Stories of people you've met...

[darkhunter139]

I agree some of you guys get way to upset over things.  If someone hits into me by mistake and the ball rolls up 10 yards away from me I am not going to flip a lid and chuck their ball into .  If it keeps happening then I would get upset but I would give them the benefit of the doubt the first time. Was it really worth almost getting into a fight over 10 range balls?  I would have just gone and reported the incident to the manager of the range, he probably would have taken care of it for you.

I have been playing for about a year and have not ran into any trouble on the course or at the range.

[brodkorbtd]

Ten years ago I was playing a small course in North Phoenix, and mistakenly hit someone else’s ball. When I got to where I had hit the ball I immediately realized it wasn’t mine and noticed the guy looking in the vicinity of where I hit. I quickly walked his ball back to him and apologized as much as I could, but he couldn’t help but get rude with me.

He was still barking at me when while I turned around to walk away and I couldn’t’ take it anymore. I finally reminded him that golf is a gentleman’s game, and maybe boxing would be a more appropriate outlet for his angst if he can’t be a gentleman on the golf course. He didn’t take to kind to someone 10+ years his junior lecturing him about being a gentleman, but it ended there.

4 or 5 holes later our paths crossed again and he apologized for yelling, accepted my apology, and thanked me for putting the situation into perspective the way I did.

Remember, Golf is a gentleman’s/woman’s game. I have to remind myself of that numerous times a season, but in the end the game and the people that play it deserve that respect.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by Grumpter

OK... So you are a twosome riding behind a walking foursome. At one par 4 you wait for them to clear the green and then hit your approach shots. As you drive up to the green they are just beginning to tee off and tell you guys to play through after you finish the hole. After you finish they are in the fairway all looking directly at you and waiving you up. You have the deadliest of weapons in your hand the Driver. I assume you will not play through even though they are looking directly at you?

In the above situation, at least all 4 guys are *expecting* me to hit the ball into them, and are guaranteed to be watching for it.  That said, the above situation would never happen. First off, ordinarily people will let you through on the tee box, or wave you up on the next green - not on the fairway. (This is just common sense, since approach shots are less likely to be wayward then drives.)  Second, even if someone did wave me through on a fairway, I wouldn't hit until I had asked them to move *off* the fairway.

Why don't you quit while you're behind? There's nothing that excuses intentionally hitting into people who aren't expecting it, as you did.

[Pope33]

Obviously very few of you have worked on a golf course. I got so used to being hit with golf balls that I don't even turn around and look when a ball lands right next to me, let alone rolls up to me. It's only the head shot that really hurts anyway Man up

[acetoolguy]

When I was just starting out I used to go late afternoon to try and play/practise on the course. Every now and then I would hook up with another single doing the same thing. I'm not really out going and he was even less so but we did get to talking a bit. He had a lot of burn  scars on his hands and arms but I never asked...its a guy think you know. So I just knew him as Bill, he knew me by Steve. We ended up going our separate ways after a year or so, I was more serious about the game than he was. A couple years later I'm reading a book about the history of the  Viet Nam conflict and there is a story about a pilot who won the DFC, the highest you can get w/o getting the Medal of Honor. This pilot flew a refueling tanker, he a had a flight of fighters to refuel. They were returning from a mission and had trouble. They would not be able to make it back to base w/o the gas. Just before the two flights met up the tanker was hit with a Surface to Air Missile. It was on fire but still flying. The pilot stayed in the burning tanker long enough to refuel the fighters before bailing out over the jungle. He was captured and held as a POW for 14 months. His picture was in the book....I'm sure you can guess who it was I was golfing with 20 years later.

[Yukari]

Well said.  I too play as a single a lot.  In fact 90% of my rounds are played as a single and get paired up with some great people.  (Most of my buddies don't like the game as much as I do, so I have no choice but to go out alone and get paired up).

I would say 99%+ of the people I met are great people with a good life story to tell.

...

Maybe it's the courses that I play, but I can't remember seeing any badly behaved people where play.

Originally Posted by ejimsmith

i dunno.. it sounds to me like some of you guys are just as douche-y as the people you're talking about.

i play as a single, at least a round a week, and i rarely run into a-holes.  i remember none of them.

...

i guess, in short, i like this game and the people i end up playing with.   as for the stories, at first i liked hearing them until you guys get to the part where you return the DB behavior with more DB behavior.

"a gentleman never accuses another gentleman of not being a gentleman."

[NorthShoreGolf]

Just to clarify by previous thread: I never hit into anybody, but by the time the 4th ball was hit into me within close range it was not going to stay where it stopped.

The vast vast majority of people I've met on the course have been great. There are a few in every crowd, and then some who are really bad!

[Grumpter]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

In the above situation, at least all 4 guys are *expecting* me to hit the ball into them, and are guaranteed to be watching for it.  That said, the above situation would never happen. First off, ordinarily people will let you through on the tee box, or wave you up on the next green - not on the fairway. (This is just common sense, since approach shots are less likely to be wayward then drives.)  Second, even if someone did wave me through on a fairway, I wouldn't hit until I had asked them to move *off* the fairway.

