Yeah I definitely stood on the green staring at them holding my club more like an attack club than a golf club talking loudly into the phone and calling them "mfers" hopefully loud enough for them to hear.

I know who the guy is...went into the proshop and made the assistant pro show me the tee sheet and found the guy on the internet and confirmed it was him with my wife. I'm thinking about writing a letter, but I'm trying to be the better person here, although honestly I want to split his head open with my 2-ball.

Funny thing is my wife is usually someone who takes 0 sh*t from anyone, but I think having the little guy with her pacified her. Funny thing is, she could beat this guy with his own clubs from the back tees while wearing the kid in a baby bjorn, and he doesn't even know it.

My guess is the Assistant Pro is relatively new / unaware that your wife has done this before? Assuming that's the case -- he probably owes you and your wife an apology for kicking her off the course. Hopefully, it's not just a case where the Pro feels intimidated / obligated to appease the complaining members (a common flaw of Club Pros at private clubs imo).

That said, these members are total douchebags. I couldn't imagine doing anything like that unless it was clear that a.) your wife didn't belong or b.) she was doing something that interfered with my round or was harmful to the course.

Then again, I drastically underestimate the number of uppity pricks at country clubs.


Fun side story:

My friend and his Dad belong to a club back home. They live off hole 8 and usually will walk 9 holes on a weeknight by starting on 8 and playing around to #7. They're always careful to not cutoff any groups and dress fine / respect the course, etc. Their Club is completely aware of this and have zero problem with it.

Sometime last fall, they tee off and a middle-aged guy and his wife are walking the opposite direction on the cart path. My friend is about 200 yards ahead of his Dad in the fairway when this stranger confronts my friend and accuses him of not being a member / trespassing.

Let me profile my friend - he manages construction projects. While he's not a big guy, he's learned to stand his ground and us unafraid to back down from a confrontation.

The guy starts saying some pretty nasty things and my buddy dishes it right back -- even calling out that using the course for non-golf purposes such as walking with your wife, is technically against membership rules. The guy was pretty startled by the confrontation and proceeds to briskly walk away from my buddy while still yelling stuff at him.

All around pretty funny to me since, if the stranger really was concerned about trespassing, he could have handled it in a much better way.

Icing on the cake is that this guy got paired with my buddy in their league a few weeks later and he apparently couldn't make eye contact all night.

TL;DR, Hope your wife can brush off the experience and it doesn't discourage her from going to the Club / walking with you in the future.

Sounds like the member is a prick.

But, why didn't your wife simply tell both the member and the assistant pro that she was meeting you on #6 tee, had walked the golf course many times, and knew exactly what she needed to do? Seems like that would have defused everything.

We both know that walking the course isn't allowed unless accompanied by player, how were the golfers supposed to know that? If the shop knowingly allows this and something happens, the club is liable.

FWIW, for the benefit of others, this course is in a gated area. A member at my club just resigned to join out there, will be interesting to see how that turns out. He is very loud and confrontational.

BO

lol, great!! What's his name? Do I need to vote against him? Do I even have a vote? I don't know.

I think the way she was approached by the member threw her off guard and he was already in her face before she had time to explain her intentions. She did explain the situation to the assistant pro.

Our problem with the situation is not so much the "can she be out here" thing but really the manner in which she was treated.

I just get tired of the country club hierarchy thing where some old man thinks he can talk to my wife like that. Just want to play golf and hang out with the family and stuff. They apparently have a rule (that I've never seen written down anywhere) that you can't have strollers on the course. I kind of get the spirit (don't want it to be a park/free for all...), but this is a unique situation. Ever been to River Crest? I fully support a no strollers rule there.

Pro is going to call us and let us know what the rule is. I just told him we will certainly follow whatever the rule is, but there needs to be some real rationale behind it. Assistant pro said we need to put the kid in a regular golf cart because the stroller is "a safety issue". But it's obviously way more dangerous to put a 7 month old in a freaking golf cart as opposed to walking him around in a stroller.

Anyway, not upset with the head pro at all or really the club for that matter. Just think it's sad that there are people out there who think it's okay to act like that.

