A funny thing happened.....

[C-Tech]

Yesterday afternoon, I got to the course about 4:30 which was later than I had planned, but with 3 hours to get in the 18, I figured I could make it. The starter put me with a young man who was just learning, but he kept up and was pleasant company.

In front of us were 3 guys, one of whom was playing from the tips. (JP, before you get started, I make no judgement based on that.. It is merely meant as a way to identify this particular guy.)

The "tips" guy was funny to watch. He had on the full golf outfit including the khaki slacks (in 100+ temps) and had a certain swaggering bravado that could be seen at a distance. While the other two guys watched, he teed off from the tips. It was a towering, arching.....ground ball about 100 yards. The shoulders slumped and he slunk off the tee box to his cart. He set up over his second shot and did all the wiggles and pumps and hip shifting just like the pros. He froze over the ball for a 10 count and then made the fastest, jerkiest cut at the ball I have ever seen. He almost fell down and the ball bounced and sliced about 100 yards into the right rough. Again with the slumped shoulders. This act was repeated over and over...the swagger to the ball, the professional setup and the lightning fast swing with a poor result over every shot.

Several times, while the other two waited on the green and we waited in the fairway for what seemed like an eternity, I would see him appear walking toward the green from somewhere I didn't even know you could hit a ball on this course.

I decided after the first hole that I was only gonna get in 9, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the show. We moved slower than turtles, but the entertainment value of this guy's body language was worth the wait. On about the 7th hole, something must have happened to put him off his game because he departed towards the clubhouse in his cart and left the other two to finish out. By this time, I had already called my wife and given her an ETA so we could go out to dinner, so I had to leave after the 9 even though the pace picked up considerably with him gone.

I didn't get mad or rail at the unfairness of it all, I just played when I could and let it go as a quirk of life. I did feel sorry for the guy almost. It was pretty obvious that he thought the game was easy after watching the pros, but he found out the hard way that mimicking their movements did not guarantee success.

[GenErr]

C-Tech, sounds like you made the best out of what could have been a disastrous experience on the course. Good for you. And I hope the young man you were playing with learned from your behavior.

I am very patient, however slow play really BURNS me up, especially if there are open holes in front and the group doesn't wave anyone through.

Hope you and your wife had a great dinner.

[C-Tech]

Originally Posted by GenErr

C-Tech, sounds like you made the best out of what could have been a disastrous experience on the course. Good for you. And I hope the young man you were playing with learned from your behavior.

I am very patient, however slow play really BURNS me up, especially if there are open holes in front and the group doesn't wave anyone through.

Hope you and your wife had a great dinner.

I decided not to let slow play bother me anymore. It is a new mid-year resolution. Since I play a lot of public courses, it just doesn't make much sense to keep myself in a turmoil because of others. I am gonna mellow out in my old age.

Also, the company was good, but the dinner was lacking. We decided on the way home to stop going to this particular restaurant.

[Wazmankg]

I played with a "drama queen" the other day. He was amusing ... for awhile. I was paired with 2 guys about my age. One was in from California for their 30 year HS reunion. He said he wasn't very good and didn't play often(it showed). The other guy could really crush it, 270-300 yards on average and he took great pride in that, though the rest of his game left a lot to be desired. He carried 3 drivers. After every poor shot or putt California guy would go through these contortions and moaning and groaning. He'd dramatically drop his club, hold his head in his hands, then bend over and put his hands on his knees and slowly shake his head. No swearing or overt anger though, which was good. It lasted 20-25 seconds after each bad shot... which were frequent. And there was an explanation for every poor shot and putt. It was funny but it got old. I felt like saying "what's with all of that ? You said you weren't very good... and you're still away". They were slow, too. Fortunately they were both nice guys.

[JPsuff]

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Everyone has "one of those days" and I had one once where I could'nt keep from jerking my head up a microsecond or two before making contact with the ball. This of course produced a wide array of interesting ballflights and left me wondering why I even bothered to come out to play.

After one particularly galling outcome, I turned to one of the guys I was playing with and said, "Well, I can say with certainty that I will never die by drowning because I couldn't keep my head down long enough to take in enough water".

He laughed, I laughed.

Life goes on.



-JP

[C-Tech]

After a particularly bad day on the course, a buddy of mine said he played golf like he made love.... he really enjoyed it, did it every chance he got, but it's an ugly thing to watch!

I had to sit down I was laughing so hard.

[essurfer]

Sometime you just gotta suck it up and laugh