Golf Carts - Rant Incoming

[mcanadiens]

3 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

I think that Madden was not nearly as bad, but would put Kittyhawk on the same level. I will take pictures next time I am out, because I don't think this is an exaggeration at all. To clarify, I am talking about spots that have no grass or very thin, dead grass, where the ball rarely stops, and worse, is tough to hit from if it does.

Madden was not as bad because a hell of a lot fewer rounds ever got played there. It really was a nice course, but it killed the golf budget over the years. I hear a lot of greens fees never found there way into the register over the years. Note, I'm not accusing LP, but there are stories out there about his predecessors.

If it is as bad as you say, they've back slid considerably from the last time I was out there. That was only a couple of months. The more I think about it, the happier I am that I'm out of there. If it weren't for the zoo outings that Miami Shores seems to be scheduling every Saturday morning, the place would look great. ... They are still doing a better job than I ever saw out of the Dayton bunch.

[Bonvivant]

Just now, mcanadiens said:

Madden was not as bad because a hell of a lot fewer rounds ever got played there. It really was a nice course, but it killed the golf budget over the years. I hear a lot of greens fees never found there way into the register over the years. Note, I'm not accusing LP, but there are stories out there about his predecessors.

Definitely OT, but they made 14% of the revenue in that cursed report, which is only 2% lower than the 16% they had of courses. Kittyhawk had less revenue per course, but the Falcon saw very little play. I didn't know about the "ghost rounds" (I'll call them), so can't really speak on that.

 

Just now, mcanadiens said:

If it is as bad as you say, they've back slid considerably from the last time I was out there. That was only a couple of months. The more I think about it, the happier I am that I'm out of there. If it weren't for the zoo outings that Miami Shores seems to be scheduling every Saturday morning, the place would look great. ... They are still doing a better job than I ever saw out of the Dayton bunch.

I'm glad you have found a new home. I'm not sure what I am going to do next year. I might roll the dice again and hope that many members don't renew, but there was also talk of many players in the Duck group getting a discounted membership rate at Pipestone this coming year (1250 for unlimited play), but that's quite a bit further (25 minutes vs 2 minutes to Community), and still an increase in price from CoD (400 more is a decent amount of coin). I really hope that course condition improves as the weather turns and less people are out there. They did dump some sand in some bunkers recently, although it looks like they got the sand from Buck Creek State Park, as it is still rock-filled.

[mcanadiens]

5 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

Definitely OT

Only partially.

Large number of rounds cause more damage to the course. Especially if you are arguing about cart traffic, it takes a lot of carts going over and sitting on the same ground to cause significant damage.

Madden simply didn't have the kind of traffic the other courses saw. ... This year, I'd guess that Community has never seen this many rounds.Everywhere is hell a busy and anyone that kept C.o.D. passes are playing their rounds there.

[RickK]

On 8/21/2020 at 12:13 PM, ShaftFarmer said:

So $1200 per year just to use your own golf cart at the course? That's insane!

Depends on how many times you play during a year and what cart rental fee is.  I pay almost that much and it is a deal for me.  Of course, I have played 124 rounds on my home course so far this year.  

[darthweasel]

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 7:35 AM, Carl3 said:

LOL. When I served on a state board and their code committee I found out that there is a federal disability law that went into effect a few years ago that permits people to drive their cart onto the tee box as well as onto the green itself!

So be careful if you try to get in the way of someone trying to exercise their federally-protected civil liberties. 😁

true...but those are marked with the appropriate flag in my experience and are the exception

[windlaker]

On 8/21/2020 at 12:13 PM, ShaftFarmer said:

So $1200 per year just to use your own golf cart at the course? That's insane!

It's $900.00 at my club in SE Wisco...yeah, way too much.

[Bucki1968]

I've got a new cart rant...I love it when my home club requires you to take a cart on week-ends before 2 and then tells you it's "cart path only". What is the point other than the money grab?

[DaveP043]

On 8/21/2020 at 11:21 PM, Zippo said:

Also, I sometimes park with 2 wheels off the path to allow traffic to go by my cart when I'm on the green. Whenever possible, I'll park it on the side of the course away from the green but it beats having to leave the green and go back to the cart to let the beverage cart person - or someone else - go by.

I asked a friend of mine once why he did the same thing, and he responded similarly, "in case someone needed to get past".  But there's maybe a 20 or 30% chance that someone will need to get past, and need to drive off the cart path.  When you park there "just in case", there's a 100% chance that someone is off the path....YOU! 

