What happened to etiquette in golf?

[funkyfred72]

I'll have to look next time.  Anyway, I will NOT be hitting into anyone again.  Thanks for putting it into prospective!!

[Sheriff420]

Originally Posted by funkyfred72

From my experiences on public golf courses the people with the worst etiquette have been older guys age 60+.  Just today I had 3 old guys in front of me (I was playing as a single).  I waited for them before every drive and approach shot.  Not a single group ahead of them.  Hell, on one of the par 3's I WATCHED them all tee off because they were that slow.  Still, they did not let me go through.  So after 6 holes I started hitting into them when they were about 250 out.  Still nothing.  I know it was poor etiquette on my part but if you think you are that high and mighty not to let anyone through, you are going to have a little white ball come as close to you as I can possibly get it.

I was behind a pair like this a couple days ago. It looked like a 60ish dad and 30ish son. Their lack of speed was due to the 5 to 7 practice swings before every shot outside of putting.

I would pull up to the tee and kick back on the cart while I watched them take their second shots. I was sitting there with this thought process as they went to hit the ball, "Is he gonna hit it? *swing* nope.... Is he gonna hit it? *swing* nope.... Is he gonna hit it? *swing* nope..." etc...

That got me wishing my two Gatorade bottles were full of beer instead of water since I spent so much time kicked back on the cart.

They did ask if I wanted to play through on the 15th hole but I declined and told them that we've only got a couple holes left so I would just hang back.

I don't go to play if I have anywhere to be within about 5 hours anyway so it's all good.

[funkyfred72]

Originally Posted by Sheriff420

I was behind a pair like this a couple days ago. It looked like a 60ish dad and 30ish son. Their lack of speed was due to the 5 to 7 practice swings before every shot outside of putting.

I would pull up to the tee and kick back on the cart while I watched them take their second shots. I was sitting there with this thought process as they went to hit the ball, "Is he gonna hit it? *swing* nope.... Is he gonna hit it? *swing* nope.... Is he gonna hit it? *swing* nope..." etc...

That got me wishing my two Gatorade bottles were full of beer instead of water since I spent so much time kicked back on the cart.

They did ask if I wanted to play through on the 15th hole but I declined and told them that we've only got a couple holes left so I would just hang back.

I don't go to play if I have anywhere to be within about 5 hours anyway so it's all good.

Yeah, it wasn't just the fact that they were slow it was what they were doing to be slow.  The worst of the 3(lucky if he broke 70 on the back nine alone) took forever to decide which club he was going to hit from 300 yards away.  It didn't help that it rained a lot the night before and we were cart path only for the first 9.  The guy was left handed and everything went way left.  Most of the paths are on the right.  He must have thought he was better than he was because time and time again he would be looking for his ball about 50 yards ahead of where it was.

It def would have helped to have a few beers in the cart.

[carpediem4300]

I hit into some guys once and hit one of them, completely accidental, they were playing super slow and didnt ring the "Bell" on the otherside of the hill so after 10 minutes of waiting i tee'd off, (at the advice of a member, remember im still learning the game here)

They were super pissed, and ready to kick off, but i just apologised and offered to refund this guys course fee for the trouble, which he declined as he just wanted to get on with it,

a lesson learned by all, know the course and ring the bell to ensure your own safety, and if in doubt dont be lazy and go check first.

Anybody play courses with public right of way paths through? I was teeing off from a set-back tee once when a dog walker wondered out in front of me, could of killed the guy,......i checked and there were signs of warning at the entrance telling them to be carefull, i didnt care my drive went OOB, was more concerned i could of taken his head clean off

[inthehole]

same here

Originally Posted by DaSportsGuy

In my 2 1/2 years of golf I've never seen anything remotely close to this happen and I've played every round at courses open to the public.

