Bad Ranger Stories Options

[sigmapete1]

I may get killed for this but I think it would be interesting (and probably humorous) to hear everyone's favorite stories about clueless course rangers they have encountered. I'm sure there are good rangers out there. I suspect that if you are a ranger and you frequent this website, then you are probably one of them. This post is dedicated to those that give rangers a bad name. My two most recent encounters gave rise to this idea:

1) Me and my buddy get paired with a couple of High School kids. We're only 27 and 25 years old so we were cool with it. These kids were decent golfers, had good etiquette, and were fun to play with. However, they dressed like your average HS kid (baggy shorts, etc.), which I suspect, the elderly traditionalists in the clubhouse took notice of. At about the 10th hole (in the middle of playing the hole), a ranger comes driving up to us and skids to a stop and says "let me see your greens fee reciept!" Mine had actually blown away on the 3rd hole so i was a little concerned but then he said, "not you, THEM! We have a missing power cart!" The kids had their receipt which including the number of the power cart they were driving written on the reciept. It turns out, someone at the clubhouse counted wrong or something. So after 5 minutes, in the middle of a par 5 fairway, listening to the ranger talk on the radio and figure out what happened, the Ranger says, "OK but we're keeping an eye on you kids." I laughed and said, "Maybe you should keep an eye on the group behind us that has been waiting for 5 minutes." He got flustered and drove away. I missed getting to the green in two after a great drive and 5-10 minutes of ridiculousness.

2) Another par 5. We started the round (on an uncrowded Thursday morning) with about 4-5 holes opened in front of us. Tiger Woods may have been able to catch up with the group 4-5 holes ahead but my 4some, which included me (12Handicap), my brother and father (120 shooters) and some random guy walking had no chance of closing that gap. 11th Hole (Par 5) Hot dog stand set up at the tee by the course encouraging people to buy food from them. We took about 3 minutes to buy food and ate it while we began playing the hole. I hit a great drive (for me) and then proceeded to overshoot the green with a 5w (notice a trend here). Well the ball rolled down a hill and ended right in front of the 17th tee box (par 3). Four very elderly men were teeing off when I arrived at my ball. I waited for them to finish teeing off (it took a little longer than i expected). Then punched my ball back under some trees and had it roll through the green into a bunker. As I am hitting out of the bunker, the ranger drives up. I get up and down and he begins to tell us that we are holding everything up. Now I am usually very conscious of the groups behind me and this was the first time I had seen them (or a ranger for that matter). I calmly apologized and explained that I hit my 2nd near the 17th tee and had to wait for them to tee off and that we will pick up the pace a little. His response, "I saw you hitting from the bunker, don't bull s**t me, keep it moving or you'll have to skip a hole." Not wanting to set a bad example for my little brother who is new to the game, I just walked away without a response. As we came around to the 17th tee, we had opened a 2 hole gap between us and the guys behind us (who I later realized to be the ranger's buddies). I offered the ranger (who was waiting on the 17th tee for us) some advice to encourage his friends to close the gap as they must be holding up the whole course. He drove away. On another day (a few months earlier), that same D**che bag told me that if the group in front of me wasn't going fast enough, I should send a few warning shots their way. I told him I don't pull bush league moves like that.


I am SURE there are better stories than this out there and I would love to hear them.

[golferboy73]

I was playing with my Dad at a nice course a few miles from our home. We procede to reach the 13th hole, a dogleg left par four with trees guarding the dogleg. My Dad hits an amazing drive up over the trees in the middle of the fairway. As we reach the corner of the dogleg , we notice the course ranger driving away from the fairway. As we later found out (after not finding the bal), the guy had taken my Dad's ball out of the fairway and droven off with it.

[Bomb and Gouge]

I had a ranger heckle me once after an argument on the first hole. he followed us for three holes and commented after every one of my shots.

I just laughed at him....

[golferboy73]

He sounds like a real a** to me.