2 hours ago, Bucki1968 said:

I've got a new cart rant...I love it when my home club requires you to take a cart on week-ends before 2 and then tells you it's "cart path only". What is the point other than the money grab?

Any requirement for cart use is of course a financially motivated decision.  If they change the policy, allow walkers and trolleys all day, would you mind if they increase the base greens fee for all players to make up for the lost revenue from carts?  Its not easy trying to make money from a golf course, lots of tough decisions to make, and lots of individuals pulling in different directions.

[StuM]

23 hours ago, Bonvivant said:

I hate this almost as much as carts close to greens/tees, but try to do my part by fixing 4-7 marks on every green. I've been asked by people if I work at the course before because of this, and I just say "no, I just play here a lot". I like to hope that they see this reply and do a better job themselves.

I agree with setting a good example, the issue is that those who are the problem seldom notice the good example being set by others.  Still, we should follow your example and fix more than we cause.

[Bucki1968]

17 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

I asked a friend of mine once why he did the same thing, and he responded similarly, "in case someone needed to get past".  But there's maybe a 20 or 30% chance that someone will need to get past, and need to drive off the cart path.  When you park there "just in case", there's a 100% chance that someone is off the path....YOU! 

Any requirement for cart use is of course a financially motivated decision.  If they change the policy, allow walkers and trolleys all day, would you mind if they increase the base greens fee for all players to make up for the lost revenue from carts?  Its not easy trying to make money from a golf course, lots of tough decisions to make, and lots of individuals pulling in different directions.

The reason I joined a private club was for the ability to walk. When I first joined, you could walk anytime during the week and after 12:00 on the week-ends. Now it's after 2:00 on the week-ends. We have been there a few years so the staff knows we play very quickly and will usually let us play before 2. But when it's cart path only (during a pandemic) where most people are riding one person per cart, I just thought was a little ridiculous. That being said, if they want another 50 bucks a month for walking privileges all day...I'll pay it.

[mcanadiens]

31 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

The reason I joined a private club was for the ability to walk. When I first joined, you could walk anytime during the week and after 12:00 on the week-ends. Now it's after 2:00 on the week-ends. We have been there a few years so the staff knows we play very quickly and will usually let us play before 2. But when it's cart path only (during a pandemic) where most people are riding one person per cart, I just thought was a little ridiculous. That being said, if they want another 50 bucks a month for walking privileges all day...I'll pay it.

Wow. Hard to conceive of such a thing as walking privileges here in the Midwest.

People up here willingly pay up to $14 per round extra to ride around in the horseless carriage on our public-fee courses. All my favorite courses are easy to walk, so I avoid paying for a cart unless my partner insists on one.

The idea of paying more to walk sounds absolutely backwards.

 

 

[darthweasel]

On ‎8‎/‎25‎/‎2020 at 6:54 AM, mcanadiens said:

Wow. Hard to conceive of such a thing as walking privileges here in the Midwest.

People up here willingly pay up to $14 per round extra to ride around in the horseless carriage on our public-fee courses. All my favorite courses are easy to walk, so I avoid paying for a cart unless my partner insists on one.

The idea of paying more to walk sounds absolutely backwards.

 

 

I grew up where every penny mattered. Back then the choice was "9 holes with cart or 27 walking". Not a hard choice. I simply had to choose between playing more golf or walking and the cart fees were like 2/3rds as much as the round. At times it felt like taking a cart doubled the choice of the round. I feel like that might be where my dislike of cart golf started

[FlyingAce]

Caught up to these people yesterday. One set of clubs but both are hitting balls, goofing around. I waited for them from 300yds out, saw them drove cross the line that was 70yds off the green, parked, then proceeded to chunk balls 5yds at a time until they got on the green.  They did not fix any of the trenches they dug up and if I could see chunks of turf flying from that far away, they had to be sizable. 

Anyway, I got tired of waiting and knowing that I wouldn’t get anywhere near them, I pulled out my Rocket 3 for my next shot. Well, I hit THE BEST 3w shot of my life (with the help of a downhill slope) and my ball landed not far from their cart. I guess they heard/saw the ball so they came back to move the cart UP TO THE GREEN! Geez. 