[permarkc]

I find a lot of etiquette lacking on public courses. My partner and I was playing behind a 3 some..they were slow....we deal with it...on the 9th hole, after taking a phone call and wasting about 10 minutes, we get to the tee box. They are chipping onto the green on a short par 4...322 yds. I figure all is good. I tee up and connect with one of my best drives ever...of course...ball rolls to within 10 yards of the green....One of them walks by and looks down....I didnt see him hit it, but when I got there, my ball is gone, I walk ahead and ask...where did my ball go? One of them gets real loud about not hitting into them...once again...they were chipping to the green, and it was 322 to the front edge...lazered...I asked again, wheres my ball and he says its out in the long rough, he hit it as he walked by. Now, at 300+, there is no way it would have ever hit them in the air. So, instead of an easy up and down for birdie, I take a drop (couldnt find my ball), chip on and 2 putt for bogey. Now Im not real concerned about the score as we were playing for fun, but the guy wouldnt leave it alone...Came up to me with a club in his hand....Now...Im not real big, but fairly well built...and unfortunately have no fear, ( personality flaw!), I reiterate that I hit the best drive ever, its over 300 to the green...he comes on like hes going to swing with the club, I take my glasses off, look him straight in the eye and tell him, You do not want to go there! very calmly...I think it scared him that I was sooo calm and not scared.....he backed off...I told the pro shop...they didnt care...

There are buttheads everywhere...not just the golf course.....

[sssam]

see, I call golf etiquette things like not casting a shadow on your partner's line, taking the flag if you're closest to the hole, standing still while someone's hitting the ball. The above examples are beyond simple 'etiquette' and into the realms of just plain rudeness!

[newtogolf]

I think the hours you get to a public course matter.  The early morning hours are usually filled with older guys who were or are pretty good golfers that play slow but they are nice and have good etiquette typically.   After about 11, the typical crowd changes to hacks that are more interested in counting how many beers they drink than their number of swings.  If I'm playing a public course I get an early tee time and hope for the best.  I had one group that must have had a huge cooler in one of their cars filled with beer and every other hole I'd see the one guy drive off in the cart to the parking lot for a "beer run".  The whole course was backed up, until one of the guys blew chunks all over the 11th hole and they got thrown out.  I've never been hit into or gotten into any altercations, but overall I prefer private courses.

[DaSportsGuy]

Originally Posted by permarkc

I find a lot of etiquette lacking on public courses. My partner and I was playing behind a 3 some..they were slow....we deal with it...on the 9th hole, after taking a phone call and wasting about 10 minutes, we get to the tee box. They are chipping onto the green on a short par 4...322 yds. I figure all is good. I tee up and connect with one of my best drives ever...of course...ball rolls to within 10 yards of the green....One of them walks by and looks down....I didnt see him hit it, but when I got there, my ball is gone, I walk ahead and ask...where did my ball go? One of them gets real loud about not hitting into them...once again...they were chipping to the green, and it was 322 to the front edge...lazered...I asked again, wheres my ball and he says its out in the long rough, he hit it as he walked by. Now, at 300+, there is no way it would have ever hit them in the air. So, instead of an easy up and down for birdie, I take a drop (couldnt find my ball), chip on and 2 putt for bogey. Now Im not real concerned about the score as we were playing for fun, but the guy wouldnt leave it alone...Came up to me with a club in his hand....Now...Im not real big, but fairly well built...and unfortunately have no fear, ( personality flaw!), I reiterate that I hit the best drive ever, its over 300 to the green...he comes on like hes going to swing with the club, I take my glasses off, look him straight in the eye and tell him, You do not want to go there! very calmly...I think it scared him that I was sooo calm and not scared.....he backed off...I told the pro shop...they didnt care...

There are buttheads everywhere...not just the golf course.....

That really stinks man. I don't get why people get so mad about stuff like that. It's not like they were ever at risk. I mean you're not gonna carry the ball 320 yards so what's the big deal.

I was playing at a course a couple minutes from my house that I play 5 or 6 times a year. Their's a hole on the back it's a big par 4 dog leg left over a corn field that you have to carry it around 290 to clear the cornfields and hit it about 300 or 310 to be on the green. This guy behind us unleashes a rope as we were walking off the green and sticks it off the tee with about a 7ft putt for eagle. He was playing alone and came up to the green all apologetic I was like "that was one hell of a shot man, nothing to be sorry about". He was a great guy and didn't do it on purpose. I was just with one other guy so he was playing quick so we hit our tee shots on the next hole a Par 3 and let him play through.

[Clambake]

If one assumes that a golf course has tee times set 10 minutes apart and they send foursomes out from 7am-4pm, on any given day they've sent about 216 golfers out on the course, and there are about 110 golfers on the course at any given time (if a 4 1/2 hour round).

According to the Wechsler IQ statistics, 2.275% of the general population have an IQ of less than 70.     Per standard psychiatric definitions, an IQ of 50-69 is defined as a moron, 20-49 is defined as an imbecile, and below 20 is defined as an idiot (clinical definitions, not just figures of speech).

