Your most unpopular Golf opinions?

[Bad9]

1 hour ago, shankasaurus rex said:

Given that I've never seen a golf course that had more single-digit handicappers than it did duffers and beginners, they ought to designate times for the "good" players, and leave the bulk of the time to the vast majority of golfers. 😘

If we’re trying to deal with slow play, low index players are almost invariably the slowest players on the course.

[mshills]

If you stop to go to the toilet at the turn for more than 5 minutes, I’m gone. That 💩 is for post-round, not mid-round. 

[Warrior42111]

27 minutes ago, Bad9 said:

If we’re trying to deal with slow play, low index players are almost invariably the slowest players on the course.

Throw $2 on their match and we seeing full aim point from both sides of the pin

[NRJyzr]

41 minutes ago, Bad9 said:

If we’re trying to deal with slow play, low index players are almost invariably the slowest players on the course.

 

12 minutes ago, Warrior42111 said:

Throw $2 on their match and we seeing full aim point from both sides of the pin

 

 

I play in the Men's Club group at my course, which plays Saturday morning.  Typical shop credit as prizes, aside from cash skins for those who wish to partake in such things.  As you would expect, it's painfully slow at times.  We do split tees, first group (maybe first couple groups) out on each nine usually play pretty quickly, but when they make the turn, they will frequently have to wait on every shot.

 

Some of these gents also play in a larger group on Friday afternoons, just after my usual crew of degenerates.  A number of better players, betting abounds, and yeah...  it can be pretty slow at times.

 

 

[Double Mocha Man]

32 minutes ago, mshills said:

If you stop to go to the toilet at the turn for more than 5 minutes, I’m gone. That 💩 is for post-round, not mid-round. 

 

But there was a stack of Golf Magazines in the stall!

[Archimedes65]

1 hour ago, Bad9 said:

If we’re trying to deal with slow play, low index players are almost invariably the slowest players on the course.

 

Truth.

[Archimedes65]

46 minutes ago, Warrior42111 said:

Throw $2 on their match and we seeing full aim point from both sides of the pin

 

Then a reread by his playing partner.  Then one more reread by the player.  Then he’ll miss the putt, gesticulate for a minute, walk slowly to his ball, make a comment to his buddies, tap it in, pull it out of the cup, and slowwwwly walk away.  Then the other team will begin the process of full aim point…

[Archimedes65]

On 5/22/2024 at 5:13 PM, jda said:

Spanish, Pebble and Spyglass last 3 days and Pebble again tomorrow.  No hurry to get off of those courses... and everybody else who is out there feels the same way.  🙂. Anybody who wants to hustle off of Pebble is a psychopath, IMO.

 

I’ve been called worse.

[Archimedes65]

On 5/24/2024 at 10:45 AM, mark174ace said:

Sweet! I am playing Spanish Bay and Spyglass on June 23rd. NCGA members were offered a real nice discount for the month of June on both courses. I have played Pebble and Spyglass once, but have never played Spanish Bay. Definitely planning on Pebble again. 

 

Spanish Bay is a great course tee to green.  But the greens are clownish.  Luckily, the course is soon to be redone by Gil Hanse.  Hopefully they just blow up the greens and start over.  Fantastic property for a golf course.  If you’ve never played there, get a yardage book/phone app and make sure you select your targets carefully, as the course does a good job deceiving you off the tee about where you should be aiming.  Prepare to hit many different clubs off the tee there as well.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2024 by Archimedes65

[Greenie]

3 hours ago, mshills said:

If you stop to go to the toilet at the turn for more than 5 minutes, I’m gone. That 💩 is for post-round, not mid-round. 

 

LOL. My group was playing behind a slow foursome earlier this week. We had a second foursome following us. On some of the holes we were waiting on the tee box and so was our other foursome. I wasn't paying attention but evidently one of the guys in the foursome ahead pulled up to his ball right beside the cart path, dropped his pants, dropped a load, pulled up his pants and proceeded to hit his shot.

One of the guys in our second group witness the whole episode and it really bothered him. 