I never saw them again for the remaining holes so they had to have skipped a hole or two. Not sure if they are guests or members but members usually respect their own course. And if I were paying $200/round, I wouldn’t be skipping any holes either, so I have no idea what these yahoos are...or they could be staffs playing a few holes. 

[ChetlovesMer]

45 minutes ago, FlyingAce said:

Caught up to these people yesterday. One set of clubs but both are hitting balls, goofing around. I waited for them from 300yds out, saw them drove cross the line that was 70yds off the green, parked, then proceeded to chunk balls 5yds at a time until they got on the green.  They did not fix any of the trenches they dug up and if I could see chunks of turf flying from that far away, they had to be sizable. 

Anyway, I got tired of waiting and knowing that I wouldn’t get anywhere near them, I pulled out my Rocket 3 for my next shot. Well, I hit THE BEST 3w shot of my life (with the help of a downhill slope) and my ball landed not far from their cart. I guess they heard/saw the ball so they came back to move the cart UP TO THE GREEN! Geez. 

I never saw them again for the remaining holes so they had to have skipped a hole or two. Not sure if they are guests or members but members usually respect their own course. And if I were paying $200/round, I wouldn’t be skipping any holes either, so I have no idea what these yahoos are...or they could be staffs playing a few holes. 

Oh my, well just when you think you've seen it all. Sometimes, people have more money than brains. Kinda sad though, from this picture the course looks beautiful. 

[FlyingAce]

37 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Oh my, well just when you think you've seen it all. Sometimes, people have more money than brains. Kinda sad though, from this picture the course looks beautiful. 

It is a beautiful course and it is rarely busy so there are no marshalls out there. Last weekend, the guy ahead of me decided to relieve himself right off the fairway, 150yds from the first tee box. I don’t know if he did not notice people at the tee box waiting or that he didn’t care, but the clubhouse was less than 100yds away...

Here’s a better view of what the hole looks like when the cart was heading for the green. I usually see deers or coyotes, rarely other golfers...

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by FlyingAce

[ChetlovesMer]

3 minutes ago, FlyingAce said:

It is a beautiful course and it is rarely busy so there are no marshalls out there. Last weekend, the guy ahead of me decided to relieve himself right off the fairway, 150yds from the first tee box. I don’t know if he did not notice people at the tee box waiting or that he didn’t care, but the clubhouse was less than 100yds away...

Here’s a better view of what the hole looks like. I usually see deers or coyotes, rarely other golfers...

 

Classic. I guess he figured as long as the deer and coyote are relieving themselves... well, why not? 

[Sandy Lie]

Carts are what they are. They have Pro’s and Con’s as mentioned.  Some places are 100% carts but if you walk a trail fee is still charged (?).  These courses if Semi-Private or Resorts that want the $$$$ from your pockets.  So the faster people get around the more rounds that can be played that day so more $$$$.

Theres a course in South Carolina called Orangeburg CC. It’s beautiful!  Carts are allowed but not in the fairway.  They tell you it’s cart path only. They also designate where to park around tees and greens.  You are told not to park your cart off the cart path where the wheels are just off the cement and on the grass.  You are told you only get “One Warning”!  It’s the truth. 2nd warning you are asked to leave.  Fun to watch that!  You see no bare dirt just off the paths there.
 

Carts are revenue makers.  As to disabilities it’s my understanding that you have to prove that when you play, and then a Blue Flag is provided so that others can register in their mind why you can park a cart almost anywhere.

[Mr22putt]

22 hours ago, FlyingAce said:

 Last weekend, the guy ahead of me decided to relieve himself right off the fairway, 150yds from the first tee box. I don’t know if he did not notice people at the tee box waiting or that he didn’t care, but the clubhouse was less than 100yds away...

 

Hi Ace:

Nice to hear from you. Always glad to see you post about the CLOWNS you encounter while playing golf....seems like New Mexico is full of YAHOO golfers.😁

How's your game?

My game is getting slightly better...trying to trap the ball more on irons shots to compress the ball more and hit lower wedge shots into the green for more distance control and it's working.....though being a mental midget....my pitch and chip shots still s*ck....my practice is great...just can't bring it to the course.

Had 10 GIR's in a row from 9-18 the last time out....13 total GIR's ....41/36...and 3 birdies.....but prior..... mostly scores in the low 80's.

I just realized the new cap system only counts best 8 scores w/o the 0.96 multiplier.....cap only went down a bit to 8.0