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I was playing a round today on the same public course I've played every Sunday for the last 2 years.

Around the 12th hole, we all noticed a different was ahead of us on the green, taking a while. Over the next couple of holes, we tried to figure out what happened as we waited for this group.

Finally we got a chance to see that it was the golf pro, giving lessons to 2 teenagers.

I walked up and said, "how did you get ahead of us"?

He replied, "I'm the head pro here."

I said "And I'm a paying customer."

He said he was not getting in our way, and I told him he was. He pulled away but there was no apology.

Am I unreasonable to think this is outrageous behavior?

It has happened to me before, and I did the same. I actually said a little more than that, because the man tried to tell me it was perfectly fine that he cut ahead of us because he was better. I laughed in his face because we watched him lose two tee balls OB, and me and my buddy were both shooting +2 going into the last hole. Believe me, I let the man hear it. I do not care if it is a pro or not, that just shows horrible golf etiquette. So I think what you did was perfectly fine.

I am of the opinion that if there is an open hole and the group that will be behind is not approaching the green that it may be done if you ask them first. I have never seen anyone say no if it is a single or a pair. Anything short of that is very rude at best.

and TheManAtTheValle welcome to golf rewind

Cheers, Bob

Thank you Bob, I already love it here!

He should have let you play around him and his group. Head pro or not.
I'm a new player, and have been advised to let faster golfers go around, which I do. Sounds like the pro was being rude and pushing his weight. Takes all kinds...
I once had a elderly lady yell at me cause I was taking too long to sink a putt! Guess she was afraid of kicking the bucket before she tee'd off.
There are rude players all over...

Sounds like he needed a hole for a lesson. But he shouldn't have been rude...

It's a sad day when club pros ignore golf etiquette. They don't even have the dubious excuse of "I didn't know." You were more than reasonable in this situation.

I've been on the tee box on number one and been told "Wait, we're going to let a group ahead of you because they have some LPGA connection". The starter rolled his eyes but made us wait. So I had to play behind a group that was slow and obnoxious.

The head pro should know that customers are worth WAY more than his time, in this economy. Just don't go back to that course.

Its rude for that head pro to cut in front of you guys. If he asked, I wouldn't mind it but just because your a good golfer or a someone with a high reputation doesn't mean you can treat others like they don't belong.

Thanks for the opinions.

Of course I had thought about avoiding this course because of his attitude but why should I? It's a course owned by the county where I live and pay taxes.

At least report his behavior to the management, possibly the county commissioner for that precinct or even the county judge. Sounds to me like the guy needs to be humbled just a tad.

Shade

Wecome to the World of Golf guys.
Most if not all Private Members Clubs give preference to the Club Captain and the Pro Staff. The Pro may be giving a Playing Lesson and needs to be able to get on the course (it is his living).
Then because the Public Courses are run through the Pro-shop the Pro also gets preference there.
If the Pro had walked onto a Tee and said that he was going ahead of you, then I would have said you had a case, but you say you saw "Them" on the 12th and took a couple of holes to get close enough to talk to them.
Here in the UK the standard rule is that it is OK to 'jump in' if there is a clear hole behind, like going from the 4th green and teeing off down 12 is OK if no one is playing the 11th.

The Pro's manners may come into question but nothing else.

If he had asked, I'm sure you would have said, "no problem". I'm also sure the fact that there was a hole clear between you and the next group played into his decision, but that shouldn't matter. All he had to do was ask, in fact, because he was the club pro and the hole was open, basically he could have just told you (politely) what he was going to do and everything would have been fine. Then, he compounds his first action by being rude.

You say he was giving a lesson to two teenagers - my biggest pet peeve in golf is the overall decline in etiquette - what kind of lesson was he imparting in that department?

I agree with shaderunner - turn him in. He needs to learn that without the public, he has no job.

What would you say if the shoe was on the other foot. You turn up for your "Playing Lesson" at the allotted time to be told, "sorry we can't get a space to start so give it a couple of hours or come back another time".

So the pro shouldn't reserve a tee time for a playing lesson?

If the lesson involved course time and the pro didn't remember to book a slot with the starter, it's his bad. If that was the case, he had an easy solution... all he had to do was communicate what he was doing or at least own up to it when questioned, and let people play through if he was holding things up with slow play. If he had done this, it would have been a case of no harm, no foul. Instead, he did neither. Instead, he got arrogant. A pro gets paid - he needs to be better than this.