So just going by the statistics, there are about 5 morons, imbeciles, and idiots who play the course that day, and about 2-3 of them will be on the course at any given time.   The odds of running into one are unfortunately pretty good.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

... In either case they are guilty of slow play and poor golf etiquette...

Poor etiquette, yes. Slow golf, we don't really know.  You can't go by the fact that the poster was waiting on them every hole, because the poster was a single.  A single behind a threesome is always going to be waiting, no matter how fast the threesome plays.

Originally Posted by permarkc

...when I got there, my ball is gone... he says its out in the long rough, he hit it as he walked by....  I take a drop (couldnt find my ball), chip on and 2 putt for bogey...

Just FYI, if you know your ball was moved by an outside agency (which it was in this case - the guy admitted it), you can replace the ball where it originally was with no penalty. And if you *don't* know and simply can't find your ball, you can't just add a penalty stroke and take a drop, as you did. I'm not advocating going all the way back to the tee as the rules technically require (unless you're in a tournament of course), but most people who drop for a lost ball to save time will add 2 strokes, not 1 (to more accurately reflect what you would be laying if you *had* gone back to the tee.)

Sorry for the hijack, but I like to clarify rules misunderstandings when I see them.

[GJBenn85]

I have not encountered any etiquette issues outside of a worker at the golf course hitting into us.  We had just teed off and were approaching our balls on the fairway when a ball landed about ten feet behind us from the idiot that was too impatient to wait two minutes for us to clear the fairway.  Even more irritating was the fact that he had not been playing behind us at all but came up to the hole after he got off work and still hit into us.

One nice thing about where I live is that there are so many golf courses, they do not become zoos.  Of course, my schedule also only allows me to play during "off" hours.

[1par2win]

Originally Posted by Kujo

Part 3.5,

Next hole, 18.  We are on the fairway,  they were well behind now probably because they couldn't find the pin.  Then loudly comes a guy on a cart yelling on a phone straight up the fairway.  It was one of the four behind us.  He is all fired up about the pin and we were fired up about having balls hit at us.  He says that they did it intentionally because they thought we had cut in front of them.  We sorted out that we did not cut them off and he was still mad at us.

Same thing happened to me a couple of seasons ago. A guy hit directly into our group because he thought we were playing the wrong course. My home course has 3 9's and I have seen people that are unfamiliar with the layout tee up on the wrong hole. When I have seen that I just let them know in a courteous manner as it seems to me the best way of handing it. Never had anyone bark back and they always seemed appreciative. I guess firing solid objects at over 100 mph at people is a much better way of handling it.

Funny thing I live in MN and the OP mentioned this occurred in MN. I think I will PM him to find out what course all this nonsense occurred.

[dbuck]

Originally Posted by Clambake

If one assumes that a golf course has tee times set 10 minutes apart and they send foursomes out from 7am-4pm, on any given day they've sent about 216 golfers out on the course, and there are about 110 golfers on the course at any given time (if a 4 1/2 hour round).

According to the Wechsler IQ statistics, 2.275% of the general population have an IQ of less than 70.     Per standard psychiatric definitions, an IQ of 50-69 is defined as a moron, 20-49 is defined as an imbecile, and below 20 is defined as an idiot (clinical definitions, not just figures of speech).

So just going by the statistics, there are about 5 morons, imbeciles, and idiots who play the course that day, and about 2-3 of them will be on the course at any given time.   The odds of running into one are unfortunately pretty good.

ha ha ha ha--you are a genius and a correct one at that!

Seriously, I think the decline in golf etiquette is indicative of the decline of courtesy in general as evidenced by road rage, tramplings at events like Black Friday Wal-Mart sales, and other displays of selfishness.  I am fortunate in that the public course I play is a university course and well marshalled, so I don't encounter a lot of bad behavior.  I started golf at a private club as a teenager, and learned etiquette through experience of playing with adults who taught by example. I think in some cases ignorance plays a part in some of the minor etiquette infractions-folks have not been taught and don't think through some instances such as slow play and allowing others to play through. Then there are some as in the OP's stories that are just rude and would be rude in whatever situation you came across them.

[Kujo]

It looks like this topic is not something new for most here but not all that common either and that’s good to hear.  But it seems that almost everyone has been hit into at some point and no one appreciated it so why do people keep doing it?  As a collective group we can all hold off for another couple seconds and let people move out before you tee up.