He's not new, but I do think that you hit the nail on the head. I used to work here and they used to make me kick kids off the range and stuff and it's never really a comfortable thing to do and people handle it differently, so I am sort of giving him a pass, even though I shouldn't be. I used to use the "hey guys, the pro is making me kick you guys off because you aren't following the rules, even though i personally dont care that you have no shirts on, so dont let me get in trouble please" approach.

Agreed. Apparently this guy calls the pro shop a lot... The funny thing is there were some young guys waiting on no. 1 tee for these old guys and she asked if she could walk down to meet me on no. 6 and they were cool with it. And when she made the walk of shame back up the hill they asked her what happened and thought it was completely ridiculous. I just don't know what possess people to go out of there way to be like that towards others. Like I said earlier, my wife is a scratch golfer and would never be in the way.

That's awesome. I love stories like that. I used to get that all of the time at my old club where people hop on random holes all of the time with no regard for others, which was super amazing. They used to drive up from the parking lot to the 12th tee and then have the balls to ask ME if I'm just jumping on. I used to say stuff like "No, but I see you are". I was walking and probably 18-22 years old so they thought they could big time me with stuff like that. The golf course is supposed to be a happy, serene place. That idiot needs to enjoy his illegal walks with his wife on the golf course in peace and your friend and his dad need to be able to play 9 holes in peace. No one's hurting anyone. Just no need whatsoever for controversy.

She was pretty upset and said she didn't want to go back up there which is sad because she literally lived off of no. 9 as a kid and was the junior club champion like 16 times and is pretty well known by anyone that's been there for any length of time.

Fun story I have which might possibly involve the same guy involved in this incident. No way to know, but they do look alike. Probably a year and a half ago I'm walking behind a 4-some of cart goers and they are super slow, but I'm in no hurry so no big deal. Some old guys had very crustily let me play through on hole 12 or so. I'm on 17 waiting for the green to clear to go for par 5 green in 2 from ~245. Green clears I proceed to dump it into the greenside bunker and end up taking 2 out of there and make a bogey.

But as I am OVER MY PUTT, old man from behind who had caught up with me drives up from way back in the fairway and yells at me to get my attention and tells me that I should pick up and move on because they didn't let me play through to wait on me. I pointed to the next tee box, where the 4some still was and essentially yelled at him "I have a 6 footer for par, and I had to wait for 10 minutes on the guys ahead of me." He just turned around and drove off.

The over/under on how long he lasts out there is around 6 months, he's already been through several regular games at my place because of confrontational/aggressive issues. He's not a bad guy by any means, just real easy to rub people the wrong way.

And I absolutely detest the snobby country club mentality as well. I have this vision of your villain looking exactly like the old guy on the golf course in Falling Down. Get off my golf course! Fore! I enjoy country club golf, but am much more comfortable at a blue collar club as opposed to old money.

Hadn't thought about walking back up that hill off #1 tee, that does suck. As far as this situation goes, I see no issue with her walking with you as you play. Walking out to meet you (through and around other players) does pose a bit of a problem. Just no way to tell what other golfers are going to do in terms of where they hit their shot, when they hit their shot, etc. Lots of variables that could go wrong for all parties.

But your wife was definitely treated poorly by all parties involved and an apology should be made.

As we played yesterday in that gale we talked about River Crest for a moment. Just how uncomfortable it would be trying to keep balls off the surrounding streets! I wouldn't want to drive those streets in the daylight let alone walk a stroller. And of course adjacent holes on the course would be just as bad.

BO

Just a question, because I've thought about doing that, but isn't having a baby on the golf course dangerous? I was too nervous to even take the little guy to the driving range in case an errant ball or something came flying.

I would think, statistically speaking, that the drive to the golf course is much more dangerous to a baby's health than the actual walk on the golf course.

Also, the mom is an accomplished golfer. I think if you know what you are doing, you can minimize the risk of being hit to pretty much close to zero.

I'm literally worried more about tripping and letting go of the stroller down a hill on a walk than a golf ball hitting him. I don't think it's a legitimate concern at all, at least at my particular course. I will say it does depend on the course. Wide open, extremely crowded courses with holes side by side are not even comparable. There have been times on some courses where I feel like the chance of getting hit is at least something to think about, but not here.

