I only play the executive courses so I don't have any direct experience with the etiquette (or lack of it) on the championship courses. I would imagine that breaches of etiquette are more common on the execs. Serious golfers are probably be more apt to be found on the championship courses. In my experience breaches of etiquette come in two forms: not knowing, and not caring. Both are seen on the execs.
Not knowing? Quite a few examples of that. For instance last fall I saw a guy take his pull-cart onto the green. We caught up to his group on the next tee and I made it a point to remind him (good-naturedly, of course) that doing so is not allowed and might bring down the wrath of the "Ambassador". He honestly didn't know, and thanked me for pointing that out. Another etiquette breach that is relatively common is not clearing the green area so that the group behind can hit. Had that happen on Chula Vista: One of the greens there (short hole...can't remember which one...#5, maybe?) lies within a few feet of the cart path. We were behind his group when it started to drizzle. They drove their carts off the path and parked under a tree adjacent to the green, apparently to wait out the drizzle, but stayed there when it stopped even after they could see that we were ready to tee off. I walked over to them and asked if they could clear the area, pointing out that a) it was dangerous to them to stay if we hit while they were there; and b) that the proper etiquette would be to clear the area and wait behind the group on the next tee. Again I was good-natured about it and prefaced it with a comment about Florida weather, and again, they had no idea that they SHOULDN'T be doing that; and again, I was thanked for my reminder.
Not caring? Where to start...unraked traps, smoldering cigarette butts next to the green, those little liquor bottles that didn't quite make it to the shrubbery where the person emptying it had chucked it, broken tees scattered in the tee boxes, gum wrappers on the cart path, some guy taking it upon himself to show another person in their group how to putt with the next tee empty by hitting a putt and then having the "student" hit a couple from the same sport, etc. etc.
Not knowing is fixable. And if done right you'll usually be thanked for fixing it. Not caring? There've been incidents of violence when someone's actions which may grossly violate proper golf etiquette are called to his/her attention by another golfer. I suppose it is all in how it is approached, but IMO those "ambassadors" could be doing a lot more reminding and correcting behavior than they are doing.
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