Incident on the green

[DeadMan]

Without hearing the other side, I think that guy is in the wrong here. I, unfortunately, have had my share of accidently hitting into people. Inevitably, it's always when there's a group on the edge of my range, and I decide not to wait. I have now become a lot more cautious about just that, because I'd rather look like a fool than hurt someone. I digress, though. Here's what I would say:

1. Don't purposefully hit into other people. That is unforgiveable, no matter the circumstances.
2. Be extra careful on blind shots.
3. Always yell fore if it's going to be close. Much easier to approach a group and apologize after you yell fore.
4. Always apologize and explain.

That guy being bothered by your drive being within 20 yards is ridiculous. If it rolls up, I can understand being a bit peeved, but that's it. But on most courses there are greens within 20 yards of a tee box. You don't get mad for someone playing to the green in that situation. Also, don't just disappear from the course when you're looking for a ball. Leave a sign to those behind you that are still around. If you go into the deep woods to look for a ball, leave a bag where the people behind can see.

[rkim291968]

When in doubt, wait.   Repeat after me.  When in doubt, wait.  When in doubt, ...

[Jeremie Boop]

  DeadMan said:

Without hearing the other side, I think that guy is in the wrong here. I, unfortunately, have had my share of accidently hitting into people. Inevitably, it's always when there's a group on the edge of my range, and I decide not to wait. I have now become a lot more cautious about just that, because I'd rather look like a fool than hurt someone. I digress, though. Here's what I would say:

Don't purposefully hit into other people. That is unforgiveable, no matter the circumstances.

Be extra careful on blind shots.

Always yell fore if it's going to be close. Much easier to approach a group and apologize after you yell fore.

Always apologize and explain.

That guy being bothered by your drive being within 20 yards is ridiculous. If it rolls up, I can understand being a bit peeved, but that's it. But on most courses there are greens within 20 yards of a tee box. You don't get mad for someone playing to the green in that situation. Also, don't just disappear from the course when you're looking for a ball. Leave a sign to those behind you that are still around. If you go into the deep woods to look for a ball, leave a bag where the people behind can see.

About the yelling fore thing. @iacas made a valid point this weekend. He said if he knows it's going to miss he won't yell fore. If you know it's going to miss then yell fore that person may run towards where the ball is coming down and get hit. It makes sense to me. However, this only applies if you know it's going to miss obviously, but if you hit a ball towards someone but aren't sure where it's going to land then you should yell.

[DeadMan]

  Jeremie Boop said:

About the yelling fore thing. @iacas made a valid point this weekend. He said if he knows it's going to miss he won't yell fore. If you know it's going to miss then yell fore that person may run towards where the ball is coming down and get hit. It makes sense to me. However, this only applies if you know it's going to miss obviously, but if you hit a ball towards someone but aren't sure where it's going to land then you should yell.

Yeah, that makes sense. I would tend to err on the side of caution though. If I yell fore, and they start running around to avoid the ball but still get hit, that's not really on me. I was taught that when someone yells fore, you cower and cover your head. Maybe other people were taught differently, but that's my expectation of what people will be doing when I yell fore.

If my ball is clearly not going to hit them (i.e., it's 10 yards to left or right but at their distance), I won't yell. That's not normally the scenario that happens to me. Most of the time, the ball will be heading towards them but I might not be sure on whether is has the distance to hit them. In that case, I would still err on the side of caution.

I actually had a situation this weekend where if I hadn't have waited for the green to clear on a short par 4, I would have hit into a group while thinking the ball was short of the green. Fortunately, I waited. But it is a short par 4, and I've driven the green twice in probably 40 rounds. This time, I waited for the green to clear, which was about 30 extra seconds. I hit the ball, thought it was just short of the green. Until I got to the green and then my ball is sitting there, on the green, with a ball mark on the edge of the green. So if I hadn't have waited, I likely would have not yelled fore and possibly hit them. Thus, why I tend to be extra cautious with yelling fore.

[Golfingdad]

OP could have been a little more diligent in checking the hole for the group in front, but other than that I don't think he did anything wrong.  Mistakes happen, he apologized, move on.

Guy in front could have handled it a lot better, though.  It was unreasonable of him to not recognize that the guys behind were hitting blind just as he did 5 minutes earlier.

When I'm in a place where I know or suspect the group behind can't see me then I'm always wary of balls.  That is why when its possible - lets say one or two guys are waiting to hit their second shots on a par 5 and they're near the trees or something and I've already laid up, I will go back a ways and out in the middle of the fairway such that the guys behind can see me and wait there until he hits and we're clear.

