Slow golf revisted

[qtlaw]

Country club golf; 1.5 hours for the front 9, sit down lunch for 30-45 mins; refreshed, 1.5 hours for back 9. Heaven.

Rest of us? Pray for invitations and then make do with the public courses hoping that you will not get backed up.

 

[Rhody31]

Cure for slow play? Fire a warning shot into the group in front of you.
I was playing a 9-holer as a single with a drivable par 4 and smoked a 3-wood about 10 yards short of the green and it rolled up and on. Didn't have to wait the rest of the round.

 

[Alma]

Country club golf; 1.5 hours for the front 9, sit down lunch for 30-45 mins; refreshed, 1.5 hours for back 9. Heaven.

Rest of us? Pray for invitations and then make do with the public courses hoping that you will not get backed up.

These days, a lot of clubs will let you on if you write to them. <i>Just one round, please</i>. You'll get it. Not an email, but a typed letter.

Try it sometime. It actually works. Not at Augusta. But it's worked for me, at two places that would...surprise you.

 

[dawgpounddiehard]

Country club golf; 1.5 hours for the front 9, sit down lunch for 30-45 mins; refreshed, 1.5 hours for back 9. Heaven.

Rest of us? Pray for invitations and then make do with the public courses hoping that you will not get backed up.

These days, a lot of clubs will let you on if you write to them. <i>Just one round, please</i>. You'll get it. Not an email, but a typed letter.

Try it sometime. It actually works. Not at Augusta. But it's worked for me, at two places that would...surprise you.

My interest has piqued. You must explain further.

Tips guy annoys me:
Some courses explain which handicaps should use which tees. Wonderful idea. I'm an 11 handicap and unless the course rating (68.0), slope (112) and yardage (6300) is close to those numbers, you bet your ass I'm playing the men's tees.

Some of my friends I play with are around where I shoot, yet need to play the tips on much tougher courses.

1. I didn't pay $50 to be miserable.
2. When I get my handicap into single digits and I'm shooting under 80 consistely from the middle tees, I'll meet you on the tips.
3. I don't understand why guys like that need to make me feel emasculated?

Back to the thread topic, I HATE playing with people who do not know about golf course etiquette. By the way, the idea that the Old Course where met must be at least a 24-handicapper is awesome. More American courses should have this.

 

[WazzuGrad00]

From the Seattle Times:

By Sonia Krishnan
Seattle Times staff reporter
A 33-year-old man has been booked into King County Jail after he allegedly struck a fellow golfer on the head with a 6-iron club during a fight Sunday on the Auburn Golf Course.

The victim, James Compton, 45, of Puyallup, lay on the 14th green "bleeding profusely," as a friend applied direct pressure to his head with a blood-soaked bandage, according to court documents. Compton was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center and remains in the intensive-care unit, where he was listed today in serious condition.

The suspect, Nicholas Shampine, of Puyallup, is being held on $50,000 bail for investigation of first-degree assault. A spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office said the deadline for filing criminal charges in the assault is Wednesday."

According to police, Compton, his two stepsons and a friend complained to the golf course marshall because the group of golfers ahead of them was playing too slowly, court records show. Shampine was part of that group.

A heated argument then escalated between the two groups of men, and Shampine's brother and Compton got into a shoving match, according to court documents.

Shampine "snapped" and "charged at Compton to protect his brother," records show. He swung his 6-iron at Compton's head, "striking him hard." Officers noted that the club's shaft was bent, documents show.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

Wow. Here's more from another paper:

According to the report Auburn police filed with court papers, at about 3 p.m. members of Compton's party complained to the course marshal that Shampine's party was moving too slow, angering Shampine's brother, Greg, who allegedly turned around and began yelling at Compton's party for being too loud and threatened to "kick their ass" if they didn't shut up.

According to the police report, the parties began to jaw at each other, provoking a shoving match between Compton and Greg Shampine, with two of Compton's party surrounding Greg Shampine during the shoving. To protect his brother, Nicholas Shampine later told police, he charged Compton at this point with his golf club and swung it at him, hitting him above the eyes with great force, knocking him down. Members of Compton's party told police that even as Compton lay on the ground, Shampine threatened to kill all of them and their families if they messed with him.

Officers found Compton sitting on the 14th green, bleeding profusely from the head and vomiting as a friend applied direct pressure with a blood-soaked bandage. Officers observed that the lower third of the club's shaft was bent, indicating it had been swung with great force.

According to the police report, Nicholas allegedly told them, "You are probably going to arrest me, I'm the one that hit him with the club, I don't have any weapons on me."

Ironically, Nicholas Shampine also told police golf party actually had been waiting for the party in front of them.

From: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/aub/news/25477224.html

 

[playthrough]

Heartwarming tale.

I had a guy get into a shouting match with a guy in the group behind when he hit into us. I was standing on the green of a 280-yard short par-4 when a ball plopped right behind me. Playing partner waited for the group to approach and laid into this big guy, claiming he had been hitting into us all day (I hadn't noticed any other times). Big guy says, in deep redneck twang, "look at your scorecard- it's a PAR 4!" My partner said there's no way he should tee off knowing we were on the green and knowing how far hits it. Big guy said "**** off" and we walked away, since he was a big friggin' guy. At least we got a punchline out of it with his "scorecard" bit.

