slow play & etiquette

[HackinNut]

What was the first thing you learned (or should have) before you started playing golf?? Etiquette right?! Let me just say, for the past few weeks I have played with some real winners out there that didn't learn one D**N thing about it before they teed it up. Last week I joined a 3 some after just 3 holes because they were that slow. I knew it was a bad idea and should have gone through them but that would have meant skipping a few holes and I didn't have anywhere to be so why not.

First thing is they have a radio (boombox) in the back of their cart! Mind you, it wasn't that loud but it can definitely be heard if you are within earshot of them in the fairway and especially on tee boxes. What's the best way to say "hey, do you mind turning that off?" I mean, I joined them. I couldn't say that. What is a man to do? Are we out here to play golf or dance a jig??

Next .... be aware of where your fellow players are! Whether they are in the fairway, behind you, or on the green. And be ready to hit ... play ready golf .... NOT TV golf. "I think he is away" .... REALLY?? Your a freakin 20+ handicap and you really want to be playing by the rules?? (which you don't anyway) DON'T spend 10 minutes looking for a ball .... drop one ... you are going to make a 12 on the hole anyway ... is it really going to matter?? Are you playing for that much $$ that one hole is going to make or break the round?? On the green .... be aware of where your fellow players are. Whether you see the ball on the green or not ... that is why I mark with a large coin (as long as I am not in someone's line .... then I use a dime) so that everyone can see it. I know that in this day and age with the use of soft spikes it doesn't matter as much .... but I grew up playing when they didn't have those and you were taught to NOT walk in someone else's line. This one bugs me the most .... no one ever pays attention to where they are on the green. Also .... DO NOT mark your 2 foot putt for an 8!! Putt the D**N thing out! Speed up play!! TV is great but too many people try to be like the guys on TV when they are no where even close to that caliber. So do not try to put yourself in that category. Slow play is not only a problem on the PGA Tour but it is on all of your municipal golf courses as well. A round of golf should not take you any more than 4 1/2 hours to play. I have done it in less than 3 so it is possible if you don't mess around and hit it when your ready. If you suck at it ... great ... just suck at it FAST! I would rather play with someone who sucks at the game but plays it fast than a guy who plays like he is TIGER and marks everything, goes back to the tee to play his 3rd after not finding his drive (play a D**N provisional), and is just plain slow!

And finally, the guys that sit there and have to use an abacus or a calculator to add up their scores .... while STILL on the green! "one, two, three in, four out hitting five, on the green, 3 putt ... nice 8) Seriously!!?? Why does this go on?? I know some people might need a little assistance finding their ball but adding their scores?? C'mon! "No George ... you got a 9 ... you missed the short putt and I didn't give it to you."

 

There .... I have said my peace and I feel better. Now get out there and hit'em straight .... but at a fast pace! And .... learn the Rules of Etiquette!

[Kaysquare]

We've all been there, it's frustrating, but there's basically nothing we can do about it.
A lot of people are on the golf course with absolutely no clue about golf course etiquette. Heck, I've played with many people who've been playing golf for 30 yrs or more & they are still oblivious to others on the course.

[HackinNut]

There has to be a way of mentioning it to them without offending them or making them angry and ruining the rest of the round. "Hey, I think you are away and I am marked CLEARLY over here." or "the next group is off the green, lets keep the pace with them"
It just gets annoying after a while when they do the same things over and over. "oh sorry, didn't see your line there" as he walks through it twice.

[Kaysquare]

I have found that you can tell someone they're slow by sugar-coating it & being as syrupy as Jim Nantz, or you can just come out & say "you are pathetically slow", either way, it totally pisses them off big-time. And being subtle never works either. :-)

[HackinNut]

I tend to start walking ahead of them .... going to my ball and hitting before them .... walking off the green before they are done and heading to the next tee. Sometimes it works to where they say "you wanna go ahead, looks like we are slowing you up?" And of course I jump at the opportunity ... SEE YA!

[Jim Clark]

HackinNut needs to get a life.

[HackinNut]

[quote name='Jim Clark' timestamp='1368710454' post='7046308']
HackinNut needs to get a life.
[/quote]

You must be one of the slow hacks that I continually pass up on the course

[Imp]

[quote name='Jim Clark' timestamp='1368710454' post='7046308']
HackinNut needs to get a life.
[/quote]Nahh... just some patience, and an [Enter] key.

--kC

[SilverBullets]

The same things drive me crazy too. I never understood bringing a boombox/docking station/playing music on the iphone speakers to the golf course. Look if you want to play by yourself or seclude yourself and wear head phones that is totally fine by me. But everyone doesn't want to listen to your music too. No matter how low it is, someone is inevitably going to hear it and it's going to be annoying

[HackinNut]

[quote name='Imp' timestamp='1368717246' post='7046986']
[quote name='Jim Clark' timestamp='1368710454' post='7046308']
HackinNut needs to get a life.
[/quote]Nahh... just some patience, and an [Enter] key.

--kC
[/quote]

NO one has the patience to play a 5 1/2 - 6 hour round of golf! That's all I am saying ... slow play sucks and is frustrating as hell! [Enter]!

