Pace of Play
 

So I apologize for bringing this up, because I am sure it has been discussed to death. But this is the first negative thing I have experienced here in the villages and I would like some clarification so that I have better understanding in the future. Reader's Digest Version of today's round on a championship course: Tee off 8:36, 4 holes in we are warned that we are playing slowly. A lost ball on the 6 hole (that a worker picked up and put in his cart, we retrieved it from the glove box) caused a delay that we quickly recouped on the next hole. On the 8th tee the ranger arrived for the third time to bitch at us about the pace of play. He said we were holding up the whole course and that the group in front of us was a whole hole ahead. I spoke up loudly that as long we finished in the allotted time, what the people in front of us and behind us do is not our problem. He said nothing. At the turn I asked how much time each group was given per 9 holes, I was told 2 hours and 4 minutes. We took 2 hours and 8 minutes according to the starter. Point #1 the ranger probably caused the 4 minute delay by bothering us and adding undue pressure to our play. Point #2 Golf is for enjoyment, I paid for my time on the course and I can tell you that after being growled at by the ranger my enjoyment level went down (as well as my golf performance) for the next few holes. So...what say you veteran golfers of the villages? Was this just a ranger with a bee up his butt...or should I get ready for a stress filled round based on 2 hours and 4 minutes each time I tee it up here in TV

Pace of Play
 

I think you ran into an unusual situation. I'm sure the "ambassadors" face more challenges this time of year. I've been told several times that my group is running a little slow. However it's always been done with a joke and a smile. Perhaps he responded to your response, perhaps not - maybe he did have a bad day; I've had them also. Bottom line, I play on championship courses an average of twice a week, year round and I've run into a pushy ranger once over 3 years.

My favorite ranger story is about the time we were following a group of lady golfers. After 3 holes it was evident that they were not raking traps. I said something to the ambassador; he monitored them and noticed the same thing. We saw him move in to speak with a woman who just exited a trap without raking it. Several minutes later he drove up to my group. We asked how things went. He said..."not well." The woman had told him that she paid to play golf and it was his job to rake the traps.

If your ambassador ran into one of those lovely types I can understand the bad day he had.

Exception rather than the rule. Had a crusty "ambassador", a couple times the past twelve years.

The Ambassadors have always been nice to us. But again we play the free courses, and maybe they are different?

We recently played Truman, where an ambassador drove up to the green where my husband's shot had landed, scooped it up, and drove away....... We were completely dumfounded. Other members in our group reported it to the Starter, but we decided it was such an odd thing to happen, that we, in the words of the often repeated song "let it go"......... Life is too short to worry about such things.

He was probably jealous of the shot.

Been here 14 years, have never had that happen. There must be another part of the story!

He's referring to "championship" courses and
 

the ambassadors job for executive courses that you play is entirely different....apples/oranges.

Executive ambassadors not = to championship ambassadors...
 

the two are not comparable. As for your story...not likely...ambassadors carts go about 15/16mph...yours is likely rated at least 19/20mph...you could easily have caught the ambassador and asked what they were doing....

Sounds like most think this is a rare event, I will treat it as such.
Thank you!

It should be...
 

if it is not then just call GMS which manages the courses.

I'm not sure the Ambassadors have any real authority anyway, other than to organize the starts. There are no laws or regulations on the course. It's all just about courtesy. Who knows? Maybe a dog pooped in the Ambassador's yard that morning, but let's not get that started! :cus:

Bottom line is that they just try to keep everything moving and keep everybody happy. Sounds like you ran into the wrong Ambassador at the wrong time.

Not to press on this but if you should be able to complete 9 holes in the allotted time. The Ambassadors are in place to think about everyone on the course. Pace of play is one of the key reasons golf's popularity has dropped. Do things like play ready golf, and Mark your scores at the next tee. Remember, you are not the only ones to pay your fees to be out there.

[QUOTE=MrGolf;998181]Not to press on this but if you should be able to complete 9 holes in the allotted time. The Ambassadors are in place to think about everyone on the course. Pace of play is one of the key reasons golf's popularity has dropped. Do things like play ready golf, and Mark your scores at the next tee. Remember, you are not the only ones to pay your fees to be out there.[/QUOT
But it sounds like they would have completed play in the allotted time but for the ambassador stopping them twice and the maintenance person who ran off with their ball.

