Ranger or Marshall at the courses you frequent: Helpul, Somewhat helpful or useless?

[Wannabe Paper Tiger]

Wondering if people feel the same way I do...

[JaY_B]

The marshals at my course are just old geezers that do it for free membership, they are actually useless.

[Soup Fan]

I play mostly at cow pasture munis that don't really need a starter. Never need a tee time and there is rarely a large crowd clamoring to tee off at the same time.

Most of the time, the sit in their cart, punch my receipt and hardly ever say a word if I am not directly asking them a question.

[Clubchucker]

I play some fairly nice courses usually, and I cannot tell you the last time I saw a true "ranger or marshall". Starters? Yes...and that's it. I cannot recall how many years it's been since I saw someone out actually patrolling the course....any course....to make sure pace of play is being kept, etc.

[DavidFehertysBike]

One of the starters/marshall at colts neck golf club in NJ is a cool pleasent dude, but besides him I havent had a pleasent experience with any of them since ive been playing. Its almost like the job requirement is you have to be an unsociable cankerous old fart

[MunkeyGolfer]

The few times that I have seen rangers they didn't stop and say anything to us.

[goblue107501]

At all the courses I have ever played on I have never seen a marshall that did anything but ride around and chat with people. Most of the time if the course is really slow, they will ride up and tell you that things are going a little slow up ahead. No s*#t? I've been waiting on every shot, I hadn't figured that out.

[txsouthpaw]

  DavidFehertysBike said:

. Its almost like the job requirement is you have to be an unsociable cankerous old fart

I totally agree. And whats with then telling you its slow up ahead. i know its slow. Do something about it.

[Jeepthrills]

I did not vote because I play at two courses regularly that are very different. White Lake Oaks has always been good about trying to keep things moving. They will tell groups to speed up or let people play through. Jack, the starter is a great guy and always takes care of us. Unfortunately they are under staffed at times but they still do their best.

Heather Highlands rangers are useless. We play behind a womens league that is incredibly slow. They all walk to one ball and wait for that person to hit before walking to the next. They wait for greens to clear when they are 250 yards out. We have spoken to the starter, rangers and the pro shop. They will not do anything about it. There is rarely a ranger on the course. If he is out there it is not in an attempt to speed up play.

[iacas]

Neither of the two courses I play at have rangers (or starters), but I did write this last year:

Source: Erik J. Barzeski
The Pussification of the Modern Ranger
I'm old enough to remember marshals - or "rangers" as they're sometimes called - speaking not-so-softly and carrying an incredibly large stick. I remember fearing seeing the ranger's cart coming your way because it meant you were about to be warned or, for a second offense, booted from the course or told to skip a hole. You didn't mess with the ranger.

Sadly, that ranger is dead, buried, and forgotten. The modern ranger is a customer service weenie who is more likely to crack a smile and a joke about how slow things are than to crack a whip and get your ass in gear. Afraid of confrontation (and often instructed not to be confrontational), the modern ranger will seemingly do everything in his power to make your time at his course more enjoyable… except speed up play.

The modern ranger is, unfortunately, a reflection of modern customer service, which came about because The American Way says the customer is always right, even when they're a boorish, self-centered idiot who couldn't care less about how their actions affect others.

[Ed1]

I play in many golf courses around where I live, but in the two courses I call home (own memberships) they are pretty good in keeping the pace resonable. Though in one golf course in miami people are sometimes playing 2-3 balls and some "Walkers" cuts in and jumps from hole to hole. Complaining to the marshalls are useless as they would never leave the confort of the shade under a tree. totally useless.

[meenman]

The starters/rangers at my course are all retirees that are there for the free golf. However, most of them care about their jobs amd will do whatever is needed.

They act as ambassadors when you show with a big smile and a couple of jokes to greet you. They definitely fully investigate who the problem is when play slows up before acting. Someone may complain about the play of the group in front of them when it is really 2 groups in front of that that are causing it all.

I have seen them make people let others play through or even make groups skip a hole if they are way too far behind.

The afternoon guys really dont have to do that because when the course is jammed there is no way to speed it up anyway, especially when the course has a policy of overbooking every hour.

I would really miss the starters if they ever left.

[CG031]

The Rangers are rather annoying where I live. Most courses I play they are not friendly and they think everyone is an enemy.

[bruce]

Most of the courses i play the marshals are pretty good,bar one,played it a few weeks ago early on Sunday morning,7 am t-time,the group in front was at least 3 - 4 holes behind the group in front of them,i nearly lost it,they should have picked up and walked or a marshall should have been out there.I voted for helpfull

[Wannabe Paper Tiger]

Eric - you are dead on. I used to work at a semi-private club in HS and the marshals we had were old for sure but always took initiative, and yes if you did see them you knew you were playing slow and would get warned at the very least. That fear of seeing him really did quicken the pace of play. Now - I can't remember the last time I ran into one who just didn't greet us with a smile and wave and nothing else, even if we were running behind.

My biggest annoyance regarding this is the fact that it has become totally acceptable to finish a round at 4 hours.... weird....

[CoolBreeze20]

How fast do you think a 4-some should get 18 holes completed in? 4 hours seems about normal to me.....but we dont treat it like the US Open either. Me and my friends are there to have a good time, enjoy the day, and play a game. Some people seem to take it way too seriously. Beginners play slower. If you are in THAT much of a hurry....then just play 9. I guess I just dont get it. If we are waiting on people that are obviously "lower skill" or slower, we ask to play through. Havent met anyone with a problem with it yet, and we have never had people waiting on us or as kto play through.

[Fourputt]

  Wannabe Paper Tiger said:

My biggest annoyance regarding this is the fact that it has become totally acceptable to finish a round at 4 hours.... weird....

So.... did this change sometime recently???? My home course has a maximum allowable time for 18 holes of 4:20, and it's been the same since the course opened in 1972. MY only real gripe is that since we are a municipal facility, the rangers

have been somewhat emasculated by the district policy. But they still have the ability to do the job if they take the right approach. I just wish that more of ours did take that approach. We have some who are very good, and some who are... :shrug: I work part time as a starter, and as such I personally have no way to affect how the play goes out on the course. When a group makes the turn, I record the time, but even if they are slow, I can't do anything unless they are out of position to the group ahead of them. And those to the next group, and so on. If they are outside of the guidelines, I call the ranger on the Nextel and he will get them caught up. Our rangers still have the authority to tell a group to pick up and move to the next hole, and surprisingly, most people are fairly good about it. I personally would rather that the pace of play guidelines be tied to both time and proximity to the group ahead. I've seen a group that was "on time" turn more than 20 minutes behind the previous group, yet because they are within the 2:10 that is allowed, we aren't allowed to say a word to them. That really frosts me, and makes my job of helping the course play smoothly just that much more difficult. The job just isn't as easy as most gripers seem to believe. It takes a balance of firmness and diplomacy to do it right, and very few people possess the necessary attributes naturally. I'd like to see anyone with a complaint take on the job for a month and see what the realities are on a course like mine that is booked solid from 6:30 AM until at least mid afternoon 7 days a week with every type of golfer (by mid May we had already had 35,000 golfers through the pro shop). If they have tried the job, done it well, then they can complain when they see it done poorly, because then they at least know what they are talking about. Most players can't see farther than the foursome in front of them, and if they have to wait, then the course staff is exclusively at fault.

[Wisco-Kid]

You forgot to put "Non-Existent" in your poll. The course where I am a member doesn't have a ranger. It drives me nuts that they don't. I know our course is hurting for funds but don't rangers normally work for free golf? In fact now that I think about it, why don't I just ask my Pro why we don't have a ranger....? duh..