[jlong1234]

I had just joined my club and brought 3 clients to play one Saturday. We were on the #6 teebox(par 5)and I hit my drive and look over and one of my guests is talking to the ranger. I think nothing of it as the group behind us is two holes back adn the group ahead is just getting to the green. We drive down to our balls and the guys in the other cart make some crack about holding up the course. I ask what they mean and they tell me the ranger warned them on the teebox that the group behind us were long time members and called the clubhouse to complain about our pace. I was livid but playing with clients so I held my tongue and apologized to my guests. The rest of the day we never saw the group behind us but I could feel the guys I brought looking around for the ranger and generally playing poorly. We finished in 3:40. I saw the guys off and then went to find my friend the ranger. I asked him to please address any concerns to me in the future and not my guests. He was a true jackass to me. He told me he didin't know who I was and the guys we were "holding up" were members of high regard. I went to see my pro next and he was very helpful. I calmly explained the situation and my dealings with the ranger. He apologized and offered to refund the guest fees I had paid (nearly $400). The problem now is I can't get two of the three guests to return to my club. We have played elsewhere but they still feel slighted by that one incident.

[sigmapete1]

I had just joined my club and brought 3 clients to play one Saturday. We were on the #6 teebox(par 5)and I hit my drive and look over and one of my guests is talking to the ranger. I think nothing of it as the group behind us is two holes back adn the group ahead is just getting to the green. We drive down to our balls and the guys in the other cart make some crack about holding up the course. I ask what they mean and they tell me the ranger warned them on the teebox that the group behind us were long time members and called the clubhouse to complain about our pace. I was livid but playing with clients so I held my tongue and apologized to my guests. The rest of the day we never saw the group behind us but I could feel the guys I brought looking around for the ranger and generally playing poorly. We finished in 3:40. I saw the guys off and then went to find my friend the ranger. I asked him to please address any concerns to me in the future and not my guests. He was a true jackass to me. He told me he didin't know who I was and the guys we were "holding up" were members of high regard. I went to see my pro next and he was very helpful. I calmly explained the situation and my dealings with the ranger. He apologized and offered to refund the guest fees I had paid (nearly $400). The problem now is I can't get two of the three guests to return to my club. We have played elsewhere but they still feel slighted by that one incident.

"long time members" = old a** holes that can't hit out of their shadow, carry a 5 HDCP that they haven't updated since the Nixon Administration, wait for the group ahead of them to clear a Par 5 green when they are 300yds out (followed by a 150yd 3 wood shot), complain about slow play everytime they can see a group ahead of them(even if they are 500yds ahead) and generally think they are more important than they actually are. (i think its in the definitions section in the USGA Rulebook)

This post has been edited by sigmapete1: Jul 11 2008, 08:56 AM

[kevcarter]

"long time members" = old a** holes that can't hit out of their shadow, ...

People need to start thinking about how many members of the site you will be offending with posts like this.

Kevin

[sigmapete1]

"long time members" = old a** holes that can't hit out of their shadow, ...

People need to start thinking about how many members of the site you will be offending with posts like this.

Kevin

I play with plenty of nice guys and ladies who may getting on in years and that comment in no way means them. Take it as an entire statement to apply to those entitled a-holes who think that they run the world and boss people around and if there are some people with that attitude on this site then yes that statement was in fact meant to offend them because there is no place for that attitude in the game.

[harleypitbull1]

Seems like every story I tell involves the Myrtle Beach trip I go on every year. This year we are playing Tidewater. And why they do this I have no idea,,,,, they are sending groups off 10 tee and 1 tee. They are rushing us to get to the tee,,,, when we get there,,, 3 groups are sitting waiting,,,, everything gets moving ok after this. We are playing 18 which was our #9/ Very tough hole and the wind is just houling,,,, a very good player,,,, probably scratch is playing with me and he has just made a quad. The ranger pulls up and says,,," you guys are holding up the whole course,,, you are 25 minutes behind when we sent you to the tee." We have been waiting every shot,,,,still moving along nicely but waiting for the group in front to clear the green before we can hit. The guy I am playing with calmly explains this to the ranger. He tells us we dont have time to stop at the concession stand between nines and rushes us to the tee. He follows us to the tee, and our other group playing in front of us had stopped for food and were in the middle of the fairway on a par 5. One of them has lost a ball and they are all in the left rough looking for it,,,, i had teed up my ball when we first got to the tee and we were standing in the shade waiting for the fairway to clear. The ranger yells hey buddy,,, are you gonna hit. I said,,,, they are still in the fairway do you want me to hit into them. He smarts off again and I head his direction. I say listen buddy,,,, you have been on our a&& 5 times in the last 5 minutes,,, thats enough. Well needless to say he eases up a little and later that round comes by and apoligizes to us and brings us water. I usually dont say anything on the course but I had heard enough. It was nice of the guy to come back and apologize but we are playing a course that cost 100 dollars to play,,,,, rangers like this should not be allowed on the course. Plus they should only send play off 1 hole so things like this would not happen. We sat on the first tee for 20 minutes and were 25 minutes off pace,,,,, this flew all over me.