He shot a 42 on the front and a 58 on the back. When we asked him what happened after the round he told us the story of the guy dropping his drawers. It bothered him him that he continued on without washing his hands. I asked him what he used to wipe with and he said nothing. He dropped his drawers, did his business and pulled his pants back up. I laughed and said if he dropped his drawers, didn't wipe, and pulled up his pants ,he didn't wipe so a dirty butt would be the issue not soiled hands. LOL

Edited June 4, 2024 by Greenie

[Archimedes65]

If you wait for the green to clear to hit your second shot, even though you’re standing closer to the tee box that you just teed off from with a driver than you are from the green that you think you can hit with a 6 iron, your golfing privileges should be revoked.

 

If you’re already laying 4 or more from the fairway and you pull out your range finder to shoot the flag, ever, permaban.  If I had a nickel for every time I saw a 20+ handicap laying 4 or 5 already shooting the flag from 50 yards, I’d have enough to pay for the blood pressure medication I need because of them.

[Greenie]

7 minutes ago, Archimedes65 said:

If you wait for the green to clear to hit your second shot, even though you’re standing closer to the tee box that you just teed off from with a driver than you are from the green that you think you can hit with a 6 iron, your golfing privileges should be revoked.

 

If you’re already laying 4 or more from the fairway and you pull out your range finder to shoot the flag, ever, permaban.  If I had a nickel for every time I saw a 20+ handicap laying 4 or 5 already shooting the flag from 50 yards, I’d have enough to pay for the blood pressure medication I need because of them.

 

I am not a 20+handicap and I don't use a range finder. I do use a GPS that I check. I think it is very important to know if I am 50 yds out or 40 yds out. I have a very good short game and a 10 yd difference is important to me to know. It doesn't matter what I am laying. I want to get in the hole in the least possible strokes.

[MountainKing]

3 hours ago, shankasaurus rex said:

Given that I've never seen a golf course that had more single-digit handicappers than it did duffers and beginners, they ought to designate times for the "good" players, and leave the bulk of the time to the vast majority of golfers. 😘

 

Where did I say anything about limiting golf to single digit handicappers?  It's like the pace of play argument, the minute somebody says we need to do better with pace they get jumped on for wanting to play speed golf, when really they just want a 4 hour round.  Why is there always some guy who has to take a comment and go to an extreme with it?   With #1 - just prove that you're a 30 handicap or better., If a handicap is required, then there has to be a way to obtain a handicap which leads to my next point of having ways to obtain that handicap.   This would do a lot to hopefully help people learn etiquette and get rid of the guys who want to come drink and slow the course up with a 5 hour round. 

[MountainKing]

1 hour ago, Bad9 said:

If we’re trying to deal with slow play, low index players are almost invariably the slowest players on the course.

 

I would be interested to put this one to the test.  Over 18 holes a guy who shoots 72 taking 60 seconds over the ball would eat up just over an hour of time in shots, where the guy shooting 100 taking 30 seconds over the ball would eat up just under an hour. However, the guy who shoots 72 wouldn't be spending much time at all searching for balls, or taking very indirect walks from tee to green as a result of wild shots.   Maybe they feel like they're slower because they take a bit more time with the shot,  over the course of the round I have to imagine they're faster.

 

With that said - just get your yardage and hit the damn ball, no need to make us watch grass grow.

[Archimedes65]

33 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

I would be interested to put this one to the test.  Over 18 holes a guy who shoots 72 taking 60 seconds over the ball would eat up just over an hour of time in shots, where the guy shooting 100 taking 30 seconds over the ball would eat up just under an hour. However, the guy who shoots 72 wouldn't be spending much time at all searching for balls, or taking very indirect walks from tee to green as a result of wild shots.   Maybe they feel like they're slower because they take a bit more time with the shot,  over the course of the round I have to imagine they're faster.

 

With that said - just get your yardage and hit the damn ball, no need to make us watch grass grow.

