Cartboy

The courses at our Winter home in Florida are still open, as of today classified as essential businesses. The courses at our Summer home in Missouri, where I am the Player Services Supervisor at one, are closed by city order, and are not classified as essential businesses. Two weeks ago, before the doo doo hit the fan big-time, I played at one of our Florida courses. I was in and out of the clubhouse, got water/cup/straws from the public water station, with no precautions being observed, got paired with three strangers, and rode with one of them. Afterwards, even though the virus had not really taken off yet, I thought how stupid am I? PS: If you're not staying at home, or you're having contact with people who are not staying at home, you're stupider than me.

Speaking of over-hyped, that certainly applies to The Chefs, who have been grabbing and ripping my heart out for more than 30 years. We endured the likes of Frank Ganz, Martyball, and 30,000 people in the stadium. We tailgated, among the first to arrive and last to leave, and cooked two meals in our 20-foot canopy, w/propane heaters. For away games, I remember being banished to the bedroom for yelling, "CUT! CUT! CUT!" at the TV when Dante Hall returned kicks:

My money's on Ravens and someone else in the Super Bowl (barring injury to Lamar). 9rs or Saints for the other one.

I play any of a number of soft balls, based on a bounce test. Both ProVs are out for me. If a find an individual ball I really like, I will almost always lose it on the first hole . . . which is unusual because I normally play the same ball the entire round (the four in my pockets are just for balance). 😎 It's amazing how many balls come in in carts, and wind up in buckets in the cart barn. Then, almost as amazing, how those buckets tend to disappear when they get full. 😉 I shagged our course for a few years, and sold 1000's of balls on Craigslist. ProVs were $10/dozen, and I had standing orders for them. Everything else was $5/dozen, and I couldn't give away some balls that were really nice. Now a few of the members shag the course for charity, so I retired from that. I shagged the woods along the range last month, and got four 55 gallon barrels. That saves the course a lot of money on range balls.

I was just going to say that, watch your watch when you're playing and watch your watch when your watching on TV, and see what is a reasonable amount of time. It seems like some of the pros take way more than they need to, but, frankly, without timing them I don't long they actually take. Except for Snedeker, of course . . . don't need to time him. I'm play like him, figuring if I take any longer I'm just gonna screw it up.

Rule 5.6: A player should make a stroke in no more than 40 seconds (and usually in less time) after the player is able to play without interference or distraction In some of my groups, the "distraction" seldom ends. 😎

Ever visit Branson?

Someone was really, really busy re-writing the rules. Frankly, I had not been paying attention, and did not know that was being done, so, when I started seeing some unusual things on TV and in person, like leaving the flagstick in, I was shocked. My book is 2006-2007, and that was for a different game, I think. 😎 Of course, when I first started, and played on the high school team, and actually lettered three years, I had a croquet putter, and it was legal.

My philosophy is that one of the four of us will hit a good one. The last time I convinced my group to play out of the sand, it was because it was much shorter, and we were hitting up toward the pin, whereas the fairway shot was longer, but, mostly because the green was steeply falling away from that angle. One of the fours of us did hit a good shot, but not me.

I figured it out. 😉

The actual wording was: Priority on the Course Unless otherwise determined by the Committee, priority on the course is determined by a group's pace of play. Any group playing a whole round is entitled to pass a group playing a shorter round. (In 2008, the following sentence was added) The term 'group' includes a single player. & It is a group's responsibility to keep up with the group in front. If it loses a clear hole and is delaying the group behind, it should invite the group behind to play through, irrespective of the number of players in that group.

I found my old rules book . . . Section 1 (as opposed to Rule 1) Etiquette, is lengthy.

