What winds you up on the course?

First topic message reminder :

I am sure we have had many of these threads over the years but having a moan is always good and we are far enough into the season to have been reminded of all the things that really wind us up while playing golf.

So lets here what really winds you up when playing golf?


For me it is the atmosphere in the clubhouse, the clubhouse is an uncomfortable place to be as the attitudes and services are very outdated.

For starters the coffee in clubhouses is probably some of the worst you will find. I admit to being into 3rd wave/specialist coffee, but really the formula for a decent coffee is pretty simple. Decent beans and the correct grind. Oh, and a latte or flat white don't come in a bucket sized cup.

The food in clubhouses is dire. Why not just offer a decent bacon roll instead of trying to offer a restaurant style menu. If they really feel the need for more then opt for sandwiches with some organic meat and other top notch fillings and maybe a simple terrine and soup. Why the obsessions with frozen deep fried food and manky burgers?

And finally the beer. Lets just say it isn't exactly craft beer.

The thing is even in the so called better clubs the food and drink offered is some of the worst you will find in any walk of life.

As for the people, I think you all know how I feel about the average golfer. So lets just leave that alone for now.

gw

Golf clubhouses are certainly a but UKIP'y.

And never mind as a kid, I try to avoid setting foot in clubhouses as an adult. Heard the phrase "person of Asian descent shop" for the first time in a long time in a golf club recently. Probably best that your kid avoids them.

The clubhouse is certainly the area I use to avoid with a passion, right up until I stopped playing.......unless it was after a match and it would be rude not to buy your partners a drink, but I was out asap

Golf clubs and golfers were why I gave up around 14 years old.

Often wonder what I'd be like if I kept playing through my teens and 20's

gw wrote:Caveat: I should have said "in my experience". I would be interested to hear what it's like at your clubs, for juniors, new members, beginners etc.

Totally the opposite.

Juniors: We have tee markers halfway down each fairway for the very young (6 to 10 year olds) to play off and have events reserved for them to play (admittedly only a couple of hours per week out of prime time. They are accompanied by a volunteer adult who makes sure adults get to play through etc.). We have two junior conveyors who oversee the the junior section (11 to 18 year old) and organise lots of events including free coaching/golf clinics twice a week. Juniors with a valid handicap can and do play with the adult members in the main competitions, although there are also junior only competitions and a junior order of merit. The Junior Captain is invited to committee meetings and attends the annual prize giving and winter league dinners etc.

Nobody looks down on the juniors. During the summer I often nip up for a few holes after work and it's not uncommon to end up playing with a bunch of juniors who are on their 3rd or 4th 18, having been dropped off at the club by parents at 8am.

New Members & Beginners: We've had an influx of new members (some beginners and some from other clubs) over the last few years, and the club has set up an induction night for them whereby the way the club is run is explained. A few of the more long standing members are asked to come along and mingle. The club puts on basics coaching (we don't have a pro) for beginners at a highly subsidised rate by bringing in a pro for 2 hours every Monday night for the first 2 months of the season. There are a few fun competitions on Thursday evenings that they are encouraged to enter before venturing into the Saturday comps and medals.

super_realist wrote:Golf clubs and golfers were why I gave up around 14 years old.

Often wonder what I'd be like if I kept playing through my teens and 20's

You would have been a different kind of d**k head. :hug:

The selfishness of some the a holes that play golf is beyond belief. I know that golf is more likely to attract those self important types (bordering on fascist) but a situation arose recently that summed it up for me. Our regular roll up is at 1pm saturday - this weekend the scratch A team were playing their first match of the season, due off at 12.30. Unbelievably a few in our roll up complained at the clash and recommended that the A team should try and avoid starting then cos it clashed with the roll up. Incredible that a load of old farts (lowest h'cap 9) think they should take precedence over the scratch A team representing the club! And they were peed off when told to take a hike!

monty

That is a disgrace. With a nine handicap they are lucky not to be restricted to mid week working hours tee times and made to play from the ladies tees.

If a club has, what, maybe 500-600 members, there'll always be idiots. I'd expect a reasonable cross-section of the general public and that's what I tend to see these days.

When I was a junior 30-40 years ago, I and my friends came across plenty of members who treated juniors like dirt with no standing whatsoever. In fact, the club rules stated we had little standing. That said though, there were many who encouraged us and spoke up for us in arguments with some of the full (read: entitled, as I pay more) members.

A few things that I absolutely hate on the course

1) dog walkers who think it's fine to just stroll onto the course
2) people who blame others for their bad golf (i.e. Because he's playing poopy I'm playing poopy too)
3) poorly sanded bunkers, even worse is when there are stones underneath

When I was a kid some pals said they had got work during holidays caddying. Went with some others to a different club and on asking if they needed caddies we were told to bu..er off. I didn't go near a golf club for another 30+ years - partly as a result ( obviously not for us) but mostly because other things seemed so much more interesting. We were 10/11.
Joined a club as a 50th birthday present to myself and Delighted to say my home club has a fantastic, open approach to juniors, and an enviable reputation. There are still some dinosaurs about, but more to be pitied than scorned!

I can recall that I turned up to our club night (supposed to be just turn up and play with whoever's around, many formats, social in intent) asked a guy (who I knew, not well, but knew nonetheless) if he had a four, hopeful of joining in. Said he had, went off, played in a 3 and left me game less.

That wound me up. Still does.

The problem he had is as a golfer he couldnt use the excuse not my ball mate, you will need to ask him.

Seriously though, it's these stories that and attitudes that meant it took me three years to join a club despite playing golf at least once a week.

What chance have you in getting new comers to join, who are just new to the game.

Roller_Coaster wrote:I can recall that I turned up to our club night (supposed to be just turn up and play with whoever's around, many formats, social in intent) asked a guy (who I knew, not well, but knew nonetheless) if he had a four, hopeful of joining in. Said he had, went off, played in a 3 and left me game less.

That wound me up. Still does.

Happens to Mac all the time.

It has actually happened a number of times. As well as people refusing to have a post round drink with me.

McLaren wrote:It has actually happened a number of times.  As well as people refusing to have a post round drink with me.

Do you mean they wouldn't, or they just had to get away?

They didn't stay around long enough to explain

super_realist wrote:

McLaren wrote:It has actually happened a number of times.  As well as people refusing to have a post round drink with me.

Do you mean they wouldn't, or they just had to get away?

Did you say once that someone wanted to fight you on the course super? I'd like to hear the story behind that...

True Inco, town drunk.
Was in the shop when me and the other player were halfway up the fairway looking for his ball. He asked the chaps score on the hole and I told him that if he'd been doing what he was supposed to be doing(i.e. marking his card) he'd know what his score was.

He then went all "tough guy" as lots of Scottish people are fond of doing and asked if I had a problem with it and that perhaps "we should sort it out".

I've barely said a word to the guy since, he's been banned from the club before, had his handicap suspended, kicked out of other clubs, banned from county comps etc, so it's not just me, trouble maker with a drink problem.

It winds me up when you practice hard and then score well in a competition and get branded a "bandit".

incontinentia wrote:It winds me up when you practice hard and then score well in a competition and get branded a "bandit".

I get this alot, I play low stroke index holes to Par get 4 points and I am immediately branded a bandit, but they ignore the pick up/blow out I had on the stroke index 18 and the 1 pointers I have throughout. The life of a 23 handicap