Driving range etiquette?

[Hawkeye77]

Just turn up your music and you won't hear them!

 

It's the range, have to expect chatter.

 

The other - should have reported to clubhouse if you felt strongly about it. I can see how that could get situational, but if you are still disturbed about it that probably tells you what would have been the right thing for you at that time.

 

 

[Shilgy]

Ok so what is considered good etiquette on the practice range? I ask because while warming up for the Saturday skins game today, i guy and his adult son take the 2 spots next to me (even though there was plenty a few spots down), and the father spent all 20 minutes talking and hitting only a few very bad shots.. I am not against a little chatter, but it seemed to me like the kind of conversation you have near the clubhouse of parking lot.

 

Also during this time the dad proclaimed, "I never hit more than half of my range balls, I put the rest in my bag for later." (now I know why he had so much time to talk right). Move on later as he was in the foursome in front of mine... while we are putting out on 10 his group was waiting on the tee at 11 for the fairway to clear. So to kill time, he starts pulling the range balls he hoarded from earlier and proceeds to hit them into the marsh area 90 degrees from the tee box. 1) Those range balls will never be retrieved which sucks for the golf course, and 2) since he was also part of the skins game, should someone have called him out on practicing between holes?

 

So what is good and bad etiquette for the driving range at your course?

 

I refer to the standard men's urinal etiquette.

 

Start with every other urinal, OR you can skip two if it isn't busy.

 

Once these options are exhausted, move onto the stalls.

 

ONLY once all the stalls and every other urinal are occupied, you may fill in the gaps between every other urinal.

 

Men's bathroom onversation rules also apply at the practice range.

Learn something new everyday. I never heard of this urinal etiquette. Always thought the stalls were for going number two. I can stand next to a guy and pee, what happens to the poor guy that needs a stall NOW if you use this method? And what about the old school trough style urinals? Is there an etiquette for how far to stand from the next guy? :)

[YoungJedi]

I practice with headphones in so I never have to listen to people talking to me.

 

As far as the balls being stolen...I'd go let the pro know. Let them handle it. Tell them you want to remain anonymous.

[Carl Spackler3]

I'm pretty sure larceny is frowned upon everywhere, so that aside. a jerk is a jerk, a guy who steals in front of his sons isn't going to learn a lesson from you . Play on fix one extra pitch mark per green and enjoy your day

[Ferguson]

Local course here has it plastered in a few spots where if you are caught with their marked range golf, you will be banned and possibly prosecuted for taking their range balls.

 

OMG, I would love to be on the jury for that one.

 

It's a sad state that it has come to that. I see guys on the range pull range balls out of their bag ALL the time. At least they returned them.

 

It is sad. This is the impact of THE MILLENIALS on golf.

Disgusting behavior.

 

 

Two things about prosecution (the sign is a deterrent and means nothing, legally):

 

1. No jury trial for petty theft crimes

2. Unless the course has the balls marked with serial numbers as inventory and property, then documented per each use, there is no case.

[SNIPERBBB]

Local course here has it plastered in a few spots where if you are caught with their marked range golf, you will be banned and possibly prosecuted for taking their range balls.

 

OMG, I would love to be on the jury for that one.

 

It's a sad state that it has come to that. I see guys on the range pull range balls out of their bag ALL the time. At least they returned them.

 

It is sad. This is the impact of THE MILLENIALS on golf.

Disgusting behavior.

 

 

Two things about prosecution (the sign is a deterrent and means nothing, legally):

 

1. No jury trial for petty theft crimes

2. Unless the course has the balls marked with serial numbers as inventory and property, then documented per each use, there is no case.

 

That would be true generally but not sure if you're familiar with the insanity that is the west virginia legal system.

[finleysg]

Both ranges I frequent most often are set up so downrange is due north. So on summer evenings without cloud cover, you have to deal with the shadows of the players practicing to your left. I find this way more distracting than chatter. It's not really an etiquette issue because these ranges are busy every nice evening, so what can you do about your shadow? The best you can hope for is to get the left-most stall.

