ugh, my first on-course altercation.

in 8 years of playing, i've never been in an argument or fight on the golf course, but today, alas, my streak was broken.

a man and (presumably) his wife were teeing off just as my dad and i pulled up to the first tee box.  they both hit decent shots, move on down, play their seconds, move on up to the green.  dad and i hit our shots.  same situation on second hole - we watch them hit, wait, then we hit once they move off.

now on the third hole, a 300 yard par 4, when we got to the box, they were only maybe 150 yards up the left side in the trees.  then they move up another 100 yards on the right, so they're only about 50 yards from the green.  my dad, who's 64 and has weak legs,  if he hits a driver 220 yards, he's really tore the cover off it.  so it was a safe assumption that he could go ahead and hit because them being 250 yards out at least, there was no way his ball would get there, even if it rolled a long ways.  so he hits, and of course, it doesn't get anywhere near them, rolling out to about 210 yards approximately.  but as i step onto the box, i see them coming back up the right side towards us.  and then they pick up my dad's ball!  then they toss two of their own balls into the fairway and hit them for god knows why.  so i'm like, okay, whatever, they probably just didn't realize you'd hit and thought it was a stray ball.  we'll just drop you one down there without a penalty.  they hit their two randomly dropped shots (she shanked, he hit a real bad pull hook) and move up, once again, to about 40-50 yards from the green.  i get out a 3-wood and hit it pretty good, which means i hit it about 230.  i watch it, think to myself "they'd better not pick THAT one up," and we proceed to move on up to where dad's ball had been.

as dad is looking for a place to drop, the guy comes back and asks which one of us just fired at them.  i said "well i hit a shot up the middle there about 230 probably," and he starts in with "k, try to have some patience, fella.  you firing at us isn't going to make things go any faster, we've got these people in front of us, so just have some patience" in this real aggravated tone.  i started to say "well, sorry guy, i thought you two were out of range," but he cut me off talking over me saying "you KNEW we weren't out of range!  we had those guys on the green in front of us and you KNEW we were back here!"  i'm like... guys on the green?  fella, they were on number 4 tee box before i ever hit my shot.  "No, they WEREN'T, they were on the green and i'd appreciate it if you'd stop shooting at us."  again, i'm thinking...  stop shooting at you?  this is the first ball i've hit in 3 holes that even came close to you, and i expect it stopped at least 20 yards behind you.  but once again, i try to say "look, i'm sorry, i thought you were out of range," and once again he cuts me off basically saying i KNEW they weren't out of range and that i was purposely driving at them.  at this point i got out of the cart and half-yelled "Will you shut up for a minute and let me explain this to you?!"  but before i could say anything further he turned around and drove off and gave me the finger.  i yelled "fine, yeah, drive away!  blow it out your rear then" after him (only in a more colorful, profane manner).

dad and i turned around and went back to the clubhouse, where the guy was on the phone with the very same prick.  the guy said i had got out of the cart threatening to kick his (expletive).   i was like, uh, no, i told him to blow it out of his (expletive).  i TRIED to own up and apologize to this guy three times and it just wasn't good enough for him apparently.  i don't know.  anyway, dad and i decided we just really didn't feel like golfing anymore and left.  we're members, so it's not like we lost our green fees or anything, although come to find out from the guy in the clubhouse, this other fellow is also a member.  next time i'm there i'm going to ask if he books any kind of consistent tee times so i can just not be on the course when it's his usual time.

I've been there. I think some people bring their issues with them onto the course. Or they're just aholes in general.

This could have made for a fun day!  I would have kept shooting towards them(obviously waiting til they were out of my range) since his idea of "out of range" is a little bit different.  It would have been fun seeing just how pissed off he would get.....

sorry that you had to deal with a prick like this. I've never had this happen ever. only been playing for a few years, but never anything like this. I've hit into people before but have only had people say, "nice shot." something like that. the ball rolls to them of course, not flying past them. the guy was probably upset since his wife was there. I've witness people with the gf's or wives say, "careful with your shots, my wife is playing." something like that. guys can be protective with their gf's or wives while playing. it is dumb, but it is true.

this is a true story. I've had people come into the pro shop while I was working and yelling at me to yell at this guy who hit his ball into his group many times. it is always funny cause the guy who got hit into would come in and say that the guy who hit his ball into him was threatening him. now, this guy who came in was yelling at me pretty dang loud. people were looking trough the window listening.

