monday night i decided to go out and get a quick 9 in. i had a few groups in front of me but the pace was pretty good, didn't have to wait. the group behind me kept hitting it closer and closer to me. on the 3rd hole, a drivable par 4 that from the white tee the group behind me was playing is only 275-280yds., they both hit there tee shots before i had even gotten to the green. i was going to let them play through, but they both hit a few more balls so i decided to play on. i'm playing from the black tees, which are 2 sets of tees behind the whites. i hit a pretty good drive down the middle of 4, downhill dogleg right to a elevated green. i'm about 135yds. out for my 2nd shot, pull my PW and hear a ball hit close to me, about 15'. i look back and they guy waves, i address my ball and hear another ball hit near me, this one stops about 3' from my ball. at that time i'm pretty upset. i send the ball back at them and put well over their heads. i normally wouldn't have that, but they hit into me and acknowledge that i was there and the proceeded to hit into me again. i get to the green and putt out and wait to see if the wanted to play through on the par 3 5th since they were in such a hurry. the younger one that hit the balls, guy mid-20s, from Europe. yells at me for hitting his ball, i then ask why he hit into twice and the guy tells me he didn't think he could hit it that far again. i give him a pretty good piece of my mind and his "partner," a dirty looking man in his 60s, tells me to F-off and then comes at me with his putter and yells that he was going to beat me head in.... at this point a twosome on the adjacent 7th hole comes over to see what is going on. the old man swing the putter at my head and nearly hits me, if i hadn't have moved he would have caught me in the left temple. i flew off the deep end on him and got right in his face and had to be held back by a member of the other twosome. i cool down a little and continue playing and have a pretty decent round, i go to the proshop and tell the pro about the situation. he says he'd never seen them there before, but would ask them about it when the finished their round. i left without finding out what was said. i couldn't believe someone would actually swing a club at someone with the sole intention of injurying them. i know the vast majority on here have had verbal confrontations, but has anyone else ever had it become physical?
.... i know the vast majority on here have had verbal confrontations, but has anyone else ever had it become physical?
No, but I have never hit a ball back at anyone either. I always try to work things out verbally, so far with 100% success rate. And I have been fortunate to not run into some real a-holes on the golf course so far.
Happened to me once about 4 years ago. I was playing in a foursome on a fairly crowded semi-public course on a weekend. Overall pace of play was fairly slow, but we were keeping up with the group ahead of us. On the seventh hole someone in the group behind us hit into us, rolling one past us. On the next hole, 3 of the 4 hit into us. We promptly hit their Pro V1's into the water on the right side of the hole, waved at them(with one finger) and moved on. On the ninth hole after we hit our drives and were waiting for the green to clear, we watched to see if they would hit into us again. One of them did. I drove the cart back and confronted them. The one who had teed off on 9 into us swung his driver at me on the tee box. I ducked his attempt and landed a uppercut that knocked him out. With him out, my group had the numbers advantage and the other 3 backed down. We finished 9 and hung out in the proshop since we were pretty sure the other group would call the cops. They did, but since I used to be a cop and this was a small town I knew the 2 guys that responded, and they weren't real interested in arresting me. The club pro threw the other group out, and the cops waited until they left, then pulled their car over and arrested the driver, who was drunk(all 4 of them were drunk actually).
That story almost brought tears (of joy) to my eyes! Jerks like that should be doing something else (I have no idea what) but NOT playing golf. Seems like propriety on the course is going out the window. It is just a part of the overall decline of civilization, I guess.
I gotta say, aggressive behavior begets aggressive behavior...middle fingers, hitting the ball back at the offending group, this is not the way to go about handling things if you DON'T want tensions to esclate...even when hit into, if YOU behave like a gentleman and handle the situation accordingly I am fairly sure the outcome would have been different...
Don't like to hear about violence on the course, but the above two posters stories lead me to believe that while they weren't the instigators, they played their roles in the esclations...
I gotta say, aggressive behavior begets aggressive behavior...middle fingers, hitting the ball back at the offending group, this is not the way to go about handling things if you DON'T want tensions to esclate...even when hit into, if YOU behave like a gentleman and handle the situation accordingly I am fairly sure the outcome would have been different...
Don't like to hear about violence on the course, but the above two posters stories lead me to believe that while they weren't the instigators, they played their roles in the esclations...
Absolutely. Withdraw, call the pro shop, file a complaint and let the ranger handle it. Or if its more serious, call the local police.
I did have a guy come at me with his putter raised one time, a long time ago. I accidentally hit into his green. He was a LOT older and thought better of it by the time he got closer.
I have only hit one ball back at someone, and by that point I was ready to fight. If you hit into me three or four times, it's on. Although I am mellowing in my old age I suppose.
I have to agree with bump and alf on this one. Hitting balls back at people or into the water or the woods can only make matters worse. Aside from this behavior not being the sporting gentlemanly response, it is dangerous because you never know who is a nut job out there. The very fact that they hit into you multiple times makes the odds much higher that they are unstable, aggressive, and violent people without proper respect for the well-being of others.
Sure, it feels good to hit their ball, and they probably deserve it. But it isn't worth it.
