so today, i am out playing golf. 75*+, how could i not go out. i'm trying out a course i haven't played before, but have heard good things, a rtj course. get out there, and i am a single and they've got me paired up with a twosome. i'm hitting some range balls, and 30 minutes before my tee time the starter comes in, and i tell him my tee time and lets me know the group i was paired with already went off and i could just go when ever i wanted since it wasn't busy. so i end up teeing off, a little early, but 30+ minutes after the last group. on the second tee box, i see the group in front of me on the 3rd green. i play the second hole, taking my time, and get over the third tee box. group is still on the third green. i tee off, get up to my ball, this group is still on the green. so i wait for them in the fairway. they finally go, i hit my shot and it goes off the right side of the green, hit some bad chips, then just hit a couple extra chips. go to the next hole, par 3 and they are all chipping on to the green. are you kidding me? are we playing this slow today? well, they wave me through. i go up check the yardage and get an idea of the wind and they start yelling at me to hurry up. get the club and hit. well i get up to the green and they are walking off. okay? what did we accomplish here. you finished the hole. why did you wave me through if your finishing out? so i finish the hole. i get up to the next tee box've all already hit there drives. they ask me if i want to play through. sure. get up there, hit my drive, absolutely smoke it, 500 yard par 5 and i've got 170 yards to an elevated green left for my second shot. i'm pumped. the 4 other guys are 50+ yards behind me. i'm addressing the ball, getting ready to hit, PING!!!!!! one of the numnuts i'm playing through hits. i thought i was playing through. so hit my shot, end up short in the creek in front of the green (yeah, not focused all that well with a 3 wood going by me). so i go take my drop hit on to the green, get up there for my putt, THUDD!!!!! one of them hits on the green while i'm putting. what is this???

well, i get to the next hole and there is a group of five doing good only knows what in the fairway, but they are doing it for a long time. they get up on the green and i hit my drive. i'm sitting in the fairway, waiting on them and they've putted out, now they take some practice putts. you've got to be joking. they clear the green i get ready to hit and here comes a ball rolling up to my foot. yeah, the group that i just played through hit in to me again. i get on the green, putt out. get to the next tee box and the group of five is there, and the last one is hitting there drive and they tell me to play through. i get up there, and hit a decent drive. should be on the left side of the fairway. i'm going up there, well, one of the guys topped his drive and is playing it now. again, i'm told to play through and i'm getting hit at. his wife yells at him. i'm going up there, and i see 5 balls and this one looks like where mine should have gone. one of the guys is there and says its his and mine went in the creek. fairways are rolly and rock hard, so i give him the benefit of the doubt. i take a drop and hit it. i'm annoyed at this point. i've been allowed to play through two groups and have been hit at four times and rushed, and i've lost 2 balls because i'm rushing. i go hit a bad shot to the other side of fairway. i go up there, and one of the guys yells at me to hurry up. what??? i hit it, end up in the green side bunker. i'm in there and hit a bad sand shot, still in the bunker and the guy who told me hits and his ball comes up a few yards from me. as i look back i notice it has four red dots beneath the logo, like the ball i hit, and all the other balls in my bag. thats great, you take my ball and then hit into me. at this point i just pick up. i'm just getting frustrated.

now this just pi$$es me off. i've paid good money, more than i normally to pay to play, for a course in which the conditions where less the stellar (fairways firm and thin and very splotchy like one of dennis rodmans hair dos and greens that were rock hard and faster than shinnencock for the open), on a course that i've never played and with 20-30 mph winds, and i've got to contend with this. i mean this really ruins a round of golf. i blame the golf course as wells the groups. i wouldn't have been out there playing through these groups if they would have paired me up with another group, but the next group they had was an hour away. i know its my fault too, i should have blocked all of this out. on the bright side, the back nine went a lot better. 3 par fives, 2 of which i played beautifully. a 505 yard, into the wind and i flew the green on the second shot with a 3 iron and another 490, again, into the wind and managed to hit a 3 wood for my second shot 15 feet short of the pin.

sorry to vent, but this was really bothering me and no one else would understand like you guys. i'm debating going back and playing again tomorrow just so there isn't a bad taste in my mouth from this course.

i absolutely hate that!!!... I know exactly what you are talking about, sometimes you just wanna take their golf ball and smack the SOB outta bounds or something!!! i have a couple ?'s for the golf course though... first of all, why do they allow fivesomes??? that should be against the law... and secondly where are all of the rangers??? i'm assuming that you live somewhere warm i.e. florida/arizona/etc where the golf courses are open year round, so where are the rangers, player's assistants, etc??? Being a RTJ golf track, its most likely an upper eschelon facility, you even said for yourself that you paid a little extra, so the golf course should be fully staffed, course properly maintained, and rules explained to ever person on the premises... I find that absolutely ridiculous... if i were you i would have walked right up to both groups, and taught them a little golf course etiquette... Or quite possibly would have had a nice little chat with the manager on duty, asst. pro, head pro, or whoever else was there at the time... Granted, i'm in my 20's and make bad decisions and have a short fuse, but sometimes you just have to nip something in the bud and teach someone a lesson, especially if they want to keep playing this game that we have all come to know and love!!!! i feel for ya man...

The first group: I woulda hit his ball back at him when he hit while I was playing through. I woulda also probably flipped him off for yelling at me to hurry up.

