Playing as a single & awkward stories from who you got paired with

[xxsoultonesxx]

Me and a buddy got paired up with a single one time at a local muni. He came up to the first tee and asked if he could join. Seemed normal enough. Before he tees off, the headphones come out, and he's blasting gangsta rap loud enough that we can hear the lyrics. By the time we reached the first green and started putting, I was over it. I asked him politely to turn his headphones down, and he did, a tiny bit. Then proceeded to 4 putt.

As we walk to the 2nd tee my buddy and I exchange a look that says "no way". So as we get up to the second tee we (as nicely as possible) ask him if he wants to go on ahead of us, because he's clearly not looking for any social interaction, based on the headphones/music.

He immediately freaks out, calling us *******s, faggots, etc. Saying "don't invite people to play if you are just gonna kick me out of the group"

But we never asked him to play in the first place. He took off in a hurry after a nasty little back and forth. And the rest of the round was peaceful.

[Jimdangles]

Ive never heard of dickies but i have played where if you dont make it past ladies tees you pull your pants around your ankles but keep your boxers on.

[JerseyThursday]

  sflemon said:

Originally Posted by sflemon

We get to talking about other places we've played rounds or different kinds of play (match, alternate shot, superball).  We were joking around so I mentioned the stupid rule some kids play while in school called "dickies".

90% of my friends that play golf know what dickies are, and if you don't know and you've played golf long enough to break 100 then you must live under a rock.

After mentioning it, the guy goes off on a homophobic tangent about all-boys schools, dicks, and the gay marriage ammendment in our state.

That really made playing the last hole awkward as hell.  Greaaaaat, I am playing with a homophobe that now thinks I'm a creep.

I told the story to my friends at work I've played golf with and ALL of them knew what dickies were.  Oh well.I’ve never heard it called a “dickie, so it must be a regional thing. The term I’ve always heard since playing as a kid was cleverly enough, “dick-out”. I had never seen anyone actually do it until a few years ago in Detroit. The group in front of us was two guys and their wives (I’m guessing mid-40’s). One of the guys tops it off the tee and it ends up short of the red tees. The other guy starts yelling “hey, that’s a dick-out shot!”. And sure enough, the guy flops his unit out and sort of does an ape walk (arms low, swinging as he walks) to his ball and his hits it, unit out and all, while the others in his group are laughing wildly. I’m sure alcohol was involved.

I don’t need to ever see that again.

I’ve never heard it called a “dickie“, so it must be a regional thing. The term I’ve always heard, ever since playing as a kid, was cleverly enough: “dick-out”. I had never seen anyone actually do it until a few years ago in Detroit. The group in front of us was two guys and (I’m assuming) their wives (I’m guessing mid-40’s). One of the guys tops it off the tee and it ends up short of the red tees. The other guy starts yelling “hey, that’s a dick-out shot!”. And sure enough, the guy flops his unit out and sort of does an ape walk (arms low, swinging as he walks) to his ball and then hits it, unit out and all, while the others in his group are laughing wildly. I’m sure alcohol was involved.
I don’t need to ever see that again.

[sblack5]

I was playing as a single yesterday on a course I've never played before......drove about 40 miles from home looking for something different......made the turn, and there was another single on number 10 and asked if I wanted to pair up.......how about after we tee off, the dude pulls out a bowl and starts smoking a bowl on course............I politely excused myself from his company.  to each his own, people party their own way, and I'm ok with that......but I didn't expect it on a golf course.

[Beachcomber]

I played this afternoon with two Asian guys and an older German lady. The two guys were terrible. The one guy had a solid swing but stood too close to the ball. The best part was this lady. She was awesome! I was playing from the tips, and she was playing a few tees up on the whites. But she was hitting nearly every green in regulation, and sinking several birdies. She kicked my ass on several holes. It was funny because she started bitching at the guys because they were too slow and she wanted to get 18 in before dark. It was a pretty unique evening. When I saw her walk up, I thought OMG. Please don't be in our group. But then she ended up being heads and shoulders better than I ever imagined. I guess you can never judge a golfer before you see them swing the club?

[zipazoid]

A couple of weeks back I was a single at Casselberry GC, a piece of crap muni near my home. First tee is quite a distance from the clubhouse but the 10th tee is right next to it - I think some time in the past they reversed the nines. Anyway, I play the front and breezed thru it with nobody in front of me & wouldn't you know - I get to 10 tee & there's a guy on the tee with his girlfriend in the cart.

So I say to the guy 'Are you just starting your round?' He said yes and I said, 'I'm coming off nine so I have priority'. He looked at me like I was from Mars. I elaborated, 'Groups coming off the front nine have priority over anyone starting their round on 10.' He said 'Oh really' then got in his cart and took off, didn't let me play through.

I spent the rest of that nine making sure my drives were landing about 20 feet behind him. At one point he glared back at me & I just gave him the palms-up shoulder shrug like, 'that's what you get for jumping in front of me dude.'

[garybbq]

I have never heard of the rule actually being called "dickies" but I have definitely heard of it. I was under the impression that it was only done when a bachelor / stag party was playing a round though.