[coco]

I used to work at a golf course that got a lot of play on weekend mornings. One day (I worked as an outside associate-cart guy) we had two groups finish, and then a long gap before the third....Pro calls over the radio and asks me to go see if Terry is ok (ranger, famous for being more interested in finding golf balls than doing his job). So I go out and ride around the course once and never see Terry, meanwhile trying to aleviate the absurd delay. I rode a second time and stopped at the restroom on 13. I walk in and hear snoring, so I peak over the stall and find Terry dead asleep, covered up with his jacket.
I woke him up, and when the Pro asked I told him Terry was trying to hold the restroom down on 13. He got a warning and two weeks later got the boot.....

[LP28]

Not really a Ranger story but more of an Officials/Spotter story. Playing in a Qualifying event for a local district championship. Get to the 4th or 5th hole and pull my drive left into some small trees, no real trouble, maybe a punch out in front of the green. Walk over toward my ball and I see the Official/Spotter in his cart next to a ball, which I assume is mine(ie-never assume such a thing!!). I step up to the ball, look down(it's sitting so all I see is white part of the Titleist), and figure it's mine b/c he's 10 feet away and watching me investigate it...then he drives away. OK. I feel lucky b/c I have an opening, so I hit my shot into the middle of the green. I start to walk up toward the green and he drives over in his cart and says 'That wasn't your ball. Your ball is over there in the middle of the fairway, it kicked out of the trees.' I about sh*t myself. So I reply, 'why the f*ck didn't you tell me that when you saw me standing over the other ball in the trees?'. No comment. So I let him have it again and told him to 'get the f*ck away from me before I smoke my next shot at your buggy!!'. He zipped away without a word. Needless to say I was on tilt and ended up making triple on my actual ball, after the added penalty strokes. And I missed qualifying by 1 shot!! And yes, I know it was ultimately my own fault and I have nobody else to balame but boy was I hot!!

[kevcarter]

Not really a Ranger story but more of an Officials/Spotter story. Playing in a Qualifying event for a local district championship. Get to the 4th or 5th hole and pull my drive left into some small trees, no real trouble, maybe a punch out in front of the green. Walk over toward my ball and I see the Official/Spotter in his cart next to a ball, which I assume is mine(ie-never assume such a thing!!). I step up to the ball, look down(it's sitting so all I see is white part of the Titleist), and figure it's mine b/c he's 10 feet away and watching me investigate it...then he drives away. OK. I feel lucky b/c I have an opening, so I hit my shot into the middle of the green. I start to walk up toward the green and he drives over in his cart and says 'That wasn't your ball. Your ball is over there in the middle of the fairway, it kicked out of the trees.' I about sh*t myself. So I reply, 'why the f*ck didn't you tell me that when you saw me standing over the other ball in the trees?'. No comment. So I let him have it again and told him to 'get the f*ck away from me before I smoke my next shot at your buggy!!'. He zipped away without a word. Needless to say I was on tilt and ended up making triple on my actual ball, after the added penalty strokes. And I missed qualifying by 1 shot!! And yes, I know it was ultimately my own fault and I have nobody else to balame but boy was I hot!!

It can't get any worse than that!!!

Kevin

[animalistic]

The ranger at my course is an ignoramus of the highest quality. I have had so many arguments with him it's not even one bit funny at this stage. Words cannot describe the man

This post has been edited by animalistic: Jul 28 2008, 08:16 AM

[larrybud]

I played a GAM (golf assoc of michigan) event once where our three-some was the 2nd group off, right behind a TWO-some.

The GAM runs a tight ship, which I'm all for. They have 10 minute tee times and hold you on the tee until your tee time is ready. So the twosome tees of on the first hole, a par 5. They blow through the hole and actually finish the hole before we tee off. So they already have a 1 hole head start on us.

We play the first two holes without a problem and moving along quite nicely. On the 3rd, the GAM official comes up and tells us we're a hole behind and will have to kick it up a notch. We explain that the group had a hole head start right from the beginning, AND they're a two-some! He threatened us with a 2 shot penalty. I completely lost it mentally on the 3rd hole, ended up with a triple trying to rush. Then we never saw him again. Great, thanks for knowing what the hell is going on!

