Playing partner disappears at 18th hole ...

[rkim291968]

Over thousand rounds I played, this happened just twice, 2nd one happening today.   Both times, I was quite amused and a bit bothered, hence, this post.   This is what happened.  We got paired with a single (both times).   Things go well, and by the end of the round, we are in friendly chatting term.   Then, the single plays his approach shot, drives to the green first, and goes home without saying goodbye or shaking hands.   We arrive at the 18th green and looking around for the single player.   His ball is still on green but the guy's driving away from parking lot.   

Did this happen to you?   What do you think about it?  I think it's just rude, or self centered at the least.

Do you do this?  If so, why?

[Gator Hazard]

That is really odd and I wouldn't take it personally. It obviously says something about the individual. I would never do that. Even the dick who almost got us kicked off the course I shook hands with at the end. 

[stealthhwk]

That is REALLY strange. Ive never heard of such a thing. And I cant even imagine it with him leaving his ball on the green. Unless he was called away in an emergency or something. Either way...crazy stuff.

[Yukari]

Never heard of such a thing.

But twice???  Did you shower before the round? 

[rkim291968]

2 minutes ago, Yukari said:

Never heard of such a thing.

But twice???  Did you shower before the round? 

That must have been it.   

9 minutes ago, Gator Hazard said:

That is really odd and I wouldn't take it personally.  

I didn't take it personally.   Life is too short for that.  

 

There were couple of marshals at the 18th hole and they thought it was odd.   They said he chipped his shot into the green, and just drove off.   The ball left on green was very beat up ball.   We picked it up so that the group behind us won't have to deal with it.

[Ernest Jones]

Ha ha. Kind of funny that he left the ball. Makes it kinda romantic. We'll always have Paris....

[krupa]

Maybe you're the rude one and the guy just wanted to get away from you. :)

[pganapathy]

Not many golfers I know who would hit a shot onto the green and then leave their ball there.  Am assuming must have been some emergency for him to leave in such a hurry.

Unless of course he thought to himself, HOW DO I GET AWAY FROM THIS GUY  and so decided to sacrifice a ball.  No idea but probably should be an emergency

[uitar9]

Maybe he took the gimme 

[RayG]

That putt might have been for an 8 or worse. You didn't mention what his last hole played like (or the rest of his day for that matter). Slice, chunk, top, shank, penalty shot, chunked chip, chip... "ahhh, screw it..."

but at least a "I gotta run after this hole" somewhere along the line would have been nice.

[bkuehn1952]

9 hours ago, rkim291968 said:

... Did this happen to you?   What do you think about it? ...Do you do this?  If so, why?

Never happened to me.  I had one guy finish & leave without a word but that was a result of a Rules dust-up with me.  As others have said, the logical assumption is something dire was reported to him but even under those circumstances I would have said to you, "I have an emergency, See you!"

One meets all sorts of people and this one just adds to your collection of interesting/odd experiences.

[Pete]

Never happened to me. That's weird. I guess he didn't want to get stuck buying the drinks and didn't want to make up a reason why he couldn't stay for beer?

[newtogolf]

Maybe he was part of Trumps election campaign and didn't want to risk any pictures getting taken shaking hands with you on 18.  ; )

[nevets88]

I'd think the person had to tend to an emergency and would hope everything is ok.  It's not uncommon that people I get paired up leave a couple of holes early, but usually w/notice. 

[GolfLug]

"I'm not good at goodbyes..."

[mcanadiens]

My course has some open chasms. It wouldn't surprise me if a guy just fell into one of them. ... I guess you saw him peeling out of the parking lot though.

[Grumpter]

I would hazard a guess at either he had an emergency or thought your group was too slow. Hard to tell as we only have part of one persons side of the story.

[rkim291968]

43 minutes ago, Grumpter said:

I would hazard a guess at either he had an emergency or thought your group was too slow. Hard to tell as we only have part of one persons side of the story.

Not much to tell.  He asked to join us on hole #4 b/c there were slow groups in front.  The course was packed.  He thanked us for letting him join.   He was not a good golfer and took the most time, losing & finding balls.  I helped find number of his golf balls, gave him some I found b/c he was using all kind of used balls.  

Based on my chats with him, he seemed to be a self centered man.  It was all about "I did this, I did that ..." even on casual conversation.  

3 hours ago, pganapathy said:

Not many golfers I know who would hit a shot onto the green and then leave their ball there.  Am assuming must have been some emergency for him to leave in such a hurry.

My guess at the time was that he sneaked into #1 to play a freebie round.   At hole #18, there were a couple of marshals goofing around.  He needed to bypass them.  My other guess was, he didn't pay for the round and didn't want to get questioned.