[sflemon]

I've heard of it happening too, but never seen it happen (dickies or dick-out).

[bplewis24]

  sflemon said:

Originally Posted by sflemon

After mentioning it, the guy goes off on a homophobic tangent about all-boys schools, dicks, and the gay marriage ammendment in our state.

  Paradox said:

Originally Posted by Paradox

I was once paired with a racist old man that made the last FIVE holes of the front 9 uncomfortable as all heck.  Another guy we paired up with and I were talking about some basketball player and how amazing he was and this old guy pipes in talking about how slavery bred them to be better athletes and how he can't stand to watch black people play basketball and how they ruined a game invented by a white guy for white people and so on and so on....I was blown away.

Similar to you guys, the only really negative experience I had while being paired as a single was a result of seemingly bigoted remarks.  They weren't overtly racist, and as such I can't remember exactly what he said.  But he (white guy) made a comment about either Asians or Latinos.  I think he used a derogatory term.  He also made some chauvinistic comments about women.  This was a few years ago.  I believe it started because I (mixed ethnicity...half white, half black) was commenting about some pro athlete that did something stupid and got in trouble with the law, and I guess that put him in a comfort zone to start making cultural references.  I eventually made an excuse to leave after 9 holes.

Most other experiences I can remember are positive.  I play as a single 90% of the time, so the only ones that stand out to me are memorable rounds or memorable (positive) partners.

Brandon

[bplewis24]

  AmazingWhacker said:

Originally Posted by AmazingWhacker

It wasn't as a single but it was kind of akward.  When we first started to play, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I went down to the local muni to play 9 holes after work.  We had never really played before so we didn't even realize we could be paired up with a stranger . .we were hoping to play just the 2 of us since we really had no idea what we were doing.  We'd been to the range a few times but that was it.  So anyway we get paired up with this older guy who seems like a pretty nice guy as we chatted a bit while waiting to tee off.

So he tees off and hits a pretty good one.  Then we get up there and both hit terrible drives.  Now, before we teed off I told this guy that we were new to golf and weren't really going to play by the rules - we were going to be giving ourselves plenty of free drops, etc, etc.

But as we were walking to the first green - he out to his tee shot and us advancing our balls manually (in our pockets) he starts going on about how we have no business at this course.  That its a really hard course for good golfers only and we shouldn't even be out here.  I sort of reiterated that we were just learning and were just going to walk along and take shots and thats why we came out in the evening, etc.   I didn't tell him this but we also picked the cheapest, shortest muni out there so it most definitely was not Bethpage Black or anything.

So the 9 holes went pretty much like that - with him making goofy comments about 'real golfers', suggesting that we take lessons at Golf Tec and us pretty much ignoring him and being polite.  We kept pace of play - it was a crowded muni so we were up on the people in front of us the whole time anyway.  THen at the turn he takes off like he just stole something from us . .apparently trying to ditch us at the turn.  As we told him, we were only playing 9 holes anyway.

Other than that I've had really good experiences being paired up but that was really uncomfortable.

It sounds like you did what you should have done as a hacker/beginner: you didn't play out every single shot and every single hole, and put pace-of-play at a higher priority than your own score.  If I were paired with you, I would have had no problem with it.  My only issue is with beginners (I mean the guys who are on pace to shoot 130) that refuse to ever pick up and must play out every hole from every location.

  Mr3Wiggle said:

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

I'd have told that guy to stick it.  Good players know that playing cheap munis with less than a 4some means they will likely be paired up with a hack/newbie or two.  What an ahole.  I'd have probably told him to play on by himself and let him know why.

Completely agree.  When I go to an executive/muni type course, I fully expect a lot of seniors, young players and/or beginners and adjust my pace-of-play expectations accordingly.

Brandon

[BuckeyeNut]

I've paired up as a single over 1,000 times over the years so I've played with all types.  I couldn't care less about their politics.  They won't hurt my feelings.....LOL

I tend to lump awkward moments into 2 categories:

1. I'm paired as a single and I can see the dread in their faces.  They have that obvious look of.... "oh crap....a single" .   It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.  These are terrible golfers 95% of the time, so now I am worried they won't keep pace and fall behind!!   I can always comfort them and everything is fine and dandy after a couple holes.   By the end of the round, we are all buddies.   As far as awkward moments go, I can deal with this...........

2. The slow group:

the number one thing that is most awkward and uncomfortable for me, is being paired with that group that falls behind.   I can't stand this!!!  I can deal with just about anything, but THIS!!!!!

[JerryTimes]

  Mr3Wiggle said:

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

I'd have told that guy to stick it.  Good players know that playing cheap munis with less than a 4some means they will likely be paired up with a hack/newbie or two.  What an ahole.  I'd have probably told him to play on by himself and let him know why.