[Pen]

My fiance and I went to play Pine Hills golf course in MA on Saturday. We were paired up with another twosome on the first tee. With the ranger chatting up the other twosome, we got off a touch late, but no big deal. Everyone in the twosome keeps the ball in play on the first hole, we all make bogey or better and move on to the next hole, a par 5. As we approach the green, the ranger comes up to me and my fiance and tells us that by his "calculation" we "will be 3 or 4 minutes behind after we finish the second hole." Huh? Even worse, this calculation is made based on "fifteen minutes per hole." We were most definitely playing faster than that. How has he determined how long it *will* take us to finish the hole, particularly when we were playing ahead of pace? Of course a par five will take a few minutes longer than a par four, but we were by no means behind pace. The group in front of us was just getting to the next tee box when the ranger came up (they had not teed off), and the group behind us was just teeing off on the par 5. Instead of telling the ranger to look at his watch and stuff it, we just say "yeah ok" and proceed to feel rushed and screw up our next shots. Wish I had told the ranger to back off and get real... Oh, well. My regular course has competent and courteous rangers who know how to keep things moving.

[mjc694]

I have to admit I am shocked at the pinehills reference. I have only played there one time, but it was a very pleasant experience based on staff interaction. I did play on a slower day, but my group, such as it was, fell behind and deserved to be pushed by the rangers. They were extremely courteous, and respectful when telling us to get our butts in gear.

I did play the Links at Hiawatha in binghamton ny recently, and me and my foursome waited on every single shot. We get to the par five on the front, I think its the 7th, and the ranger pulls up, and says we have to pick it up. I said, you have got to be kidding me. He says we just moved the group in front of you, and you have to speed up play.

I said...dude you JUST moved them. Dont worry about us we will catch them no problem, and we did. I was just surprised by the guy's attitude.

[Ronzo]

This Saturday, the ranger drove up yelling that we needed to let the twosome behind us through. I was standing over a 6 foot birdie putt at that moment. It ruined the round for me.

[kamtile]

I was playing Encinitas Ranch with a couple buddies .The group in front of us was a couple holes ahead when we tee'd off .After #4 ,we were ready to tee off on #5 while the group ahead was putting on #5 ,so we had closed the gap by a hole .The marshall comes up and says we are holding up the course and we are an entire hole behind .Idiot .

[outlaw_gunner]

Got to take a trip to AZ this Sept. to watch the Dawgs take on ASU. Didn't have any of my usual golfing buddies with me, so I thought I'd try to slip in an early round as a single. We-ko-pa was nice enough to squeeze me in with a twosome and another single.

We were the second group off that morning and never saw the group ahead. We had a very pleasent first hole. We all were measuring up the results of our 2nd tee shots (par5)when the ranger pulled up from behind us. He kindly informed me that we were falling off the pace and that he would hate to make us skip a hole. As we were not playing slow at all, I thought it odd that he prodded us so early in the round but thought we should have no trouble catching up. However, the bug was in my head at that point. The group behind was right there, but I never once saw them have to wait (with the exception of one player who tried to reach each par5 in two).

As we walked off the 2nd green, he proded us again. And I proceeded to watch out game start to implode (after four pars on the first hole) over holes 3 & 4.

The ranger was waiting for us at the 5th tee. He apologized and stated that he had thought that we were the first group off and realized that we were the second. He had been going with the flow instead of against. He stated that we were on pace. Next hole, he met us again and said we were running behind again, and proceeded to hawk over us until we reached the turn where he proceeded to split us into twosomes and sent us off the back. Saw him about 5 more times where he proceeded to be a thorn in my side on a round that became more work than fun. At least the scenery was nice.

This post has been edited by outlaw_gunner: Nov 12 2008, 10:38 AM

[Lean23]

It's funny but, 2 twosomes is going to be slower for the overall speed of play than 1 foursome.

[DRGJR72]

I had a ranger come up to my group on the 5th hole at some track in So FLA. and tell us that we needed to speed it up. I asked why?? He said that we were off pace. So I said of what pace? He says " well you teed off at 11:15 and it is now 12:30. So you are 5 holes at 1 hour that is over a 4 hour round. So I told him that we did not tee off until 11:35 and he argued with me for approx 5 mins that we were on the tee sheet at 11:15, teed off at that time and that we should not argue with him and just pick it up, otherwise he will have to get the pro shop to come out and take care of our unwillingness to adhere to the pace of play policy.

I was a professional at the time and all of the players in the group were scratch or better. The funny part is that not only were we ahead of pace, but there was not a group behind us for 3 holes. This happened more than I would like to say...the bottom line is quality rangers are hard to find, they usually work for free golf and have the least enviable job at the golf course.....telling people that they are slow and to pick it up or else.