Why don't you quit while you're behind? There's nothing that excuses intentionally hitting into people who aren't expecting it, as you did.

The four guys behind me were expecting the ball come back to them. I saw them watching me as I walked off the green while the rest off my group stayed on the green, I watched them watch me as I pulled the 4w from my bag, I watched them watch me as I line up for the shot back and I do believe I even yelled a sarcastic "fore!" on my downswing then watched gleefully as they watched the ball going over their heads. They knew it was coming, I wasn't hitting it at them while they had their back turns as... again.... they had done to us on multiple occasions. The other warnings didn't sink in with them, the shot over their head did. Both of the situations I told stories about are where I had no doubt the players had no qualms about hitting into the group in front of them repeatedly.

Sorry, if the arms up, yelling of sarcastic "fores!" and saying things like "you are getting a little close for comfort" don't deter people I might shoot it back their way after repeated offenses . Now about a week ago I had a guy hit into us once. We weren't happy about it but he came up and apologized at the next hole. We said no problem and went on our way no longer too upset about it. Shit happens occasionally and people accidently hit into one another. I have had people hit into me more than once by what they said "was accident" and nothing came of it other than "hey, your getting a little close". However, people who do it on purpose repeatedly probably deserve worse than having their ball nudged into the water or having their ball hit back over their head.

P.S. Twice, just yesterday, I had groups wave me up while they were in the fairway. A third waved me up while they were surrounding the green.

[trackster]

I like it on this thread when people tell stories expecting people on here to back them up.  And then when people tell them that they handled this wrong, it is now just a fight back and forth about who is right.

As  for people hitting in to you its not as big a deal as people make it.  At a tournament this year I was putting and a ball comes sailing up and lands right in front of the green.  I turn to my friend and say "Wow I'm not even mad that almost hit me, that was amazing".  It was a par 4 about 350 yards.  I was super impressed by the drive.

No one tries to hit another golfer on the course.  And it is the risk you take by playing golf that a golf ball might hit you.  Contrary to popular believe golfers do hit shots farther then they think some times.  If someone is 230 out and they blast one up on the green don't take it as they were trying to hit you.  They just got a hold of one.

If a golf ball hits you, you are gonna be mad no matter if they yelled four or not.  Take it as it is.   Almost all people will feel terrible and apologize if this happens.

[DaSportsGuy]

Originally Posted by Jimmy1993

When we finished I was packing up, and he said "about time these clowns left", I went up to him and kicked the ball tray so it spilt everywhere then grabbed one of his iron and threw it as far as I could in the range and left.

I lol'd at that part haha. That's freakin hilarious man! I can just picture that going down...seeing some guys' 7 iron getting helicoptered into the range and his balls going all over the place! Good stuff bro!

[awmgolfer]

I play at a nice but small public course, lots of the older members play in the morning and I am well known around the course since I basically live there over the summer..lol. I have not come across many really nasty players. Number 9 at about 50 yards out doglegs to the right a bit and you can't see if someone is further up from about 80 yards out all the way to the green. Usually you have to walk or ride up a bit to make sure it's clear. I was about 120 yards out and a ball goes sailing over my head, I yell back that I'm up there and they yell back sorry. I setup to hit my shot, maybe 15 seconds after and sure enough I hear the crack of a driver with another ball flying over my head, was a little frustrated. The biggest issue I run into is the older woman on the course not letting anyone play through, no matter what. We usually end up just jumping a hole or two at the spots where it won't even get in their way. Most the people I play with, especially the older members but most people I come across are a lot of fun and very laid back.

[DBeane]

I have never really had any problems with anyone on a golf course.  A buddy of mine once told me I looked "psycho"....who knows, I always thought I was fairly approachable.

The "person" I see fairly often that I feel sorry for is the wife of John Wayne Deepdivot at the driving range sitting behind her soon to be ex-husband/boyfriend as he and his set of golf clubs he aquired at a timeshare sales meeting, describes to her his expertise of the game in the blazing 400 degree Texas heat.

I always want to apologize to her and give her my umbrella...

[Losttsol]

I used to live in Florida and went to the course by myself one day to play a round.  I got paired up with another gentleman who must have been around 60-65, I was in my late twenties.  I'll never forget, he had a set of Cleveland blades which I don't think I had ever seen before.  He said he normally played from the blues and asked where I played from.  I usually play from the whites, but I told him I'd play from the blues as well (didn't want to let the old man totally show me up).  We walked the course and he was fairly quiet during his round.  Hardly talked at all.  He ended up being the best golfer I had ever played with.  He shot an even 72, mostly pars, a couple birdies and a couple bogies.  Anyways, going back to the round, we were on the back nine at about the 15th hole.  Par 4 and I had around 150yds left to the hole and hit my iron.  My shot went left of the green.  Before I even looked away from where my shot went, the gentleman tossed another golf ball at my feet.  He said, "hit your shot again, but put your left foot just slightly above of your right foot."  I stood like he said and hit it again.  My ball landed 6 feet from the cup.  Best golf lesson I ever had.  It was also one of my most enjoyable rounds I have played.

