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Bad experiences in your golfing life...

IrishGolfer

Fac ut gaudeam
Supporting Member
Sep 1, 2004
6,542
4,976
Sometimes I have to write things down, so sorry for this sad tale of bitterness and resentment.

So anyway, I had a pairs match yesterday. 4th round in our knock-out club competition and at this stage of the competition the matches get interesting. My partner and I were drawn against two "older gentlemen", one of whom I had played with before last year. My partner had warned me that these guys had a reputation for being slow. So much so that the guys that this pair had beaten in the last round had complained, but because they lost did not want to make a big deal out of it, lest it look like sour grapes.

So we teed off at 1pm and the course was relatively quiet, there was no-one ahead of us. Four ball-better ball and the sun was shining. Life is good.

5 HOURS LATER AND I WAS READY TO COMMIT MURDER! Yes, that's 5 hours later when we finished at the 18th. Without having to wait for a single shot the entire round, we trudged through one of the most tortous rounds I have ever had to endure. These dudes through a combination of deliberate gamesmanship and selfishness decided that they would play at their own pace. After 9 holes ( 2 hrs. 40 mins) I was going up the wall. After 12 holes I was ready to walk in. After 15 holes and I refused to acknowledge or speak to either of them. After 18 holes I was close to sinking my wedge into one of their skulls!

The match started out in good spirits. My partner has a reputation for being slow, so there was a bit of jibbing on the 1st tee. By the 4th tee, my partner looked like a sprinter! Luckily there was only one match behind us which we eventually let through on the 12th. I was so embarrassed. To typify play, here's what was going on. The Tall Old Guy would tee up and spend 20 seconds lining his ball up on the tee to target. He would then stand behind the ball, visualise and then take 2 very methodical practice swings, EVERY SHOT. If he drove one in the rough he would hit a provisional "just in case". Putting was worse, both of them would look at his putts from every angle, then again he would line up his ball precisely (taking 20 seconds to make sure it was accurate). Then he would go an have another look at it and then take two long practice swings and finally hit his putt. Oh, did I mention club selections? The decisions these guys had to make; I mean for guys who played off indexes of 8 and 13, not exactly Tiger and Jim, they woukld spend minutes hudling about what clubs to hit. Like it would make a huge difference.

We made a couple of comments during the round about speeding up play, but to no effect. I'm not sure if one can penalise one's opponents in match play for slow play.

As it turns out the quality of golf in the game was very good and outside what was happening it was a very close game. So much so that we were tied at the end and and had to play sudden death tie holes! I so desparately wanted to beat these guys.

Well, we finally got poetic justice. Both of them hit off into trouble at the first tie hole. The Tall old guy pulls one down the left. Short old guy drives into the gorse on the right. I hit one down left and it ran out of fairway on the left, not too bad. My partner hits one down the middle. When we arrived down to look for our balls, I asked my partner to note the time. We both agree that we would be applying the 5 minute rule "to the second". So both of us were hunting for our balls, and it turns out the rough is quite bad. Anyway 5 minutes later (to the second) I loudly declared my ball lost as we had expired the allowed time "within the rules".

So effectively I was also declaring Tall Old Guy's ball lost as well. And guess what? About 1 minute later Tall Old Guy finds his ball! Too bad asswipe, you're outa here!! I also found my ball and made a point of letting him know "just how unlucky we both were" in my most sarcastic voice.

These are supposed to be friendly matches played in good spirit. But my partner and I had just about as much good spirit as we could handle.
So we ended up winning the hole on my partner's ball with a bogey! LOL!

These two guys, imho, were cheating. Deliberately slowing up play to give themselves an advantage. There is no way that these guys would get away with this type of play in a regular tournament. They would be kicked off the course. The Tall Old Guy was probably the single most selfish golfer I have ever encountered. I am not 100% sure he was doing this whole gig deliberately. But what annoyed me more were the comments from his partner who would slink over to me and casually say "Boy, it's kinda slow today, eh?"

It was all I could do to shake hands with these guys when our match finished. I refused to have a drink with them afterwards (my partner in fact did the decent thing). I just got in the car and drove home. The fact that we won was only a minor consolation. I was genuinely upset with the whole episode, upset that I had lost my cool and my dignity, but I cannot detest blatant cheating.

I am sure both these guys are decent folk, and maybe they just got me on a bad day. I phoned my partner later last night and apologised. But he backed me up and said that a number of comments had been passe int he club house about these guys. Still it's been a long time since I have lost my cool like that. Golf is supposed to be fun, right?

Sorry, rant over!! I must go and look at "Why I play golf" again.
 

Bravo

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2004
5,822
15
Great.........errrr.....horrible?! post.

