Poor GC Management

Unfortunatley, I think a lot of bad behavior is now  overlooked because the golf economy is so flat. A lot of golf courses turn a blid eye to things because they are afraid to run off customers. What they don't understand, is that the the players that been affected by knuckleheads, will not come back. Mabye rangers shoud have a device that can disable golf carts of players that get abusive. Most rangers are older guys, and showing a spine to a bunch of young abusive drunks is only going to inflame a bad situation. He has very little authority if the head pro won't back him up.

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Originally Posted by eich41 

The guy's tirade was something that was completely out of line in ANY situation, let alone on an upscale golf course.

 

It's also amazing how many courses have gotten rid of rangers altogether to save money.  Courses with no rangers obviously tend to have a lot more issues than those that do.  

Totally inappropriate, your're right. One has to wonder how anyone feels entitled to act that way ever...one of life's great mysteries, to be sure.  

At a course where i worked recently there was a spineless ranger and a spine-ful one. Not surprisingly, 90% of complaints about incidents and slow play came when the spineless gent was on duty. Additionally, the rangers were retirees paid minimum wage + golfing privileges...not a lofty price to pay to ensure a smooth operation. 

Honestly all of this and more is why I frequent out of the way courses with little traffic. Just don't have the patience to deal with the BS. For me the sacrifice is easy. Play in peace on a half decent course or walk away disgusted from a bad experience at a nicer course. We have some very nice courses here but those are so busy they simply don't even try to make it enjoyable and the steady line of paying customers means they don't have to. I don't want to deal with boneheads. I don't want to hear ranger conflicts. I don't want to play on a jammed up course. That's why I stick to my rinky-dink course and my parents club. Rare to find me anywhere else.

It's one of the many reasons I joined a Country Club you just don't have these problems.

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Originally Posted by eich41 

 

Obviously some behavior is relative to the course.  What passes at a muni isn't (shouldn't) fly at an upscale facility.  In my story, for what Boyne professes to be, an upscale golf destination, I couldn't believe the behavior they were allowing, or the pace of play, and the backlash given to their ranger.  Anyone have any nightmare rounds, or similar experiences?

I think you are a little unfair to munis.  I've played a LOT of munis and have NEVER encountered the kind of behavior you describe.

 My group had a recent experience at Torrey Pines that did not involve other players but rather the maintenance crew. The girl running the fairway blower sat in front of the tee we wanted to tee of on for several minutes texting before moving the equipment to the rear of the tee, just off the tee, and left the equipment running. The guy plugging another green had to be told to move off the green so we could hit in, he was working right around the flagstick. On another green the crew was doing bunker work, edging weed eating etc, They continued to run the equip while we putted out. Complaints pretty much fell on deaf ears and emails went unanswered. I really expected more from this course, its not cheap! Now I understand equipment is going to be running in various areas but when I was in the biz it was a standing order that one shut down equip,or at least move away a bit and clear the greens/tees, when golfers were on the tees or greens if one was operating in the vicinity. Of course it did not help my mood that both carts died, 40 bucks apiece fee, on the course that day
 

What can one say?  While there are a lot of great folks in the world there are some real A**holes too and some of them play golf.  We've all had the experience if we play much.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by eich41 

I wasn't referring to my story in particular.  I was referring to just behavior/dress/etc. that you you encounter.  And I don't think I'm being unfair that in general, munis are going to have a little more "crude" behavior and lack of etiquette than a more upscale course.

I'd rather have some dressed a little sketchy than exhibit the kind of behavior you described.  I've seen the former at munis but never the latter.  You are talking about behavior, but my point is that I've never seen the kind of behavior you have described in 40 years of playing munis.

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Originally Posted by chilepepper 

 My group had a recent experience at Torrey Pines that did not involve other players but rather the maintenance crew. The girl running the fairway blower sat in front of the tee we wanted to tee of on for several minutes texting before moving the equipment to the rear of the tee, just off the tee, and left the equipment running. The guy plugging another green had to be told to move off the green so we could hit in, he was working right around the flagstick. On another green the crew was doing bunker work, edging weed eating etc, They continued to run the equip while we putted out. Complaints pretty much fell on deaf ears and emails went unanswered. I really expected more from this course, its not cheap! Now I understand equipment is going to be running in various areas but when I was in the biz it was a standing order that one shut down equip,or at least move away a bit and clear the greens/tees, when golfers were on the tees or greens if one was operating in the vicinity. Of course it did not help my mood that both carts died, 40 bucks apiece fee, on the course that day
 

I had a similar experience a few years back at the one of the La Quinta Resort courses down in Palm Springs.  Never went back.

In all my golfing, never seen anything like that.  The whole "This player is *** money and wil do what he wants" kind of thing seems like something you'd find more of at an expensive or resort course.  Players who are ** money tend not to play at the goat tracks I typically frequent.  Here is where I would claim that is totally by choice . .but, of course, I am a price-sensitive golfer.  It's not an unhappy coincidence, though, that the type A jackwads don't like to play on overgrown courses with weeds popping up through the greens, lol. 

Got paired up once with these 2 other guys, they were awful! They were riding in the cart next to some trees looking for their ball...again... The guy, not watching where he was going, runs full speed into a tree dead on and the other guy, who is probably like 65 yrs old, gets thrown out of the cart and tumbles over on the ground a couple times. It was truly pathetic to watch that! Lucky for him he didn't get hurt.

I had an experience like this playing with my brother at a local public golf course I know it was a public golf course but the behavior was still ridicules the group in front us would hit about ten balls of the tee on every hole losing most of them then spend another five minutes driving back and forth around the fairway before hitting needless to say this slowed down play immensely and backed up the course I called the club house and they did absolutely nothing we would have confronted them but there where four of them and they had been drinking the whole time so we decided it wouldn't help anything it took around 3 and a half hours to play nine holes. These are the kind of people that keep me from playing sometimes I am all for having fun but you cant hold up the entire course and ruin everyones experience while doing it.

another interesting story my father was playing behind this old guy who decided to try to drive a cart through this little creek he called my dad and his friend over who tried to push him out and why there pushing he keeps slamming on the gas spraying mud all over the place.

It's amazing what people do with those carts. Was behind a husband & wife once who brought their little boy (6-7) and were letting him steer the cart. When they were both out of the cart the kids floors it, runs straight into a tree and gets a bloody nose. Later saw the parents yelling in the pro shop about how they were going to sue.

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Originally Posted by chilepepper 

 My group had a recent experience at Torrey Pines that did not involve other players but rather the maintenance crew. ......
 

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Originally Posted by eich41 

That would bother me as well, given the resort you were playing at.  One might expect/condone that if you were playing a muni or average public course, but certainly not at what is considered one of the "premier" golf resorts in the country. 

FYI, Torrey Pines IS a muni golf course, and not a premier golf resort as you indicate.     This doesn't condone the issues Chilepepper had while playing there, but as a city-run municipal facility it isn't going to have the "money is no object" maintenance capability of a nice resort.