Give me a break, Mr. Ambassador!
 

Bacall today was a mess. The greens looked like they were shot up in a strafing run. Putting was impossible. By all rights, the course should have been closed. Making matters even more frustrating, play was painfully slow -- in the heat -- with a five minute wait between every shot.

We got to the 7th tee and an Ambassador finally shows up. Expecting an apology or explanation for the bad conditions and slow play, he instead admonishes us because our cart's tires are an inch off the cart path and on the edge of the grass. Oh, yeah. Now we gone and unknowingly destroyed the course!

Thank for your warm greetings, sir.

Well you do realize that power corrupts people.

Why should he have to apologize for the course conditions?

Mr. Ambassador
 

Because that is part of good customer service. An apology isn't taking blame. It is empathy as the "host" on behalf of management.

While certainly not required, I can see where it would have been nice of the Ambassador to acknowledge the poor conditions.

Especially since he griped about you being parked slightly off of the path.

Saying so wouldn't have cost a thing and would have been the professional thing to do.

Just a heads up for all. The greens & tees boxes are aerated twice a year, every year, so folks should check the maintenance schedule posted on golfthevillages.com before they make tee times. They could then avoid playing the ones that were just aerated five days ago, such as Bacall. If a course did not just recently have the maintenance performed on it then a realistic complaint about the conditions would be warranted.

Excellent post, but sorry the one who complain about aerated conditions will not red this just like they do not read the aeration schedule!:gc:

Ambassadors are not hosts. They are doing a job. Take a breath. Perhaps an appology for improper parking of the cart is in order.

Mr. Amabassor
 

Well they were when I was an ambassador and, later, teaching new ones. Then again, I was working for a golf complex that valued public opinion, customer satisfaction and repeat business. Here it's a captive market.

So, why do they charge 4 bucks for driving on asphalt. Just way suck money out of us. Even charge me for my caddie riding!:1rotfl:

I played Bacall today. Considering the recent aeration, I didn't think it was as bad as you describe. I even made a few putts. I'm guessing you didn't. :)

And..."captive market"? You don't have any shackles on you.

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Honestly, I am so grateful that God has given me another opportunity to play a round of golf that I do not even noticed the conditions of the course thank you Lord

.....and I'm headed out right now to play "early bird" before going to work.

Amen Rubi! We are so blessed in TV.

Just came back from Atlanta, traffic, crime....TV is my heaven on earth.

Completely agree. TV staff members, also our neighbors, deserve respect and kindness. As far as ambassadors go, it can't be easy being in the heat all day. We are blessed, indeed.

Amen.

Silly Time
 

These Ambassadors are not to have any independent thoughts, are to remain thoughtless and follow a simple set of silly rules which do not improve the image of the courses. From experience I can confirm, given their instructions and directions none that I have met would qualify to be an Ambassador or "Ranger" at one of the significant private or well known public courses in the US. If a player feels embarrassed, upset, or disappointed because of something an Ambassador has said or done that Ambassador would be fired at a famous private or well known public course. There is no excuse to treat a "guest" in that manner. NO EXCUSE is the key word. The rule would be that the offense must be so significant as to deny the player rights to the course to justify abusing them in any fashion. :wave:

Yesterday, I only got one pickle on my cheeseburger and the ambassador did not apologize. Shocking.


:jester:

OP, Perhaps it was the ""tone of the ambassador's voice" or maybe you usually don't park the cart off the path and you were a bit upset at yourself---don't know as I wasn't there.

I do know this. Too many golfers are very careless about parking their carts off the cart path. You may not be one of them but any of us could accidentally (in a hurry in the heat) do this. Just look at any course around the tee boxes and you will see what I'm talking about. "Grin and bare it" and go forward. The heat this time of the year can make us all a little on edge when play is unusually slow. Have a nice day.

While acknowledgement of the condition would have been nice, what I really would have expected from an ambassador would be to get the people in front of me moving. It seems that these ambassadors have been told to not talk to anyone about their pace of play. That is a policy that's designed not to make anyone angry. The problem is that while their not ticking off the people playing slow, the people behind them are all ticked off.

I worked at a club in Sarasota where a slow group was given two warnings. If they did not catch up after the second warning, the rangers were instructed to wait until they teed off on a hole and ten pick up their balls and place them on the next tee.

The slow group was unhappy, but the rest of the players on the course were thrilled. Everyone was informed of this policy before they teed off so when it happened it was expected. People still came in and complained, but having four people complain was much better then having 150 complain.

It seems funny to read someone wants an apology for the bad course condition while their cart wheels are on the grass. :oops:

Good thought Rubicon! We are all blessed. :pray:

That's a very interesting comment. When I first came here, I applied for a job as an ambassador. If you don't know, I am a retired PGA professional with over 35 years experience in the golf industry.
Among many other things, I've been the head professional at three different clubs. One a resort, one a public course and one a private club.
I have hired rangers and starters as well as assistant pros and other personnel.
I worked as a ranger and a starter when I was an PGA apprentice.
I was turned down for the job as ranger. I was told that I was not qualified.
The only thing that I could think of was that they have their own way of doing things and they don't want anyone with any kind of experience doing things their own way.

Really, you don't know why you are charged $4'for a trail fee? Maintence come
to mind?

...

Doc - there are two things that come to my mind:
1) you are seriously over qualified - but that should not be a deal breaker.
2) we don't have Rangers; we have ambassadors. And it's possible you might actually say something that relates to the rules of the game.

I'm not demeaning our ambassadors at all. They do their jobs well, but they are not Rangers and your experience far exceeds what GMS wants or are looking for.

Best regards,

DB


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