What happened to etiquette in golf?

[carpediem4300]

nothing more i hate hitting a nice bump and run into the green, heading for either the cup or very near and BAM hits a pitch mark and veers off leaving a crappy birdy putt, or crappy par put depending how bad ive played the hole.

I remember playing a par 4 once and belting a hybrid onto the green and watchting it run up towards the cup, it nestled in a pitch mark an inch from the damn hole

[Yukari]

What you think all etiquettes are written in stones?  Show me where other etiquettes are written.

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Show me where you get this from? ...

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by trackster

I'll disagree with that.  The greens at my local course have been in pretty rough shape at times.  They have great techniques to fix greens.  I have no idea what they do but I'll come back later and it looks brand new.  If a ball mark is in your way fix it.  If it is your ball mark fix it.  No need to search the green for unrepaired marks.

You couldn't be more wrong.  The longer a ball mark remains unrepaired, the longer it takes for it to heal.  An unrepaired pitch mark typically takes 3 weeks to completely heal.  A properly and promptly repaired mark may heal itself overnight.  If you the group in front of you is not fixing theirs, then you are help the course and the other gofers around you by taking a few seconds to bend over and fix one or two.  It's just a common courtesy which most experienced and knowledgeable golfers do automatically.  I always fix every one I see.

Of course, if you don't know how to do it right, then thank you for not bothering.   An incorrectly repaired pitch mark takes as long to heal as one that is never touched.  I've seen guys actually pop a divot out of the green when they thought they were repairing a pitch mark.  You never lift up with the tool, always stick it in and press from the sides toward the center of the depression to fill the space without tearing the roots loose.

Originally Posted by Yukari

What you think all etiquettes are written in stones?  Show me where other etiquettes are written.

It's a book called The Rules of Golf.

[luu5]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

It's a book called The Rules of Golf.

http://www.randa.org/en/Rules-and-Amateur-Status/Rules-of-Golf.aspx#/rules/?ruleNum=Eti2672221

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by luu5

http://www.randa.org/en/Rules-and-Amateur-Status/Rules-of-Golf.aspx#/rules/?ruleNum=Eti2672221

Or USGA.org

[trackster]

I fix my owns divots on the green.  I don't have a problem golfing with some one that doesn't fix their divot.  I don't like when people leave golf cart tire tracks on the course, do I have a claim to chew them out.  No matter how careful you are with a cart it is a still heavy and will over time, and repeated users mat down the grass.

I feel like on the golf course you are entitled to respect, but you are not entitled to precise golf etiquette.  If some one is hitting at you it is not a lack of etiquette it is an abundance of stupidity.  If some one doesn't fix there ball mark it is not illegal, and the course is not going to kick them off for it.  Same goes for raking the bunkers.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by trackster

I fix my owns divots on the green.  I don't have a problem golfing with some one that doesn't fix their divot.  I don't like when people leave golf cart tire tracks on the course, do I have a claim to chew them out.  No matter how careful you are with a cart it is a still heavy and will over time, and repeated users mat down the grass.

I feel like on the golf course you are entitled to respect, but you are not entitled to precise golf etiquette.  If some one is hitting at you it is not a lack of etiquette it is an abundance of stupidity.  If some one doesn't fix there ball mark it is not illegal, and the course is not going to kick them off for it.  Same goes for raking the bunkers.

You can bet that courses pretty strongly dislike people who don't take care of the course.  Etiquette is based ON RESPECT...if you have respect for others or the course, you'll practice proper etiquette.  People complain all the time about poorly conditioned courses and people who think like you are a big reason for those courses saying "hell with it, the golfers playing here don't care so why spend the money?"

[trackster]

How many of you speed when you drive?  I ask because that is indeed breaking the law.  People would break the law before they would think of showing  inproper etiquette on the golf course.  Golf is no longer the elitist sport it was.  A golf course is making more money off of you then you are costing them in green repairs, they would never kick you off.

Golfers like me?  What that don't try to force other golfers to conform to their own ways.  They pay the same amount to golf as you do.  If something they have done to the green bothers you then guess what you are allowed to fix it.  If the green starts looking like the moon then we have a problem, but one or 2 ball marks here and there is not the end of the world.

Just enjoy the game for what it is.  Don't worry about what some one else is doing (unless it directly affects you).  If you accidently tripped on a divot and fell on your face breaking a tooth then you have an argument, but one ball mark on the edge of the green isn't hurting you.

[newtogolf]

Didn't you ever hear that "two wrongs don't make a right"?  Citing the fact that most of us speed doesn't mean we're entitled to break other laws or leave a golf course in worse shape than we found it or tolerate those that do.

Originally Posted by trackster

How many of you speed when you drive?  I ask because that is indeed breaking the law.  People would break the law before they would think of showing  inproper etiquette on the golf course.  Golf is no longer the elitist sport it was.  A golf course is making more money off of you then you are costing them in green repairs, they would never kick you off.

Golfers like me?  What that don't try to force other golfers to conform to their own ways.  They pay the same amount to golf as you do.  If something they have done to the green bothers you then guess what you are allowed to fix it.  If the green starts looking like the moon then we have a problem, but one or 2 ball marks here and there is not the end of the world.

Just enjoy the game for what it is.  Don't worry about what some one else is doing (unless it directly affects you).  If you accidently tripped on a divot and fell on your face breaking a tooth then you have an argument, but one ball mark on the edge of the green isn't hurting you.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by trackster

How many of you speed when you drive?  I ask because that is indeed breaking the law.  People would break the law before they would think of showing  inproper etiquette on the golf course.  Golf is no longer the elitist sport it was.  A golf course is making more money off of you then you are costing them in green repairs, they would never kick you off.