Being in the industry for the better part of 15 years I have come across some of the best and some of the worst. It all comes down to the HP and what they expect of their rangers. So if you have a beef with the way the ranger is acting....go to the HP your chances are better to get it resolved there.

[mizuno]

We had a run in with a ranger just this week, who just didn't get it. My regular foursome played in a scramble tournament this week. We were the first group to tee off on a par five and the next hole was a par three. When we reached the tee of third hole (a par 4) the group ahead was putting out on the green. At that moment the ranger drives up and proceeds to tell us to pick up the pace because we were holding everyone up and we were not going to finish before sunset. We explained about the sequence of holes and he said it didn't make a difference we were still out of position. By the fourth hole of course we were right behind them and waiting to hit; so much for being out of position.

[ROBHATTER]

Best of all time-Neuman Golf Course in Cincinnati
Fathers day golf-Me, my father in law, my good friend and his father.

We are on the 8th hole a par 4 all standing at our second shots anywhere from 120-80 yards in. My friends father is first to play from 120 yards on the right side of the fairway. Again we are all in the fairway standing by our balls. Clearly visible, with clubs in our hands, and our carts near by.

A ranger with a younger teenage kid just at the time my friends father is hitting his approach shot comes over the green appoximately 10 yards from the green down/across the fairway, past the 4 of us and to a broken down cart at the 150 yard marker. He came across just as he hits the shot. Then he yells at the kid to get the cart. Now my father in law second to play, assumes that he will wait till we hit our approach shots to take off. NOPE, just in my father in laws backswing he and the kid hit the gas on thier carts, drive past us, again not on the cart path, right up next to the green, leaving tire marks appoximately 10 yards off the putting surface.

No comments, appology, ect. Even though as they pass me I yell at them WHAT ARE YOU DOING!

We play out 8 and 9 and I go right up to the ranger at his station. I asked him about his actions on 8. Has he ever heard of golf etiquitte, keeping carts 30 yards from the green, the 90 degree rule. And above all, not taking off in a cart while a guest is about to hit a shot.

Gives me the "look I had to get that cart, it is my job, and no one was here to help.

Just my rant!

[Ronzo]

I had a ranger come up to my group on the 5th hole at some track in So FLA. and tell us that we needed to speed it up. I asked why?? He said that we were off pace. So I said of what pace? He says " well you teed off at 11:15 and it is now 12:30. So you are 5 holes at 1 hour that is over a 4 hour round. So I told him that we did not tee off until 11:35 and he argued with me for approx 5 mins that we were on the tee sheet at 11:15, teed off at that time and that we should not argue with him and just pick it up, otherwise he will have to get the pro shop to come out and take care of our unwillingness to adhere to the pace of play policy.

I was a professional at the time and all of the players in the group were scratch or better. The funny part is that not only were we ahead of pace, but there was not a group behind us for 3 holes. This happened more than I would like to say...the bottom line is quality rangers are hard to find, they usually work for free golf and have the least enviable job at the golf course.....telling people that they are slow and to pick it up or else.

Being in the industry for the better part of 15 years I have come across some of the best and some of the worst. It all comes down to the HP and what they expect of their rangers. So if you have a beef with the way the ranger is acting....go to the HP your chances are better to get it resolved there.

Do you recall the name of the course?

[Fore_Man]

was on a par 3 this weekend and it was backed up a bit. We had totally caught the group ahead of us and they were just teeing up their first ball. Out of nowhere comes the ranger going full speed... he slams the brakes and make a loud skid in the middle of the guy's backswing. The guy skulled the ball, then looked over. The ranger says "looks like you need to pick up the pace a bit" and takes off... my group started laughing out @sses off! BUT after that hole, we never caught that group again!

[InTheHole]

Looks like pace of play seems to be what gets most rangers ticked off.

I have a slightly different one...

My son is 10 and we play together almost every weekend. During the summer with longer hours of daylight, we can get some twilight golf in, usually 9 holes at a local muni.

The deal is that during the week we ride, on weekends we walk.

Well this one particular ranger seems to have a thing against my son. When we walk out of the clubhouse after paying and walk over to the carts, my son usually runs ahead a bit. The carts are always lined up in two parallel lines, but the two lines of carts are so close together that you can't get in the passenger side of the cart you rented. So my son gets in on the driver's side and goes to slide over. But this one ranger just sneaks up behind him, gets real close and whispers that if he drives the cart, his dad is gonna get in real big trouble. Then he starts yelling at him about how he can't drive a golf cart because he's not 18 and he better not see him at the wheel.

