Guy Took the Closest to the Pin Thingy

[iacas]

So yesterday I attended the "Media Day" at Whispering Woods Golf Club. They opened their driving range and golf academy yesterday for the media, today for everyone. There's a bit more here: http://wwgcblog.com/2009/09/golf_evo...ademy_now_open .

Anyway, there were about five or six foursomes of golfers going out to play in a very small "media" tournament. I think my foursome was perhaps the second in the line.

They had some prizes but they were just "closest to the pin" type prizes. We didn't even realize it until we saw one of those tape-measure-plus-paper/pencil thingies on the first par three (#2). When we got to the sixth, 198 into the wind, we knew about it from the second hole, so I put a good swing on the ball and put it to 11'3". I wrote my name down and we moved on.

I played too safely at #11 (we were playing a scramble format then in our group for the heck of it), and on #14, the last par three, I see a guy in the group ahead of us grab the tape-measure-pencil/paper thingy and put it in his cart.

So after we all hit (Joe hit the green, the rest of us missed), I drove over to the guys who were still behind the next tee and said "There are still a few groups in the media thing still to play - could we have the closest to the pin thing?"

Guy responds - and not in a sarcastic or trash talking sort of way - "Gee, why be so ••••ing picky about it. What, you want to win them all?" I have no idea what he meant, either - he was in front of us the whole way - and both #2 and #11 had the same person's name from his group written down and, at the time we played through those holes, unbeaten.

So he hands the thing back, we measure Joe's shot, and we write it down. Nothing was even written down - they'd all missed the green on that hole. Joe was later beaten by someone in the four groups after us. The person in their group who was written down on #2 and #11 won one of them... just a dozen balls (I won on #6 and gave them to my playing partners).

WTF? What kind of dude takes the closest to the pin thing so the rest of the guys playing can't write their shots down?

[Fat Slice]

Golf reveals your true character: to others, and to yourself, if you are not blind to your own actions.

[Zeph]

If he took it because he didn't know better, it would be funny, but taking it and giving you a tongue lash when you politely ask to put it back? What a douche.

[iacas]

If he took it because he didn't know better, it would be funny, but taking it and giving you a tongue lash when you politely ask to put it back? What a douche.

Yeah, I thought perhaps he'd taken it because he thought he was the last group.

Oh well.

[golf_junkie27]

The classic attitude of "I'm taking my ball and going home." Except, this time, it was a "closest to the pin" form.

The more I play golf the more I realize it's not immune from the same douchebags that play basketball, baseball and football.

[kafka01]

We always have an offical going on the course after the round picking up all the stuff to avoid any "confusion".

Somebody told me a couple weeks ago where he witnessed on a longest drive, where they were waiting to tee off, and the group in front of them actually had the guts to move the longest drive sign back - and into the semi rough and put their name down. Obv. the group behind put the sign back and crossed out the name.

Desperate times seem to call for desperate measures...

[pxc]

I'm new to this game compared to most on this board. Are that many golfers complete losers? Some of the stories I read on here are unbelievable. I can't imagine acting like this in any setting. This guy steals the pen and paper AND bitches at you when you ask for it back. Unreal.

[Cussin hacker]

Arse holes are spred evenly through out life. Golf is know diffrent in that regard.

[Shindig]

I'm new to this game compared to most on this board. Are that many golfers complete losers? Some of the stories I read on here are unbelievable. I can't imagine acting like this in any setting. This guy steals the pen and paper AND bitches at you when you ask for it back. Unreal.

It's a bit of a sampling bias here, and I guess I should explain why it looks that way. If you count just the active, regular members of the board, I would estimate that we play hundreds of rounds each week. We just don't post things like "I got paired with the most wonderful three people this week" or "The people I was paired with this week were very tolerable." So it's just when we have a problem that we post.

[glebert]

I wonder if we are hitting the time of the season where people's frustrations are getting the better of them and they start pulling shenanigans like this. Seems like I have seen quite a few threads about cheating lately (here and elsewhere). I always thought that there are specific golf related seasons that could be charted by watching the forums. Maybe September is the cheating season.

[Dartguy]

The guy was obviously mentally challenged. Did he really think that he could pick up the marker, being in the first group, and noone in all the rest of the groups would not ask why there was no closest to the hole on 14?

[is2linda]

Shady stuff. I hate people who lie on their index when we play for strokes. 20 handicap when youre shooting 9, bulleffingsh**....

Well thats life.

[Grndslmhttr3]

Shady stuff. I hate people who lie on their index when we play for strokes. 20 handicap when youre shooting 9, bulleffingsh**....

Didn't Harrington shoot an 8 on a par 3 at the PGA Championship? It happens to the best of us.

[Zeph]

Only difference is Paddy does it once every five years, while a 20 handicapper does it four times a round.

[AmenCorner]

Didn't Harrington shoot an 8 on a par 3 at the PGA Championship? It happens to the best of us.

I think you misunderstood. The guy was talking about sand baggers, using the example that a 20 handicap shoots 81 or something to that effect.

[AmenCorner]

By the way, the guy in question sounds like a major jerk! Who does that!?

[iacas]

It's a bit of a sampling bias here, and I guess I should explain why it looks that way. If you count just the active, regular members of the board, I would estimate that we play hundreds of rounds each week. We just don't post things like "I got paired with the most wonderful three people this week" or "The people I was paired with this week were very tolerable." So it's just when we have a problem that we post.

Plus, I can safely say that in all of my years of playing golf, this is the first time this has ever happened. I don't play in a lot of scrambles or tournaments that award "closest to the pin," BUT of the 20 or so I've played in, this is the first time. And of those thousand or so people, this is the first guy to take the thing.

But yeah, the majority isn't talked about because it's the majority. The minority is discussed because it's so rare.