[RipVan]

I don't give a s*** about pee pee ethics.

 

I go to the end of the range where the wind is less disadvantageous and if you don't know what that means, you ain't a golfer. The next criteria is the quality of the turf. Nobody else on the range exists.

 

WTF? Safe places on the range? It is a range. Pull the trigger when ready. Block it out. Grow a pair.

 

NOW, what bothers me is a stranger chatting me up when I'm clearly practicing. Hitting balls next to me? They don't exist; I'm practicing.

[yose]

I like to get things done on the driving range. I will chat with someone for a bit if they are chatty but I am there for a reason and that is to practice. If people are loud, I'll throw in some earphones.

[Left Rough]

I don't give a s*** about pee pee ethics.

 

I go to the end of the range where the wind is less disadvantageous and if you don't know what that means, you ain't a golfer. The next criteria is the quality of the turf. Nobody else on the range exists.

 

WTF? Safe places on the range? It is a range. Pull the trigger when ready. Block it out. Grow a pair.

 

NOW, what bothers me is a stranger chatting me up when I'm clearly practicing. Hitting balls next to me? They don't exist; I'm practicing.

 

Crap, I guess I'm not a golfer! I legitimately have no idea what that wind comment means. Anyone care to enlighten me?

[CELTIC]

Are you telling me if I walk into a bathroom and every other urinal is being used I'm supposed to use a stall??

 

Jeez - what do you think is going to happen, I'm going to tap you on the thigh with my d**k and ask you, how's it going?

[Chief Cowpie]

I'm not sure why people are complaining about talking on the range. If you can't handle the distraction there, you won't handle it on the course.

 

Go to a pro tourney and watch the range. There's A LOT of talking going on and nobody gets shushed.

 

Agree with talking on the range and folks meeting and sharing the love is cool.

[larrybud]

When giving a lesson at the range, it is pretty difficult to do without talking.....No real difference between hearing a guy giving a lesson and hearing a guy talking to his buddy......Absolutely no issue in my opinion when people talk at the range......As i said before, ball steeling is deplorable.

 

There's talking, then there's talking. I mean, drunk loudmouth is only "talking" too, but I don't want to hear it.

 

Why you'd park yourself right next to someone else when there's plenty of room when giving a lesson is beyond me.

[madchens]

Local course here has it plastered in a few spots where if you are caught with their marked range golf, you will be banned and possibly prosecuted for taking their range balls.

 

OMG, I would love to be on the jury for that one.

 

It's a sad state that it has come to that. I see guys on the range pull range balls out of their bag ALL the time. At least they returned them.

 

It is sad. This is the impact of THE MILLENIALS on golf.

Disgusting behavior.

 

 

Two things about prosecution (the sign is a deterrent and means nothing, legally):

 

1. No jury trial for petty theft crimes

2. Unless the course has the balls marked with serial numbers as inventory and property, then documented per each use, there is no case.

 

Wait its the millenial's fault? I sincerely hope that is just a sarcastic statement.

 

I don't care if people are talking at the range. I go to a range in the heart of suburbia and people are there all the time chatting with their kids, friends, etc. I am going to the range to focus on my own swing and try not to worry about others.

 

The stealing range balls thing is absurd and I would probably mention it. As stated above about the range that I go to, it is in the heart of suburbia and a lot of "hacks" go there who don't necessarily understand any kind of etiquette. It is known for 5+ hour rounds with lots of drunk hooligans in tank tops. I don't think I've ever seen someone dump a bunch of range balls into their bag.

[jslane57]

I'm not sure why people are complaining about talking on the range. If you can't handle the distraction there, you won't handle it on the course.

 

Go to a pro tourney and watch the range. There's A LOT of talking going on and nobody gets shushed.

 

Agree with talking on the range and folks meeting and sharing the love is cool.

