WWYD: The case of the oblivious golfer

[bmartin461]

The majority of my golf is played early on the backside of a local course near my work.  They have two course and you either start on hole #10 or hole #7 depending on the course.  It is busy so many times I'll walk to #8 to start, this is what I did today. @Lihu can attest to this.

As I was on the tee, mind you, I was ON the tee, ball tee'd up club in hand when an older single rolled up to the forward tees right in front of me.  This (older) gentleman is a very regular back 9 player who is there everyday I think.  He knew I was there, but preceded to exit his cart, tee up a ball, go back to his cart and get his driver, and drove his ball out into the fairway.  He then sped off to hit is second shot, driving right down the middle of the FW, preventing me from going over top of his ball.  

It all happened relatively fast and as I was deciding if and what I was going to say, he was already gone.  I was not pleased to say the least.  I wouldn't have minded if he was polite, asked if he could go first, etc.  To not say anything was extremely rude.

I didn't see him again until 4 holes later, so he must have bounced around a few others too.

So what would you have done?

 

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, bmartin461 said:

The majority of my golf is played early on the backside of a local course near my work.  They have two course and you either start on hole #10 or hole #7 depending on the course.  It is busy so many times I'll walk to #8 to start, this is what I did today. @Lihu can attest to this.

As I was on the tee, mind you, I was ON the tee, ball tee'd up club in hand when an older single rolled up to the forward tees right in front of me.  This (older) gentleman is a very regular back 9 player who is there everyday I think.  He knew I was there, but preceded to exit his cart, tee up a ball, go back to his cart and get his driver, and drove his ball out into the fairway.  He then sped off to hit is second shot, driving right down the middle of the FW, preventing me from going over top of his ball.  

It all happened relatively fast and as I was deciding if and what I was going to say, he was already gone.  I was not pleased to say the least.  I wouldn't have minded if he was polite, asked if he could go first, etc.  To not say anything was extremely rude.

I didn't see him again until 4 holes later, so he must have bounced around a few others too.

So what would you have done?

Was this "Sunny" stout build with the long straggly hair and drives the carts up on the greens?

[bmartin461]

14 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Was this "Sunny" stout build with the long straggly hair and drives the carts up on the greens?

Nope, this is the other guy, older, grey-haired senior in a cart. 

[allenc]

I've never seen such a thing.  I would just laugh and expect never to see such a thing again.

[bkuehn1952]

WWYD?  I probably would have spoken up loudly and asked what the eff he was doing as soon as he pulled up. Presumably he would tell me he is a single in a cart, plays real fast and he would assure me I would not see him again.  Or he might explain that the clubhouse guy told him to jump ahead of me.  At that point I would shrug and wait the few minutes it took him to speed onward.

If he ignored me, I might consider saying something to the club about him.

I agree it is irritating to have someone just do what they want.  If the delay is small, it is hard to get too worked up about it and he was in a cart, you were walking and he moved along very quickly.  What really gets to me is when people jump in AND play slowly.

 

[SavvySwede]

Take the key out of his cart and go on my way. He can have fun waiting for the cart guy to bring him a new one. 

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, bmartin461 said:

Nope, this is the other guy, older, grey-haired senior in a cart. 

Heavy set? No wonder why he finishes 18 holes in the morning.

Yeah, we have our fair share of "characters".

BTW, after 3:00 you can play all 18 for that same price with drink and cart and it's pretty quite now that high school golf season is mostly over. I usually get in 18 holes even starting after 5:00pm. A few slow people towards the end, but generally fast. You can always skip and play the holes later. I'm trying to get together with some "regulars" so some of us can keep scores.

 

 

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

WWYD?

I agree it is irritating to have someone just do what they want.  If the delay is small, it is hard to get too worked up about it and he was in a cart, you were walking and he moved along very quickly.  What really gets to me is when people jump in AND play slowly.

Actually, the most annoying thing about this is that the hole in question is almost drive-able, and Brad would have to wait almost for the green to clear. I hit past the cart path where there is this hairpin turn around a tree almost all the time where most people park their carts.

[Patch]

If that happened to me, I'd shake my head a grin. It's one of those no harm no foul things for me. 

[bkuehn1952]

Is it possible this gentleman started on #7 and @bmartin461 skipped ahead of him by walking to #8?  It was indicated that usually people start on #7 or #10 but in this instance @bmartin461 walked to #8 rather than start on #7. 

[nevets88]

30 minutes ago, Patch said:

If that happened to me, I'd shake my head a grin. It's one of those no harm no foul things for me. 

These kind of things happen in big cities all the time - cutting the line, general rude behavior. I'd do the same. Golf may be considered the "gentleman's game" but it's not immune to the vicissitudes of life.

[MrDC]

It seems strange to me to start on #8, maybe he felt you were cutting in on his round?

[9wood]

3 hours ago, bmartin461 said:

So what would you have done?

 

When he walked up to the tee box and teed up his ball, I would have simply said to him, sir, you're gonna have to wait your turn and play in order. 

[Lihu]

44 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Is it possible this gentleman started on #7 and @bmartin461 skipped ahead of him by walking to #8?  It was indicated that usually people start on #7 or #10 but in this instance @bmartin461 walked to #8 rather than start on #7. 

No, Brad was okay. I was thinking of 7. There's no reason to jump someone on hole 8. There quite are a few older golfers who do this type of thing, actually. WWID? Laugh.

One day one of them jumped me on a hole as I was driving and I didn't see him until the follow through. I hit over his cart, he looked at me, I looked at him, then yelled 4.  then he drove off to the next hole where he got sandwiched between us until he went back a few holes.

Brad, you're not the only one they do this to, just let them play through and laugh it off. It's kind of like the senile old man who walks through a crowd. They're really old. Like 80+ years old.

[bmartin461]

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Is it possible this gentleman started on #7 and @bmartin461 skipped ahead of him by walking to #8?  It was indicated that usually people start on #7 or #10 but in this instance @bmartin461 walked to #8 rather than start on #7. 

Nope, I walked past the people on #7, a twosome who had just tee'd off, so I was well ahead of them on #8.   

Anyway, looking back on it, I should have at least said something, it was crazy behavior.

 

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, bmartin461 said:

Nope, I walked past the people on #7, a twosome who had just tee'd off, so I was well ahead of them on #8.   

Anyway, looking back on it, I should have at least said something, it was crazy behavior.

 

No, just senile.

[boogielicious]

I would have called the Pro Shop.

[gregsandiego]

17 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

Take the key out of his cart and go on my way. He can have fun waiting for the cart guy to bring him a new one. 

This is the best "get even" answer. But as I thought about it those that say they'd laugh it off probably have the right attitude. Getting angry on the course defeats the purpose.

BTW a couple of you guys (Lihu, BMartin) seem to both play here. What is the name of this funny course where you start on #7 ?

 

[CarlSpackler]

It depends. If I was with a group that had fallen significantly behind, I would have just called him a rude bastard in my mind for not at least asking. If I was keeping pace and he was inserting himself in front of me, I would have tried to get his attention to let him know he was not welcome to play through since I was keeping pace. If he got snotty with me, I would would have fought the urge to kick the snot out of him and called the pro shop and asked for a ranger to intervene.