---

I was screamed at (unfairly) by a guy last year after I hit into him twice.  The first was a blind shot where I still needed a perfect drive and two cart path bounces to reach him, and the second was a crushed PW that went 20 yards over the green and rolled onto the next tee where he was standing.

Regardless, I understood why he was upset so I just said I was sorry and that was the end of it.

[Lihu]

  Golfingdad said:

I was screamed at (unfairly) by a guy last year after I hit into him twice.  The first was a blind shot where I still needed a perfect drive and two cart path bounces to reach him, and the second was a crushed PW that went 20 yards over the green and rolled onto the next tee where he was standing.

Regardless, I understood why he was upset so I just said I was sorry and that was the end of it.

Yeah, so much for golfing for peace and serenity. . . :-P

[Dave2512]

I had someone crush a wedge over the green and nearly bean me a couple weeks ago. He was so embarrassed or whatever he actually tossed a ball down and played that instead to avoid me. I really didn't care but thought that was funny. It wasn't just a little long had to have been bad club choice the tee I was waiting next to is 50 yards or more to the left and his ball was on the other side of the cart path that winds around the tee. He was 50 yards long and 50 left.

[MrFlipper]

I was walking off the first tee a couple weeks ago when I heard someone yell fore a couple holes over. A second later I got nailed on the back of my hand on a shot that was at least 75 yards off line. What are you going to do? I could throw a tantrum but the guy did yell. Got to let it go. It happens.

Everyone gets one honest mistake. The only times I've seen near fights on golf courses is after multiple times being hit into. Not offline shots, but shots hit well before the group ahead got out of the way. Then it definitely looks premeditated.

And rolling one within 25 yards of the group ahead of you doesn't count as a mistake. Folks need to lighten up a little. Accept the apology and move on.

[sjduffers]

How about this scenario (which happened to me a couple of months ago)?

I am finishing putting out on the 18th green, shake hands with my playing partners, gather my clubs and walk down towards the front of the green, heading to the area where I left my push cart, to a corner, slightly right of the green and at least 40 yds towards the fairway, where the cart path goes back to, before veering further right and finally out of the way.  In other words, the cart path comes back towards the fairway and then veers right of the green, back towards the club house. My playing partners are heading to their cart, which is completely on a cart loop, right of the green and behind a large tree, while I am still at the bottom of the elevated green, just about to walk down the slope in front of the green.  A ball comes flying past me, to my right (i.e. left side of the green) and lands maybe 10 yds from where I am standing.  I walk back towards the ball and throw it over the green in full sight of the guy who hit into me: showing him where it went, and that I am not the least pleased about the whole thing!  He hit into me, seeing me right there.

He would have had to wait until I was down by the curve of the cart path or hit less than 150 yds to be safe.  Instead he did hit his 5 wood 200 yds and his excuse is that it's the best shot he has hit all day! Seriously.  I repeated I don't care that it's your best hit, you shouldn't have hit, period, until I am back down where the cart path curves away.  Sure it's worse when I am walking back that way, compared to in a cart, but unless you never ever fade/slice a ball from 200 yds, it wouldn't have been safe to hit if a cart was there driving back to the club house either (and once cart was about to take that route).  Not only his buddy (riding in the same cart as his) was a jerk supporting the offender, but a stranger paired with these 2 bozos thought that what I did (toss the ball away) was "asinine" too, never mind that I was hit into, intentionally, with no apology (visual or verbal).   Granted, I didn't wait for the verbal apology to chuck the ball away as I could clearly see where the offender hit his shot from and that he had no business doing so since I was clearly in range, clearly visible, and more and more in range as I was making my way back to the point where the cart path exits the area.

Should I have not touched the ball? Perhaps, but I was just outraged, and this was further confirmed by the confrontation with the offender, his buddy and even the stranger who saw nothing wrong with hitting into someone like that.  Note, that this group had not waited behind us at all, for the whole round, but a wait on the approach shot of this hole is customary due to the design of the hole...  Some "gentlemen", I tell you...

[Golfingdad]

  sjduffers said:

How about this scenario (which happened to me a couple of months ago)?

I am finishing putting out on the 18th green, shake hands with my playing partners, gather my clubs and walk down towards the front of the green, heading to the area where I left my push cart, to a corner, slightly right of the green and at least 40 yds towards the fairway, where the cart path goes back to, before veering further right and finally out of the way.  In other words, the cart path comes back towards the fairway and then veers right of the green, back towards the club house. My playing partners are heading to their cart, which is completely on a cart loop, right of the green and behind a large tree, while I am still at the bottom of the elevated green, just about to walk down the slope in front of the green.  A ball comes flying past me, to my right (i.e. left side of the green) and lands maybe 10 yds from where I am standing.  I walk back towards the ball and throw it over the green in full sight of the guy who hit into me: showing him where it went, and that I am not the least pleased about the whole thing!  He hit into me, seeing me right there.

