Worst experience on a golf course???????

[Smiffy]

Quite a few years ago I was invited to play in a motor trade corporate day at Foxhills GC in Surrey. I didn't know anybody there except the guy that invited me. Stableford in teams of 4 with the best 3 scores to count.
At the time I was playing off 12, and was put in a team with 3x28 handicappers. I've nothing against 28 handicappers, I love a bit of banter, and as a bonus some of them can be quite handy, but none of these 3 guys had ever played golf in their life. They had just come along in the hope of making some new business contacts.
One turned up on the 1st tee playing in a brown leather bomber jacket, (unzipped and flapping around), with a hired set of clubs, the other two had borrowed clubs from their golfing friends. As a team, we scored 38 points. I had 32 of them if memory serves me correctly.
I'll normally help looking for golf balls, no problem. But after about 7 or 8 holes I had given up. "Where did that one go?" I heard with alarming regularity. Eventually I was thinking to myself "Who gives a flying XXXX"...I have never been so despondent on a golf course in my life. I tried to keep my game going but basically lost the will to live. Had to stay for the prize giving as the mate who had invited me needed a lift home. Anybody else suffered?????????

 

[Maninblack4612]

In the 70s I worked for the firm which audited Barratt Developments Ltd. accounts. Sir Lawrie Barratt decided that he wanted to play golf at Muirfield & instructed the partners at our Newcastle office to arrange it. A couple of the Edinburgh partners were members there & a team match, the English v the Scots, was arranged. When we got there we were told that we could play singles or foursomes. Sir Lawrie, not a particularly competent golfer, decided it would be foursomes because it was a "more social game". I was paired with a 25 handicapper who was off his game. I was playing second & fourth shots from places most people hadn't seen. I got absolutely no impression of how the course played and it spoiled the whole day.

On top of that we had a new, troublesome baby & I had to rush home to help my exhausted wife instead of participating in the dinner & overnight stay at Greywalls Hotel. And, as if that wasn't bad enough I had to go by train, bus & train because a tunnel on the main London to Edinburgh line had collapsed weeks before & there was a replacement bus service for part of the route.

I've been trying to get another game at Muirfield ever since.

 

[robbeh32]

Yer I was playing a stableford in teams of 4 with the best 3 scores counting. Rocked up in a leather Jacket new to golf looking for business contacts as it was a corporate even and I got invited by a friend who said it doesn't matter what standard you're. Anyway i turned up and quickly found out I wasn't dressed for the occasion and felt a right plum. My leather Jacket broke so it was flapping about everywhere felt really stupid. Anyway had 2 other guys that couldn't really play golf but this guy of 12 I was playing with was fantastic, kept helping me look for balls i had lost. Also My clubs got stolen the day before so I had to hire a set, basically I had an absolute nightmare day nothing going right except for the 12 handicapper I was playing with.

 

[NearHull]

I was playing in this corporate with one guy in leather jacket who was having bad day, fortunately there was this 12 handic.................

 

[bobmac]

In a knock out match my opponents ball ended up on some newly laid grass. On the grass were 3 signs, 2x GUR and the other said PLAY PROHIBITED.
He announced he was going to play it from where it was.
I pointed out he can't play from the PLAY PROHIBITED area, to which he took the hump and said ''fine, I'll play 2 balls''.....in match play.
He was off 2.
I learned some new swear words in the next half hour.

 

[Crumplezone]

At a golf club near Preston, Lancashire. There was some sort of charity match just finishing and a lot of members milling around the first tee. It was a very hot day and me and my PP were waiting behind a couple of other groups to go onto the first tee. From behind me, a voice said loudly 'tuck yer shirt in!'. I explained that I was aware of the club's dress code, I wasn't yet on the course and had every intention of doing so before teeing off. Then he demanded of my PP 'Are them proper golf shoes?'. He was forced to show him the spikes to confirm they were. Then a woman shouted from about 30 feet way 'tuck yer shirt in!'. Turns out she was the lady captain. Such a warm welcome from the members there.

 

[Crumplezone]

If you were queueing up to tee off, where were you planning on undoing your belt and unbuttoning your trousers to tuck your shirt in? In full view of everyone?

If you must know, I don't wear a belt and am capable of tucking my shirt in without unbuttoning anything.

 

[nickjdavis]

At a golf club near Preston, Lancashire. There was some sort of charity match just finishing and a lot of members milling around the first tee. It was a very hot day and me and my PP were waiting behind a couple of other groups to go onto the first tee. From behind me, a voice said loudly 'tuck yer shirt in!'. I explained that I was aware of the club's dress code, I wasn't yet on the course and had every intention of doing so before teeing off. Then he demanded of my PP 'Are them proper golf shoes?'. He was forced to show him the spikes to confirm they were. Then a woman shouted from about 30 feet way 'tuck yer shirt in!'. Turns out she was the lady captain. Such a warm welcome from the members there.

