Great Round, Terrible Course experience.

[leftcoastsrt04]

First off, I shot a great round today at a course I have never been to. Course was nice, the staff was Terrible. Not sure if I can say the name of the course on here but it all started on the second tee. My foursome was about to tee off when the guy blowing the green slams on his brakes about 30 feet behind our carts making it sound like an accident was about to happen.

Then as we were starting the back nine, (27 hole course, they choose which ones for you to play) we hear over the loud speaker "Your on the wrong hole, you start on the oaks course." An old man with a clip board comes up to us and tells us we are on the wrong hole. We explain we are on the right hole, he checks our names on the clip board and tells us we are right then tells us to pick up the pace. (there has been no one in front or behind us for a majority of our round)

Just as we are about to tee off, the prick from the club house comes running out "Hey wrong hole! Oaks then lakes (names of the courses)" We explain that we are correct and that the old man said we were correct. "What guy? Are you guys on your second nine?" We explained to him that we were, and in the most condescending way he says, "Your right, I'm dumb, your smart."

Who the hell treats people like that. We dished out $200 between the four of us and we get treated like punks. Ok vent over. Anyone wants to know the name and location of the course so they can avoid it, PM me.

[jamo]

How old are you? I'm 17 and people treat me like I am going to steal the flagsticks, it's kind of ridiculous sometimes. I know how to play, and I know how to treat the course, so leave me alone! Not to mention I play fast.

[Fairway_CY]

That sucks... I was treated like that last year during our club championship. We started on the back nine and when we made the turn... we were rushed (no time to use facilities, purchase a drink or anything else) and told that we needed to pick it up (our front nine was played in just under two hours).

After the round, I complained to the tournament director. Didn't get me anything, but I DID get to speak my mind.

CY

[leftcoastsrt04]

We are in our 30's and late 20's. I was dressed in the usual golf attire while my buddies brothers were a little more dressed down. If you didn't know his brothers you might think twice about letting them borrow your car just by how they look but the guys golf a great game (better than me). Pissed me off more than anyone else I guess.

[Gebus]

I'm 17 and people treat me like I am going to steal the flagsticks, it's kind of ridiculous sometimes. I know how to play, and I know how to treat the course, so leave me alone! Not to mention I play fast.

I hear you, I'm 21 now, last year I played a country club course just outside of Montreal. Its a very "upscale" course (it really isn't it's just a bunch of snobs) but I have a friend who works their and she was able to get me a tee time. I get there and get nothing but attitude from every single person there. I get to the tee and I am matched with a man and his wife. They look at me (I was dressed to the nines, I always am on the course, I am pretty sure I was wearing a FootJoy polo with nice pants, everything matching etc.) and tell the starter that they would rather not play with a "non-member" the starter gives me another disgusted look and tells them that he can't do anything. I shut him up when I went eagle-birdie-birdie on the first three holes though :).

That's why I like public courses. They dont care if your rich or poor they treat everybody the same (atleast the ones I go to).

[Bullitt5339]

I played at a gimmicky golf course in VA last summer where the staff was horrible. The starter was rude, the marshalls kept telling us to pick up the pace even though we were always waiting on the group in front of us, and even the Pro Shop people were rude.

The worst part is that my sister works there, and I was playing with my brother-in-law. I will never go back, didn't like the course that much anyways.

[Shindig]

I was treated terribly by the staff at a course a few weeks ago. I'm going back there to play as a guest of the chief operations officer next week. My suggestion is to complain to whoever is in charge - head pro, chief operations officer, etc. If I hadn't done that, I'd still be steamed about being told that the proper reaction to being hit into is to play faster.

[deronsizemore]

From my experience, you get these types of attitudes from the staff at courses that are nice, but they are not THAT nice. A lot of courses are nice courses, but the staff thinks they are running Augusta National and if you're not Donald Trump, you don't deserve to have the privilege of playing their course.

I've been fortunate to play two very high end courses in my time, one being Valhalla and the other being West Lake Country Club in Augusta, Ga last year the week of the Masters. If it gives you any idea how exclusive West Lake is, that's where the pros go to practice to get away from the media during Masters week. Nick Faldo actually walked out of the clubhouse right as we were finishing (he was making a tee time for his son). These two courses are two that I would expect to have been treated like dirt, but actually was treated like tour pros. Every single person was as nice as could be and if you didn't know better, you'd have thought we were members.

I just wouldn't go back to the course. If they treat everyone like that, eventually they won't have a course as no one will play.

[jamo]

From my experience, you get these types of attitudes from the staff at courses that are nice, but they are not THAT nice. A lot of courses are nice courses, but the staff thinks they are running Augusta National and if you're not Donald Trump, you don't deserve to have the privilege of playing their course.

Exactly. Wannabe courses can be the worst, especially courses where the golf plays second fiddle to a nice clubhouse, a pool, and rich members, even though the course isn't great.

[Bullitt5339]

Exactly. Wannabe courses can be the worst, especially courses where the golf plays second fiddle to a nice clubhouse, a pool, and rich members, even though the course isn't great.

I would have to agree also. I've played Pinehurst #2 and #4, and the staff was extremely friendly, and treated everyone in my group like we were millionares. They even laughed and joked with us after the rounds when we were making comments about how tough the greens were. They said everyone has that comment, from us to Tour Pros, they kind of pride themselves on it nowadays.

[TheWookie]

I will never undestand the mentality of some courses. I ve worked behind the counter at the lowest of munis to the highest end private and resort courses. To me you acknowledge everyone that comes through the door and treat them like a member...it is basic customer service. I guess it goes along with a lot of other things is that it would benefit some of these folks to spend some time as the customer. In my experience some people and organizations just dont get it and never will.

[WUTiger]

Exactly. Wannabe courses can be the worst, especially courses where the golf plays second fiddle to a nice clubhouse, a pool, and rich members, even though the course isn't great.

Also, low-rent members and abusive management create grouchiness. Used to caddie at a high-dollar club, and the people who could just barely cover the initiation fee and pay their dues were the snootiest people.

Abusive management can sometimes lead to rudeness in the staff. It isn't always the fact that you're middle class that causes the rudeness. If the club president gives a list of shortcomings to the manager, and the manager responds by yelling at the staff, then the staff may overdo it for awhile in enforcing the rules. You see the same thing at upscale public courses where the top dogs emphasize management by force and fear rather than leadership. And surprise! Places with brutal managers may have trouble keeping good-quality staff workers.