Playing Through

mattdeeks

mattdeeks

Challenge Tour Pro
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
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563
Location
Chinnor, Oxfordshire
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Went up the course for a quick 9 holes. Ladies match against another club went out an hour earlier.

Managed to catch them up by the 6th hole. Waited on the 6th tee then when I finished waited on the 7th, when one of the ladies walked back 120yds to tell me they were in a match and sorry they were taking their time.

I asked if they would let me play through but she said she was in a match and there was another 2 groups in front of theirs, but the group had lost a clear 1.5 holes on the group in front of them. She also mentioned they were dealing with a single golfer, meaning me. I did mention a group includes a single player.

However she went off had a 5 minute conversation with the other 3 and continued to play and I waited.

I just played 2 balls and let them move along as they were not going to let me play through.

So what's the normal rules with matches, can you not let people play through, even if you lost a hole in the group in front? Doesn't make sense to me, I thought priority on the course was determined by pace of play.
 
I always thought good manners came first. If I have been out on a course and I have known a match was behind me then I/we have always let them through as they have an unofficial priority and we would not want the pressure of slowing them up. If however they were plain slow then good manners would suggest they let you through. As for the single player having no status......... aarrghhhhhhh.

That is the sort of pompous behaviour that gives golf a bad name.
 
lots of people in 'matches' think they are in the Open and 'nothing shall pass'

I was in a 4BBB match and a single asked to be let through, I'd just started saying "of course, no probl...." when our hosts said "we're in a match, you cant play though" he was insistent......and he was a nob.

That riled me along with his 40 yd putts from off the green and we lost.
 
I wouldn't entertain the idea of trying to get through a pile of matches on my own. I'd tee off at the tenth or simply take my time and play multiple balls.

Boring trying to bore your way through 4 balls being held up and hitting one shot every ten minutes.
 
I'd certainly not expect to play through a group involved in a Club Match. It's down to individual clubs as to what the priority is on an occasion like this. I'd say the match had priority.
 
DCB said:
I'd certainly not expect to play through a group involved in a Club Match. It's down to individual clubs as to what the priority is on an occasion like this. I'd say the match had priority.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's an awkward one. I wouldn't expect to be let through a match like that and wouldn't allow myself to have pressed them, but if I was playing in that last group and had lost ground I wouldn't have any qualms about letting a faster group through.
 
Its weird because we know a single player is a group and has same standing but at same time a single who's only out for an incomplete round (just a bit of practice really) perhaps shouldn't even consider playing through a match & maybe would/should decline any invitation to play through even if offered
 
Thanks for the feedback guys, I wasn't in a rush so wasn't pressing to go through.

Just though it strange she would walk back 120yds to tell they were in a match, they could have stepped to 1 side and I would have hit it on and gone through.
 
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CMAC said:
lots of people in 'matches' think they are in the Open and 'nothing shall pass'

I was in a 4BBB match and a single asked to be let through, I'd just started saying "of course, no probl...." when our hosts said "we're in a match, you cant play though" he was insistent......and he was a nob.

That riled me along with his 40 yd putts from off the green and we lost.
Click to expand...

Yes, people's attitudes sometimes are poor.

Playing once at a different club and we waited on a tee as we knew there was a foursomes match coming behind so we were going to wave them through.

Cue this clown striding up to the tee, before we could say anything proclaim "foursomes match. We have priority and are playing through".

A clown. Some people take golf way too seriously in general and even more so in instances like that.
 
A couple of things you could have done.

Rang the course to see what was going on the time you wanted to play.
Looked on the website to see also.

Its so important to know your courses times when you might as well stay at home.
 
No question, in my mind, that the match has priority here, and it was rather nice of her a) to apologise for the wait and b) to confirm that a match was in progress.
 
I wouldnt expect to go through an inter club match TBH ,

i wouldnt even go near them if i did id step away until they has played their shots then carry on ..

Just a side note on playing through , i often play in one of the last time slots on our Tuesday comps in the summer , last group away and there are singles waiting to go out and practice , if ya let them all through they would be holding u up a hole later , quiet often still in singles and youd never get finished the comp round , its a major pain at times

Organised comps should IMO have priority
 
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I feel comps have priority on the course and think they have this in place at my course. I often play on my own early sat am (enjoy the peace after a tough week) and always get stuck behind the same 4 ball no matter how I try and time it to beat them to the green :)

Anyway I think I have only been asked once or twice to play through and that was when they were eating a bacon barm at the half way hut! I always find it rude having to ask myself so perhaps I will need to do this more often!

On the flip side the kids who play on a Saturday are always happy to let you through even when they play a comp and most of them are very good players and not really holding anyone up.
 
If they've lost holes, sod the match, you should be let through. I would have let you through. Anything else is rude.
 
Surely it could help their match if they just let you through? I imagine they were worrying about the pace of their play having you behind them after that, so would have been easier for all if they'd just let you through.
 
If there was groups in front of them I wouldn't have thought about it, but because there was no one in front, I thought it strange not to let me play through.

You learn something new everyday.

I know if I was holding someone up in my group I would let them through, match or not.
 
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