a beautiful day is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.  Trying to "get done" in three hours, as if it were a job of some kind to get out of the way before we really start to enjoy the day doesn't make any sense to me. That doesn't mean that I feel we have a license to interfere with anybody else's enjoyment, that's why we always let people who catch us play through and go when it is not usually crowded, and take reasonable efforts to maintain pace of play.

It doesn't mean we rush important shots when a hole is going well, for example. Or don't clean the ball or our clubs, or jog to balls, or don't sip a drink or enjoy the view, the course is on an island in a lake and parts of it are quite beautiful. That just doesn't sound like fun and if that were a requirement to play golf around here, I would stick to fishing.

[NJpatbee]

You did nothing wrong by hitting and then asking the twosome to play through.  They have to accept responsibility for yapping on the first tee about speed of play and you had every right to be miffed about it.  Your subtle punishment by playing slow on the first hole seemed to send the right message without getting into a shouting match or ruining the day.

[tefunk]

I think teeing off if they haven't made it to the tee yet is actually the best approach... Like at least one other said, it's a smoother transition. Even more so at a par 3. Tee off, and if they catch you (assuming your group is the one playing slowly), walk off the green and let them tee off. Saves a lot of time for everyone. If they're pricks (which I don't come across too often on a course, but it does happen)... Tell them to "Have a nice day!", with a nice big smile