What an experience....reading the story (I am certain) in no way really conveyed what you went through.

But I loved....relished....the ending. Three balls lost on the five minute rule....YES!!!

For all of the shit they gave you over all of those hours - they were unable to compete on the final hole of competition.

LOVE IT....:dead::dead:

Did you say that the fellows had a reputation round the club for slow play?? Others had mentioned them??

Although I have never 'text messaged' in my life - it would have been fitting if you had your cell phone with you and could have TM'ed all during their long delays.

After they finally hit you could have said...."Oh so you've hit already....good show then"....
 

Dave Ireland

I'm sizzlin tonite
Aug 31, 2004
1,388
0
Jeez IG, I thought you would've been above all the bustle ;), I suppose like it or not, it appears to be part and parcel of the matchplay game... Ballesteros and Azinger would be 2 prime examples ..

Last year myself and a buddy teed off @ 5.45pm for a fly around 18 .. we caught up on a 2ball on the 14th .. I knew from the club sweaters they were wearing that it was an inter club competition so we didn't harrass them unneccesarily .. it later transpired that they had started at 2.30 .. so we'd given them over 3 hours of a start and caught them up on #14

I'd be a firm believer in playing your natural game irrespective of the circumstances .. and generally peoples pace of play mirrors their pace of life .. you walk, talk, eat quickly - you'll generally play golf at a brisk pace and to intentionally slow down your natural tempo hinders rather than helps the cause... Congrats on the fine win anyways .. I too have had an unexpacted run in the singles matchplay .. beat a 5 h/c 4&3 in the last 32 took 4.45, and last Wednesday beat the club champion (+1) 2 holes in 3.20 .. keep up the good form
 

warbirdlover

Ender of all threads
Supporting Member
Jul 9, 2005
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central Wisconsin
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sssmokin and I had a slow couple in front of us Saturday. And a FIVE-SOME on SIX carts in front of them driving all up and around right next to the greens. Since the old duffers behind us even caught up we had three groups waiting on this fivesome which looked like a bunch of ants running around an anthill. Then we find out there is ANOTHER fivesome in front of them. Of course no ranger on this course.

We all raised HELL when we got done and the KID at the counter said they told him they caught up with the group ahead and played together. Yeah, right! That's why the fivesome was sitting at a table together. I wonder how many "hick" courses these guys pull that sh*t on? Geez I hate holidays when all the yahoos come out of the woodwork.... :D
 

goalie

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2006
7
0
I was playing the 18th hole with some friends yesterday and having a good round (for me). I hit a drive in the first cut off to the right a little, and you could see it from the tee box. Some guys from the adjacent hole went over by where my ball was and hit their second shot. We get there and my ball is gone, and another ball is semi-close, but in the deep rough and under a pine tree.

I know that idiot hit my ball because it gave him a shot at his green, and his ball was under a tree with no shot. I especially liked how he sped away as soon as we got close.

GRRRRRRRR

It pissed me off to take a stroke for a "lost" ball when we could see where it landed and stopped from the tee.

Made my par a double-bogey.
 

GoodDay

Well-Known Member
Sep 22, 2006
88
0
Last year's World Amateur Handicap Championship had a day where the rounds were SEVEN HOURS.

SEVEN HOURS.

Nothing like seeing a bunch of mid to high handicappers totally eschewing the speed and style they regularly play at home and adopting the "mannerisms" of the players they see on TV come tournament time.

SEVEN HOURS!!!!!!!!
 

Augster

Rules Nerd
Supporting Member
Mar 9, 2005
1,473
23
IG, it looks like you took the bait. Hook, line, and sinker.

Slow play is the BEST gamesmanship tactic in match play because you are NOT ALLOWED to play if it is not your honor. When you do have the honor, by delaying, you get to "force your will" on your opponents.

Slow play is a much better gamesmanship tactic in that it is totally indirect. If one of the guys coughs in your backswing or jingles his change when you go to putt, that is just incentive to get it put back on them during their shots.

Thusly, the ONLY way to combat slow play in match play is to play slower yourself. If you speed up to "keep up" the pace of play, you are playing their game. Also, if you slow down and it takes you out of your game, you are also playing their game.

In future match play matches, YOU and your partner should be the ones going in planning on slow playing for the same reasons. That way, if your future opponents were not going to slow play you, you have the upper hand. If they are planning on it, you are ready for it as you were planning on playing slow. If they guys you are playing against aren't slowplaying and turn out to be decent gents, you and your partner can THEN decide to go back to your normal pace of play if you want to.

I'm sorry these guys played you like that, but in the end you managed to gut it out. Congrats!