Where do you play in Missouri? New Rule 1.2: 1.2 Standards of Player Conduct a. Conduct Expected of All Players All players are expected to play in the spirit of the game by: • Acting with integrity – for example, by following the Rules, applying all penalties, and being honest in all aspects of play. • Showing consideration to others – for example, by playing at a prompt pace, looking out for the safety of others, and not distracting the play of another player. • Taking good care of the course – for example, by replacing divots, smoothing bunkers, repairing ball-marks, and not causing unnecessary damage to the course. There is no penalty under the Rules for failing to act in this way, except that the Committee may disqualify a player for acting contrary to the spirit of the game if it finds that the player has committed serious misconduct. Penalties other than disqualification may be imposed for player misconduct only if those penalties are adopted as part of a Code of Conduct under Rule 1.2b. b. Code of Conduct The Committee may set its own standards of player conduct in a Code of Conduct adopted as a Local Rule. • The Code may include penalties for breach of its standards, such as a one-stroke penalty or the general penalty. • The Committee may also disqualify a player for serious misconduct in failing to meet the Code’s standards. It appears that the Etiquette section, which was the preamble before Rule 1, has entirely disappeared from the Internet. I have not been successful in finding any of the previous sets of rules.

Is it just me, or has the Etiquette section disappeared? It used to at the beginning.

Come to think of it, the Superintendant at my other course, where I am a member who pays but does not play, also a guy much-revered, has fallen out of favor there. Some of my friends from there say they asked him to come to our course to see how a course ought to be, and he would not. He's been there more than 20 years. I don't know if they let him go or not.

As the OP of this thread, and since we have pretty much beat Pace of Play to death, having concluded that what we are doing is not as bad as what I thought it was, or some of the things being suggested, I authorize the off-topic, peeing sidebar. 🥴 We have restrooms (terlets) at 4, 9 and 12, but that does not deter those who want to whip it out wherever and whenever from doing so, Normally, one of the restrooms (terlets) is in sight. 😎

I've been working at my course for 11 years. For the first 8 or 9 years, the guy who was the original Superintendant led us to believe that he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Then, the big shot who was developing a golf-mecca in our area hired him away from us, and, since that Superintendant was out of work, we got him. That was the greatest thing that ever happened. One of the first things he did was to bring in "better" sand. It stays fluffy longer and doesn't pack down as easy. Plus, his guys/gal work it regularly. Every now and then I actually hit a decent shot out of it. I'd prefer to not have to, but I love the challenge, and a sandie makes you feel good. He gets a lot out of a small crew, and our course is in the best condition it has ever been.

I, too, have customer-related business experience, and before retiring, had more than 25,000 customers on file, all of whom I had met with, dealt with, and sold to in person, and that was just in the last company we owned, for 20 years. Probably pretty close to that in my years of retirement, in face-to-face golf course contacts. I stand by Posts #565, #569 & #585. 😎 Well, don't tell him. 😀 I just checked Tripadvisor, to see if there's something I'm not aware of, hoping to find a rating for our Customer Service, but there is not a category for that. I did find this, though: Excellent60% Very good28% Average7% Poor2% Terrible3% To which I am going to conclude that among those who choose to go to the Internet to be critical about their experiences, we, generally speaking, are doing pretty good. As a comparison, I looked at an Orlando-area course I used to play, and for which I receive an email almost every day, and this is theirs: Excellent22% Very good39% Average17% Poor7% Terrible15% Yet, here I am, trying to find things that we could do better. 😉

One of my all-time favorite slow-golfer comebacks was a group of young bucks, with attitude, playing as if this round would qualify them for The Masters, and a year's exemption. They were a multiple-tee time group, and their lead group took an hour to play a hole, a difficult Par 5, with trees, a lake, and tall rough. Obviously, they had had a tough time, so I approached them with that in mind. (you know, friendly and diplomatic) If I said what I normally say when I see that, I probably said, "Struggling a little?" The head cigar-smoking young buck said, "This is all about you isn't it?" (Sure, I'm old and on a power trip with my little golf course job, you know, power I never had when I ran my own businesses for 40 years.) 😎 I said something like, "Our recommended Pace is 4 1/2 hours, and you're on about 18." My next time around, an hour later, they had played 7 holes (seriously, 7 holes), and he said, "Fast enough?" I just smiled.