He would have had to wait until I was down by the curve of the cart path or hit less than 150 yds to be safe.  Instead he did hit his 5 wood 200 yds and his excuse is that it's the best shot he has hit all day! Seriously.  I repeated I don't care that it's your best hit, you shouldn't have hit, period, until I am back down where the cart path curves away.  Sure it's worse when I am walking back that way, compared to in a cart, but unless you never ever fade/slice a ball from 200 yds, it wouldn't have been safe to hit if a cart was there driving back to the club house either (and once cart was about to take that route).  Not only his buddy (riding in the same cart as his) was a jerk supporting the offender, but a stranger paired with these 2 bozos thought that what I did (toss the ball away) was "asinine" too, never mind that I was hit into, intentionally, with no apology (visual or verbal).   Granted, I didn't wait for the verbal apology to chuck the ball away as I could clearly see where the offender hit his shot from and that he had no business doing so since I was clearly in range, clearly visible, and more and more in range as I was making my way back to the point where the cart path exits the area.

Should I have not touched the ball? Perhaps, but I was just outraged, and this was further confirmed by the confrontation with the offender, his buddy and even the stranger who saw nothing wrong with hitting into someone like that.  Note, that this group had not waited behind us at all, for the whole round, but a wait on the approach shot of this hole is customary due to the design of the hole...  Some "gentlemen", I tell you...

You looking for sympathy or people to side with you here?  I don't know that you're going to get much of that.

[dkolo]

  sjduffers said:

How about this scenario (which happened to me a couple of months ago)? I am finishing putting out on the 18th green, shake hands with my playing partners, gather my clubs and walk down towards the front of the green, heading to the area where I left my push cart, to a corner, slightly right of the green and at least 40 yds towards the fairway, where the cart path goes back to, before veering further right and finally out of the way.  In other words, the cart path comes back towards the fairway and then veers right of the green, back towards the club house. My playing partners are heading to their cart, which is completely on a cart loop, right of the green and behind a large tree, while I am still at the bottom of the elevated green, just about to walk down the slope in front of the green.  A ball comes flying past me, to my right (i.e. left side of the green) and lands maybe 10 yds from where I am standing.  I walk back towards the ball and throw it over the green in full sight of the guy who hit into me: showing him where it went, and that I am not the least pleased about the whole thing!  He hit into me, seeing me right there. He would have had to wait until I was down by the curve of the cart path or hit less than 150 yds to be safe.  Instead he did hit his 5 wood 200 yds and his excuse is that it's the best shot he has hit all day! Seriously.  I repeated I don't care that it's your best hit, you shouldn't have hit, period, until I am back down where the cart path curves away.  Sure it's worse when I am walking back that way, compared to in a cart, but unless you never ever fade/slice a ball from 200 yds, it wouldn't have been safe to hit if a cart was there driving back to the club house either (and once cart was about to take that route).  Not only his buddy (riding in the same cart as his) was a jerk supporting the offender, but a stranger paired with these 2 bozos thought that what I did (toss the ball away) was "asinine" too, never mind that I was hit into, intentionally, with no apology (visual or verbal).   Granted, I didn't wait for the verbal apology to chuck the ball away as I could clearly see where the offender hit his shot from and that he had no business doing so since I was clearly in range, clearly visible, and more and more in range as I was making my way back to the point where the cart path exits the area. Should I have not touched the ball? Perhaps, but I was just outraged, and this was further confirmed by the confrontation with the offender, his buddy and even the stranger who saw nothing wrong with hitting into someone like that.  Note, that this group had not waited behind us at all, for the whole round, but a wait on the approach shot of this hole is customary due to the design of the hole...  Some "gentlemen", I tell you...

I'm trying to get this straight because your description was a bit confusing. You're done with the hole, you're walking off the green towards where the guy is and he hits and it lands near you. If that's right, I don't think I can back you up. You're looking right at him. The move there is to wave him to hit and keep an eye on him. Happens to me all the time with my push cart because I leave it at the front of most greens. Throwing the ball just compounded that overreaction.

[DeadMan]

  Dave2512 said:

I had someone crush a wedge over the green and nearly bean me a couple weeks ago. He was so embarrassed or whatever he actually tossed a ball down and played that instead to avoid me. I really didn't care but thought that was funny. It wasn't just a little long had to have been bad club choice the tee I was waiting next to is 50 yards or more to the left and his ball was on the other side of the cart path that winds around the tee. He was 50 yards long and 50 left.

Must have hit the 6 instead of the 9. I've done that before, except the other way and I ended up in a lake short of the green.

