Am I being a total whiner here?

[Lefty-Golfer]

3 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

It's a pretty standard practice. All the pros seem to do it, and it's the best way to keep a range in top condition.

I can only tell you that is standard practice at just about every club I have been to, our super tells me the grass grows back much faster if you use lines and leave grass in between them.

[vangator]

2 hours ago, Lihu said:

It's like the ambassador or course marshall that follows you around the course asking you to please hit only one ball and/or keep it on your own fairway. Yes, I try to do both those things. . .

I had this happen to me only once.  My daughter and I may have been the only ones on the course and he paralleled us the whole round about 100 yards away.  I figured he mistook me for some hooligan he had encountered.  I may be a hooligan, but never on that course.  I hit an extra ball to a par 3 and he yelled at me "only one ball" and I yelled back "I'm hitting a provisional" even though my ball was on the green.  I gave him the finger too.  My daughter didn't see me do it. 

He went on ahead after that but returned a few holes later.  I yelled I'm never coming back to this hell hole, giving him the finger again.  I have never been back and never will even tough it's very close to my house.  There are more and better courses that gladly take my money.

PS, I'm one of those anal guys that fill all the unfilled divots in the fairways.  I go through 2 sand bottles per hole. They should pay me instead of shooing me away.

[Lefty-Golfer]

2 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

Ummmm, perhaps you should have taken the driver out of your bag and hit him across the face with it. Technically this is against club rules, but you may find it incredibly rewarding !!

see this is quality stuff, you may be able stick around here! Welcome!

[Lihu]

8 minutes ago, vangator said:

I had this happen to me only once.  My daughter and I may have been the only ones on the course and he paralleled us the whole round about 100 yards away.  I figured he mistook me for some hooligan he had encountered.  I may be a hooligan, but never on that course.  I hit an extra ball to a par 3 and he yelled at me "only one ball" and I yelled back "I'm hitting a provisional" even though my ball was on the green.  I gave him the finger too.  My daughter didn't see me do it. 

He went on ahead after that but returned a few holes later.  I yelled I'm never coming back to this hell hole, giving him the finger again.  I have never been back and never will even tough it's very close to my house.  There are more and better courses that gladly take my money.

PS, I'm one of those anal guys that fill all the unfilled divots in the fairways.  I go through 2 sand bottles per hole. They should pay me instead of shooing me away.

I've never actually had this happen to me before, but I was picturing something a little more humorous when I brought it up.

That was a very unpleasant experience for you, I feel bad your daughter had to be there for it.

My son and I used to have similar experiences with people playing behind us, then over the year(s) it went to people playing in front of us when my son started hitting really far. Now that he's been on a high school golf team for three years, he's the "quiet serious golfer" who doesn't get bothered by anyone on the course.

Now, it's my daughter's turn to play with "the dad".

[mahariji_slice]

2 hours ago, imsys0042 said:

The first comment would be ok by me.   If, as your story states, you hit one ball to the left and he says something like that then he's kind of a PITA.   I would just nod and go back to what I was doing.   But seriously?  One ball over there?

 

Not to beat this dead horse, I've already vented and gotten the responses.  But, I think that's what's bothering me.  I've hit several over the berm but because there is a pin about 220 yards out that I like to aim at and its very easy to hit over the berm to the left.  I wonder if this guy has been watching me more than just that moment when that one ball went over.  I'm getting self conscious, like I have a reputation!!!

[Lihu]

16 minutes ago, mahariji_slice said:

Not to beat this dead horse, I've already vented and gotten the responses.  But, I think that's what's bothering me.  I've hit several over the berm but because there is a pin about 220 yards out that I like to aim at and its very easy to hit over the berm to the left.  I wonder if this guy has been watching me more than just that moment when that one ball went over.  I'm getting self conscious, like I have a reputation!!!

The key to golf is to be totally oblivious to this kind of crap. Keep hitting them wherever you want, and if he queries you again simply tell him that you're really trying not to hit over there.

Here's a few possible responses: "Oh, was I really aiming that way?", "The club has a mind of its own." or ones that could involve him in your swing improvements "Could you watch me as I line up, maybe it'll be better if you watch my swing." and "Do you have an iPhone? Could you help me take some video of my swing, and text it to me?"

[uitar9]

7 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

Ummmm, perhaps you should have taken the driver out of your bag and hit him across the face with it. Technically this is against club rules, but you may find it incredibly rewarding !!

Yup. My first thought

Also had the marshall following me around the first three holes. Kept telling me to hurry up. Very offensive guy. Told him to f--- off and speak to one of the other random guys in our foursome (we were four singles)  Not my job

Another episode had the marshall telling us to hurry up when he finally realised we were being held up by a drunken foursome who kept hitting their tee shots back into our fairway, hole after hole. Very offensive guy.