//////

Since the OP mentioned a worker making off with one of their group's golf balls, it lends credence to Shrandell's story. And why would you chase down the course after the ambassador who took the ball just because you have a faster golf cart? It would delay play for the people behind you. The better thing would be to turn that incident in to the manager, or let it go, as they did.

I know Shrandell to be an honest person, and your statement that her story was not likely, well, I have to ask... are you saying she made it up?

You are incorrect. I do both, and the mission is the same no matter where I work. Unfortunately, if the op's story is factual, the ambassador was mistaken. A group is deemed out of position when the hole in front of them is open, AND they are behind time par. Fairly simple to determine, actually.

Thanks for doing your job with a smile.:ho:

Yes, they do want the game to keep moving along. That, way the people waiting to play at the start can do so in a timely manor. The ambassador is told to try and keep the players moving at what the course feels is a reasonable playing time. It is simply about playing your game so that the other players can also have fun playing. The ambassador is not out to harass you. He or she is simply doing what is required of them by the course directive. If you take a little longer and are told you are a little behind why not just say thank you we will pick up the pace the best we can. Read the rule books which can be obtained at the starters shack for free. Remember you should have fun and enjoy your game at the same time as everyone else enjoys theirs.

I think some of it also depends on the personality of each ambassador. I know in the rec centers I frequent the most, we have come to know which of the workers are intractable, strictly-by-th-book types and which are a little more into assessing each situation as it arises and determining the course of action from there.

Mulligan made the perfect comment. A gap in front of a 4 some doesn't always mean they are a slow group. It's the AND are they late observation that was dead on. I have seen the first 2 or 3 groups on a particular day play faster than usual thus creating a gap between them and a 4 some that is right on time.
And I have seen less than educated ambassadors/rangers ask the on time group to hurry up, keep up with the group ahead, etc. My guess is Mulligan is a very good ambassador.

That too.

Maybe we should all be fitted with "Pace Makers"!:shocked: Or maybe dog collars that the ambassadors can activate if necessary!:shocked:

I just read the post that you feel Shrandell's story is not likely? Seriously?
It is an unusual occurrence, but we know Shrandell to be a person of moral integrity.
And you base your "unlikely" comment on the fact that you feel she should have chased the ambassador in her cart over a golf ball? :ohdear:

Shrandall is true blue and such an honest lady with her lovely British accent and her amazing camera and her wonderful patriotism for this country. I love Shrandall, yes I do. Don't pick on her.


Girls????

I agree with you about being dumbfounded. That is the craziest ambassador story I ever heard.

I don't know the song "Let it go". I do know the song "Let it be."

I have heard stories about crazy golfers from ambassadors too. That would be a fun thread hearing those crazy golfer stories.

Time and place?

Pace
 

Your starting time is not your tee time but the time the first member of your group hits his ball on the first tee. On each score card the cumulative time is marked for the completion of each hole. This is the maximum amount of time it should take you to complete the hole and round. Once a foursome starts getting behind pace it is a snowball effect on the rest of the course. You can bet that if a group is on time but there is a hole open in front of them the group directly behind them is starting to complain to the ambassador. Ambassadors have a thankless job! At this time of year the later groups in the afternoon will have a hard time finishing in daylight especially on a cloudy day.
Why sell so many tee times? Because there is a demand and no one wants to be shut out on a day they want to play. On any given day during this time of year there could easily be 10,000+ golfers playing in The Villages. If your honest with yourself The Villages handle 2.9+ million rounds of golf each year with very few hiccups.

An Ambassador Took Your Ball?
 

On many courses if not most pace of play is important and strictly enforced to a point that if you are told more than twice to pick up speed the next time means that you get thrown off the course.

That same requirement should apply to championship courses because it is open to the public.

On executive courses it is a different mix and more often than not many are new or not serious golfers and my experience after 8 years here is that ambassadors are more aggressive on championship course then executive;albeit I have seen a few newbies who are little frisky at first. On the other hand i have witnessed both on championship courses and executive, players who have been down right abusive to ambassadors both in manner and language. In my view almost all of the ambassadors and starters that i have encountered are good people and if you treat them with respect it will come back to you two fold.