[Hardspoon]

  DeadMan said:

Must have hit the 6 instead of the 9. I've done that before, except the other way and I ended up in a lake short of the green.

You know what you need:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/83826/anyone-ever-make-a-color-coded-iron

[newtogolf]

  dkolo said:

I'm trying to get this straight because your description was a bit confusing. You're done with the hole, you're walking off the green towards where the guy is and he hits and it lands near you.

If that's right, I don't think I can back you up. You're looking right at him. The move there is to wave him to hit and keep an eye on him. Happens to me all the time with my push cart because I leave it at the front of most greens.

Throwing the ball just compounded that overreaction.

I agree, sounds like you left your cart in the wrong place and then wanted to hold up play while you retrieved it.  Right thing to do is wave them up, watch them while they hit and then as they are walking / riding to their ball you go get your cart and leave.

[Fourputt]

  newtogolf said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkolo

I'm trying to get this straight because your description was a bit confusing. You're done with the hole, you're walking off the green towards where the guy is and he hits and it lands near you.

If that's right, I don't think I can back you up. You're looking right at him. The move there is to wave him to hit and keep an eye on him. Happens to me all the time with my push cart because I leave it at the front of most greens.

Throwing the ball just compounded that overreaction.

I agree, sounds like you left your cart in the wrong place and then wanted to hold up play while you retrieved it.  Right thing to do is wave them up, watch them while they hit and then as they are walking / riding to their ball you go get your cart and leave.

He said that the cart path curves back toward the fairway as it EXITS the green area.  He was walking the shortest route back to the cart path if I read him correctly.  I don't see that he did anything wrong except for his rather childish reaction of tossing the guy's ball away.

[newtogolf]

  Fourputt said:

He said that the cart path curves back toward the fairway as it EXITS the green area.  He was walking the shortest route back to the cart path if I read him correctly.  I don't see that he did anything wrong except for his rather childish reaction of tossing the guy's ball away.

  gather my clubs and walk down towards the front of the green, heading to the area where I left my push cart said:

gather my clubs and walk down towards the front of the green, heading to the area where I left my push cart, to a corner, slightly right of the green and at least 40 yds towards the fairway, where the cart path goes back to, before veering further right and finally out of the way.  In other words, the cart path comes back towards the fairway and then veers right of the green, back towards the club house. My playing partners are heading to their cart, which is completely on a cart loop, right of the green and behind a large tree

It's confusing but I thought he left his push cart in a poor location since it wasn't in the same place as where his buddies left their cart.

[Hardspoon]

  newtogolf said:

It's confusing but I thought he left his push cart in a poor location since it wasn't in the same place as where his buddies left their cart.

I thought the same thing at first, but there are a lot of circumstances involving cart loops where the best location for parking a motorized cart is not the same as a push cart.

I am always aware to try to get my push cart in a location where I can "clear" the green immediately after putting out.  If that's not possible, I always make sure to wave people up.

[sjduffers]

Perhaps a picture of the topography may help: my push cart is at the X: I am at the O on the green, heading towards X, walking in front of the large tree, and my partners are ahead to the cart at C on the cart loop.  The ball pitch mark is about even with the bunker's finger, 10 yards to me right (looking back towards the fairway, i.e. on the left side of the green).

@Fourputt read my admittedly somewhat confusing description correctly: I am a walker exiting the green and my partners are getting back into their riding cart. I may be walking towards the next group but i am paying more attention to where I am putting my feet rather than looking at 200 yds away for somebody who should wait another 15 seconds or so before they hit. Oh, and the sun is setting towards the upper left corner of that map, so I am not looking into it.

My reaction may be childish, but not asinine, and if you think that my life is worth less than some idiot having to look 5 seconds to retrieve his ball, I don't know what to think about you.  What is the hurry? Can't he wait just a little bit? And instead of saying or gesturing sorry, he starts with: "you picked up my ball. Why? I hit the best shot of my life with my 6 iron" (which is a lie) as the confrontation progresses, he now says it was a 5 wood.  He was about 200 yards out from what I could tell after looking up to see where this was coming from: and you tell me that he does not know that his 5 wood can go in the neighborhood of 200 yards, or even 150 yds?  And of course, he is the rare player who never slices, right? The distance between the O and the X is about 45 yds, btw.

@newtogolf , my cart is exactly in the right place for a quick exit, as I hope the map shows.

I find it amazing that folks here who just said that you should never hit voluntarily into someone are now defending this guy's action (which is exactly what he did) and vilifying me for moving his ball, or assuming that I am/was slow. I also said that the group behind never waited on us during the whole round, but they couldn't be bothered to wait for a few seconds due to that hole poor design.