I then replied, so the guy who hit into your group was yelling at you and threatening you?

they would pause for a second and say, well, ummm, I went to confront him and told him to stop f___ing hitting into us.

ok, well, I'm very sorry sir. I will call my ambassador over to the hole right away.

yeah, thanks. cause he hit into me and I have my wife with me.

I then radio my ambassador to go over and ask him, did he at least apologize?

yeah he did. he said sorry a few times. but, I didn't accept cause he hit into us.

the guy then leaves and his wife comes into the pro shop. and apologizes to me......wha?

she told me what really happen. and it just frustrated me to much. she said that they hit into only once. the ball had rolled 20 yards before it passed her. and she was fine. before the wife could explain what happen, the husband who was in the cart already saw the ball go by and took the cart back right away. she yelled at him to stop but he didnt. when she got over to them, she was scared thinking her husband was going to beat this guy up.

just some guy being way over protective and hot headed. I got to talk to the guy who hit into them and he was pretty shaken up. I refunded his money and gave his next round of golf on the house. I felt bad, cause no one deserves to be yelled at on a golf course. we are out there to have fun. not to be threatened with your life.

you just have to let these people go and not be bothered by them. It wont do you, or your game, and good to get frustrated at the guy. I think you did the right thing trying to apologize.

Bummer.  Sorry to hear about your experience.  That being said, while I could suggest some macho sh*t to say or do, don't lower yourself.  Obviously, this guy was acting like a jerk, but to a certain extent, I think you would feel horrible if for some reason you miscalculated the distance and did actually hit someone with your drive.

I've played behind my fair share of golfers who were slow and sh*tty.  In fact, I'm sure there were groups that played behind me that felt I was slow and sh*tty.  So, it's all relative.  When my buds and I encounter a group in front of us that stop 3 sometimes 4 times (on a par 4), we just hang back and wait until they're almost at the green before we even bother to tee off.  If a group queues up behind us at the tee box, we just explain what's going on and in every instance, they've been very understanding.  We use the "extra" time to chat or give the grooves on our clubs a good cleaning.

Just a sucky situation for sure. I have been lucky to not have a confrontation yet. Last year our hole number 9 goes out about 75 yards and takes about a 50 degree turn to the right with trees all there so after 100 yards out you can't see the fairway, rough, green. Usually you have to walk or ride up about 50 yards to make sure you are all clear. I am one of the few that walk the course as it's a tough course to walk and I was about 200 yards up so well outta sight unless you do the usual check. All a sudden I hear a tee shot fire off and see a ball going right over my head so I yelled back there was someone up there, about a few seconds later another ball comes my way. I waited for the guys to catch up and as soon as they rounded the corner you could just see on their faces how bad they felt. We are all big time golfers and members so they apologized and bought me a round. They said they will never not check again..lol.

Honestly?  A tee shot landing 20 yards behind me is too close.  The guy sounds like an *ss, but you should have waited until he completely cleared.

I agree , but if it happens once no big deal and if it continues I'd just say hey it's slow out here try to wait until we are clear and if it happens again I'd be a little more aggressive with my warning.

I've had almost the exact same thing happen.

It seems like it's always a guy who is playing with his wife, the ball never gets really close to them and he has to defend her honor or something.

oh i agree, if a ball LANDS 20 yards behind me, that's too close.  no, my ball hit the ground probably 50 yards behind him and then rolled out.  if it DID get to him, which i highly doubt (i never even saw the ball, i expect he picked it up just like he picked up my dad's for no good reason), then it was rolling to a quiet stop and certainly not at risk of harming anything larger than a grasshopper.

also though, this is my home course, and i typically play at least three rounds a week out there (and have for the past three years), and i've got a strategy plotted for every hole by this point.  for two years running now, save for just a handful of exceptions, i've hit a 3-wood off the tee on that particular hole every time.   so if i hit it pure, i'll walk off the box saying "that'll be about 70 yards short of the green" and sure enough, we'll get up there and it's within 10 yards, one way or the other, of that distance.  there's just no way it got to that guy and his wife.  ah well.

yeah, I will agree with 20 yards being a little close. but if it happens only once and that is it. then let it go. no big deal.