I've done that once.  I was by myself and this guy asked if I wanted to join him since he was by himself and I said sure, but I told him that I'm new and I usually shoot a 100-110 and that I've only broken 100 twice.  He says no big deal, but then he goes on to criticize me for having decent clubs.  I bought a set of x-20 Callaway irons and I have a diablo edge hybrid 3 iron and driver.  Don't get me wrong, I see guys all the time buying better sports equipment because they think it'll make them good, I got it because I wanted decent clubs because I know I'll be playing for a long time, and I also got them (the irons) at a discount (old model) and I got the other clubs as gifts for my birthday from my family.   We tee off, and this guy isn't even that much better than me, the only thing that he could do better is drive, I tend to hit about 220-240.  He mentions my clubs not helping me another time or two and I told him to move on.  He looked at me like I was crazy, but I'm not playing with someone like that.  I golf to relax and enjoy myself and he was ruining it.  The funny thing was that we were on the 5th hole, and he was only up by 4 on me.

[bplewis24]

  BuckeyeNut said:

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut

2. The slow group:

the number one thing that is most awkward and uncomfortable for me, is being paired with that group that falls behind.   I can't stand this!!!  I can deal with just about anything, but THIS!!!!!

I do recall an awkward moment once because of something similar.  I was playing with my brother and we got paired with a couple guys.  My brother is sometimes a bit slow reading putts and such, but it was compounded by the two guys we were playing with who were slow as molasses.  We fell behind the group in front, and the guys on the tee behind us were waiting 2 holes straight.  So eventually I told my group that we were going to allow the guys behind to play through, and I waved them through.  The twosome that I was paired with took great offense to this and didn't say much the rest of the round.  I didn't really feel bad about it though, they shouldn't have been playing so incredibly, excruciatingly slow.

One thing about me is that I'm so conscious of slow play that I can be thrown off my game by it, because instead of alerting my group that we're falling behind, I will first try and make up for them by playing faster.  This typically leads to trouble.

Brandon

[BuckeyeNut]

  bplewis24 said:

Originally Posted by bplewis24

I do recall an awkward moment once because of something similar.  I was playing with my brother and we got paired with a couple guys.  My brother is sometimes a bit slow reading putts and such, but it was compounded by the two guys we were playing with who were slow as molasses.  We fell behind the group in front, and the guys on the tee behind us were waiting 2 holes straight.  So eventually I told my group that we were going to allow the guys behind to play through, and I waved them through.  The twosome that I was paired with took great offense to this and didn't say much the rest of the round.  I didn't really feel bad about it though, they shouldn't have been playing so incredibly, excruciatingly slow.

One thing about me is that I'm so conscious of slow play that I can be thrown off my game by it, because instead of alerting my group that we're falling behind, I will first try and make up for them by playing faster.  This typically leads to trouble.

Brandon

Yes...I agree.  AWKWARD!  It really boils down to the honest truth to who was causing the delay?  Was it really the 2-some, or your brother?  If it was my brother and he was holding up play, I'd make him pick up or do whatever was necessary to keep up.  After all, he's my brother and I can tell him to get the lead out.    If it was the two-some holding up play........I'd carefully let them know we are falling behind and need to catch up. .  A very tough call that depends on the situation......

If my 2-some was paired with slow players that fell holes behind,  and they wanted to let somebody play through us because of them?.....I'd take this opportunity for me and my partner to play ahead.  I'd be polite and diplomatic about it, but I wouldn't stop to let people through.  I'd rather split up and go ahead.........awkward, but necessary.

[bplewis24]

I told my brother we needed to pick it up 1 or 2 holes prior.  I actually did it in a way that allowed the other two guys to hear it, so that maybe they would get the point.  The other two just continued to be slow, and on that particular hole it dog-legs right, around a bunch of trees, and both of them put their tee shots in the trees.  That was my cue to allow the others to play through.

Brandon

[BuckeyeNut]

  bplewis24 said:

Originally Posted by bplewis24

I told my brother we needed to pick it up 1 or 2 holes prior.  I actually did it in a way that allowed the other two guys to hear it, so that maybe they would get the point.  The other two just continued to be slow, and on that particular hole it dog-legs right, around a bunch of trees, and both of them put their tee shots in the trees.  That was my cue to allow the others to play through.

Brandon

Yep...definitely awkward!!  For me, this is the most awkward moment on the course for sure.  I've dealt with this in many different ways.......and all are awkward.  LOL

[jetsknicks1]

  zipazoid said:

Originally Posted by zipazoid

A couple of weeks back I was a single at Casselberry GC, a piece of crap muni near my home. First tee is quite a distance from the clubhouse but the 10th tee is right next to it - I think some time in the past they reversed the nines. Anyway, I play the front and breezed thru it with nobody in front of me & wouldn't you know - I get to 10 tee & there's a guy on the tee with his girlfriend in the cart.

So I say to the guy 'Are you just starting your round?' He said yes and I said, 'I'm coming off nine so I have priority'. He looked at me like I was from Mars. I elaborated, 'Groups coming off the front nine have priority over anyone starting their round on 10.' He said 'Oh really' then got in his cart and took off, didn't let me play through.

I spent the rest of that nine making sure my drives were landing about 20 feet behind him. At one point he glared back at me & I just gave him the palms-up shoulder shrug like, 'that's what you get for jumping in front of me dude.'

Very mature.

[zipazoid]

  jetsknicks1 said:

Originally Posted by jetsknicks1

Very mature.

Thank you.