I was livid. I told the guy off and told him not to EVER get between me and my son and under no circumstances is he to speak to him without first speaking to me...

This actually happened three times when going to this course.

Normally, I would say I'm not going back there. But it is a nice little course we like to play and I am determined not to let this jerk spoil our fun. I just make sure my son sticks by my side when we go to the carts.

[bogiesux]

Looks like pace of play seems to be what gets most rangers ticked off.

I have a slightly different one...

My son is 10 and we play together almost every weekend. During the summer with longer hours of daylight, we can get some twilight golf in, usually 9 holes at a local muni.

The deal is that during the week we ride, on weekends we walk.

Well this one particular ranger seems to have a thing against my son. When we walk out of the clubhouse after paying and walk over to the carts, my son usually runs ahead a bit. The carts are always lined up in two parallel lines, but the two lines of carts are so close together that you can't get in the passenger side of the cart you rented. So my son gets in on the driver's side and goes to slide over. But this one ranger just sneaks up behind him, gets real close and whispers that if he drives the cart, his dad is gonna get in real big trouble. Then he starts yelling at him about how he can't drive a golf cart because he's not 18 and he better not see him at the wheel.

I was livid. I told the guy off and told him not to EVER get between me and my son and under no circumstances is he to speak to him without first speaking to me...

This actually happened three times when going to this course.

Normally, I would say I'm not going back there. But it is a nice little course we like to play and I am determined not to let this jerk spoil our fun. I just make sure my son sticks by my side when we go to the carts.

I've seen a lot of rangers do a lot of stupid things (I play at a semi-private course). I would have taken your steps one further and told this ranger not to speak to "my son" at all. Secondly, unless this ranger actually owns the course, he must have someone he reports to. I would take up my concerns with his boss. If his boss doesn't feel the ranger is doing anything wrong, then you have a choice - put up with it or go else where. I certainly wouldn't put up with it.

[InTheHole]

Yeah, I think we have it under control at this point. I agree with you... if this guy can't keep to himself, then we're done and we'll talk to the boss.

Unfortunately, it is a county owned muni and the workers there seem to be, how shall we say, less enthusiastic about golf than we are. There's not one smile in the place- I doubt his boss could care less.

Fortunately, they do a pretty good job keeping the course up to snuff. Like I said, it's a good little course to play.

[bogiesux]

I'm sure you've got it under control - I just hate to see people bully kids and I can't stand rangers that don't do what they are supposed to do. We had one that used to do card tricks for the ladies on the tee at ladies' night (my partner is also a member and plays a lot of golf) - they were too polite to tell him what they thought.
Good luck
Bogiesux

[jeffc]

played a few weeks ago - there was a bit of a frost delay so we were about 30 min late teeing off, and they teed us off on #4 since #1 and #2 greens were still frost covered. The idea was to play 4 5 6 7 and then head back and play 1 2 3.

Well, in 4 holes, the marshall was on us twice to speed up and somewhat rudely I might add. I was playing with my dad and two other guys and other than me, no one had played the course. the sun was low, the leaves were everywhere and it made for a tough few opening holes finding balls, etc. So what happens when we get back to 1? there are 2 groups waiting to tee off as they had started teeing people off on 1 already. Good thing the marshalls were all over us to speed up - btw, we got back to 1 in 1 hour - right on time for their 15 min / hole. after some tooing and froing, we decided to keep going and head over and play 8-18 and then head back to 1 (this was our decision, since we'd be waiting 1/2 hour to tee off on 1. We'll we didn't let that ruin our day and I ended up making 3 birds (and should have had 4 after my putt did a 360 and didn't drop on one of the par 5's).