Golfers like me?  What that don't try to force other golfers to conform to their own ways.  They pay the same amount to golf as you do.  If something they have done to the green bothers you then guess what you are allowed to fix it.  If the green starts looking like the moon then we have a problem, but one or 2 ball marks here and there is not the end of the world.

Just enjoy the game for what it is.  Don't worry about what some one else is doing (unless it directly affects you).  If you accidently tripped on a divot and fell on your face breaking a tooth then you have an argument, but one ball mark on the edge of the green isn't hurting you.

By your comments in this thread you have demonstrated that you care nothing for the game, for the course or for any players other than yourself.  It is posted in most courses I play as a request that you repair your pitch mark plus one more on every green.  Ask any staff member and he will agree with this.  Your attitude in this is asinine.  What possible excuse can you  have for such thoughtless behavior?  Are you really that lazy?

[sacm3bill]

Trackster's outlandish comments have often led people to wonder if he might be a cleverly disguised troll. I think the jury's still out on that.

[jclifton]

I have often wondered what type of person is so disrespectful as to not to repair a pitch mark. Thanks to tracksters comments I now know!

I talked to the assistant super the other day as he was working on greens. He said he repairs around 8 marks on every green each morning. Also said that courses that have more casual or recreational golfers have a higher instance of this (as this course is). He also has worked in golf communities where the golfers tend to be more serious about their game. This type of golfer tends to  care more about the condition of the course, according to him. The assistant has also worked in the people part of the game as a course pro. He had some very interesting insight coming from two ends of the golf business!

I also play a course where they employ a young guy to ride around the course, during the day,  to repair ball marks. He has a tool that is about knee high with handles, that he puts over the mark and pushes down. Not sure how it works, but it did a great job! Just a shame they have to result to this because of idiots who are too sorry to fix their marks!!!

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by jclifton

I have often wondered what type of person is so disrespectful as to not to repair a pitch mark. Thanks to tracksters comments I now know!

I talked to the assistant super the other day as he was working on greens. He said he repairs around 8 marks on every green each morning. Also said that courses that have more casual or recreational golfers have a higher instance of this (as this course is). He also has worked in golf communities where the golfers tend to be more serious about their game. This type of golfer tends to  care more about the condition of the course, according to him. The assistant has also worked in the people part of the game as a course pro. He had some very interesting insight coming from two ends of the golf business!

I also play a course where they employ a young guy to ride around the course, during the day,  to repair ball marks. He has a tool that is about knee high with handles, that he puts over the mark and pushes down. Not sure how it works, but it did a great job! Just a shame they have to result to this because of idiots who are too sorry to fix their marks!!!

At my home course (very busy public) the guys who are assigned to cut the new holes each morning also each carry one of those repair tools.  They walk the green after making the new hole and fix any pitch marks they can find, but by then they have had 12 to 18 hours to dry out and die, so they remain as dead spots for a considerable time, two to three weeks.  If players had the foresight to repair them the day before while they were fresh, a day or 2 and they would be healed up completely.

Since we are partially funded by tax dollars, we also get free assistance from minor law-breakers who have been sentenced to community service.  They are primarily used for shagging and cleaning carts, but when possible. we send them out with a bucket of sand/seed mix to fill fairway divots.

[FLOG4]

One of the primary reasons the current generation [as depicted by several posters in this thread] have no etiquette on the golf course is because they have no class.  With so many of todays generation brought up in dysfunctional homes and exposed to South Park and the like. What do you expect?  So cut them some slack.  They are who they are.  Non elitest, blue collar, white trash, just out havin some fun playin a game...  Divot tool, what's that....Fix a divot, they got workers that do that....Hit into you if you don't get out of my way....I plays as a single cuz nobody else will play with me.....And no Daddy to teach thems the right way to do it.  Golf is such a pure analysis to human behavior.  Play the $20 public, $50 public, $100 public, private, exclusive private..It's just like going to the restaurant...The more it costs the more polished the patron.....  And with it the love and acceptance of all the nuiances/history/etiquette of the game of golf. So cut these boys some slack, they never had anyone teach them right from wrong in golf or for that matter anything else.

[camper6]

Under the rules of golf.

Priority on the course.

A single player has no standing and should give way to a match of any kind.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by camper6

Under the rules of golf.

Priority on the course.

A single player has no standing and should give way to a match of any kind.

That hasn't been present in the Rules of Golf for quite some time. Currently it says:

Priority on the Course

Unless otherwise determined by the Committee, priority on the course is determined by a group's pace of play. Any group playing a whole round is entitled to pass a group playing a shorter round. The term "group" includes a single player.

[camper6]

Sorry about that.

I am reading from the USGA Decisions book 2000-01.

Personally I couldn't stand to have a single playing behind me and I would always invite them to play with our group or go on ahead.

[trackster]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

By your comments in this thread you have demonstrated that you care nothing for the game, for the course or for any players other than yourself.  It is posted in most courses I play as a request that you repair your pitch mark plus one more on every green.  Ask any staff member and he will agree with this.  Your attitude in this is asinine.  What possible excuse can you  have for such thoughtless behavior?  Are you really that lazy?

Seriously sir?  You the one that said there was nothing wrong with riding in a golf cart is calling some one else lazy?  I'm not denying that courses don't prefer you repair your pitch marks, but no course is going to kick you out if you don't.  Golf carts do more harm to the course than walkers, but I don't see a ban on golf carts.