Strange one - playing through

[moogie]

Our club has a rule that single players have no standing. I play on my own occasionally & wouldn't expect to be allowed to play through, unless there was a clear space ahead of the people in front of me. If they were waiting to play their shots I wouldn't expect to be invited through &, if the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't expect the single player to expect to be let through either. There are occasions, especially on summer evenings, when there is a succession of single players out on the course.Are we supposed to interrupt our game constantly to let them through? I don't think so.

1st bold......that's very sad and very wrong

2nd bold.......yes, indeed you are

 

[moogie]

Well as they changed the rules recently to ensure all size groups on the course have an equal standing and the priority should go to the quicker group I would expect most people to allow single players to go through as it would take minutes. Are you really saying if you were a fourball you wouldn't let a guy playing on his own through ? I would find that shocking etiquette tbh

Totally agree
Common sense really

 

[SGC001]

Its difficult, their is no way of you knowing if u r quicker than the group in front. All u know is u r both quicker (if u r both been held up by the group in front of the group in front of you) than the group who have a clear gap.
If they r nor looking to play through and u wish to they should probably let u. If they r wanting to play through too arguably they should be given 1st shot at seeing who is quicker.

 

[nickjdavis]

I feel bad for upsetting their round but, important club scratch matches cannot be compromised by slow beginners so they had to give way. Bit unfortunate!

If it was such an important match important why wasn't there a club representative there (either before they tee'd off or "out on the course") to warn the group about the matches coming up behind them and to instruct them to stand aside and let you through?

Then there wouldn't have been any tension and you'd have probably been let through earlier.

 

[Sweep]

Whilst there was no reason for the group to refuse the OP to play through, to me the "fault" (if anyone was at fault) was with the second 2 ball who were holding up a group of the same number.
I can see it would be annoying having a single golfer playing up behind you whilst being held up by the group in front. The OP says that the first group couldn't be bothered to play through, but does he know if they were given the opportunity?

 

[woody69]

The 2 refusing to let you through were morons. You get a lot of them on golf courses.

 

[tugglesf239]

One ball absolutely needs a standing.

Nothing worse than having some poor person stood behind you taking 15 practice swings before your (larger) group to play.

Even if the larger group are blocked ahead, I just let the single player through.

I dont want to feel rushed and they don't want to hang around.

Personally I much rather be delayed than feel obliged to rush like mad.

Let them through and make it the group in fronts problem to deal with.

 

[Orikoru]

Even the phrase itself "has no standing" sounds daftly archaic. I can only imagine a pompous old windbag actually saying it out loud with a straight face.

 

[GreggerKBR]

If it was such an important match important why wasn't there a club representative there (either before they tee'd off or "out on the course") to warn the group about the matches coming up behind them and to instruct them to stand aside and let you through?

Then there wouldn't have been any tension and you'd have probably been let through earlier.

Spot on! And the group said that at the time. "there were no marshalls and they hadn't been told what was going on."
I politely explained they'd lost a huge amount of ground on pace of play and it was their duty to know the rules and they can't expect staff of micro manage every group on the course all day every day! Then respectfully advised that none of it matters by this point, they just need to decide what to do from there. To really seriously pick up their pace and run in between shots to put themselves ahead or go back around to the 1st via the pro shop / office or take a seat and let x8 matches through!

I advised Director of Golf that they said they did not know there was a scratch match on the course behind them. And that there were no staff around for another hour after in incident. He took the points on board and said he would address it with his team.

But as he pointed out, they had a 40 minute head start and managed to lose 2-3 holes on the groups in front, so the outcome would've been the same. He did apologise that I had to sort it out and took flack for it, I'm not so bothered I've been there many times before, just wasn't ideal as I was 3-down already (yes, I took a serious beating by someone playing proper golf! LOL)

The thing is, 2x 3-ball "beginners" on a tough track all taking >5 practice swings then hitting it no more than 100 yards is a complete mismatch to the course itself and the scratch matches. To be honest, the lads were really nice guys and thought they were playing during a quiet afternoon - but it was far from that - we had 3 separate club matches all going on at the same time!

I really feel for them - group of mates having a laugh learning the game together... it's how we'd all want to start playing (if not with Dad as a kid).
There's heaps of easy cheaper local tracks for players of their level, but they were just seriously unlucky, walking straight into the eye of the storm.

on another note
As as regular 1-ball after work I frequently play through other groups - never had an issue.

 

[jusme]

I would almost always let faster groups (group of one included) through, but there are rare exceptions. If the entire course is full ahead (groups on every hole) and groups teeing of behind every 8 minutes....then where is the sense in letting groups through?

I once remember multiple 3 balls in front of our 3 ball and was virtually certain that every hole ahead was busy. I could see 3/4 groups behind us on certain holes, all of which were 2 balls and all of which were being held up a little. Now imagine if those 2 balls or one balls never ended and you stopped to let them all through. You would go nowhere, nor would any 3/4 ball in front if they all let every smaller group through behind. Now I know this is likely rare but if it where to happen, I would not be letting them through.

To date I cant remember the last time I refused to let through or invite through a group that where clearly faster, despite objections at times from playing partners