[Yanki01]

i would of left them at the turn. the key to making my decision on NOT joining them is seeing/hearing their boom box, how slow they've been playing in front of me and how they're acting. usually when i see some guys out there just to pretty much make it a practice round and drink away the whole round, i'll ask if i can play through when we catch up to them. i normally don't like playing with others as it sometimes makes for an awkward play IMO. I dont know how they'll play, do they follow the rules, ect. i either speed up my play (which i feel i play pretty fast) or let them go through. If it's all bunched up then there's no point.

sucks out there but there's no way around it, sometimes.

[HackinNut]

[quote name='Yanki01' timestamp='1368723609' post='7047812']
i would of left them at the turn. the key to making my decision on NOT joining them is seeing/hearing their boom box, how slow they've been playing in front of me and how they're acting. usually when i see some guys out there just to pretty much make it a practice round and drink away the whole round, i'll ask if i can play through when we catch up to them. i normally don't like playing with others as it sometimes makes for an awkward play IMO. I dont know how they'll play, do they follow the rules, ect. i either speed up my play (which i feel i play pretty fast) or let them go through. If it's all bunched up then there's no point.

sucks out there but there's no way around it, sometimes.
[/quote]

I wish I would have had that option but there was no where else to go as there were other groups on the 3 holes in front of us. Unless I wanted to skip holes ... but I paid just like everyone else and didn't want to do that. It is just hard to try to explain to the wife how one weekend it only takes me 4 hours and the next 6 .... she isn't a golfer so I guess she would probably never understand anyway. And she also wonders why I come home aggravated and she asks "I thought golf was supposed to be relaxing?" I guess I have to adjust my thought process before I go to the course that day ... at least until I join a club!

[Super Tuna]

I agree with a lot of the comments above, but there's a flip side to this that I think a lot of people forget. Many, many people WANT to play golf and know very few friends or anyone else that does. Thus they have no one to teach them the ettiquette.

Unfortunately, a lot of courses don't have game ettiquette included as part of their beginner packages. They're taught the basic's of the swing to keep the ball moving forward and then unleashed. Then they get paired up with other golfers who have been playing for a bajillion years and assume everyone on the course knows these things. Instead of offering helpful suggestions, they often stew in their own juices until they either erupt or pull the incredibly classy move of just leaving them at the turn without another word.

It's incredibly strange that there's so many posters on a golf forum, a place to share their knowledge about the game, blows up about the lack of etiquette shown by other players but never say anything to the offending party. Common sense isn't common and golf etiquette needs to be taught.

I'm not singling you out HackinNut, this just happens to be the thread where my fingers took over the post.

I'm EXTREMELY fortunate that my second round out, I was paired with a retired gentleman who figured out after one hole that no one provided the chance to be schooled in golf etiquette and proceded to do so. I've had the good fortune of being able to pass along some of his tips to others, playing it forward as it where and I wish I saw more of that on the course. Sure, someone might get PO'ed when it's explained there's a different expected behaviour then what they're doing (there's no need to be snarky when explaining it either) but I'm sure they were just as PO'ed and frustrated when learning Algebra or another language. Golf etiquette is another language, people are going to get frustrated. That's no reason not to employ proper instruction though.

End of rambling comments.

[HackinNut]

But for the most part, I have never run across a person that was Willing to listen or hear anything that had to be said. They figure that they have paid their money and they don't need or want your advice. I was never one to offer up "swing" advice unless someone asked me (even then I was hesitant) but I am always willing to tell someone that it is against all etiquette standards to talk when someone else is swinging or to walk in someone else's line on the green. Or to stand directly in the line beyond the hole or behind you while you putt! That one gets me! Stand to the side and of course walk in after I hit the putt if you want to see the line but don't stand directly behind me WHile I putt. This isn't a captain's choice tournament!
You want to employ proper instruction but the majority of the people that need it are the one's that don't THINK that they need it. They are too good for your instruction .... who are you to tell me what to do??
I thought golf was a gentleman's game???

[Super Tuna]

Unfortunately the phrase I hear the most these days is it's a gentleman's game played by scoundrels.

[Smash Factors]

Had a brutal slow round yesterday.

I get to the course to play a late twilight round. Right as I'm done warming up, I see a group of 4 elderly asians head to the 1st tee. I instantly knew I was doomed.

My group follows them off the tee. Two of them are playing the blue tees, one is playing the white and the female is playing the ladies and all of them absolutely suck balls. She also takes 30 seconds to hit every shot.

It was painful watching them duff and skull their tee shots left and right on every hole and it was standard to see a ball tossed from the cart to the lady so she could take a second shot.

Finally, on the 13th hole, one of the guys in my group yells to the lady because she is taking a second tee shot yet again. They basically ignore us and continue.

I got fed up. It was getting late so I packed it in and drove past them toward the clubhouse.

In front of them was another group of elderly asians but all ladies. They were so tiny, wandering around on the green marking balls and what not.

On the next hole, the group is approaching the green on a long par 5. ARRRRRRGH!!!!!

[chrisfx811]

It's like trying to delicately explain to someone that their punctuation is horrendous and it makes reading their rant feel like listening to a 5 year old describe his favorite movie.

[HackinNut]

I'm sorry Professor! I will work on my punctuation for you. There is always a critic