Poorly run golf courses...I witnessed one last Friday.

[cart7]

Seems as though the OP was impatient and the course by no means was obligated to refund his money due to his actions.

The HS golfers were on 3 - 7 when he was just starting on 2,  first, he was in no way obligated to allow the women to play ahead (I wouldn't have) and if necessary, he could've allowed them to join in.

By the time he would've caught up to the tail end of the HS kids, it might've been the 4th hole. I've seen HS kids play golf, they're usually not that bad, at least not as bad as some 100 + handicappers on any golf course on any day of the week.

So what if you had to wait?  It happens to all of us all the time.  BTW, most courses I play don't allow jumping around on holes or starting off the back nine unless instructed by the clubhouse or starter.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by bruce

You should have paired up with the two women and played as a foursome.

I am going to have to +3 this one.  If I don't have 4 1/2 to 5 hours free to play golf, I don't play.  Who knows if the coruse is going to be busy or not until you get out there?  Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

And I've played courses that wouldn't even warn me when I made the tee time that they just aerated the greens ... I certainly don't know why they would feel the need to inform you who's playing in front of you.

[zipazoid]

I had the day off last Friday, so I decided to get out to one of my favorite local courses I recently started playing, before I move to CA.  Even better, they have a special of $20 for 18 holes/cart on Fridays.  It's a really nice layout and well-kept course, used to be one that the LPGA played years ago.

Sounds like you got your money's worth. There had to be a reason for the discounted rate in the first place.

[Grumpter]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Who knows if the coruse is going to be busy or not until you get out there?  Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

I find the courses with "Fore! Reservations Technology" online tee time systems are helpful here. I can see when the course is going to be packed and when it's not.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by Motown88

If they are on a golf team they are all decent golfers, they should play ready golf.

You would think, but in my experience high school golf teams are the slowest demographic out there.

Originally Posted by el shanko

... go to the 1 tee box and the two some was clearing the green ... then approach 4 get to the tee box and what the f*^$ there is a five some right in the middle of the fairway .... well they let me play through on 6, again run into a couple more two somes, wtf did every one come from i was surprised ...

When you're a single you do tend to catch larger groups rather quickly - I've never figured out why...

[Willie Malay]

Sounds like they handled it more than fair to me. You never tee off on 10 without asking permission to do so....ever. You should have paired up with the ladies and had a fun. If there are golfers on the course, there are golfers on the course. You didn't pay to have the course to yourself.

They handled it fine. You and the other hand...

[Spyder]

I have all of the respect in the world for a buddy of mine who recently took over a really, really poorly maintained course 2 years ago. In the past 2 years, he has taken a legit cow pasture and turned it into a golf course. He's made such a vast improvement and has so many golfers coming in now that the owners of the course opened their wallets and are pouring unlimited funds into the development and maintenance of the course.

Anyway, some of the staff consists of some pretty flighty girls. I call up the course on Thursday afternoon to book an 8:45 tee time for a friend and I on Friday. The girl tells me "We're wide open tomorrow believe it or not, no tee time necessary but I'll write you down just in case". No problem there at all.

We show up on Friday at 8:00 to see the parking lot jam packed but thought nothing of it because I have a tee time for 8:45. I walk in and the same girl that took my call is working the desk. She asks if I have a tee time and I said "Yes, I called yesterday and booked an 8:45 time with you but you said I did not need one. I believe you said you wrote me in anyway to be safe".

To end this long nightmare of a rant... she never wrote me down, never booked my tee time, recalled telling me that they were wide open but they "quickly filled up" and apologized because there was nothing that she could do at that time. There was a line of over 20 carts waiting to tee off as well.

We went down the street and paid $15.00 more when compared to their rate and had a blast. I hope that my buddy eventually catches on to her ditzy practices behind the desk because god only knows how much business they are losing as a result. I've made mention of it in the past but she apparently "kills it" on the beer cart due to her "looks". I put "looks" in quotes like this because I personally think she looks like Mr. Ed and has meth teeth... but whatever.

[Fore Left]

So,  let's see if I'm getting this right.

1)  You tee off,  and finish the first hole.

2)  A couple of ladies approach you to ask if they can play a hole they said they skipped.

3)  You allow them to play the hole,  but don't join them because they aren't attractive/young/etc.