Easy to say "just ignore it, tell the pro", ect. until someone with a 125mph ball speed starts raining shots at you. Someone hits into me once, I can write it off as an accident. In my case, I know without any doubt my group was being "attacked". Sure we could have run to the pro shop and maybe they would have been thrown off the course, but would that have changed their behavior in the future?. I would have thought losing a $4 ball would have been a pretty large deterent, but obviously it wasn't. As it turned out, I bet all 4 of those idiots think long and hard before hitting into another group every again.
These days, my back is too bad to be fighting anywhere(although if I was going to fight, on the course is probably the only place I'd be loose enough that I might not throw my back out again). Maybe its the way I was raised, or because I was raised in the South, or that I've watched NASCAR all my life, but I'm a firm believer in handling my own problems whenever possible. Quadruple does make a good point in that you have to be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.
Easy to say "just ignore it, tell the pro", ect. until someone with a 125mph ball speed starts raining shots at you. Someone hits into me once, I can write it off as an accident. In my case, I know without any doubt my group was being "attacked". Sure we could have run to the pro shop and maybe they would have been thrown off the course, but would that have changed their behavior in the future?. I would have thought losing a $4 ball would have been a pretty large deterent, but obviously it wasn't. As it turned out, I bet all 4 of those idiots think long and hard before hitting into another group every again.
These days, my back is too bad to be fighting anywhere(although if I was going to fight, on the course is probably the only place I'd be loose enough that I might not throw my back out again). Maybe its the way I was raised, or because I was raised in the South, or that I've watched NASCAR all my life, but I'm a firm believer in handling my own problems whenever possible. Quadruple does make a good point in that you have to be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.
What the @#@#%^&*&$ does being raised in the South or watching NASCAR or WWF for that matter have to do with handling a golfing situation properly!?!?! All of this complaining about poor behavior on the course from ontop of a soapbox doesn't mean beans unless YOU handle the situation the RIGHT way...that means the high road, not stripping down to your waist and throwing down like you're in the back parking lot of Denny's at 1 am on Saturday night...as most of my family are Southerners I take offense into being lumped into some kind of stereotype of NASCAR watching "handle yer bizness" hooligans...handling your business in this situation means alerting a ranger or the pro shop...no need to declare war and sink to their level..."fighting" shouldn't even cross anyone's mind when they step foot onto a golf course...and don't give me the self defense line...I was raised in DC and NY and was mugged at gunpoint 3 times and jumped several others before even reaching 18...I know all about fighting back when you have no choice, but I also learned quickly how to be humble and take the easiest and safest way out of a bad situation...and my manhood is still intact!!!
Fighting hurts...really bad things can happen, especially when mixing fighting with golf clubs...I have never been in a fight where one or usually both sides don't go to the emergency room...it isn't like the movies...no matter how tough or "crazy" you might think you are, there are many tougher and crazier out there...why find out just because you were being hit into on a golf course? It's not like being attacked by a group in a dark back alley...you have plenty of options and violence ought to be at the end of the list...and as far as the lethal end of a 150mph launched ball...unless you are 50 yds off the tee you're not going to see max velocity when standing in the driver landing zone 200+ yds off the tee...at worst it would leave a mark, but you're not going to die...humongous breach of etiquette, and IS dangerous, and should be reported...anything else invites crazy into your life, and with my responsiblilites to my family and career I can't afford the downsides of physical confrontation like I could 20 years ago...all of this comes from a guy from less than a perfect neighborhood who boxed, kickboxed and studied full contact tae kwon do for 8 years and has a bridge for my top three teeth, a plate in my thumb with 6 screws, 3 other crowns from teeth knocked out, 22 total facial stiches, 38 total from fighting, broken nose 4 times, broken pinky, cracked rib, and 4 days fully hospitalized from fights...believe me son...it ain't worth it and there isn't a shred of dignity that I kept by fighting all of those times that I wouldn' t have kept by just walking away...and I'd have alot more teeth and $$$ too...(dentists cost alot!!!)...
My take on Zakthan's comment was that it's easy to say "call the pro shop", but in the heat of the moment I'm afraid I would get caught up in it (at least when I was younger). All the souther stuff aside, if someone repeatedly keeps hitting into me and none of the usual tactics work, then we are headed for a confrontation, whether it's a good idea or not. Yes you can get seriously hurt, but there's only so much I'm going to take before my temper gets ahold of me.
My take on Zakthan's comment was that it's easy to say "call the pro shop", but in the heat of the moment I'm afraid I would get caught up in it (at least when I was younger). All the souther stuff aside, if someone repeatedly keeps hitting into me and none of the usual tactics work, then we are headed for a confrontation, whether it's a good idea or not. Yes you can get seriously hurt, but there's only so much I'm going to take before my temper gets ahold of me.
And I don't even like Nascar.
My point was and still is as a grown adult, you have the option to walk away...this heat of the moment stuff is nonesense...if you have it set in your mind that physical confrontation is not going to be an option, then it won't...and IMO there is absolutely no place for physical confrontations in adult life and I will always look for the option that will either sidestep or otherwise diffuse the situation...anything less puts you along with the guys who hit into you in the same "no business being on a golf course" catergory as far as I am concerned...
June 6th, 2008, 06:53 PM
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