Cane Garden Ambassador Ruins Golf Game
 

Today I was part of a threesom playing golf at Cane Garden Country Club. Once again I was exposed to a situation that reminded me why at times golfers get so upset. We were about halfway thru our round and standing near a tee box when a lady ambassador stopped by. After a few hellos, the lady ambassador told us that we needed to tee off in order to keep up wth play. We then asked the lady how we could tee off when the group ahead was probably not more than 100 yards ahead in the fairway. She then said a second time we needed to keep up with play. Becoming frustrated we told her we would probably hit our drives over the heads of the foursome ahead and that being a threesome, we normally found ourselves waiting to tee off at each previous hole. For the third time the lady said it was important to keep up. At this point I knew this ambassador was going to have an effect on our game and she did..... Well anyway, we were finally able to tee off eventhough still steaming over the outragous conduct by the actions of this particular ambassador. And of course by my watch, we had to sit and wait no less than eight minutes for the foursome to clear the green before we could hit our approach shots onto the green. Apparently our experience is not an isolated incident and happens too often. Has this ever happened to you ???

That is quite a story. I can't imagine why this ambassador acted like this. That would ruin my afternoon too. Safety on the course is the prime concern for all golfers. If she was made aware of the situation and still wanted you to hit away, she should have a discussion with her supervisor whom I hope you notified.

I see no big problem. Just tell her in a normal tone,No. I would not let that spoil my day.

The pro at each of the country clubs is the person to address these problems.

It is regrettable that you had the experience and it effected your golf game which is understandable. However, it certainly is not the rule. I play almost every day and have only once in almost 2 years had a similar encounter. In fact quite the opposite is the rule. Friendly and helpful has been the tone when interacting with both starters and ambassadors making my golf day just what I expect, a great time, even if my putting was not up to par. Don't let one bad encounter sour your golf experiences, we are truly blessed with some of the best golf in the world! :beer3:

Never ever anywhere
 

I cranked this story though my common sense grinder and got an error. This story make no sense to me. How could an ambassador ask a group to tee off when the group in front is 100 yards away?

To be very clear, I am in no way saying the OP is not being truthful. I am simply saying this has never happened to me in TV or anywhere. If an ambassador asks me to pick up the pace as I wait to tee off and we can all see there is a group 100 yards out there, I would laugh out loud and ask if they are new to golf.

That is the way I processed it too.

Sounds like this Ambassador must be 1) on her first day of work; 2) new to golfing; 3) having a bad day; and 4) never watched any golf on TV.

I hope you stopped in the Pro Shop to ask someone to explain their policy and tell your story.

I always wonder why people complain on this forum instead of to someone who can actually do something about the situation. Just sayin....

I understand they have a huge lineup of qualified people who have applied to be Ambassadors, and then they have a training process. It does sounds as if this Ambassador was totally new to golf. Strange. It would be interesting to hear the back story behind this incident.

People are people....Where I work emplyees set in the break room and constantly complain about everything....I always ask them ( did you tell your supervisor ?) the answer is almost always (what good would that do ) ''GO FIGURE "

it would not ruin my day, ambassador doesn't have a clue if she wanted you to hit into the group ahead

I agree with you. I think at most it would elicit a roaring round of laughter.
Don

or could offer her a club and have her hit into them, who in their right mind would hit into the group ahead...even our 12 year old grandaught hits 100 plus

The problem with a few ambassadors is that they get into the power mode. Suddenly they are the big man (or lady). Unfortunately the golfers suffer. Know several like this and I often wonder why more people do not complain. John at Amberwood is a prime example.
Also very rude at Hilltop. We live here and technically are paying their salaries. M.J.

Well readers, it happened just the way I described the issue. It is my belief that this Lady ambassador was single minded in what she thought her job should be and that was the pace of play that is drilled into ambassadors. I know this from experience, I worked at one of the country clubs for seven years. This ambassador seemed to be so intent on the "pace of play thing" that she totally blocked out our reasoning and it became very evident that she would never admit to being over zealous. All she had to do was say " I'm sorry, I seem to have over reacted" have a good game. Not once did she act as if she understood our explanation that the group ahead was within throwing distance or the fact that being a threesome we had been waiting to play nearly every shot. