Venting

[Bama Duffer]

And maybe I'm wrong. If so, I'm sure you guys will tell me. And sorry this is long.

Played Timberline (http://www.timberlinegc.com/), a very nice layout just outside of Birmingham with my wife and my parents. Timberline is a "public" course that allows memberships. My mother doesn't play and she went just to ride in the cart. So we were a threesome--my father (who is 70), my wife, and me.

The starter warned us that play was slow because too many members turning up for a club dogfight. Teed off and played the first four holes at a good pace. Group in front was on the green when we reached the tee at each hole. I did notice the group behind us was creeping up a little each hole, so I thought we'd probably have to let them play through at some point.

On hole five, about 270 today, my drive landed about ten yards short of the green. The other players were on in two/three. As we came up to the green, the marshall tells us to let the foursome behind us play through. They're in the club dofight, so they'll pick up after bogie.

Ok. No big deal. Just some of the members who showed up unexpectedly.

The next few holes go well. Hole 10 is a par 3 and the threesome behind us now is in the fairway on hole 9 after we tee off. The marshall stops us after our tee shot and says to wait on the next tee and let the members behind us play through.

The marshall thanks us on the tee while we're waiting for the group to catch up with us. I hadn't paid attention to the time, but my father points out to him that we played the front nine in two hours, the recommended pace. Also, we waited for the groups ahead of us to clear the fairway at least three holes of the back nine. The reason was that the first group the marshal let play through us was holding up the second group.

I was pretty steamed by this. If a club that allows memberships is going to allow the public to play, they should NOT make public players wait to let members play through unless the pace of play dictates it. I felt that the marshall got a complaint from the members of the threesome (who were on our tail only because we had to let the first group play through and then wait for them to clear the following two holes), and slowed down play be making us wait at an artificial point.

There. I may be wrong, but I feel better.

 

[ezra76]

Yeah, that's BS. You called ahead for a tee time and all?

 

[Bama Duffer]

Yep. Tee time and all.

Another thing that ticked me off was that as the second group went by one of the guys told us not to worry, they started on 17, so they would finish on 16! Not sure why this was supposed to make me feel better. This time of year, they were clearly going to finish, but we had to go through 18, leaving us to finish in the dusk.

Of course, as we reached the 17th tee, where was the foursome? In the fairway, waiting for the first group that played through to putt out so they could hit up to the green!

We still managed to finish 18 in four hours, so I guess I should be too upset, but I was.

 

[mont86]

I have been held up by slow play while being pushed from behind twice.

We didn't have to let anyone play through, but were told both time to

hurry up! Too where we're held up too!!!!! Our group were polite, but I

must admit very maddening!

 

[SiberianDVM]

Yep, more reasons why I quit Goshen: slow play that the marshalls did nothing about, impatient people behind me, and too many frickin "tournements".

 

[Poe4soul]

I play with my wife about half of the time. She is a fair golfer. She scores in high 90's or low 100's but she has been playing for a long time and understnds how to play quickly. We get challenged more by the marshalls when she in on a foursome. We are always keeping up. In fact I would say that more time is spent by myself or one of my fellow golfers looking for an errant shot to protect a score than we wait for her. One time we were told to pick up play on the fourth hole. I challenge the marshall because I knew we were playing at a good pace. He was rude. We made the turn in under 2 hours. For the rest of the round he would follow us. He visited us 6 times on the back nine.

 

[JEFF4i]

There's nothing wrong with not being a great player, just keep the pace of play up, that's all.

As far as that marshall, he's a jerk. I've met a couple like him and I've argued with a few like him, because I'm paying to be out there like anyone else, I got off and spent my time, so I've just as much right.

 

[Eracer]

The vast majority of 'marshalls' haven't got a clue. They tell your foursome to speed up because the twosome in front of youare pulling away, despite the fact that you are holding up no one. Or they tell you to speed up when you keep waiting for the group in front to clear the greens. Or they're just plain rude.

I think course marshalls are a great idea gone horribly wrong. I'm sure there are some good ones. But the vast majority, IMHO, is that they are untrained and unnecessary annoyances - nothing more.

 

[Bravo]

Can't blame you at all for being upset....what a jerk...as long as you kept up the pace of play he has no right to do that to you.

What the management needs to understand is that you were offended by how you were treated - therefore the likelihood that you will return there is low.

I realize they have a budget to meet - which involves balancing the needs of members with non-members but as long as you kept up the pace of play, they had no right to push the other groups through.

If I were them, I would have told the members that the dogfight tee times were from 7:30 - 8:30 and if you did not reserve a time between these, you would have to tee off whenever you could get there and non-members would be ahead of you.

The reason the marshall forced members to go through you was so they could promptly calculate the scores and award the winnings....but they did a bad job of planning and setting expectations with the members when they organized the tournament and offended you as a paying player as a result....

Bad management all the way around....how was the course? I've never played there...

 

[Bama Duffer]

My wife plays about the same, Poe. 90's and low 100's. But she has a great time and does not hold up play. She has no problem picking up if the hole is bad, but like you say, we spend more time looking for my errant shots than we do waiting for her.

Bravo, you should take the short drive south and give it a shot. I really like the course layout and, despite my experience, it's a well-maintained course, although they could use a clubhouse. (Working out of a couple of trailers right now).

I read your earlier post about the fast greens at Vestavia and thought these would be the same. They were surprisingly slow, although not unusually so. They had tough pin placements, but they weren't unfair.

As for my experience, I've played there before and didn't have the same problem. My other rounds were during the week, though, and not on the weekend or holiday.

 

[Bravo]

Everyone I have talked to who has played there says the same thing...nice course, good layout and maintenance...but the clubhouse is trailers.

I guess they need to get enough permanent members to build some sort of clubhouse from a finanical standpoint. In my view, the city is overbuilt with golf courses now and getting permanent members is probably tough to do. (It was in the newspaper last Friday that Riverchase CC filed for bankrupcy...recall we talked about that a few months ago. And the course there is still beautiful and in great shape).

Until Jerry Pate redesigned Timberline, it was a very very average public course...nothing remarkable about it. Apparently he did a hell of a job on the re-do because it gets good remarks now...

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

No Doubt. If you are paying for a round, where you have set a tee time and playing according to whatever guidlines they have on speed of play, the Marshall should stay out of it. It should be up to you on who you wish to allow to play through. If they want to give their members that kind of consideration, close the course to non-members at set times or all together and see if they can survive financially. That would likely be the last time I would visit that course.