This is opposite of what I have encountered with some other very good golfers I've been paired with.  Many times they either critique you to death or act very smug like you are hurting their game by playing with them.  If I hurt this guy's game then he was probably some Senior Tour guy I didn't know and would have shot a 65.

As for being hit up to.  If the ball rolls past me, I leave it alone.  If it comes very close on the fly, I pick up the ball and throw it in the woods.

[Grumpter]

Originally Posted by trackster

I like it on this thread when people tell stories expecting people on here to back them up.  And then when people tell them that they handled this wrong, it is now just a fight back and forth about who is right.

As  for people hitting in to you its not as big a deal as people make it.  At a tournament this year I was putting and a ball comes sailing up and lands right in front of the green.  I turn to my friend and say "Wow I'm not even mad that almost hit me, that was amazing".  It was a par 4 about 350 yards.  I was super impressed by the drive.

No one tries to hit another golfer on the course.  And it is the risk you take by playing golf that a golf ball might hit you.  Contrary to popular believe golfers do hit shots farther then they think some times.  If someone is 230 out and they blast one up on the green don't take it as they were trying to hit you.  They just got a hold of one.

If a golf ball hits you, you are gonna be mad no matter if they yelled four or not.  Take it as it is.   Almost all people will feel terrible and apologize if this happens.

Yeah, let me know how you feel about it when it's the 4th or 5th time that day the group has hit into you or when it's the 4th or 5th time that day and they just carried 20 yards of water to a green that is the size of a postage stamp and less than 10 yards from the end of the water. I have played 1000's of rounds of golf and have been hit into many, many times. Most times the person is apolegetic, it only happens once or it's just an ankle biter that you know was just a layup that got some extra roll. Hopefully you never run across the group that will repeatedly hit into youwith hardly any regard for other people on the course. Just because you haven't run into them doesn't mean those types of groups don't exist.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by Grumpter

Yeah, let me know how you feel about it when it's the 4th or 5th time that day the group has hit into you or when it's the 4th or 5th time that day and they just carried 20 yards of water to a green that is the size of a postage stamp and less than 10 yards from the end of the water. I have played 1000's of rounds of golf and have been hit into many, many times. Most times the person is apolegetic, it only happens once or it's just an ankle biter that you know was just a layup that got some extra roll. Hopefully you never run across the group that will repeatedly hit into youwith hardly any regard for other people on the course. Just because you haven't run into them doesn't mean those types of groups don't exist.

The point is, no one is going to "repeatedly" hit into you if you talk to them civilly about it the *first* time it happens.

[Grumpter]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

The point is, no one is going to "repeatedly" hit into you if you talk to them civilly about it the *first* time it happens.

Not always true. Just because it never happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

I'm normally civil the first time it happens unless it was blatant that they shouldn't have hit the shot (like not waiting for the group to clear the green before hitting an approach shot. the extra 15 seconds would of killed them?). The course I had the instances at is a very small nine hole course that gets mostly people new to the game. The majority of the players are decent people but they get a much higher percentage of meatheads than you will find at other, more expensive, courses. Out of the 3 or 4 hundred rounds I played at that course there were a a few handfuls of complete meatheads.

[Spyder]

I'm way too laid back to care or stress about some of the stuff mentioned here. I laugh at stupidity and try not to give it attention or gasoline. I've only been hit into one time this year and I simply waited by the guy's ball and smiled and said "Hey, you were about 10 feet away from a headshot. Go ahead and play through if you want, but drive up and ask next time okay?". The guy apologized because he didn't see us and that was the end. He opted not to play through and there was no problem after that.

Things will happen on the course. It's just a matter of how you approach the situation that will escalate it or end it. On the other hand, 99/100 times I meet some awesome people with cool personalities. I can make a joke out of just about anything and have a blast. Sounds like a lot of people need to leave the tough guy act at home and go enjoy themselves.

[B-Con]

I've had a group of impatient players behind my group rudely ask us to pick up the pace before. That's about it as far as other golfers go... Either I'm lucky to not encounter jerks or too absent minded to notice. :-P But one thing I dislike is how my local course runs through a housing development and about 30 minutes before dark the residents start to treat the course like their backyard. I don't know if this is sanctioned by the course, but a lot of them go fishing or playing in the water (which runs against about 1/2 the holes) or sometimes just chipping around the green. I get to a teebox and don't know what to do if the guy with his kid across the forced carry won't move from his position at the water's edge. Some people just hit anyway, but I'm inclined to just skip the hole. I need to ask management what the proper course of action is. It's still a golf course and I'm paying to play it, it seems like there shouldn't be other people milling around on it, and if there are they should move promptly. If that means they have to move so often it's annoying, shouldn't they not be out there?