I reacted poorly to a situation on the course

[mcanadiens]

If you didn't hit him or curse him, you didn't react poorly in my opinion.

Knowing myself, a string of profanity would be the first thing. Who the heck knows what would happen after that.

I'd rather not think about it. 

[skram]

What a jerk. I would have been angry/upset as well.

I'd have been tempted to just stand there and waited for him to move. (With some obvious hands on hips, multiple practice swings, chatting with playing partners, maybe even take a seat, etc.) Picking up would not be an option at all. If he didn't understand that it would just mean an even longer wait for him - well, too bad for him as it is now his own fault. 

 

[Vinny Cap]

It sounds like this dude was a real D Bag! 

You don't really say if he was swearing at you or confrontational or not.  Did he just stand there waiting for his partner to finish the 5th hole?

It would be better to call the Clubhouse and get someone out there if he wouldn't move to deal with the situation.

If he was swearing at me, I would have done the same back to him 10 fold and gave one more chance to move.  If he didn't, I would have yelled Fore and hit away.

I can't imagine anything like that happening out on the course.  I am out there to relax and have some fun.  Some people....

[Hardspoon]

1 hour ago, Psyber said:

I'd be really careful with that unless you're open to a physical confrontation from someone who really doesn't like it and doesn't backdown. It's a super passive aggressive move.

Oh, definitely. You need to be ready for that.

[paininthenuts]

19 hours ago, TryingtoPlay said:

So, I was out playing and had to deal with extremely rude behavior from another player in a group behind me. My round began fairly well despite poorly playing the first hole and I went on to par both the second and third holes and I should have at least made par on the fourth. A poor wedge shot cost me a shot however  My swing began to break down on the fifth and by the par three sixth I was really struggling. I ended up hitting a ball out of bounds and topping another. A player from a group behind me, playing the fifth hole mind you, decided to come up and stand on the fringe of the sixth green as his partner played his approach shot into the fifth green. I waved him off as I was still chipping in. He refused to move, telling me to pick up on the hole as he didn't want to wait for me when he got to the sixth tee box. Let's just say that I did not react well to this at all. I didn't hit him or anything, but I was really angry. Angrier than anyone should get on a golf course. I am not sure how I should have handled it, but I am not thrilled about how I did at all.

I would suggest you consider medication of some sort. It's only a game !!

[TryingtoPlay]

16 hours ago, IndianaDundee said:

I am a bit confused by this.  Is the course layout so that the sixth green is just off the fifth fairway?  Was this guy walking or riding the cart?  While I have hooked one into the wrong fairway and been in the way of another group teeing off before; I have never been close to another green on an aproach shot.

You didn't say exactly how you reacted.  I certainly would have told him in no uncertain terms to get off my green.

Ahh. So the fifth hole is a dogleg right par 4 with the left side of the dogleg around 30 yards or so short of the sixth green with trees protecting the sixth green at the dogleg. It opens however beyond the dogleg with nothing but some rough between the sixth green and the fifth fairway. The par three sixth runs back adjacent to the fifth hole with OB right. I had been playing behind other groups in front of me in the first place, so it isn't like we are going anywhere quickly. No one had been between me and his group though so he obviously noticed that he was catching up. They were a foursome on carts. I was playing with one other person. I am not sure what his playing partner did, but he had gone somewhere from where he had to hack back out up the fairway and was hence playing his shot into the fifth green from a short distance in (maybe 100 yards). That put him in the fairway next to the sixth green. I hit a terrible iron off of the sixth tee that went out of bounds right. I thought that it was probably still in play, hoping that it hit the trees and fell, but it went through them and over the OB fence. I walked back to the tee and hit another ball, another poor shot, thin and about ten yards in front of the green. When I got up to the ball he was standing on the back fringe of the green glaring at me as his partner was hitting. I waved him off, but he just stood there and wouldn't move so I lifted my hands as if to say "What the hell are you doing, get off the fringe." He shouted to me not to tell him what to do and that I should pick up on the hole which really sent me off. I told him to get the hell off of the green and I called him a "f@#%ing imbecile." He responded by saying "Listen s@$&head, I am not on the green and why don't you pick up so that you don't slow down. Look at the group in front of you they are almost to the next green already." I chipped on to the green, threw my bag down and walked up to him and I lit into him. I screamed and swore at him for about thirty seconds, three putted (in a rage) and stormed off of the green. He literally stood there until I left the hole. I apologized to my playing partner but I was in a pretty bad mood for the rest of the round. 