Maybe cranky guy's wife was out of douche cards. Mr. Cranky was perhaps showing off for his wife, but the OP could have easily waited for them to get on the green.

Sucks about the altercation. I have had experiences with a guy and wife/girlfriend on the course. I too have also went golfing with a girlfriend(most miserable experience ever). Anyone see I Love You Man? Same type of deal my girl was the pain in the ass who got tired after 9(we were in a cart). Anyway off topic sorry. I have witnessed the guy/girl dynamic and the guy is either teaching holding up everyone and not caring or telling people behind them to be patient she is just learning(while she hits ball after ball 2ft). Not saying that woman don't belong just maybe not as a pair with there mate. Go with your friends and we will go with ours. Didn't we take up golf to get away from our girlfriends/wives/family for a few hours. Ha ha

I've not had any altercations, yet.  The closest was last summer and I was part of the group getting hit into.  Bunch of high school kids playing behind us and not waiting.  The one that really boiled my blood was as we were driving away from the 18th green, one of them hit the ball and it land about 5 feet from our cart.  I locked the brake and was ready to throw the ball back at them when my wife intervened and I just let it go.  High Schoolers.............what can you do with them?

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I can see both sides to this… And I share your frustration.

Just last week I was playing a fairly busy golf course in OC, in the afternoon which is even worse, and it gets predominately over run with the, how can I sensitively say this…? Slow Asian players. Hahaha. Well on the 18th whole we finally ran into some issues, but it had bowling for all 18. The whole round we had been following this foursome of retards. These guys had no business being out on the course when they were. And Im all for people learning golf, just don't be a fool about it. These guys were clearly beginners, and clearly had no etiquette. Playing in flip flops and jeans, so naturally had no clue about anything. Anyways, needless to say they were ridiculously slow players.

SO long story short, we get to the 18th tee box, and these guys still hadn't tee'd off. Well actually this happened a few times, and why it happened was because they would attempt to tee off 3 times each. So we sit and wait for these guys to finally get off the tee box, and move out down the cart path. The two guys I was playing with were decent hitters, but not super long. The first steps up and hits his driver thinking they were far enough away, just rips it. It happened to drop and roll right down (18 plays downhill btw) to where they were parked "looking for a ball in the rough." One of these clowns looks back and flips us off, and I can hear him say in his surfer voice: "Hey, F you man!" My partner yelled "sorry" but again all he got was "F you man" back. These guys were taking so long dicking around I actually got fed up and yelled "Hurry Up!!!" To which he replied "F you man" again. Then he proceeds to pick up my partners ball, toss it in the fairway, and attempt to hit it back at us, which he actually shanked into the trees. By this point I had had it! It wasn't intentional. He had apologized. Get over it! They were playing way to slow anyways, and now he just lost my partners ball being a douche. I took a junk ball tee'd it up high, and aimed right towards them. I guess the frustration got to me and I blasted it right over them, but faded it just enough to stay in the fairway, and roll it down 20 yards past where they were. Hahaha. Im not going to lie I had intended to hit into them. Call me an asshole or whatever, but it is what it is, and I have a low tolerance for douche bags in general. Especially on the golf course.

They of course avoided us at the club house and in the parking lot.

There's just no excuse for being a slow douche bag player with an attitude. Learn how to play golf, and don't be an ass!!!

To the OP, you were much more patient than I would have been.  Him picking up your ball is a very escalating behavior.  Not only is it a total breach of etiquette but that is out right theft. Since he wanted to make up lies at the clubhouse, you could of had him arrested and pressed charges for the theft of your ball.