Curls
Journeyman Pro
On a beautiful Sunday morning, with the course looking the best it has ever done, I was put in a group of 3 in one of the earliest groups. Ahead of us were only two balls, who quickly disappeared. One of our trio was a reasonably quick player, I am, but this one guy managed to jack up the entire field so that play behind us was slow for the first I don't know how many groups.
This guy did not care about the other 2 in his group, let alone anyone behind. He would talk and walk about when others were putting, he would plant himself in the middle of the teeing ground when it wasn't his go. I lost count of asking him to move or not move, and despite stopping and looking at him waiting for him to stop talking he would be at it again in a holes time.
This guy never watched where his ball was going, despite the rough being the highest it's been in years. The other guy and I found his ball 90% of the time, and he was in the rough A LOT. He would often walk many yards passed where his ball was and start tramping about until me or the other guy came over and found it for him, miles from where he was. He would routinely leave his bag inexplicably far from where he was hitting and would often walk back to change club despite there being literally no point in it, the rough was so deep it was impossible to do anything but hack out for someone of a technical ability and strength far greater than any of us in that group.
We waved 2 groups through, each time because he was acting the maggot, each time slowing up play considerably, and all attempts to speed up on our part were thwarted by him. On allowing groups through he would wait until they were 250 yards away to top it 50. On the 13th tee, me with the honour and seeing the obvious impatience of the group behind, I rushed my tee shot and walking to the other guy said "I rushed that", to which he said "I don't know why we are bothering", pointing to the problem, as instead of going he stood 10 yards off the tee box watching some guys on a distant green putting. I walked over and said "sorry chap but we really are losing ground on the group ahead and the group behind are obviously annoyed so can we speed up please?" He looked at me as if I had just asked him to let blood on the tee ground in deference to a distant god. It was pretty frosty after that, I was annoyed with him and he probably thought I was a -insert expletive here -. Needless to say, he made absolutely no attempt to speed up, if anything he got worse. I let a good round go to pot because of him.
We let groups through but inevitably the impact was felt for many groups behind.
Selfish, inconsiderate, oblivious. Try issuing a set of guidelines to deal with that. He shot 102 gross off a handicap of 17. Would a penalty shot really bother him? I doubt it. I'm just glad I know what spin up he plays in so I can avoid teeing it up for two hours after it.
1 man in an otherwise fast group. Is it any wonder we have 5 hour rounds?! I hate to say it but slow play comes down to the individual, not their ability (my regular playing partner is off 25 and plays as quickly as anyone in the club), but their mind-set. I can honestly say if I was paired with him again I'd N/r on the first hole and go home, I'd rather do the garden than waste a day in frustration.
And I hate gardening.
This guy did not care about the other 2 in his group, let alone anyone behind. He would talk and walk about when others were putting, he would plant himself in the middle of the teeing ground when it wasn't his go. I lost count of asking him to move or not move, and despite stopping and looking at him waiting for him to stop talking he would be at it again in a holes time.
This guy never watched where his ball was going, despite the rough being the highest it's been in years. The other guy and I found his ball 90% of the time, and he was in the rough A LOT. He would often walk many yards passed where his ball was and start tramping about until me or the other guy came over and found it for him, miles from where he was. He would routinely leave his bag inexplicably far from where he was hitting and would often walk back to change club despite there being literally no point in it, the rough was so deep it was impossible to do anything but hack out for someone of a technical ability and strength far greater than any of us in that group.
We waved 2 groups through, each time because he was acting the maggot, each time slowing up play considerably, and all attempts to speed up on our part were thwarted by him. On allowing groups through he would wait until they were 250 yards away to top it 50. On the 13th tee, me with the honour and seeing the obvious impatience of the group behind, I rushed my tee shot and walking to the other guy said "I rushed that", to which he said "I don't know why we are bothering", pointing to the problem, as instead of going he stood 10 yards off the tee box watching some guys on a distant green putting. I walked over and said "sorry chap but we really are losing ground on the group ahead and the group behind are obviously annoyed so can we speed up please?" He looked at me as if I had just asked him to let blood on the tee ground in deference to a distant god. It was pretty frosty after that, I was annoyed with him and he probably thought I was a -insert expletive here -. Needless to say, he made absolutely no attempt to speed up, if anything he got worse. I let a good round go to pot because of him.
We let groups through but inevitably the impact was felt for many groups behind.
Selfish, inconsiderate, oblivious. Try issuing a set of guidelines to deal with that. He shot 102 gross off a handicap of 17. Would a penalty shot really bother him? I doubt it. I'm just glad I know what spin up he plays in so I can avoid teeing it up for two hours after it.
1 man in an otherwise fast group. Is it any wonder we have 5 hour rounds?! I hate to say it but slow play comes down to the individual, not their ability (my regular playing partner is off 25 and plays as quickly as anyone in the club), but their mind-set. I can honestly say if I was paired with him again I'd N/r on the first hole and go home, I'd rather do the garden than waste a day in frustration.
And I hate gardening.