4)  You decide that rather than see what the pace of play actually is,  you should go play whatever hole you want because you're somehow entitled to do whatever you want since you were greatly inconvenienced when you HEARD there was slow play.

5)  You tried to request more of a refund than you actually paid because the day you happened to be playing on wasn't a convenient day for you in the future.

5 simple steps?

[bwdial]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I have all of the respect in the world for a buddy of mine who recently took over a really, really poorly maintained course 2 years ago. In the past 2 years, he has taken a legit cow pasture and turned it into a golf course. He's made such a vast improvement and has so many golfers coming in now that the owners of the course opened their wallets and are pouring unlimited funds into the development and maintenance of the course.

Anyway, some of the staff consists of some pretty flighty girls. I call up the course on Thursday afternoon to book an 8:45 tee time for a friend and I on Friday. The girl tells me "We're wide open tomorrow believe it or not, no tee time necessary but I'll write you down just in case". No problem there at all.

We show up on Friday at 8:00 to see the parking lot jam packed but thought nothing of it because I have a tee time for 8:45. I walk in and the same girl that took my call is working the desk. She asks if I have a tee time and I said "Yes, I called yesterday and booked an 8:45 time with you but you said I did not need one. I believe you said you wrote me in anyway to be safe".

To end this long nightmare of a rant... she never wrote me down, never booked my tee time, recalled telling me that they were wide open but they "quickly filled up" and apologized because there was nothing that she could do at that time. There was a line of over 20 carts waiting to tee off as well.

We went down the street and paid $15.00 more when compared to their rate and had a blast. I hope that my buddy eventually catches on to her ditzy practices behind the desk because god only knows how much business they are losing as a result. I've made mention of it in the past but she apparently "kills it" on the beer cart due to her "looks". I put "looks" in quotes like this because I personally think she looks like Mr. Ed and has meth teeth... but whatever.

Are you near Cincinnati?

[wolfsburg2]

Originally Posted by David in FL

So, if I understand this right, it boils down to you being ticked off that the course allowed a large group of golfers out ahead of you? And that they furthermore became upset when you "made an executive decision" and decided to jump in front of other players out on the course. Finally, they only credited you with the actual amount you paid for the round in the first place.

Wow. How dare they?!

Thats my take on it too.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by bwdial

Are you near Cincinnati?

I'm actually from Northeast Ohio near the Akron/Canton area, 20 miles south of Cleveland.

[Wallstreet]

The OP was completely out of line for all of his actions.  He shouldn't have went to the back nine and never should have asked for a refund.  He didn't even have a chance to catch up to the HS golfers, they were an entire hole ahead of him.

If this is one of the OP's favorite courses then wouldn't he be aware that this was a home course for a golf team?

But who cares, the course has other players than you on the course.  $20 doesn't get the course all to yourself.  You should have either paired up with the ladies or told them to wait.  And then you should have played your round behind the HS golfers.

I truly think you were out of line for asking for a refund.  You are lucky you were offered the $20 credit, because I would have told you to finish your round or leave.

[bwdial]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I'm actually from Northeast Ohio near the Akron/Canton area, 20 miles south of Cleveland.

What you had written made me think of a course I played up there last summer.  A buddy of mine was turning 40, and we played golf at a course that a friend of his was the superintendent at near Cincinnati.  His situation was basically what you described... he took a glorified cow pasture and had begun to create an actual golf course.

On topic... the OP is ridiculous.  You can't make an "executive decision" that violates the rule of virtually every golf course on the planet and then get bent when they don't accommodate you.

[Spyder]

I was also a little confused by the OP deciding that he could go off the back.. just because . You can't assume anything or feel entitled that you're owed anything at a golf course. I'm also slightly inclined to believe that the OP was probably not very polite either. You can usually have the rules bent in your favor if you "kill'em with kindness" and carry a certain type of attitude/confidence when doing so. I always try to keep everything light-hearted and fun and I seem to get many more benefits and laughs out of life than people who feel entitled.

[3PuttKing]

Originally Posted by Wallstreet

I truly think you were out of line for asking for a refund.  You are lucky you were offered the $20 credit, because I would have told you to finish your round or leave.

That's a great attitude that will without a doubt generate repeat business...I'm willing to bet you wouldn't talk like that to a customer to his/her face...or at least I hope you wouldnt.