 

Slow play has almost NOTHING to do with how many shots you’re taking and EVERYTHING to do with how you play.  The reason some low handicaps are really slow is because they grind over every shot, particularly putts, as if it were Sunday at the Masters.  Anyone who’s played in tournaments at their clubs has seen way too many of these guys.

 

The fastest group of 2 or more players that I have EVER played behind was a fivesome of mid to high handicappers who played like jack rabbits in front of me about a month ago.  They were spraying the ball all over the place, but they split up, went to their balls and hit their shots.  They played in three hours.

[mshills]

Ability has very little to do with slow play. Same with grinding, that’s not usually the cause either. 
 

Slow play comes from two things. Lack of situational awareness and alcohol. The two are related. 

[Archimedes65]

1 hour ago, Greenie said:

 

I am not a 20+handicap and I don't use a range finder. I do use a GPS that I check. I think it is very important to know if I am 50 yds out or 40 yds out. I have a very good short game and a 10 yd difference is important to me to know. It doesn't matter what I am laying. I want to get in the hole in the least possible strokes.

 

But the 20+ handicap doesn’t typically have a good short game, so they really don’t need a yardage before they skull a wedge through the green.  Honestly, high handicappers needing to know yardages down to the yard is laughable. The guy who’s already laying 4-5, fifty yards out in the fairway has about a 2% chance of even hitting the green with his next shot anyway.  Nine times out of ten, it’s a guy who also has one of those ball retrievers sticking out of his golf bag so he can slow down play even more by fishing for balls in the ponds along the way.

[mark174ace]

1 hour ago, Archimedes65 said:

 

Spanish Bay is a great course tee to green.  But the greens are clownish.  Luckily, the course is soon to be redone by Gil Hanse.  Hopefully they just blow up the greens and start over.  Fantastic property for a golf course.  If you’ve never played there, get a yardage book/phone app and make sure you select your targets carefully, as the course does a good job deceiving you off the tee about where you should be aiming.  Prepare to hit many different clubs off the tee there as well.

 

 

Thanks. I have been watching videos on youtube of dudes playing Spanish Bay and my first observation was that the greens were clownish. Definitely the kind of course where just being on the green is not good enough, but you need to be on the section of the green where the pin is. My perception is that course is a nightmare for someone that is wild. I am good about keeping the ball in front of me so I think I will enjoy the course.

[Double Mocha Man]

2 hours ago, Archimedes65 said:

If you wait for the green to clear to hit your second shot, even though you’re standing closer to the tee box that you just teed off from with a driver than you are from the green that you think you can hit with a 6 iron, your golfing privileges should be revoked.

 

I don't fit that description but there have been instances when I can reach a par 5 in 2 shots (roughly 50-50 odds).  I'll be in the fairway and if the green doesn't clear quickly or there is a group behind us waiting to tee off I'll just suck it up and lay up with a 5 iron or to an appropriate wedge position.

[Archimedes65]

11 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

I don't fit that description but there have been instances when I can reach a par 5 in 2 shots (roughly 50-50 odds).  I'll be in the fairway and if the green doesn't clear quickly or there is a group behind us waiting to tee off I'll just suck it up and lay up with a 5 iron or to an appropriate wedge position.

 

I do the same thing.  Sadly, many do not.

[MountainKing]

1 hour ago, Archimedes65 said:

 

Slow play has almost NOTHING to do with how many shots you’re taking and EVERYTHING to do with how you play.  The reason some low handicaps are really slow is because they grind over every shot, particularly putts, as if it were Sunday at the Masters.  Anyone who’s played in tournaments at their clubs has seen way too many of these guys.

 

The fastest group of 2 or more players that I have EVER played behind was a fivesome of mid to high handicappers who played like jack rabbits in front of me about a month ago.  They were spraying the ball all over the place, but they split up, went to their balls and hit their shots.  They played in three hours.

 

Tournament play vs casual play are different things.   Sadly any tournament I play in I just have to accept it'll be 5 hours. 