[bigred90gt]

2) Another par 5. We started the round (on an uncrowded Thursday morning) with about 4-5 holes opened in front of us. Tiger Woods may have been able to catch up with the group 4-5 holes ahead but my 4some, which included me (12Handicap), my brother and father (120 shooters) and some random guy walking had no chance of closing that gap. 11th Hole (Par 5) Hot dog stand set up at the tee by the course encouraging people to buy food from them. We took about 3 minutes to buy food and ate it while we began playing the hole. I hit a great drive (for me) and then proceeded to overshoot the green with a 5w (notice a trend here). Well the ball rolled down a hill and ended right in front of the 17th tee box (par 3). Four very elderly men were teeing off when I arrived at my ball. I waited for them to finish teeing off (it took a little longer than i expected). Then punched my ball back under some trees and had it roll through the green into a bunker. As I am hitting out of the bunker, the ranger drives up. I get up and down and he begins to tell us that we are holding everything up. Now I am usually very conscious of the groups behind me and this was the first time I had seen them (or a ranger for that matter). I calmly apologized and explained that I hit my 2nd near the 17th tee and had to wait for them to tee off and that we will pick up the pace a little. His response, "I saw you hitting from the bunker, don't bull s**t me, keep it moving or you'll have to skip a hole." Not wanting to set a bad example for my little brother who is new to the game, I just walked away without a response. As we came around to the 17th tee, we had opened a 2 hole gap between us and the guys behind us (who I later realized to be the ranger's buddies). I offered the ranger (who was waiting on the 17th tee for us) some advice to encourage his friends to close the gap as they must be holding up the whole course. He drove away. On another day (a few months earlier), that same D**che bag told me that if the group in front of me wasn't going fast enough, I should send a few warning shots their way. I told him I don't pull bush league moves like that.

just out of curiosity, that wasnt at Princeton Meadows (I think it's now Meadows at Middlesex) was it? The hotdog stand at the par 5 and the par 3 tee box next to the green sounds exactly like that course. I used to live in the apartments where that course's clubhouse is at. If not, nevermind. I know woodbridge is quite a ways from there, it just doesnt seem too common to have a hotdog stand on a course.

[minitour]

Junior tournament many moons ago.

The club pro had this habit of pairing the local "teams" together (he was a HS golf coach). Well, we get to #2 (par 3) and "his" group is on the green. We must have waited a good 10 minutes. A ranger comes up, gets out of his cart as the first player in our group is hitting, calls the pro shop on the walkie.... comes over and says "I was told to penalize you guys all two strokes for slow play". We tried explaining the group ahead (which was still teeing off on the 3rd hole) but it was useless. The man was absolutely dense.

All 3 of us left.

-mini

[muzz]

We show up yesterday (3 of us) for our tee time, we walk up to the 1st tee after chipping and loosening up and see that there is noone on there, and noone even on the green 400 yds away...starter said 3 groups bailed, and that we could go if we wanted.....excellent...Thanks...

During the front 8 holes we could vaguely see a group in front (through the trees- parallel hole), but noone was behind us as far as I could see...

Now this dumbass Ranger comes up to us after we hit our Tee shots on 9, and says " You guys are about 5 minutes behind schedule, you need to pick it up"......

I almost told him to GFY (instead I said nothing and ignored him and my cousin acknowedged him), there was NOONE around us for at LEAST 400 yds...after grabbing a drink at the turn, we found ourselves just about right on the a** of the 4some in front of us for the rest of the day, even though there was NOONE in front of us for a minimum of the 1st 400yd par 4....

Rangers like that can LMN, he should have been crawling up the group in front of us, NOT us !!

Rangerass is another way of saying Jackass.
MOST Rangers get a big Thumbsdown!!

[sosinsurr]

I have played countless, countless rounds of golf and thank god (and knock on wood) haven't had a single problem with a ranger yet!

But, funny story, was playing in a tournament this past fall. On one of the par 5's on the back 9, dude in our group is gonna go for the green in two. He sets up to play a cut and double crosses and proceeds to put his ball in the long long long grass (british open long lol). We all hit our approach shots and head over to start helping him find his ball. Barely a minute into looking for his ball, a ranger/marshall comes up and tells him his 5 minutes are up and he needs to pick and move on to the next hole. We are all like WTF. That's right, he didn't allow him to go back and drop from his last spot, he made him pick up for that hole.

Now if this is a normal round, fine whatever...but in a tournament? Needless to say he was LIVID and just went nuclear on this guy. Words were exchanged before the marshal high-tailed it outta there after the dude threatened him with his 9 iron.

But when we turned our scorecards in, you can bet your sweet *** that he let the tournament director have it. He ended up getting his handicap for that hole (or however it worked, can't remember), he got 4 free rounds and our entire group got a dozen free Pro V1X's for having to deal with it. So hey, I didn't mind that part.