As for the range, I think it can be pretty dangerous for a toddler walking around getting in someone's back swing, but I don't really think a ball flying around is a problem. Funny thing is, I'm pretty sure the rules would allow a 2 year old run around the driving range all he wants, even though that really is a significant safety issue.

Eh - I don't think that (or tripping while pushing them) is any more or less likely than just having the stroller out elsewhere.

Honestly - the biggest safety hazard is probably sun exposure for the kid.

yep and he's super pasty.

@PokerOMG

One of my biggest pet peeves about golf clubs is how the club pros are such appeasers to members.

I've mentioned it here before, but a few years ago our club's member-member had a hole-in-one pot. It was $50/man and you signed up for the pool the night before. You'd be billed $50 in the event someone made an ace during the event. The event takes place over 5 sessions of 9-hole matches.

My partner ends up acing #5 in the second session.

We learn later that one member came into the pro shop after session 2 and told the pro "I forgot to tell you this morning, I decided not to participate in the HIO pool."

The pro just let him and his guest out of the pool and my buddy received a hundred dollars less.

Obviously, the money aspect is much less significant than the principle of welching on a bet.

Just to be clear. You have to sign-up and this guy signed up. Then, after the 2nd of 5 sessions, after a hole in one was made, the guy "decides" he doesn't want to be signed-up in the pool?

I can envision the type of person that would try and get out of the pool (there are scumbags everywhere), but it is harder to envision a golf pro who would let him out.

If I was the pro I would have said, "sorry man, we have to bill everyone who didn't cancel prior to the start of session 1. I wish you would have crossed your name off then."

Yep - that's correct.

Opening night is when you register for the event and signup for all the little side pools, including the HIO pool. To reiterate, you aren't automatically signed up for it -- you have to opt-in.

Buddy makes ace, member claims he forgot to mention he wanted out of pool, pro allows it.

Welcome to country club politics!

Played on a simulator last night. It definitely wasn't calibrated correctly or one of the cameras was off or something, because the three of us couldn't miss a fairway if we tried. It was like we activated vaseline mode or something. Shot 80 from the tips at Pebble.

BO, what would you say if an assistant tried to stop you from walking out to meet your friends?

Tell him/her that I was a member and knew what I was doing.

Right or wrong, I'm thinking that pushing a baby stroller is the key point in the described reactions.

BO

So would your answer concerning yourself change if you had a baby with you? That's what I meant I guess. Is it different if you're carrying it in a baby-basket-carrier-thingamajig or if you're using a stroller, or just cradling it in your arms?

Late to the party, but I've had a friend banned from attending Masters events after selling his practice round tickets on Ebay. They cancelled the tickets and refunded him after working with Ebay to get the buyer his money back.

My friend broke even, but it was a hassle, ebay cred shot, and ldo he can't ever get tickets to the masters.

I could get the full story if needed.

So if a stray tee shot hits your kid in the face, then what? If they allow one person to walk along with their stroller, someone else might do it, etc. He may have been a dick about it I dunno but I'm with the decision of giving her the boot.

New product idea:

Strollers that look like push carts.

What a bad life beat.

It's probably irrelevant, but does anyone know if you can get the Golf Channel live streaming (Golf Live Extra) with Charter? I don't see their logo but the FAQ page is useless.

Then it's on me to defend my son's honor by taking my sandwedge to your face.

But no, really, it's just simply almost impossible to happen at my course. There is only one hole that I can think of where it would be possible to spray one into the wrong fairway, and even then, it's not really an issue even on that hole, and all you'd have to do is take a glance over there to make sure no one's hitting while you walk past. And like I said earlier, there are public courses FULL of 25 handicappers where every hole has an adjacent fairway and golf balls are flying all over the place. In fact, my former club which was mentioned earlier is constantly golf ball hitting you danger zone. In those circumstances, I would be more inclined to accept a no strollers rule.

My opinion on the matter is that I'm responsible for my kid and am obviously accepting the risk of something happening. There is almost no way a golf course would ever be held liable for a golf ball hitting someone else unless they've done something really wrong that I can't really even think of. I would even sign a liability waiver with any language they'd like. Like allowing a maniac on the course who has told the pro shop that he's going to intentionally hit a child with a golf ball (and then he does so) or something.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf...-book-excerpt/

Some interesting stuff, didn't know he attended UGA before Augusta State.

BO