See...this is the sort of stuff that irritates me as well...

Club officials who think that the right way to go about handling such situations is to shout loudly, often across a couple of fairways, at the transgressor. This is just plain rude, obnoxious and frankly is more of a case of look at me I'm billy big bo**cks at this club, do what I tell you. Whenever I've had to "advise" a visitor (hell or even a member!!) about such things (most commonly dragging trolleys between greenside bunkers and the greens) I've always made a point of walking over the the player and taking them aside to address them as individuals and not embarrassing them in front of the rest of the club or even the rest of their own 4 ball. Treat folks as you would want to be treated yourself and all of a sudden the world becomes a much nicer place.

 

[Maninblack4612]

dragging trolleys between greenside bunkers and the greens.

There's nothing wrong with this:

a) This area doesn't get much traffic & people playing from there are likely to be putting.

b) By doing this you avoid flattening & wearing the area immediately adjacent to the green side bunkers, where players need a decent lie to play a delicate pitch.

Perhaps there should be a new thread on this.

 

[Crumplezone]

Sorry, but in my view, someone parading round with their shirt hanging out at someone else's club, when they know their shirt should be tucked in, deserves whatever they get.
Just seems completely arrogant behaviour to me.

If I was on the course, fair enough, but I wasn't. Dress code does not apply when you're not on the course.

 

[timd77]

We’ve all been that player (maybe when we first started) who loses loads of balls and everyone else has to help find them. It’s no fun for either party really! But totally agree, if you’re playing well but every hole you’re spending time searching for a PP’s ball, it does put you off.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Don't think many will agree with you there.
It's pretty obvious that we should avoid wearing down the narrow area between bunker and green where possible.

The number of times anyone needs to do this is negligible, normally people would go around the outside. Can't remember which club but I've heard of one which encourages this practice for the reason I gave.

 

[Crumplezone]

Not true.
It applies from arriving in the car park.

From their web site "All we ask is that the dress code for the course is respected". Not for the car park or anywhere else. Many golfers change their clothes when they arrive at the club. All at least change their shoes. Should members be shouting at them about dress codes when they arrive?

If they had said quietly something like 'Can I please remind you that the rules of the club state that you must have your shirt tucked in on the course. Please make sure you do so before teeing off.' there wouldn't have been a problem. It was the rude shouting and brusque manner that bothered us. There is absolutely no need for it.

 

[PJ87]

Not true.
It applies from arriving in the car park.

Incorrect .. you can turn up to a course how you want. That's why there are changing rooms...

 

[davidy233]

Many golfers change their clothes when they arrive at the club. All at least change their shoes.

Haven't changed my shoes at a golf club in years - not since the Ecco street appeared I don't think.

Nothing looks worse than a polo shirt untucked when worn with a pair of trousers - down with that sort of thing.

 

[NearHull]

Until I joined my present club around five years ago I’d never come across the ‘trollies between green and bunkers rule’. That’s in over 25 years of playing and being the member of three previous clubs. Nor had I heard of it on the many, many courses that I played south of Doncaster. I had someone travel across two fairways to tell me about it when I transgressed on my own course when I first joined. It is treated as the Holy Grail up here.
Mind you I would have certainly been pulled up for changing shoes in the car park down south as is common north of Doncaster.

 

[Crumplezone]

Nothing looks worse than a polo shirt untucked when worn with a pair of trousers - down with that sort of thing.

Worse still it wasn't even a polo shirt. Worse still it wasn't even a golf shirt. I have never owned a polo or golf shirt. Which has never been a problem at any course.

 

[Captainron]

If I was on the course, fair enough, but I wasn't. Dress code does not apply when you're not on the course.

Don’t be so silly. As soon as you drive through the gate you’re obliged to adhere to the dress code of that course. Tucking your shirt in at a golf course is a basic principle. I agree that the way in which you were reminded of the fact wasn’t great. A quiet word would have sufficed I’m sure

 

[inc0gnito]

1. Silly outdated golf course rules like tucking in a t-shirt is dumb.

B. Despite silly rules as in point #i, the person should oblige to silly rules until said silly rules can be laughed out of this game.

4. Arguing over wether or not silly rules should be applied in the car park or course is as stuck up and silly as the 1th point above.

 

[Captainron]

1. Silly outdated golf course rules like tucking in a t-shirt is dumb.

B. Despite silly rules as in point #i, the person should oblige to silly rules until said silly rules can be laughed out of this game.

4. Arguing over wether or not silly rules should be applied in the car park or course is as stuck up and silly as the 1th point above.

Having a bit of pride in your appearance is not silly or outdated.

Just being difficult because it’s a rule. I reckon most people will tuck their shirt into their trousers/shorts naturally