 

[JR]

I like the "6 iron" detail.

 

[Webster]

A playing partner of mine -- a friend of a friend with serious anger issues -- responded to the group behind us hitting into to us twice by firing balls at them on the green from the next tee. If was a blind shot and these guys couldn't see us. Luckily, no one was hurt and we hustled the guy off the course.

 

[2underpar]

having been drilled in the back of the neck by a golf ball (unintentionally, but it still hurts like hell), i would say that it's not wise to hit intentionally into the group in front of you. ever. It's just ignorant.
Handle the situation by telling the marshall or calling the pro shop.

 

[playthrough]

I got hit in the side of the head just off the tee box once. I duffed one and went to pick it up, then paused to let a friend hit. I'm about 20 yards behind him and only 5 or so yards in front of the box, only way he can hit me is to make a horrific swing. He did and I fell to the ground in a heap. Took me a few seconds to get up, the ranger came running over and thought I was dead.

 

[zagoshe]

The last time I played golf we were about 255 out on a par 5, the group ahead was on the green and it was looking a lot like rain so I told my cousin to go ahead and hit -- neither of us thought he had any chance of getting to the green.

Of course, he takes out his 3-wood and scorches it and flies it through the group and nearly kills the one guy as it buzzes past his head and hits the green.

Now they are all pissed off but my cousin quickly drove up and apologized to them and they were cool about it. They even cheered for him from the next tee box when he knocked down the short eagle putt.

It could have been an ugly scene -- either if the ball had hit the one guy in the head from that far out or if they got beligerent about it and wanted to make an issue out of it.

Those things can happen -- but there was one example of a guy probably better off being safe and NOT hitting when he is within 260 yards because he is capable of getting it there, albeit it took an incredible shot.

As a side note -- the other three of us in the foursome also hit and the group on the green never knew it because none of us came even close to hitting the green........

 

[bydesign77]

I once drove into a group on a par-4 that was on the green. 375 yards in front of me. Apparently, not only did I smoke my drive, but the fairway had a hard spot on it, which I hit, propelling me forward and it rolled all the way to the green, six feet from the cup. I apologized to them, they replied that anyone that can drive it that far, they weren't going to be pissed at.

Yes, I made the putt.

 

[Ashy Larry]

Golf isn't supposed to be an all-day endeavor.

Which is why golf is seeing a slow decline in rounds played in the past few years. If people are too ADD riddled to sit down and read a newsaper there's no way in hell they'll devoted five hours to "playing" golf, which is more watching golf with some of these yutzes. How many times have you holed out only to sit in the cart for the next 10 minutes, watching the threesome in front of you trudge from the tee box to the middle of the fairway. Then you tee off....and spend the NEXT 10 minutes watching them line up, then stand, then practice stroke, then get over, then back away, then practice putt again, then putt....and miss the sumbitch by 10 feet. Then after a crowd pleasing 10 on the hole, he slowly strolls over to get his pitching wedge, and then his golf towel, and then his cigar...all the while knowing damn well your 135 away.

I stopped golfing because of this......it was turning into a $150 day, and I'd be friggin miserable after every round.

 

[zagoshe]

The time involved is certainly a big consideration for me - probably even more than the money these days. It is to the point where the days I golf I just write off as "I will be unavailable all day...." -- and given that life is so busy these days, I find less and less days I can do that...

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Cure for slow play? Fire a warning shot into the group in front of you.
I was playing a 9-holer as a single with a drivable par 4 and smoked a 3-wood about 10 yards short of the green and it rolled up and on. Didn't have to wait the rest of the round.

NOT a good idea.
Singles have no standing on most courses.
Being a single also tends to lend to having no backup when you're threatened with an ass-beating (justly deserved if you're firing warning shots) by the foursome in front of you.

 

[hondo]

Cure for slow play? Fire a warning shot into the group in front of you.
I was playing a 9-holer as a single with a drivable par 4 and smoked a 3-wood about 10 yards short of the green and it rolled up and on. Didn't have to wait the rest of the round.

Or, someone could have kicked your ass.

 

[Rhody31]

Cure for slow play? Fire a warning shot into the group in front of you.
I was playing a 9-holer as a single with a drivable par 4 and smoked a 3-wood about 10 yards short of the green and it rolled up and on. Didn't have to wait the rest of the round.

Or, someone could have kicked your ass.

Fortunately for me, I'm big enough that no one is going to try to start anything.
What they don't know is if they did, I'd cry immediately.

 

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

I can vouch for that statement rhody

 

[kingcreole]

I was playing in a scramble a couple years ago. The team that won it was behind my team, which finished third to last. On a dogleg par-5, one guy cut the dogleg, and the ball hit about six inches from where we were hitting.

We took that ball and flung it into the deep rough.