Personality of people at various golf courses

[9wood]

Since I don't like to be confined to playing the same course all the time, I prefer not to not have a membership at any course. I jump around and play at 8 or so various courses for variety since I tend to get bored playing one course all the time like many of my friends do who possess memberships. There is one course I play at however, because the price is decent and it's a fairly good course, but the people in general at this course appear at least to me to be impolite, rude, and lack personality. Another common problem at this course is that far too many people tee off from the pro-tees, who by all evidence should be teeing off from the senior tees which would suit their golfing ability much better. Because of this, playing often becomes much slower than necessary. 

Do any of you play on any courses where the people seem generally rude and impolite?

Edited November 4, 2015 by 9wood

[graham57]

I have also played at courses where I got the impression that the members were unfriendly, aloof or at least unwilling to go out of their way to help any visitors. On the other hand, most clubs have several hundred members, and I think it's dangerous to judge the whole membership based on the few people you actually encounter during your visit. When I think of my pwn club, there are people there who would definitely appear unfriendly to a visitor, but on the other hand, there are loads of people who are really open and friendly. I am therefore hesitant to stamp the whole club as rude or impolite.

Then again, I am sure that there is something like a "collective culture" in golf clubs (as in corporations) which could lead to a general manner of behaviour. Either way, just shock them with a smile!

[rkim291968]

2 hours ago, 9wood said:

Do any of you play on any courses where the people seem generally rude and impolite?

For a year, I was a member at a Muni course in not so affluent neighborhood.  Frankly, it attracted less serious golfers - beginners, people looking to play at cheapest course, hackers, ...    I've ran into more rude people there than other places.   It comes with territory, IMO.

[Gator Hazard]

I have only played a handful of golf courses in my golf lifetime and have yet to see the bad side of it really.  We got paired up with some jerks once when I very first tried golfing in Chicago but other than that I have not had any bad experiences so to speak.  The only two things really were the thread I started about the guys jumping onto the tee box ahead of me which was not really that big of a deal and this past weekend some guys questioned our place on the 10th tee.  We stopped in the clubhouse and grabbed a quick bite at our home course.  Two guys came in, one got a cup of ice from the waitress and didn't tip her and then they were somewhere else.  We walked out, and I happened to notice a plastic flask in the basket in the back of the cart they were in.  We drove up to 10 where the foursome that was behind us was finishing teeing off.  They pulled up with some music playing and one of the guys was all "Eh, we were behind these fellas" or something like that.  My partner asked "Well did you stop in the clubhouse at the turn?  Because we did to grab a quick lunch...but you guys can go ahead of us if you like".  They were polite however and said no worries.  We teed off, played it, drove up on 11 (par 5) and the gentlemen ahead of us waved us to tee off and play through.  That was the only par 5 I didn't blow up on that day, had a nice drive.  Worm burned my second shot, but hit it close to the green on my third and was on in four.  Still got a stupid double bogey though.  The back nine was wide open after that, no one ahead and no one behind us.

[David in FL]

Yep, it happens.  

Like any organization, the culture tends to reflect the personality and values of the leadership.

As with any other consumer experience, I tend to frequent those courses that seem genuinely appreciative of my business.

[Dave2512]

I rarely interact with enough people on a golf course to make this kind of judgment. Sure I encounter a variety of people but I don't wonder if that's representative of everyone there. I play the same courses all the time and experience good and bad days at courses where I am a loyal customer.

Personally the more time I spend judging people the less happy I am, catch myself doing it here and there and always stop if I notice. Unless it's a life or death thing life is too short to sweat it.

[vangator]

The course I play is great.  I know many of them on a first name basis and play with a few as well.  Beat their pro a while back.

[Patch]

It's been my expirience that higher end courses have more self important egos than the less costly courses. 

[mcanadiens]

City of Dayton has six courses over three facilities and I play regularly at three other courses as well from time to time. Mostly, it's a real mix and pretty hard to generalize any single course. One place that's a bit different is Madden GC in West Dayton.

I've heard (and read) a lot of complaints about them, but I think a lot of it is a slight cultural difference between white suburban people that may visit and the black urban-dwellers that work and regularly play there. There is a certain aloof quality that really rubs some outsiders the wrong way. We're used to people giving us the big smile and saying "Hi, How many we help you." That simply isn't in the repertoire. Usually once they get to know you, they warm up a bit.

Edited November 5, 2015 by mcanadiens

[newtogolf]

It's too hard to generalize because private and public courses both get their share of jerks.

The difference I find is that in the private club their is a code of conduct and if members or their guest violate it there are ramifications.  On a public course is someone is a jerk you're likely stuck dealing with that person for the rest of your round because the course isn't going to do anything about it.