Regarding the last post, I believe the vast majority, or something close to that, feel empowered nowadays, and do speak up. They do that via their smart phones and computers, posting criticisms on the Internet, everyone being a critic nowadays. Their social circle is HUGE, and begins with www. If we can get the slow folks speeding up in a friendly, diplomatic manner, we will. You can be friendly and diplomatic, and correct the bad behavior of most of the offenders. I don't believe anywhere in this six-year-old thread I have ever said that we "refuse to correct bad behavior". I believe you came up with that on your own. The majority of the time, slow golfers just need someone in semi-authority to notify them, and let them know there are others on the course, too, and, besides, they don't want to be late to their bad buffet. 🥴

The statement "a single player has no standing and should give way to a match of any kind" was removed from the Official Rules of Golf in revisions for the 2004 edition, when "the emphasis changed to how fast any particular group were playing, regardless of the number in the group." In other words, beginning in 2004, the etiquette guidelines in the rule book said that speed of play - regardless of how many golfers are in any particular group - determines whether a group should be allowed to play through. So, speed of play has had priority over size of group for 15 years. Is it only me, or has "Etiquette" been removed from the rules, effective 2019?

I see I pretty much said that six years ago, "We stress customer service and diplomacy."

True. One of the changes in the rule book before the last series of changes was something to the effect that "faster players have priority", regardless of the number. I did not find that when I was looking at the rules for my previous post, but I recall that that was a change that did not generally catch on. Slow groups almost always use that as an excuse, and blame the course for not putting all foursomes out. But again, the really tough days are when the tee sheet is full, the slow group is way ahead, at the beginning of the tee sheet, and they would have to let numerous groups play through, or, a single or 2-some would have to play through numerous groups to get to, and past, the slow group. What I previously posted was a major change in the rules two years ago, so those in charge recognize pace to be a universal issue: https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/rules-modernization/major-changes/encouraging-prompt-pace-of-play.html The new rules put a time on play for the first time, 40 seconds, and mention Ready Golf. Before that the rules were vague in order to allow local committees to set Pace.

Funny, one morning the first year where I'm at, the first GM (there's been 3 of them) called on the walkie talkie and told me the beverage cart girl was going to be late, and, since it was busy that morning, could I do a couple rounds. I did. Everyone called me "Jamie." Kudos to the beverage cart girs, BTW. I don't know how they do it on a busy day. Customers were grabbing stuff and giving me money, plus tips, and there's no way I could keep track. When I turned the money in I just said, "Here, take it all. I have no idea what I sold and how much is tips." A few times when we do not have a beverage cart running, some of the regulars will call in a beer order and I will run it our if food and beverage can't.

Some rules of golf, right there in the rules book, haven't caught on with some golfers: Showing consideration to others – for example, by playing at a prompt pace, looking out for the safety of others, and not distracting the play of another player. Play continuously and at a prompt pace during each hole until your round is completed. When it is your turn to play, it is recommended that you make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds, and usually more quickly than that. You must not unreasonably delay play, either when playing a hole or between two holes. A round of golf is meant to be played at a prompt pace. Your pace of play is likely to affect how long it will take other players to play their rounds, including both those in your group and those in following groups. You are encouraged to allow faster groups to play through. Pace of Play Recommendations. You should play at a prompt pace throughout the round, including the time taken to: Prepare for and make each stroke, Move from one place to another between strokes, and Move to the next teeing area after completing a hole. You should prepare in advance for your next stroke and be ready to play when it is your turn. When it is your turn to play: It is recommended that you make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds after you are (or should be) able to play without interference or distraction, and You should usually be able to play more quickly than that and are encouraged to do so. Playing Out of Turn to Help Pace of Play. In stroke play, play “ready golf” in a safe and responsible way. In match play, you and your opponent may agree that one of you will play out of turn to save time.