I don't blame the OP for turning around and deciding to call it a day. He went out there with the intention of getting a quick round of golf in on a Firday afteroon. When he got there, he found out that the course felt the need to load up the front nine with 6 groups back-to-back (4 of which were walking 5-somes). In my opinion, they should have had the 2 groups behind the 4 5-somes go off on the back 9 in the first place so that they could build a window between the 4 5-somes. I would have asked for a refund to.

It's easy to say "OP, you should have sat there and sucked it up", but who the hell wants to sit there and "suck it up" when you know you're about to encounter a +5 hour round of golf because of poor management..especially on a Friday afternoon.

[3PuttKing]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I was also a little confused by the OP deciding that he could go off the back.. just because. You can't assume anything or feel entitled that you're owed anything at a golf course. I'm also slightly inclined to believe that the OP was probably not very polite either. You can usually have the rules bent in your favor if you "kill'em with kindness" and carry a certain type of attitude/confidence when doing so. I always try to keep everything light-hearted and fun and I seem to get many more benefits and laughs out of life than people who feel entitled.

I do agree that the OP was wrong to make the call to go off on the back-nine, but so were the group of ladies who tried to skip #2 and then come back to it, everyone seems to be overlooking that. Everyone preaches that "you're position on the course is directly behind the group ahdead of you". Skipping holes is not "staying behind the group in front of you".

My bet is that the OP wasn't actually the rude one, the lady from the clubhouse that drove up to them was the rude one. That is what prompted his friend to say "maybe we should just leave then". From my experiences, 95% of starters/course managers act like "tough guys" and feel the need to talk down to people rather than speaking to them like equals.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by 3PuttKing

I do agree that the OP was wrong to make the call to go off on the back-nine, but so were the group of ladies who tried to skip #2 and then come back to it, everyone seems to be overlooking that. Everyone preaches that "you're position on the course is directly behind the group ahdead of you". Skipping holes is not "staying behind the group in front of you".

My bet is that the OP wasn't actually the rude one, the lady from the clubhouse that drove up to them was the rude one. That is what prompted his friend to say "maybe we should just leave then". From my experiences, 95% of starters/course managers act like "tough guys" and feel the need to talk down to people rather than speaking to them like equals.

You have a point in that most Starters/Rangers act like they personally own the course or wrote the handbook in regards to the flow of the course and pace of play.

I personally never have experiences like this while out on the course though and I guess I may be in the lucky minority. However, I do know that I start off cracking jokes and being overly polite and friendly to people - regardless of the look on their face, or their attitude when I approach them. The nastier they seem to be, the nicer I am. Though, I often will be even more friendly in a sarcastic way.. but the point is that I roll with the punches (if there are any) and make crappy situations better by doing so. I'm just a strong believer that you put yourself in certain situations and it is up to you to get out of it.

If I were him, I would have never even gone out further past he point of being asked if I could be jumped by someone who skipped a hole. I would most definitely tell them "No, I'm sorry." and explain that I play at a fast enough pace to not be a burden to anyone behind me. It takes a lot to get me fired up because I don't let things that I can't control piss me off and I don't understand how/why other people function in their daily life doing the opposite. Not that the OP is like this (I don't know them obviously), but I would make a call to the club house and see if I can get a fresh 6 pack on ice delivered to me  and make the best out of it. When you're waiting 10-20 minutes per tee, your game is probably going to be effected adversely anyway. Cracking a few cold ones at that point would be how I choose to kill the time while minding my business.

Also, $20 is a fairly cheap rate. I hate to say it.... but how much are you expecting when you play 18 holes @ $20.00 and some change?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I personally never have experiences like this while out on the course ...

I do know that I start off cracking jokes and being overly polite and friendly to people ...

The nastier they seem to be, the nicer I am ...

but the point is that I roll with the punches (if there are any) and make crappy situations better by doing so. I'm just a strong believer that you put yourself in certain situations and it is up to you to get out of it.

It takes a lot to get me fired up because I don't let things that I can't control piss me off and I don't understand how/why other people function in their daily life doing the opposite ...

Cracking a few cold ones at that point would be how I choose to kill the time while minding my business.

Well this is refreshing.  It's nice to know there are other friendly people with good attitudes out there.  I'm just starting to get used to coming here every once in awhile to find a new thread where the subject is something along the lines of "Can You Believe What A D*ck This Other Person Was To Me?"