How would you react?

[jayre]

I don't golf often so I don't know all the unwritten rules on the course.  Yesterday, I went out with my son for 9 hole.  There was a twosome ahead of us.  We hit our first shots and both landed on the fairway (pure luck!)  As we waited for the twosome to finish the hole, I felt something on my leg .  Apparently the next person (playing alone) behind us hit too early.  Luckily I was facing the hole and the ball hit me in my calf on a bounce.  A simple "sorry" would've been appreciated. I kept looking back but he was either ignoring me or didn't know that he hit me.

Son & I hit our second shots. While we were walking toward our balls, he rushes past us on the far side to get ahead of us.  I was too far to say anything.  Plus I didn't want to end up saying or doing anything I'll regret in front of my kid.  I do have some temper issue.  To make the long story short, we ended up playing behind him all evening.  However, he did hold up our game.

Was he completely out of line?  Twosome ahead of us were really bad so it's not like we could've gone any faster.  Besides, he ended up slowing us.  I thought you are supposed to hit only when the front person is well out of reach and if you want to pass, you have to ask.

Please clarify.  Thanks.

P.S. Yes it was at a popular public course.

[Osnola]

Common sense and manners are dead....Remember, most people out there think the rules are for everyone else, not for them...

[Kenny Lee]

  Osnola said:

Common sense and manners are dead....Remember, most people out there think the rules are for everyone else, not for them...

Nailed it!

[Grumpter]

I definitely would have let him know he hit into me on the first drive but without yelling or getting angry (hopefully). I have no problem with someone going around me/us if they are in that much of a hurry. However, if there is nowhere for them to go and they end up just making my round longer they are again going to hear about it.

[Lihu]

  jayre said:

I don't golf often so I don't know all the unwritten rules on the course.  Yesterday, I went out with my son for 9 hole.  There was a twosome ahead of us.  We hit our first shots and both landed on the fairway (pure luck!)  As we waited for the twosome to finish the hole, I felt something on my leg .  Apparently the next person (playing alone) behind us hit too early.  Luckily I was facing the hole and the ball hit me in my calf on a bounce.  A simple "sorry" would've been appreciated. I kept looking back but he was either ignoring me or didn't know that he hit me.

Son & I hit our second shots. While we were walking toward our balls, he rushes past us on the far side to get ahead of us.  I was too far to say anything.  Plus I didn't want to end up saying or doing anything I'll regret in front of my kid.  I do have some temper issue.  To make the long story short, we ended up playing behind him all evening.  However, he did hold up our game.

Was he completely out of line?  Twosome ahead of us were really bad so it's not like we could've gone any faster.  Besides, he ended up slowing us.  I thought you are supposed to hit only when the front person is well out of reach and if you want to pass, you have to ask.

Please clarify.  Thanks.

P.S. Yes it was at a popular public course.

I would have just stayed by his ball, and told him that he hit me with the ball. Usually this let's them know they've done something wrong, then you wouldn't have had to simmer through the rest of the round. . .

[oudrees]

You were alot calmer than I would of been.

[Patch]

This has happened to me, and others in my group before. I just leave them with an embedded lie. If the person does it again, I pick up their ball and keep it as a souvenier.

Some folks who claim to be golfers have no clue about safety first.

[Pretzel]

Whenever I'm hit into I usually just send the ball back to where it came from (with a club short enough that it won't hit the people behind me, of course). If it continues I either pocket the ball or toss it in a hazard, depending on the quality of the ball, because I've been hit on the fly by a 3-wood and don't tolerate that kind of stuff. As for your situation, if he held you up you could have notified a course marshal of his slow play and poor etiquette for a warning to be issued at least. That would have helped with the slow play potentially.

[jayre]

Thanks for the feedback.  Next time, I'll get nasty.

[Lihu]

  jayre said:

Thanks for the feedback.  Next time, I'll get nasty.

Certainly don't let it happen like that again, but not too nasty. . .

[GolfLug]

I have been hit into a few times (ball never touched me but within a few yards and even past once) and I have gone back and spoken to the person each time. Never escalated to yelling or anything, got a sorry each time but I would be very unhappy for the next couple of days if I had said nothing at all.

If people just walk around and jump ahead, I would ignore and if they slow down me or my group, I call the pro-shop. If they do nothing... then well,... nothing.

[Mac62]

If somebody inadvertently hit me because they miscalculated, I'd probably let it slide - once.  If they clearly shouldn't have been hitting when they did, I'd either hit the ball back at them or make sure they were looking as I hit their ball into the nearest hazard or OB area.  I would have called the pro shop and asked for a marshal as soon as he jumped ahead since it was obviously a dick move with a group directly in front of you.  Some people are just self-centered idiots.

[rcwkent]

I've been on both sides...... I hit a fourball's cart ahead of us after a drive that got two Cartpath bounces. All four of us yelled Fore,

but that didnt seem to  'satisfy one of them.

And I've been hit before.....if they yell out, then its no problem. (i always duck)

[MacGruber]

don't get too nasty, just make sure the person understands you don't appreciate it.  I have hit in to people because i couldn't see them, hit the cart path 10 times, pure shanked one 50 yards off my target, etc. and I always rush over to apologize and let them know it was not intentional.  You get your jerks, but a lot of people appreciate what i do and understand that we aren't perfect.  If you play golf enough, you've likely been on the end of both situations.