Jeri, I absolutely think you are a fair, kind and smart person and there are many points you have made in this post to prove it.

HOWEVER, it is very rare here on these golf courses, especially nine hole golf courses for an Ambassador to ask someone to keep the pace. The Ambassadors generally offer water, good wishes, and smiles. In nine years we haven't run into an Ambassador with any kind of power problems, actually the opposite is probably what people complain about, their reluctance to point out slow play.

We have walked with many new golfers over time, young ones and old ones and have always explained that the pace of play was very important. We too told them to pick up their ball and start on the next hole after several shots above par.

I understand this grandfather's love for his young one, but I think he missed an opportunity to counsel fortitude and calmness. Being aggravated on a golf course is part of the challenge of the sport, as the aggravation usually comes from your own self.

To the OP, if your granddaughter has played golf for a while and is going to play on her HS golf team...it seems to me that she knows what she's doing and may not have been the problem.

Not really enough info here, but I'm wondering if it was you or her father...that contributed to falling so far behind? :shrug:

Regardless, pace of play is something that needs to be enforced more often at our courses... IMHO.

I always try to keep in mind a saying that my first golf mentors drilled into me.

'Your place on the course is right behind the group in front of you...not just ahead of the group behind you."

Why are some so quick to allege "bullying." Very overused. I've never encountered an ambassador who is a bully. I think his reminder was likely a good experience for a person, any person of any age, who wishes to pursue golf. Becoming physically ill is a bit dramatic unless we're missing something from the story. Namaste.

Golf courses and juniors
 

My grandson has been playing golf since he was 7 with me in the villages. Ambassadors did watch him but were always very encouraging once they saw him play. People who paired up with us with always great. In 5 years, never had an issue.

Another thought: maybe the young lady was embarrassed because the other 2 in the threesome were playing so slow. She may have known better. I think we've all been there.

I really think you should have a talk with your granddaughter. If she gets such an anxiety after being told to move up the pace of play that she got sick and had to go home.. My personal opinion is she should not Play competitive sports. I think it will be too much strain on her. Maybe take up jigsaw puzzle and or something less competitive.. Some children get pushed into positions that they really don't want to be in..

:agree:

That's kinda where I was leading in my post.

We need more info though...to figure out the real cause of the warning. :shrug:

Not necessarily. Some people play extraordinarily fast. I had a group at a club I worked at that constantly complained about the group behind them being slow. It was easy to determine that they complaining group played nine holes in an hour and fifteen minutes. I had to tell them numerous times that they simply can't expect everyone to play at that pace. On a regulation golf course, 2 hours was the norm and on a busy day 2:15 was acceptable. On the executives, 90 minutes should be expected but I play nine in 45 minutes on an empty golf course. It's completely unreasonable for me to expect everyone to play like that.

What I'm really surprised at here is that the ambassador said anything at all. I've been held up by groups on many occasions and the ambassadors do nothing at all. One of them told me that they are instructed to not "bother" people who are playing golf.

In any case, if there was no one behind you, the ambassador was out of line.

I am constantly astounded by the incompetence of the people that work our golf courses. I don't know if it's how they are trained or that some just don't have any common sense. Some people believe that a rule is a rule and circumstances don't matter. Sometimes common sense needs to take over.

Ambassador Right
 

The Ambassador was absolutely right. We always told our Rangers to remind the players they were responsible to stay up with the group ahead of them and not to try to stay ahead of the group behind them. :gc:

One size doesn't fit all. About a year ago, the Starter asked us to wait a bit before teeing off to let the play spread out a bit on the course. By the time we were told to tee off, there were 2 open holes in front of us. A couple of holes later an Ambassador politely asked us to speed up as there were 2 open holes in front of us.

I didn't! I was referring to some of the old dogs on this site who are over protective of "their territory".

The best solution to any unpleasant experience on a golf course is to seek out the Facility Manager responsible for that course. He needs to know the experience so that he can find out why and take the appropriate action with his team. He is responsible the the employees. If he doesn't know, he can't fix it. I had an experience that was not pleasant and I spoke with the facility manager, he was very professional and handled the situation to my satisfaction. At least I felt like I had a voice other than posting to a forum.

At the bottom of the scorecard, there is a note stating that the pace of play for 9 holes is 90 minutes. That equates to 10 minutes per hole. If there are par fours on the course that needs to be adjusted. But since they run on 9 minute starting times, it's obviously expected that each group will play the first hole in 9 minutes. So 9X9 is 81 minutes. So they're giving to nine extra minutes for a lost ball or difficulty on one or two holes.

I agree about the ambassador. They basically are there to provide water and sand. They do almost nothing else.

This sounds like one guy who is a bit full of himself.

That's has always been a good general rule, but what if the group in front of you is playing at a ridiculously fast pace. If you're playing an exec course in an hour and twenty minutes, you are well within the accepted time frame. However, if the group in front of you is playing in 45 minutes, it's unreasonable for anyone to expect you to keep up.

As I said, sometimes there is a need for common sense and discretion. Although, I've often found that common sense is not so common.

I don't think this issue was with the Ambassador. I think this issue was with the grandfather. I LOVE being a woman. We KNOW stuff.