Golf Course Rage – Part 2

Posted July 12th, 2009 at 6:15 pm in Golf Swing

We spoke of this unfortunate incident in an earlier post about this guy in the picture who is being sent to prison for bashing the head of a golfer with a six-iron, during an altercation at a public golf course. Doesn't look too happy does he? Since this incident was allegedly caused by an argument over slow play the conversation naturally led to that subject.

Public Golf In Missouri In The 70's and 80's Sucked

Until the farmers sold out to golf course developers in the 90's. Unfortunately by then I had moved on but early in my golf career I was forced to play the public courses that existed at the time because I could not afford the dues of a private club. And let's face it, golf courses where the general public play are where you encounter this problem the most. (Members at private clubs usually won't put up with it.)

Six hour rounds were common, waiting on every shot while the idiots in front of us did everything they could to make our round of golf as miserable as possible, hitting mulligans from the fairway, taking forever to look for balls I wouldn't pay 10 cents for, leaving carts as far away from the next tee as possible, and I don't think they looked back over their shoulder at the havoc they were creating, nor would they have cared! Ready golf was an unknown concept and golf course marshals did absolutely nothing to help speed things up.

On a public golf course or resort course in this country it is not uncommon for a person who has never swung a golf club in their life to play for the first time on an actual golf course! I was ready to quit the game rather than put up with this nonsense. There just was no reason for it.

Six hours of frustration would ruin my weekend and I would rage to my wife about whatever happened to common courtesy? Not knowing how to play the game is one thing but just like a freeway or an airplane there are other people around that you must show consideration for, things my parents taught me. And if the others never possessed common sense or consideration, well, that was their problem. On the freeway you can drop back behind the idiots or in an airplane you can move to another seat when confronted with rude or obnoxious behavior. On the golf course you are trapped! And besides, playing golf isn't a mad rush to a crappy job, it's supposed to be relaxing and fun!

Out of control golf rage, the kind where golf clubs are used as weapons is not about slow play, even though that may be what sets it off. It's more about Joe the golfer being upset at his girlfriend, wife, parents, school, finances, (fill in the blank). Joe starts to play badly, frustration sets in (I just know I can hit a second ball better) and when he has to look for two balls in the woods, he is just a gun waiting to go off. The group behind him is just as frustrated, maybe for different reasons but is now directing their anger at the inconsiderate morons in front of them. Words are exchanged and if violence breaks out, things are blown out of proportion because of all the other issues, the wife, girlfriend, finances, etc, all of a sudden all this non-golf crap finds an outlet!

USGA Logo The United States Golf Association has done a fantastic job to raise awareness about and to address the problem of slow play. Their Golf Etiquette 101 should be required reading before someone new to the game ever picks up a club. The situation has gotten a lot better over the years. However, golfers who play the game the right way might agree that we still have a long way to go. Here are some of the things that I see that still need to be addressed:

When players are out of position and causing a back up, marshals need to address the problem, not ignore it and hope it will go away. And to be fair to marshals, try telling someone who has paid upwards of $100. to play faster and watch the typical reaction, an upraised finger or blame being placed on the guys in front of them. The upscale courses in my neighborhood who are concerned that all players at their golf course have a great experience will send out player reps to fore caddy, look for balls, rake bunkers, etc until normal pace is resumed.

For more ideas of how to combat slow play read my friend Par's treatise on slow play, the 10 commandments of golf etiquette and a his description of a fictional round of golf at the golf club owned by the queen of etiquette herself Emily Post Golf & Country Club.

Here is a great video of how to avoid slow play to make golf enjoyable for everyone: