Who has priority?

[jetsknicks1]

Played with a buddy today, we got paired up with a single and the starter sent us off #10 about 15 mins early. We played our first 9 in about 1hr 50min. But when we went to #1 to make the turn we were told that we would have to wait behind 3 groups, plus the group already on the hole, because of their start times. We ended up waiting almost 30 mins to play.

I thought that groups making the turn always have priority. Am I wrong?

[saevel25]

Probably only on typical courses, is this a course that has 3 nines? Usually its very strange to send groups off the back if its just 18 holes. I know a course that has just wierd starting, but it works, they have 3-9's, and they mix match all the time. But if its 3-9's you really don't make the turn, because that set of groups might be an original starting times, not those making a turn, which is poor management of starting times. In that case your probably just stuck.

[SloverUT]

It is my experience that people who are already on the course have priority over those who are starting.  Seeing as you had a tee time earlier in the day, you shouldn't have had to wait on them.  That is why it is so odd that they would start you off on the back 9...  because generally they don't want you to stall the play of people who are about to make the turn.

[rustyredcab]

Bad form by the starters. Starting off 1 and 10 make sense if lots of people what to tee off early. They can do this for the first two hours of the morning. BUT, they need to stop teeing people off two hours after the first groups start. So when that first group makes the turn in two hours, they are not waiting on anyone and the groups keep playing in order.

Simply doubles the number of early times. After six or so hours, the same number of groups will have played.

[jetsknicks1]

Originally Posted by saevel25

Probably only on typical courses, is this a course that has 3 nines? Usually its very strange to send groups off the back if its just 18 holes. I know a course that has just wierd starting, but it works, they have 3-9's, and they mix match all the time. But if its 3-9's you really don't make the turn, because that set of groups might be an original starting times, not those making a turn, which is poor management of starting times. In that case your probably just stuck.

No three 9s, just the standard 18. I've never had this happen before and it was just surprising. The worst part is after waiting 30 mins, it took another 2 1/2 hrs to play the back 9.

[colin007]

That's bad managing. The old farts that run the show at my muni don't know their heads from their asses so that kind of stuff happens a lot...

[zipazoid]

Whenever I am told to tee off on 10 I always ask if I have priority when I get to the first tee.

[BuckeyeNut]

this is definitely a prime example of poor golf course management.  I know of exactly 1 course in my area that sends players off in a "wave" on weekends on both nines.  Ideally.......both nines will play the same pace and you make the turn with no wait.   It doesn't always work out that way...........I won't play there on weekends for that reason.

[phillyk]

Depending on the management style, but generally when you send groups off the back for a little bit to save time, when they make the turn they squeeze in after the group who has the next tee time.  So, means waiting 10-15min.  I never send people on the back for that reason, unless someone higher up tells me to.

[jetsknicks1]

Originally Posted by phillyk

Depending on the management style, but generally when you send groups off the back for a little bit to save time, when they make the turn they squeeze in after the group who has the next tee time.  So, means waiting 10-15min.  I never send people on the back for that reason, unless someone higher up tells me to.

Even that would've been ok. The fact that we had to wait for 3 whole groups to go ahead of us, is what ticked me off. My buddy & I both played well on the front but not so good on the back. I'm not making excuses but there's no way a 30 min delay at the turn and having to wait on every   single     shot on the back 9, doesn't have an affect on a persons game.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by phillyk

Depending on the management style, but generally when you send groups off the back for a little bit to save time, when they make the turn they squeeze in after the group who has the next tee time.  So, means waiting 10-15min.  I never send people on the back for that reason, unless someone higher up tells me to.

I think there's an obligation on the part of the golf course to assure those that are instructed to go off 10 have priority when they get around to #1. If not, then perhaps a reduced rate for the inconvenience.

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

I think there's an obligation on the part of the golf course to assure those that are instructed to go off 10 have priority when they get around to #1. If not, then perhaps a reduced rate for the inconvenience.

Yes, we had a major screw-up (first one I could ever remember) where the management actually had this happen because of severely wet conditions that was making the course play slow. The people on the back did not make it around in time because of cart restrictions and they put off a shot-gun tournament. Needless to say, they made good on a couple of greens fees and owned up to it. It hasn't happened since.

Double tees can be done, but there has to be some planning involved. Planning like, what happens at the turn. Hello!

[DocWu1948]

I think the starter screwed you up. He should have squeezed you in after the first group or 2nd group for a max wait of 15 minutes.

[sean_miller]

Many courses don't allow teeing off the back 9 first unless it's members who are only playing 9 holes. One local course does shotgun starts near the end of the season. One tee time.

If I had a tee time, arrived in time for it, then had to wait for some random guys coming off #18 to slot in front of me I'd be questioning the starter's intelligence.

[zipazoid]

Re shotguns, real simple. Start them on the 18th hole backwards & block those tee times on #1 from regular play until the shotgun players move thru #1.

For example, say it's a 9a shotgun. The tee times from 915a (when the group on #18 hits the first tee, their 2nd hole) until the last shotgun group goes thru are blocked, so if there's, say, 10 shotgun groups, then nobody tees off #1 from 915a until about 11a.

[jetsknicks1]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Many courses don't allow teeing off the back 9 first unless it's members who are only playing 9 holes. One local course does shotgun starts near the end of the season. One tee time.

If I had a tee time, arrived in time for it, then had to wait for some random guys coming off #18 to slot in front of me I'd be questioning the starter's intelligence.

^^^ I can see how that would tick somebody off. I had just never had this happen before so I figured I'd post the question here.