Ducky
17th November 2004, 07:30 PM
I was convinced that a bit of "biffo" was going to break out between myself and another member from a club not too far from mine. Basically, the argument was in relation to golf etiquette after an incident on the 18th hole.
Myself, two other friends, and two Japanese exchange students (who were visiting my friends) were half way down the 18th hole (which is around 380m) at the time. We looked around to check if anyone was behind us before continuing. There was one man, however, he placed his gear next to the other tee box, so we assumed he was heading in the other direction on the 3rd hole. We continued.
Three of us were inside 150m of the green already (I was around 70m off the green after I killed my drive :wink:) and were waiting on the Japanese exchange students to hit. We walked around 10m more, and noticed a ball roll up behind us. Looking back, there was the man (mentioned earlier) on the 18th tee box.
We continued walking to the distance our balls were positioned at and waited in the rough next to the fairway (as we noticed the man hurrying up quickly to his ball). We waited and observed him hit his second shot, which was a worm burner over to the right hand side rough.
We continued to wait as he went searching for his ball. He was unable to find it, so I walked over and pointed it out to him (as I knew were it ended up).
We finally all hit up to the green, and I holed out quickly as I needed to be heading off by 7:00pm. I said 'good bye' to the others as I walked off to the car, but was stopped by the man who had hit up on us.
He asked if anyone was a member at the club. I replied that I was, but the rest were not. He started questioning my golfing etiquette (which I thought was ironic considering he just missed hitting us with his drive off the tee) and why I had not called him through. I explained to him that we were already over half way to completing the hole, and did not believe that calling him through would have sped up the playing process as it was the last hole anyway. I apologised and said had it been any other hole I would have called him through, and started to walk to the car once again.
Now, matters started to take a turn for the worst. In a raised voice (which would have caught the attention of players on the other greens close by), he stated that I did not respect the rules of golf and that as a member I should have known better. He continued that as a paying player for 18 holes, he should not have had to wait whilst we finished out the hole. Cutting in, I explained that we were also paying players but because we teed off so late, we had only been able to play 3 holes [10, 11, and 18].
I could sympathise with his point that we had cut in front of him, but at the time when we had teed off, he was not visible on the 17th hole.
After he continued to make a scene, I finally stated that he did not deserve to be respected if he could not be patient for two minutes whilst the group in front of him finished out the hole.
I continued to the car, put my gear in, and hopped in the passenger seat. Of course, this didn't discourage him at all, and he proceeded to the drivers seat window (where my mum was sitting), and decided to make things a little more personal (using my mum as leverage considering that she didn't want to sit there arguing about a situation she had not been present for).
He asked for my name, which I was happy to give to him, and as an attempt to try and end the argument, I suggested that he lodge a complaint and I would discuss it with the club professional next time I saw him. This wasn't good enough for him (as he noted that the club professional would probably agree with me). Instead, he decided to undermine my name, age, and manners (which would apparently get my ass kicked in the army) in an effort to get me to admit I was wrong (which I did not believe I was).
At this point, I was certain the only way to end the argument would have been to get out of the car and settle it with "fisty cuffs" (which I am sure is obviously what he wanted considering he would not discontinue his abuse).
Finally, after several more minutes of arguing through the car window, he must have come to the conclusion that he was over reacting, and started to walk off to his car.
So, obviously I am going to have to discuss this with the club professional next time I see him (whether or not the man decides to lodge a complaint). But what do you guys reckon? Was I in the wrong? Should I have called him through or continued playing?
Anyway, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading.
Kind regards,
Ben (Ducky).
Myself, two other friends, and two Japanese exchange students (who were visiting my friends) were half way down the 18th hole (which is around 380m) at the time. We looked around to check if anyone was behind us before continuing. There was one man, however, he placed his gear next to the other tee box, so we assumed he was heading in the other direction on the 3rd hole. We continued.
Three of us were inside 150m of the green already (I was around 70m off the green after I killed my drive :wink:) and were waiting on the Japanese exchange students to hit. We walked around 10m more, and noticed a ball roll up behind us. Looking back, there was the man (mentioned earlier) on the 18th tee box.
We continued walking to the distance our balls were positioned at and waited in the rough next to the fairway (as we noticed the man hurrying up quickly to his ball). We waited and observed him hit his second shot, which was a worm burner over to the right hand side rough.
We continued to wait as he went searching for his ball. He was unable to find it, so I walked over and pointed it out to him (as I knew were it ended up).
We finally all hit up to the green, and I holed out quickly as I needed to be heading off by 7:00pm. I said 'good bye' to the others as I walked off to the car, but was stopped by the man who had hit up on us.
He asked if anyone was a member at the club. I replied that I was, but the rest were not. He started questioning my golfing etiquette (which I thought was ironic considering he just missed hitting us with his drive off the tee) and why I had not called him through. I explained to him that we were already over half way to completing the hole, and did not believe that calling him through would have sped up the playing process as it was the last hole anyway. I apologised and said had it been any other hole I would have called him through, and started to walk to the car once again.
Now, matters started to take a turn for the worst. In a raised voice (which would have caught the attention of players on the other greens close by), he stated that I did not respect the rules of golf and that as a member I should have known better. He continued that as a paying player for 18 holes, he should not have had to wait whilst we finished out the hole. Cutting in, I explained that we were also paying players but because we teed off so late, we had only been able to play 3 holes [10, 11, and 18].
I could sympathise with his point that we had cut in front of him, but at the time when we had teed off, he was not visible on the 17th hole.
After he continued to make a scene, I finally stated that he did not deserve to be respected if he could not be patient for two minutes whilst the group in front of him finished out the hole.
I continued to the car, put my gear in, and hopped in the passenger seat. Of course, this didn't discourage him at all, and he proceeded to the drivers seat window (where my mum was sitting), and decided to make things a little more personal (using my mum as leverage considering that she didn't want to sit there arguing about a situation she had not been present for).
He asked for my name, which I was happy to give to him, and as an attempt to try and end the argument, I suggested that he lodge a complaint and I would discuss it with the club professional next time I saw him. This wasn't good enough for him (as he noted that the club professional would probably agree with me). Instead, he decided to undermine my name, age, and manners (which would apparently get my ass kicked in the army) in an effort to get me to admit I was wrong (which I did not believe I was).
At this point, I was certain the only way to end the argument would have been to get out of the car and settle it with "fisty cuffs" (which I am sure is obviously what he wanted considering he would not discontinue his abuse).
Finally, after several more minutes of arguing through the car window, he must have come to the conclusion that he was over reacting, and started to walk off to his car.
So, obviously I am going to have to discuss this with the club professional next time I see him (whether or not the man decides to lodge a complaint). But what do you guys reckon? Was I in the wrong? Should I have called him through or continued playing?
Anyway, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading.
Kind regards,
Ben (Ducky).