[TryingtoPlay]

My playing partner handled it amazingly well. He just chipped onto the green and putted out without even looking at the guy. 

[Slowcelica]

It's idiots like this that ruin the game, not the OP. If you were keeping up with the group in front of you big deal. You're going to have bad holes that take a little longer then your good holes, and they are going to even out. I don't understand why everyone is in such a rush to play and get thier round over, its almost like its gotten to be a race for some people. I played my round in under 3 hours, aren't you out there to enjoy your free time with your friends? I can see if you out there taking 5 hours to play, get done in or around 4 and your on pace depending on your group size.

I would have called the clubhouse and had them send out a marshall.

 

[rehmwa]

NOW we have the whole story.  The OP was fine.  The other guy a D bag.  for sure

[Kalnoky]

26 minutes ago, Slowcelica said:

 I don't understand why everyone is in such a rush to play and get their round over, its almost like its gotten to be a race for some people. 

Yep. Yesterday I finished 9 holes comfortably in 1:30 and some guy was up my butt the whole way, nobody was behind him either. 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 10/3/2016 at 7:03 PM, Hardspoon said:

Next time, take out your phone, walk up somewhat close to him (maybe 20' or so), and take a picture.  Make it really obvious.

You'd be amazed how many people simply back down when you "threaten" to photograph them.  I've used it in several potentially confrontational situations, and it works like a charm.

 

On 10/3/2016 at 7:15 PM, newtogolf said:

There are too many psycho's out there today to allow situations like this to escalate without intervention from the course.  I'd have called the pro shop and requested a Marshall be sent out to deal with the situation.  

I'd do both of these, get pics of them and send those pics somewhere! Some will back down when they realize they are being photographed, but the true crazies might not. As much as we might like to think we are immune, there is a certain percentage of folks who are nuts, and a certain percentage of them will be attracted to golf.

Thus, you can have nuts on the golf course! Hopefully it wouldn't descend into a wedge vs wedge matchup, but you can never know!

[Hardspoon]

7 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Hopefully it wouldn't descend into a wedge vs wedge matchup, but you can never know!

Never bring a wedge to a 5-iron fight... 

[rehmwa]

19 hours ago, Kalnoky said:

Yep. Yesterday I finished 9 holes comfortably in 1:30 and some guy was up my butt the whole way, nobody was behind him either. 

Simple - invite him to tee off with you on the next hole.  He can sprint to his next shot while you walk.

Most likely he's gone by the next hole and it won't slow you down at all.

Kind of unrelated - As we get earlier and earlier sunsets, I'm pretty sympathetic to wanting to play faster now.  It's real sign of selfishness when you see some group taking it easy so they finish at sundown even when there clearly is a couple groups or more behind them.

[nycgopher]

Not much bothers me on the golf course but this would have. I probably would have just continued on with the hole (if you accidentally hit him with the golf ball attempting to chip at the flag I have no pity for him in these circumstances) and refused to allow him to play through in the future. Logically I don't know if this is the best approach but in the moment fueled by emotion it is likely what I would have done. I think the only real ways to handle this inappropriately would be starting a physical altercation, threatening him or intentionally hitting a ball at him. 

[MizunoPez]

let him play through, then tee off as he is just in range, and look on gleefully as he watches your ball roll past him on the fairway. 

 

These ones always please me with slow play/players that dont let you play through. 

[uitar9]

People behind me don't exist. Until they hit into me. Stomp the ball into the turf if they don't apologize. Call the club house, get a marshall. I just stay up to those in front of me.

 

[Golfaddict247]

Yeah, I would have also been pretty frustrated and upset by this...

[iSank]

Man some people have all the fun, how come I never run into these fools.

On my wife's first game (1992ish), we were waiting on every hole, and 3 senior guys hit up into us a second time, so I hit the ball back at them then walked back the 150 yds and told them it was her first game, and they were not representing the sport very well. 

Have fun, and no sweat the small stuff.

iSank