[Ronzo]

I've had the pleasure of playing on courses where the rangers are really good people. But the majority of my experience with rangers have shown them to be drunk-with-limited-power a$$holes. My late mother used to call them "bantam roosters" ("banty roostas" in her southeastern Queens accent). No stature, either physical or professional, with a big Foghorn Leghorn-esque mouth. As she also would say, "Not worth the powder to blow 'em to H*ll."

[blkfaceanh]

So we called a local golf course we usually play and asked if it was ok if we could have 5 on a weekday (Monday). The guy on the phone said it wasn't a problem as long as we let other groups through if we were holding everyone up. That wasn't a problem and when we went to our tee box there was a three-some behind us so we let them hit first before we tee'd off and there wasn't another group behind. We played approximately 4 holes before we see the "Ranger" come flying up to us and tell us that we needed to skip a hole because we were holding up the group behind us. We were curious as to what he was talking about because we didn't see a group behind us for 4 holes.

He proceeded to go off and tell us that we should skip a hole or one of our members should go home. Amazed as to how this jack@ss got his job, I told him to skip a hole and go home. I immediately drove to the pro shop and told the guy behind the counter I wanted to talk to someone who was in charge and proceeded to rip into the "Manager" there about how his jack@ss ranger told us to skip a hole or one of us go home.

The group that we were holding up? THEY DIDN'T EVEN TEE OFF YET! IT WAS HIS JACK@SS 40 YEAR OLD FRIENDS. He apparently reserved 3 tee times in front of his friends time so they could come out and drink and play 8 hour golf. I didn't pay $75 to play on a nice course to have YOU stupid rangers come tell me to skip a hole. LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!

This post has been edited by MrParr1Noid: May 4 2009, 04:57 PM

Reason for edit: Grow up and quit posting words such as those.

[deeviant]

I don't know that this qualifies as a bad ranger story or not, but here goes.

Yesterday, Sunday, my wife is meeting a girlfriend from college to grab a bite to eat then, shopping. I tag along for an early lunch then she drops me off at the course. I'm going to get a little practice in then play the par 3. I pay for my par 3 and some range balls. Well, when I get around to the range I see its closed..... Ugghh.. Why didn't they tell me this when I was purchasing the tokens.

So, I head over to the putting greens for a while then practice some chipping. I notice that the champinship course is dead. Its raining plus a little chill wind, and I'm assuming that has ran more than a few off. It wasn't that bad out though. Fact is if you live in England, or Scotland, it would just seem like a normal summer day. By this time its about 6p. so I call my wife and ask what her plans are. She is going to run by the office and get ahead for the week if I want to play late that would be great. I go back in and buy a round on the championship course. I ask the guy at the counter if the lights were for sure on, and he said they would be unless closed for inclement weather. Which he didn't think would be the case as there were no storms in the area.

So I tee off. By the time I get to 15 its pretty dark out. So I head over to the par 3. Dark. No lights on at all. I call up to the clubhouse and there is no answer.... When I get to the clubhouse its closed. There is a chain up at the entrance, and the parking lot is empty. I was pissed. The ranger drove by several times while I was playing. When I came around 10 he asked me if I was playing on, or heading in. I told him I would play until dark then hit the par 3. He KNEW I was out there and didn't say a thing.

[stevestrike]

^^That's happened to me before. Employees so worried about getting out early that they want to shut the course down before people are finished.

One course we play has the driving range open until 10PM--unless no one is using it. So I've noticed that they shut off the lights in the parking lot early, so people driving by or pulling up will think the place is closed. Then, when no one ends up at the range, they shut down early. Of course this sucks because we end up loading up our clubs in the dark parking lot.

[Jean-Claude]

My 4som was one of countless 4soms playing that day. We never saw a soul "waiting" on us. On the other hand, we were on pace to finish(and did) the first 9 holes in 1 hour 50 minutes.

He said something else to me about our pace being slow. I ignored him and called the proshop. I told them how livid I was becoming being pestered by someone while we were far ahead of pace. I didn't hear from him again.

[TheBUNKY]

The marshall at a local public course is a real horses a** but I wish we had him at our club.

He once got on me for moving two wheels of our cart off of the path. Yes it was cartpath only however he was rolling up on us from the other direction. I was moving over to let him by. I just looked at him and winked.

I want him at our club because our marshall is big buddies with everyone. Our club is surrounded by houses and the people that live around the course think its their own private park to walk, ride bikes down the paths or walk their pooch. The current marshall doesn't get on them at all. The current marshall also follows groups in the direction of play from first tee to eighteen. He should move around the course in reverse in order to keep an eye on pace of play.