The range is social. High fives, hand shakes, showing off new purchases. The range is also the place for beginners to learn and as it turns out, novices to teach! I've go zero beef with any talking, helping, or anything, no matter how bad the advice on the range. As long as everyone is safe. No running kids or scraping balls that went out into the range. If I want to tune out completely and practice, I shouldn't have to worry about my safety or the safety of others.

 

Stealing rangeballs to hit into the woods between holes is a whole separate issue.

[SmiterOfPv1x]

I know a guy who owns a driving range, one that's indendent of any golf course although there is a course right across the road. He lives for catching folk of all ages stealing his range balls (I don't know why you'd want to, most of them are some of the oldest most deplorable balls in existence. The good ones are only cut, the bad ones look and feel like they're made of chalk with barely discernible dimples and absolutely zero coating left on them). At any rate he has a CCTV set up of which he watches everyone like a hawk. His typical reaction when someone swipes the rare ball worth swiping is a shake down of sorts. Fail to pay up and he most assuredly WILL call Johnny Law on the hapless offender. It happens enough that I'm sure it's a nice supplement to his annual earnings, and I'm sure it's not reported so any money collected is tax free.

 

Theft of any type is bad, but I'm not so sure that what he does is any better. I'm pretty sure the penalty for tax evasion is a little more severe then the penalty for petty theft.

 

To top it all off, his range is about the worst driving range in the world. The only reason I ever go there is it's the only one open year round around here. There's no official grass hitting area, although he doesn't holler too much if you hit from in front of the mats. The range ends at a stated 250 yards ending into woods with a net that goes up about 40 feet or so. Like I said it's a stated range of 250, but I can clear the net with a 4 iron (hit it 220-225, but I have a high ball flight) so I guess it's more like 200 max. I will try to help him out by not hitting too many balls into the woods (which his chalk smooth and cut balls actually help out with) by working on hitting lower shots for the most part while I'm there and working with shorter clubs and placing wedges where I'd like them. I recently took a new driver there. It was impossible to tell how good I could hit with the driver due to the quality of the balls. I had several start out straight and then take a straight right or left turn about 150 yards out. It almost defied the laws of physics until you consider the condition of the average ball there.

[Ri_Redneck]

Ok so what is considered good etiquette on the practice range? I ask because while warming up for the Saturday skins game today, i guy and his adult son take the 2 spots next to me (even though there was plenty a few spots down), and the father spent all 20 minutes talking and hitting only a few very bad shots.. I am not against a little chatter, but it seemed to me like the kind of conversation you have near the clubhouse of parking lot. Also during this time the dad proclaimed, "I never hit more than half of my range balls, I put the rest in my bag for later." (now I know why he had so much time to talk right). Move on later as he was in the foursome in front of mine... while we are putting out on 10 his group was waiting on the tee at 11 for the fairway to clear. So to kill time, he starts pulling the range balls he hoarded from earlier and proceeds to hit them into the marsh area 90 degrees from the tee box. 1) Those range balls will never be retrieved which sucks for the golf course, and 2) since he was also part of the skins game, should someone have called him out on practicing between holes? So what is good and bad etiquette for the driving range at your course?

 

I'd say you have described the worse situation I have ever heard of. Aside from hitting chili peppers up Lee Jantzens a** at the US Open!

 

BT

[Ri_Redneck]

I got no problem with talking, laughing, etc at the range...... just don't want anyone talking to me unless we're about to play together or we know each other. I prefer to keep my focus when practicing.

 

BT

[LeoLeo99]

I've turned away twice at the same range because I showed up 10 minutes before "closing". Either they close early or they wanted to get an early jump on mowing the grass. Always seemed peculiar they would turn away my $8 and future business but whatever...Went to a different range near my work a couple days ago and he stayed open as people kept showing up at closing time. It was nice. One of the people was a father who brought along 3 young daughters. It was pretty comical. "DAD! Look!" while the girl wormburned one about 30 yards. She was very excited. "Dad, aim for the 270 sign!" I couldn't help but think of this thread.

 

You'all need to relax.