Wait for it, told him to f--- off

I am not a caring kind of guy

[vangator]

24 minutes ago, uitar9 said:

Yup. My first thought

Also had the marshall following me around the first three holes. Kept telling me to hurry up. Very offensive guy. Told him to f--- off and speak to one of the other random guys in our foursome (we were four singles)  Not my job

Another episode had the marshall telling us to hurry up when he finally realised we were being held up by a drunken foursome who kept hitting their tee shots back into our fairway, hole after hole. Very offensive guy.

Wait for it, told him to f--- off

I am not a caring kind of guy

You sound like my kind of playing partner!

Edited January 7, 2016 by vangator

[JonMA1]

7 hours ago, Lihu said:

It's like the ambassador or course marshall that follows you around the course asking you to please hit only one ball and/or keep it on your own fairway. Yes, I try to do both those things. . .

That's what I was thinking. There's a reason some of us go to the range and it's not because we expect to hit the ball straight every time.

To the OP, trying control the divots is a reasonable request. Telling you to not hit into a specific area on the range seems kind of odd to me.

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, JonMA1 said:

That's what I was thinking. There's a reason some of us go to the range and it's not because we expect to hit the ball straight every time.

To the OP, trying control the divots is a reasonable request. Telling you to not hit into a specific area on the range seems kind of odd to me.

Very odd.

 

[Dave2512]

Personally I would like it if more courses had rangers or employees being more vocal about what people do. My peeve is the courses are hacked to bits by people that only care to use it in a way that benefits them. Our ranges is a mess enough so I only go very early or very late so I can hit from the mats at the back in the summer when everyone else uses the grass. My guess is those hacking the range up are the same people that don't fill divots or repair marks on the green.

[dak4n6]

It's weird, when I can find a patch of virgin grass, I find that placing balls at the very side or back edge of the previous divot promotes good ball striking. I think it is just the idea in the back of my head wanting to take a precise divot that helps. 

But, I've never heard of being directed to do that. I only witness very experienced golfers doing that. Actually, I don't know if the average casual golfer has the wherewithal to do it properly.

As for being told to hit it to a certain area, I would have handed him my 4i and asked him to hit a mid trajectory baby push draw for me. If he did it, I would doff my cap and say yes sir, I will do my best.

[rkim291968]

It would annoyed me, too, but I won't let it bother me and will oblige.   My range has a similar guy who seems to be looking to dish out stuff like that.  Maybe, when he is out there gather balls, I will aim at the cart ....

[Bill926]

I've never gotten either one of those comments.  I can understand the first one maybe,  depending on what shape the range was in when you got there.  But no way can I understand the second comment unless you were lined up and purposely hitting to an area outside of the range, which it doesn't sound like you were.

A lot of things annoy me at the range, including the guy picking up the buckets.  Our guy seems to want to stop and chat with everyone down the line.  There also always seems to be the guys sharing a bucket and sharing clubs, talking loud, being there for no other reason but to see if they can out drive each other.  Nothing wrong with that, I guess, just annoying. 

[DrvFrShow]

On 1/6/2016 at 9:43 AM, SavvySwede said:

Only this

 

Damn, I've been on a grass range only once, and I knew enough to do this. It only made sense to keep the strip as narrow as possible so that the person hitting after me would have more real estate to hit from.

[vangator]

4 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Damn, I've been on a grass range only once, and I knew enough to do this. It only made sense to keep the strip as narrow as possible so that the person hitting after me would have more real estate to hit from.

Only once?  In how many years?

I won't hit directly off mats anymore.  Really did a number on my elbows.  I will hit my driver off the nipples.

[Dave325]

On January 6, 2016 at 0:43 PM, SavvySwede said:

Only this

 

This would be impossible to do in one of the ranges close to me. To control the turf/divots, the range strings up two cords the width of range that are 3 feet wide. You must hit between the cords. It's very annoying when it's busy and there is no grass left to hit off of. 

So, I usually head over to a range that is behind a local bar (about 1/2 mile away from there). Not quite as busy and the grass is a bit rough, but it's wide open to hit where you please and they do a good job of maintenance for the most part. A bit cheaper per bucket too.

[DrvFrShow]

20 hours ago, vangator said:

Only once?  In how many years?

I won't hit directly off mats anymore.  Really did a number on my elbows.  I will hit my driver off the nipples.

Only once in 3 years.

Well, we had a course with a grass range, but the course closed it. There's another one, but the traffic to get there can be a real mess. It may be different on the north side of Seattle. I don't know, but that's a 65 mile drive each way, so there's not much of a choice within reasonable driving distances. Country club membership is not in the budget unless I win Powerball tonight.