Bad round experiences.

[stefanovic]

Have you heard this one before? X course charges Y amount to keep out the riff-raff. Very strong and unnecessary wording, as I don't think I've met such a person on a golf course.
Yet many courses no doubt do their best to keep out undesirables. The high gates, the bollards, the luxury cars in the car park (I'm sure some are left there), the green fees. Daunting to people like me, just at a time when even private courses are being earmarked for housing.

But still few bad experiences until yesterday when I decided to play a twilight round (£10) on the pay and play course near the WBA football ground. On the 14th I find 2 balls in the middle of the fairway and hear a loud shout of 'That's my ball!' from the side, to encounter a guy practicing across the fairways. Then on the next hole a guy just casually walks on with a bag of clubs from the public footpath alongside.
Ah well, and Hilltop actually does have a high bollard.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Any round with Captainron is a bad one.

 

[Hobbit]

Gates and bollards could also mean your car is safe, especially when it doesn't take too many brain cells by the local scroats to guess that a car in a golf club car park might well have a valuable set of clubs in the boot.

Luxury cars; I don't have an inferiority complex nor inverted snobbery that might make me feel uncomfortable or bitter parking next to an Aston Martin. Its just a nice car.

As for expensive green fees. If you spend £200 on a green fee its less than £1 a week. And its not as though many of us are playing 20 expensive courses a year.

 

[Capella]

If you spend £200 on a green fee its less than £1 a week.

I am not sure I can follow that mathematical logic.

 

[stefanovic]

So who is Ron?

I regret never playing Thamesmead (or Thames View) and I understand it's now closed. But with a review like this, who could resist? Here are some extracts.

Upon entering the car park we were greeted by a rather rude "woman" who sarcastically asked 'you're not parking there are ya?!'. Having had to move my vehicle numerous times she finally galumphed off.

We proceeded to the driving range which can only be described as a hovel. Passers-by should be advised to wear a crash helmet as the holes in the net were bigger than the net itself, let alone the fact the tee-off mats were so awful that we may as well tee’d off from the concrete behind.

Went on to the course. Here we were greeted by a Phil Mitchel look-a-like, only nastier, who rather grunted than spoke.

The course at first glance looks reasonable but upon reaching the second hole you realise the entire course is surrounded by a barbed wire fence making the place feel more like a prison than a relaxing golf course. Having been rushed to the 7th hole we decided we could take no more. Being surrounded by poor quality players who think they are far superior than they actually are is tiring and tedious. This brings me to my final point, and quite possibly the worst. The stench of human excrement. It being such a hot day it was unbearable. If the members have to play in that every day I am surprised they don't wear nose clips. I understand that space is limited in London but having a course next to a sewage works is ridiculous.

 

[stefanovic]

Gates and bollards could also mean your car is safe, especially when it doesn't take too many brain cells by the local scroats to guess that a car in a golf club car park might well have a valuable set of clubs in the boot.

I'll wager it has CCTV.

Luxury cars; I don't have an inferiority complex nor inverted snobbery that might make me feel uncomfortable or bitter parking next to an Aston Martin. Its just a nice car.

I'll also wager there aren't many Ford KA's, like mine.

As for expensive green fees. If you spend £200 on a green fee its less than £1 a week. And its not as though many of us are playing 20 expensive courses a year.

365.25/200 is more like less than £1 a day.

 

[Orikoru]

I am not sure I can follow that mathematical logic.

It makes perfect sense, as long as it takes you more than 200 weeks to get round.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Went to a Devon course once which had a huge sign at the entrance to the car park explaining in fairly abrupt terms its codes for dress and behaviour. Jeans were a complete no no anywhere, the length and colour of socks took two lines to define. Types of hats permitted and where and when you can wear them explained
I walked into the clubhouse with a bit of concern, would my slacks and shorts be the right colour, was my hair parted on the left etc.

Went into the bar to find a cheerful and friendly crowd and three guys quaffing pints whilst standing at the bar whilst wearing jeans and t shirts.:lol:

 

[stefanovic]

My maths are also bad. Should have been 200/365.25 = 55.7 pence per day. Clearly a bargain.

I also had a strange experience in Devon at a seaside course beginning with a vowel. Asking for a round, the steward looked me up and down and uttered "You're not going to rip the course to pieces are you, Sir?'
So off I went and all went fine until a green keeper ran over my ball, knocking it off the green altogether. Needless to say, I never went back.

 

[Liverbirdie]

As for expensive green fees. If you spend £200 on a green fee its less than £1 a week. And its not as though many of us are playing 20 expensive courses a year.

And over on the GCSE Maths thread......

 

[shortgame]

Haha sounds like Hilltop hasn't changed!

Played (some of it) once for £10 a few years ago with some friends from that way (not regular players). Height of summer and the sprinklers had broke. Greens all bare and badly cracked. Walked in after 9. Was given a voucher for a free 4 ball. Never went back to use it. Absolute dump.

 

[Bazzatron]

Played Hilltop many times, alright for a knock if you lower your standards a little and don't expect much for a tenner.

 

[Capella]

I remember a round I played at Stanley Park in Blackpool. It's a muni and greenfee was 10 pounds, I think. The course is a McKenzie design and is actually not that bad, but it is located in a public park and that leads to (among other things) all of the rakes missing from the bunkers. Even one of the flags was missing when I played there. At one point two guys, teenagers I guess, were hiding in the bushes and had fun yelling into golfers backswings. It scared the hell out of me. Seriously. It was early evening and I was out there on my own and I suddenly felt very exposed and insecure.

I did make the best out of the situation and even bantered with them a little bit (once I had established where they were actually hiding ... they were quite good at the whole camouflage thing and crawled through the high grass on all fours, commando style). They even gave me a round of applause when I ripped my driver down the next fairway despite them trying to disturb me again. I hit the longest drive of my life during that round because of the adrenaline, I suppose. Those guys posed no thread, they were really just kids messing about, but the encounter did make me feel uncomfortable, because it reminded me that I was a woman on her own in a park at dusk and a perfect target for any random ax murderers walking about. I never feel like that on a more private, secluded golf course (even though I guess any ax murderer who set his mind to it could find his way there as well)

 

[patricks148]

I would say the worst was the Torrance at Fairmont St Andrews.

It was a Freebe my mate that worked at Castle Stuart arranged. didn't help we played from the very back tee.. which i think is about 7200.. it was just a slog with many of the holes being very similar... it didn't help i was the highest handicap off 5 and the other 3 all 3 shots lower and hit it 50 yards further than me.. or it was at 8am on a sat Morning after we had been out in Broughty ferry till 4am drinking....heavily

 

[pokerjoke]

Westhills forum day a couple of years back