The OP pointed to one reason why there is slow play..Whether you paid for the round or are enjoying one of the executive courses if you mind set is solely this is my time paid or not and the heck with everyone else well then I guess the world has to stop for you to let you by.

The guys I play golf with and there are many all to the last one of them stay conscious of pace of play and we can make record time and still play the game properly but we play ready golf.

We played Churchill Greens about two months ago. A foursome ahead of us took 20 minutes on the first hole. That is seriously wrong.

finally I find it unbelievable that an ambassador would scoop a ball off a green for no reason. If there were no reason then the player should have called the pro overseeing that course and lodged a complaint . It may well be that the player created a golf infraction or faux pas without even realizing it????????

Extract from the first post
" On the 8th tee the ranger arrived for the third time to bitch at us about the pace of play. He said we were holding up the whole course and that the group in front of us was a whole hole ahead. I spoke up loudly that as long we finished in the allotted time, what the people in front of us and behind us do is not our problem. Golf is for enjoyment, I paid for my time on the course and I can tell you that after being growled at by the ranger my enjoyment level went down (as well as my golf performance) for the next few holes. "

Unfortunately, this is a situation seen all too often on the golf course and can lead to frustration all round. Although I can understand that being reprimanded might be annoying, appreciation of golf etiquette might alleviate this: no matter what your pace of play, even within the bounds of the 'allocated' time, players SHOULD care about other people on the course, particularly those behind. Some people do play faster than others and their game can be ruined by having to wait on every shot, knowing that the group in front have fallen behind by at least one hole. Why not call those people through? They can enjoy their game at a pace that suits them, and so can the players that are less speedy - simply by being courteous. As stated, you've paid for your time on the course and want to enjoy it. So does everyone else!

Enjoy the view!

While we're young.

carolmaidstone: you do not identify what type of course you were playing or the allotted time per hole and your pace of play time. I may infer if an ambassador visited you three times that while you believed your pace of play was in line it may well not have been.

Golf is for enjoyment is a valid statement. Paying for one's time is also a valid statement but deducing from both when viewing the dynamics of play on the course in question is flawed. Every player there wants to enjoy golf. Every player there paid for their time. It doesn't give any player the right to poke along or to look extensively for a lost ball or to keeping hitting the ball an 8th 9tth 10th....time In the pocket exists for a reason.

I have played behind people who have shown this entitlement and it always mean that I wished I packed a lunch


Personal Best Regards

I've already tried the latter by mistake. No thank you.

Rubicon. I think carolmaidstone thinks similarly to you. She was also making the point that you are not alone on the course and that a group's attention to pace of play benefits all. And inattention to it affects everyone behind them negatively. I think she was referring to the OP who had three encounters with the ambassador, not herself.

I walk. So when my golf is bad at least the walk was good.

I carry a 50X optical zoom lense camera. So when the golf is slow I shoot water birds and can zoom in so they don't get spooked.

I try to get to know the others I'm paired up with. So when the golf is slow it turns into a blind date of sorts. And I enjoy meeting new people.

It's rare that I have a bad time playing the exec courses and it's rare that the rest of my foresome has a bad time too. They may get upset with themselves but the overwhelming majority are self-forgiving and laugh about it.

When it comes to golf, I tell people that for me TV is like a free buffet.


I play almost every day with strangers. I think less then 3 times a year I was paired up with someone I played with before. Of course I don't remember as much as I used to so take that for what it's worth.

Pace of Play
 

Wow. I absolutely love your post, tomweb. I'm still rather new to golf in TV. (I moved here just over a year ago and then proceeded to have major surgery...so just really getting into the swing of things. (No pun intended...well...maybe pun intended a little bit. Heheh.) I agree with almost every word of your post. Walking, playing with strangers, enjoying the Execs, the free buffet. Everything. I think you've even convinced me to buy a hi-res zoom camera. :)

What about the stress levels and enjoyment factor of the golfers behind you. If you were told on the sixth you were slow, it could impact tee times on one. I believe telling the ambassador 'it was not your problem' might have set the tone for future encounters.

We played more than 20 times in December on the 'free' courses. Never paired with others twice. Always nice people. Just wish there was more social intercourse afterwards..

I got a kick out of the previous post. Maybe interaction might have been a better choice of words.