Behind a Foursome of Slow-Playing Kids

[Buckeyebowman]

Played Mill Creek today. It was the second day of an AJGA event there. Jeez, the place was crowded, and the counter man informed us they had to move some of the AJGA tee times around because of the predicted thunderstorms. which never materialized.

Our misfortune was to tee off directly behind a foursome of AJGA golfers. Looked to be high school kids. To describe the pace of their play as glacial would be charitable! Worse, even with several empty holes stretching in from of them, they never once turned to look at us waiting, and offer us to play through.

I don't know all that much about the AJGA, and I'm in favor of any outfit getting youth involved in golf. But HOW are they getting them involved? And what are they teaching these kids about the game of golf? Didn't seem like a whole lot of teaching went on with this group! No courtesy, and some of the players flat out sucked!

Plus, I have never seen the course so full of litter! Candy wrappers and water bottles were everywhere! True, I can't say they were all dropped by AJGA players, but I play here a lot and have never seen it so bad! These are Donald Ross courses that locals cherish!

I guess my question is, what exactly does the AJGA do? Do they merely run tournaments? God knows they had a ton of personnel and equipment out there! Electronics everywhere! Or do they actually teach youth about golf?

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Our misfortune was to tee off directly behind a foursome of AJGA golfers. Looked to be high school kids. To describe the pace of their play as glacial would be charitable! Worse, even with several empty holes stretching in from of them, they never once turned to look at us waiting, and offer us to play through.

If you were expecting to play through and disappointed that they didn't wave you through… that's on you. THey're not gonna do that, nor should they really.

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I don't know all that much about the AJGA, and I'm in favor of any outfit getting youth involved in golf. But HOW are they getting them involved? And what are they teaching these kids about the game of golf? Didn't seem like a whole lot of teaching went on with this group! No courtesy, and some of the players flat out sucked!

They didn't suck. They could almost all beat you. In fact, if you shot your handicap, you'd have been almost dead last among the boys.

https://ajga.org/microsite/index.asp?tn=2017054#R3Results

And the organization is not really about "teaching" anything. It's about playing competitive golf.

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I guess my question is, what exactly does the AJGA do? Do they merely run tournaments? God knows they had a ton of personnel and equipment out there! Electronics everywhere! Or do they actually teach youth about golf?

http://ajga.org/ - Maybe go there and look it up…?

Generally speaking, they put on tournaments and prepare players to play college golf.

I think your whole post sounds a little "get off my lawn."

Edited June 23, 2017 by iacas
struck the word "almost" twice, because 85.6 would be your score if you played to a 13 index

[David in FL]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

THey're not gonna do that, nor should they really.

Huh.  Why not?  Are they not expected to respect normally accepted courtesy?  Are they taught that when playing an event that they own the course?  I'm genuinely interested, as I don't know...

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Huh.  Why not?  Are they not expected to respect normally accepted courtesy?  Are they taught that when playing an event that they own the course?  I'm genuinely interested, as I don't know...

They are timed and likely weren't "holes" behind (and if they were, they were likely penalized).

And… the narrator is an unreliable narrator… he thinks they "flat out sucked." Something isn't adding up here.

https://www.ajga.org/tourninfo/pace.asp

[Buckeyebowman]

It's on booger!

If this sounds like "get off my lawn" it's because it IS my lawn! I pay taxes to support this place, and the park board is doing their part to try to make it a showpiece in the world of golf! There is massive spending planned on these courses to make them top shelf. That's my money at work!

And how do you know they didn't suck? Were you there? I was! We saw players not 50-60 yards off the tee looking in the woods for their balls. After completing play on a par 5, we pulled up in the shade behind the following par 3 tee, to watch a player who had dribbled his tee shot about 20 feet attempt his second shot!

And you didn't spend 2:45 playing the first nine behind them! Did I mention that they were SSSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know why they didn't play the back. Maybe they sent groups off both tees, and all they had to finish was the front. However, when we saw they weren't teeing off on 10, we rushed out there! We played the back in 1:30!

And, If playing the senior tees, I think I'd have thumped any of those kids! They couldn't play a lick!

 

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

]If this sounds like "get off my lawn" it's because it IS my lawn! I pay taxes to support this place, and the park board is doing their part to try to make it a showpiece in the world of golf! There is massive spending planned on these courses to make them top shelf. That's my money at work!

And one of the ways they make money is to host tournaments.

8 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

And how do you know they didn't suck?

Because I know how to use the Internet. Because I've seen the quality of the players at AJGA events.

8 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

We saw players not 50-60 yards off the tee looking in the woods for their balls.

Yeah, I don't think they were AJGA players.

8 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

And, If playing the senior tees, I think I'd have thumped any of those kids! They couldn't play a lick!

Dude, look at the scores. You don't know what you're talking about.

They probably weren't AJGA players, and I changed the title of the thread to reflect this.

https://ajga.org/microsite/index.asp?tn=2017054#R3Results

[Buckeyebowman]

Dude! I know they were AJGA players because I saw them palling around with the AJGA personnel on the veranda of the clubhouse. Turning in scorecards,etc.

I'm certain there were much more talented players in the field. It was our misfortune that they were not in front of us. Hell, didn't a pro finish 20 over in the latest US Open? Or pretty close to it? These dudes hacked up the place!

And if they weren't in the AJGA, if they were "spoiled suburban youth" can you imagine a foursome that all walked and carried?