The second group: Just like the first group, this also calls for their ball to be hit back at them for hitting while I was playing through. Again, flipping them off for yelling to hurry up applies as well. I woulda took my ball back if I was absolutely sure it was my ball.

Simp

The course made a mistake by letting you out, and they should not have let out a fivesome. However, you compounded their mistake by trying to play through and disturbing 9 players that had also paid their greens fee. At every private club I know, singles have no standing on the course. Sorry, you should have picked up and rode or walked around the groups in question. Be part of the solution, not the problem.

From The USGA Rules of Golf

SECTION I ETIQUETTE; BEHAVIOR ON THE COURSE

Introduction


This Section provides guidelines on the manner in which the game of golf should be played. If they are followed, all players will gain maximum enjoyment from the game. The overriding principle is that consideration should be shown to others on the course at all times.

The Spirit of the Game

Unlike many sports, golf is played, for the most part, without the supervision of a referee or umpire. The game relies on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and to abide by the Rules. All players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating courtesy and sportsmanship at all times, irrespective of how competitive they may be. This is the spirit of the game of golf.

It was a public course. I'm sure that golfernut78 would've preferred to be part of a 4'some but we can't play with our friends all of the time. It wasn't the courses fault for letting him out. That's what public courses do, they let people play golf. If he just so happens to be a single then I'm sure that he understands that a 4'some has priority and they
do not have to let him through. They did though, and he took them up on their offer. They also hit into him and told him to "hurry up". He didn't "try to play through" as you put it, he was invited to play through by the other golfers. I think your quote on "Etiquette;Behavior on the course" applies to the other 9 players that have their head up their a$$, not golfernut78. Simp

thank you simp for reading what i wrote properly.

coach, as simp pointed out, i didn't ask to play through. i have no problem playing as a single and behind a group of 4. i sometimes take advantage of this to work on my short game around the greens and sometimes even drop a ball in the fairway on an unusual lie. i had planned on taking my time and would try to play through at the turn. plus i don't see how i was the problem if they asked me if i wanted to play through. i didn't ask them if i could play through. i prefer to play with people, and when i made my tee time asked them to group me with a couple people. when i showed up, i was still grouped with a twosome. i go to the range hit some balls and thats where the starter tells me they've gone off and he doesn't have anyone teeing off for another hour. i was the only one on the whole practice area. i've just spent 45 minutes hitting balls, chipping and putting. i'm not going to wait another hour. i don't see how i did anything wrong. as far as playing around the group, i paid just as much money as they did to play out there and to skip a hole or two and then try to come back and play them can be an even bigger mess.

on a side note, i decided to play the course again the next day. this time they had four singles at about the same time and grouped us all together. much better round, to be exact 15 strokes better. got a birdie on the hole the second group let me play through on. much better experience. was only hit into once and that was from a guy who hit the drive of a lifetime and drove through the green on a 390 yard par 4. we were too impressed to be md about that.

there's no arguing that the 2 groups in front of you were a$$es! however, it's a tough call whether to play through when all that's ahead of you are more foursomes (or fivesome). Like you, I often play as a single and usually use the time spent behind slower groups practicing some part of my game. I do EXPECT the group in front of me to let me play through if the course isn't stacked up in front of them with more foursomes or if a twosome of threesome is available to join up with right in front of them, but otherwise I decline even if asked since I'll just get stuck in front of them and end up slowing the group down who let me through.

I agree with coach that on a busy day, a course should make every effort to pair singles up with other groups instead of sending them out by themselves.

You've just described why I cannot STAND playing public courses in the D/FW Metroplex anymore. I play a lot as single, and just couldn't take it anymore. You've just described my rounds on a weekly basis, before I finally went Private.

OTOH - Private courses are not necessarily a solution. They are sometimes crowded on the weekends, and they are not without certain "personalities" on the course. However - it's been a VERY FREQUENT occurence that I can walk on a single anytime - and play at MY PACE. I can't do that on the public courses around here.

OK, I see you point more clearly now.

I once hit into a group by accident on a blind hole. Nobody was actually hit. The guy was pissed off and I apologized. He blew me off.

Later, passing in the parking lot on the way to the bar, I offered to buy him and his group a drink. They were shocked and started apologizing to me!

Kill em with kindness, and please try a CAPITAL LETTER once in a while!

well, it wasn't busy at all and caught up to a twosome on number six who were trying to see who could make this 50', 3 break putt, and told me to play through as well. i think they were still at it when i finished 18. back 9 was really smooth sailing.



i'll admit it can be rough, but again i've had the problems other places. was in south carolina for the holidays and played a 5-1/2 round. brutal. also, i've played a couple private courses in the dfw area and they were still slow too, trophy club and stonebridge ranch. i don't mind slow play too much as long as i get my round in as long as the group behind knows its not us. one playing bear creek - east course a group got tired of "our slow play" and said they were playing through. we laughed as we stood on the tee box watching them wait on the group we were waiting on. they ended up leaving.




i told agree about kindness. i like to think i'm pretty nice on the course. always help people look for lost balls, make sure i'm not walking in lines, very cautious before i hit that the group is far enough away or well off the green.

i bad about capital letters. usually word or spell check gets it for me and here that doesn't work out so well.

ya you get farther with kindness