I was playing the 18th hole with some friends yesterday and having a good round (for me). I hit a drive in the first cut off to the right a little, and you could..... SNIP

It pissed me off to take a stroke for a "lost" ball when we could see where it landed and stopped from the tee.

Goalie, this is covered under Rule 18: Ball at rest moved...

18-1 By Outside Agency

If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.



If you have overwhelming evidence that your ball was taken by another player, a fox, a bird or whatnot, you play from where you think the ball was at rest without penalty.

I run into this all the time at my course.
 

VtDivot

SLIGHTERED
Supporting Member
Apr 16, 2005
7,154
32
Interesting story.

You prob should have stayed for the customary drink afterwards. I always make it a point to offer the beaten a round. My partner blazes off like he's late for the birth of his child or something.

It's too bad you let it bother you so much. I bet you feel better now though that it's all over with and you've had some time to think about it.
 

Rockford35

Shark skin shoes
Staff member
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Aug 30, 2004
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Interesting story.

You prob should have stayed for the customary drink afterwards. I always make it a point to offer the beaten a round. My partner blazes off like he's late for the birth of his child or something.
It's too bad you let it bother you so much. I bet you feel better now though that it's all over with and you've had some time to think about it.

You're just an alcoholic. ;)

I agree with Aug here tho. Slow play is paramount to doubles. We did it all the time in High School. It aggravated the other team something awful, but it works like a charm. And, the marshall knew of our plan, and left 3 tee times open behind our groups, just to be certain.

Sucks, but it works.

I do, however, agree that for fun things like this there should be a limit. And, you should have a right to complain.

The least you could have done is slashed their tires. That would have slowed them sumthin awful. J/K...:D

R35
 

goalie

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2006
7
0
Goalie, this is covered under Rule 18: Ball at rest moved...

18-1 By Outside Agency

If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.



If you have overwhelming evidence that your ball was taken by another player, a fox, a bird or whatnot, you play from where you think the ball was at rest without penalty.

I run into this all the time at my course.

I could hug you man.

I was pretty pissed, since we could all see my ball from the tee box, the, poof, it's gone when we get there.
 

Eracer

No more triple bogies!!
Oct 31, 2005
12,405
8
sssmokin and I had a slow couple in front of us Saturday. And a FIVE-SOME on SIX carts in front of them driving all up and around right next to the greens. Since the old duffers behind us even caught up we had three groups waiting on this fivesome which looked like a bunch of ants running around an anthill. Then we find out there is ANOTHER fivesome in front of them. Of course no ranger on this course.

We all raised HELL when we got done and the KID at the counter said they told him they caught up with the group ahead and played together. Yeah, right! That's why the fivesome was sitting at a table together. I wonder how many "hick" courses these guys pull that sh*t on? Geez I hate holidays when all the yahoos come out of the woodwork.... :D

And there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Reminds me of the time we got stuck behind a fivesome of some total nimrods. We stand on the the tee at a par 3 looking for the flag, finally see it laying on the fringe. We yell at the bozos on the next tee. One of them hops in his cart, drives ACROSS the green, and puts the flag in.

We stood there dumbfounded for five minutes.
 

EnglishGolfer

Talks a good game
Oct 3, 2005
845
1
As a young but fairly promising whippersnapper golfer I was whupping pretty much everyone that I played against at match play but I used to play at quite a pace (still do when permitted by others). Most people just do the decent thing and try to keep up even if it is detrimental to their game. However one bloke was having none of it and was psyching me out big time with his slow play and endless waffle about nothing in particular.

After 9 holes being 4 down I nipped into the locker room and left and indentation of every knuckle on my right hand in my sheet steel locker door to relieve a bit of the tension (ah the impetuousness of youth combined with teenage hormones = idiot). By the time I reached my second shot on the 10th I could no longer form a fist and attempted to complete the hole with tears of agony rolling down my face. Not exactly my finest hour.
 
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IrishGolfer

IrishGolfer

Fac ut gaudeam
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Sep 1, 2004
6,542
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It's too bad you let it bother you so much. I bet you feel better now though that it's all over with and you've had some time to think about it.

C
I was upset afterwards that I let it get to me. I'm usually fairly laid back on these things. You're right I should have let go and gone in for a drink afterwards. I just needed time to cool off.

Never too old to learn, eh?
 

VtDivot

SLIGHTERED
Supporting Member
Apr 16, 2005
7,154
32
C
I was upset afterwards that I let it get to me. I'm usually fairly laid back on these things. You're right I should have let go and gone in for a drink afterwards. I just needed time to cool off.

Never too old to learn, eh?

Trust me, I've been there. Usually with me though it's the disappointment after a bad round... I realize usually on the drive home how lucky I am to be living in a place in the world where I can enjoy the game, and feel like a complete idiot for letting it bother me.
 

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