 

Shots absolutely come into play.  If  it takes 30 seconds a shot, a guy shooting 72 is taking less time than a guy shooting 100.  Then you got the guys shooting 100 playing the back tees which result in an almost extra shot per hole.   You can spin it how you want,  but you can't change the math.   A guy shooting 72 is also spending less to no time hunting for off line shots, they aren't walking from one greenside bunker to the next etc.  I've already spelled this our but it seems like it went in one ear and out the other.  

 

 

 

 

[MountainKing]

12 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

I don't fit that description but there have been instances when I can reach a par 5 in 2 shots (roughly 50-50 odds).  I'll be in the fairway and if the green doesn't clear quickly or there is a group behind us waiting to tee off I'll just suck it up and lay up with a 5 iron or to an appropriate wedge position.

 

All the time, or if it's a weird yardage to lay up (like I'm moving he ball 90 yards) I'll wave the group behind us up while I wait 

[Archimedes65]

51 minutes ago, mark174ace said:

Thanks. I have been watching videos on youtube of dudes playing Spanish Bay and my first observation was that the greens were clownish. Definitely the kind of course where just being on the green is not good enough, but you need to be on the section of the green where the pin is. My perception is that course is a nightmare for someone that is wild. I am good about keeping the ball in front of me so I think I will enjoy the course.

 

A lot of three tiered greens.  One of them is crowned like a turtle shell.

 

If you tee off early, the greasy breakfast sandwiches in the food cart driving around are awesome.  They run out pretty early though.

[Archimedes65]

12 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

Tournament play vs casual play are different things.   Sadly any tournament I play in I just have to accept it'll be 5 hours. 

 

Shots absolutely come into play.  If  it takes 30 seconds a shot, a guy shooting 72 is taking less time than a guy shooting 100.  Then you got the guys shooting 100 playing the back tees which result in an almost extra shot per hole.   You can spin it how you want,  but you can't change the math.   A guy shooting 72 is also spending less to no time hunting for off line shots, they aren't walking from one greenside bunker to the next etc.  I've already spelled this our but it seems like it went in one ear and out the other.  

 

 

It’s not just tournaments.  I’m behind guys at my club that are grinding over putts forever all the time.  It’s as if its the last $2 they have.  One of the guys in a semi regular foursome I play in is a grinder extraordinaire.  I’m always having to remind him that the most he can lose all day is less than the cost of his lunch. 

 

And your example assumes that the guy shooting 72 is taking the same amount of time to take a swing than the high handicapper.  In my experience, that’s not the case.  The scratch golfer is checking yardages, wind, lie, while the 100 is just gripping and ripping.

 

But the big issue with slow play is on the green.  Low handicap groups are often fairly quick until they get to the green, where they turn into glaciers.  We had a foursome with a money game going take 15 minutes to putt out in front of us the other day.  Sadly, that’s not that uncommon anywhere I play.

 

Edited June 4, 2024 by Archimedes65

[jda]

Most low cappers playing their douchebag dollar game also won't play ready golf.  They want to see what the guys behind them do so that they can change their approach if they want.

 

This is even more true in league or tourney play.  There is a reason that big tourneys are threesomes or twosomes.

 

 

[mshills]

Honors / order of play should be done away with in stroke play. Ready golf, play when ready. 

 

Order of play matters a lot in match play. 

[MountainKing]

1 hour ago, mshills said:

Honors / order of play should be done away with in stroke play. Ready golf, play when ready. 

 

Order of play matters a lot in match play. 

 

I personally don't even care in match play.  If I don't have enough confidence in my game to stick with my game plan then I shouldn't be competing.  The entire honors thing should be removed 100% from the rule book. 

[Double Mocha Man]

7 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

I personally don't even care in match play.  If I don't have enough confidence in my game to stick with my game plan then I shouldn't be competing.  The entire honors thing should be removed 100% from the rule book. 

 

You gotta give your buddy who just made a hole-in-one the honors on the next tee!

[mshills]

5 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

You gotta give your buddy who just made a hole-in-one the honors on the next tee!

Touché…not stepping in front of that!

[MountainKing]

17 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

You gotta give your buddy who just made a hole-in-one the honors on the next tee!

 

Not if I beat him to the tee box 🙂