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Dude! I know they were AJGA players because I saw them palling around with the AJGA personnel on the veranda of the clubhouse. Turning in scorecards,etc.

I'm certain there were much more talented players in the field. It was our misfortune that they were not in front of us. Hell, didn't a pro finish 20 over in the latest US Open? Or pretty close to it? These dudes hacked up the place!

And if they weren't in the AJGA, if they were "spoiled suburban youth" can you imagine a foursome that all walked and carried?

Dude, look at the ****ing scores.

LAST place (70th) was 255 after three rounds (85*3). The winner shot -7… on a par 70 layout.

What course were you playing? North or South?

[Shooting29]

I like how some kid topping it or flaring it into the woods automatically makes him suck. My friend topped it three times in our match tonight and I shanked it out of a greenside bunker and blasted a drive way OB, he shot 76 and I shot 74 but I guess hitting those bad shots make us suck. Learn something new every day.

[Shindig]

1 hour ago, Shooting29 said:

I like how some kid topping it or flaring it into the woods automatically makes him suck. My friend topped it three times in our match tonight and I shanked it out of a greenside bunker and blasted a drive way OB, he shot 76 and I shot 74 but I guess hitting those bad shots make us suck. Learn something new every day.

Jeff Sluman topped one of the first tee shots he hit in competition after winning the PGA Championship. 

[Vinsk]

So how many were in your group? I'm curious as why you didn't simply ask them to let  you play through?@Buckeyebowman

[saevel25]

Guess what, very good golfers have a bad shot or two. Look at Kevin Na, he took something like a 16 on a hole once. Ian Poulter shanks the ball a handful of times a year. 

If you see a few bad shots happen, and presume they suck, then your expectations are way off. 

Your just making unreasonable excuses to support your beef with a slow round. Get over it, slow rounds happen. 

[Grinde6]

If they were that slow, and there were holes open ahead of them as you stated, why didn't you just jump ahead of them a hole and keep playing, and then come back to the hole you missed when you are done?  IF they were AJGA players, they are playing a tournament...so I would not have expected them to let me play through.  No way I would have stayed behind them knowing they are playing a tournament and there were holes open ahead of them.

[iacas]

I still don't think they were even AJGA players.

What course were you playing? What was your tee time? Did you not see the checkpoint officials every three holes or so? Why didn't you ask them about the pace of play?

Because @Buckeyebowman probably wasn't behind AJGA players. Every boy in the field shot a lower score from the tips than he would have had he played exceptionally well (playing to his handicap index) for three rounds.

[MuniGrit]

Why didn't you just drive past them an join the empty holes in front of them?

[Eldiron]

I don't know how it works there but if I was at a course that is hosting a tournament and was allowed on as it was finishing up, I might moan about it being slow but I would not expect to play through. To me it would be like coming upon a funeral procession and expecting to drive through. 

[RickK]

I don't think it would be that hard to find an AJGA official, even now that the whole affair is over.  Tell them what you saw.  Telling a bunch of us here on this forum is not going to get you much sympathy.  But, since you did post it here, find out from AJGA if they had kids very far behind.  And, more importantly...you might want to mention the trash they left on the course.  Now...I would consider the trash you noted as being more important than the pace of play.  BTW...2hours 45 minutes is a bit long I admit, but you also should not expect to play on a course behind a tournament in 3 hours...I think you said you played the other 9 in 1-1/2 hours.  

[Buckeyebowman]

I agree with the re-titling of the thread since my issue is not with the AJGA. Doing a little research showed me that they are in the business of running tournaments for better junior golfers looking for a college golf scholarship. And they do a damn fine job of it. There were 8 Division 1 coaches at the tournament at Mill Creek. And the field came from all over the world! That's the great part of this. 

And the folks at the top of the heap shot great golf! The winner (a semi-local kid familiar with the course) was under par every round. The bottom of the barrel was meh! Nothing any better than I can shoot, and I'm 64 with two shot knees! In fact, the last place girl (another local product) shot 101-98-97=296. But, at least she was out there competing and trying.

My issue was with the slow play exhibited by the group in front of us. Now, we were playing the North Course, and the paper said the tournament was on the South. However, we were informed by the counter person in the pro shop that we might run into some tournament golfers since they had to juggle the schedule to try to get play completed before the forecast thunderstorms. And they knew damn well that we were playing the North.

Perhaps I was laboring under a delusion. But when you see four high school aged golfers, walking and carrying on a course where an AJGA tourney is being contested, what might you presume? Plus, they only played nine. I thought that maybe they started groups on both the first and tenth tees to try to get everybody in. But when we made the turn, and I saw these guys palling around with the AJGA staff and not heading for the 10th tee, I grabbed my buddy and said "Let's go!"

We thought about driving around them several times, but the situation was a little more complicated. My buddy and I were scrambling against his Sister and her two girlfriends for a drink after the round. We give them strokes and it's all for fun. But, we didn't want to lose touch with them or make them think we were leaving them in the dust. Fivesomes aren't allowed at Mill Creek, but it would have been no problem considering the group of tortoises we played behind!

My initial complaint remains valid. Pace of play! This was brutal. And these guys had no shortage of opportunities to wave us through. They never once looked back at us or showed any consideration for how many groups were stacked up behind them! Or how many open holes were ahead of them. Don't know who started them in golf, but they need some further instruction in etiquette and courtesy to other players.