Yesterday I went to the clubhouse to see if they had found my lost 6i (found it in my friends bag today, woops).  I talked to them about what happened on Sunday.  The just nodded saying yeah yeah that will happen, it can get rough out here at times.

Rough!? This is golf not boxing folks.  I golf to mellow out, relax and have fun with the game.  If that’s not your intention I say go get another hobby.  One thing about golf is no one is all that good at it.  Sure you have people that can play a nice clean round and all and I’m in that group if I’m lucky but the guy who hit into me had one excuse that was this.

I was over on the left side and he says if he had hit the ball in the center of the fairway the way he did 99% of the time it wouldn’t be an issue.  That’s just crap in my book.  If you hit 99% of the fairways you would be on tour and not playing a crap course at 8:00 with me.  I know I’m not that consistent and that’s why I wait for people to move out.  Even if they are on close hole one over I’ll wait a second or make sure they see I’m on the tee.  I’m ok with the game but I am not great and I know it.  I know my game so if someone is on the fairway next to me 150-200 yards out I have a chance at shanking a ugly one at them.  Most go straight but 1 of 10 are nasty.  I’d like more golfers to admit the skill they have or the lack of it.  And why are the links so packed anyway?  I thought we were in a recession?  And that leads me to my last point about private play as some have mentioned.  Not an option for me period.  I loved to play private clubs in California when I had friends that would let me get a free game in at the end of the day but no way could I pay to play.  That resection as I mentioned above has us all in limbo.  I really don’t see how anyone can justify it unless you have worked hard and retired well.  I’d like to have that in my future but public is my domain for now.

Thanks for the advice and comments from everyone.  Stay safe, have fun and if you need to drop a club from your bag to have space for a good attitude please do so.  If you still don’t have room try leaving your ego in the trunk and that will free up some extra space for sure. Wink-

Cheers,

Kujo

[GoingfortheGreen]

Originally Posted by anotherday

It seems like things only got out of hand once you stooped to their level by leaving the pin out. There is no doubt that they were wrong, but the only difference between all three of your stories is that only one included a strong possibility of physical altercation and it was the one where you decided to fight poor golf etiquette with poor golf etiquette.

I admit, for the first time ever, I stooped to the same level about a month ago.  Playing a cheapish, public course here in Central PA, late morning tee time on Saturday.  We're a twosome followed by another twosome - they've already hit "close" to us before - too close for comfort.  Ahead is a 90-yr old couple plodding away - we can't play through, so we're stuck.

On hole # 8, dog-leg right through some trees.  My friend and I are sitting in the fairway waiting for the couple to clear out; you can't necessarily see the fairway from the tee box.  A ball ends up right of us - we look back and we can see the guy that just hit it.  He knows were sitting ducks, and still lets the second player tee off.  Our fault, we didn't say anything.  Hole # 15, shortish par 4, dogleg left - you can't see the green from the tee - the second player drives the green (ball rolls off) while we're putting.  I pick up and throw his ball down the fairway while they're riding up.  We get into it - this guy looked like a MMA fighter, and I know I'll die if this gets physical.  He tells me to keep my f'ing hands of his ball, calls me an *sshole, etc.  He said he didn't know he could hit it that far - I call BS, because I saw him bombing it on the range before the round.  Finally, I just ignore him and walk off the green.

The near fight has my heart pounding, adrenaline is flowing, and I need to execute a downhill 175 yard shot over water.  Hit it flush, heads straight for the pin, and overshoots the green by a bit.  Chip on and two putt.

[brodkorbtd]

I've discovered that the cure for me personally dealing with slow play is to accept it and walk the course.  The extra time it takes me to walk to my golf ball versus racing to it on a cart is usually all it takes for slow groups to clear out, or at least make the wait more bearable.  Nearly every time I rent a cart, I'm complaining about slow play.

[MackJL06]

anybody who hits a ball in the direction of somebody intentionally, without first acknowledging that you are hitting the ball and receiving acknowledgement from them that they are ready.....should give up the game, or stay on the range.

waving your hands at a player when they hit into you isnt enough if you want them to stop. wait at their ball...and tell them they got close and to please let you get far enough away.

to the guy who hit a 4w at the group who was "expecting" him to hit it back at them...no...just....no. no hitty golfballs at people....NO....badddd golfer...NO...nnnnnnnnnoooooo. go to your cage! ....besides....i dont trust anyone who hits a 4 wood.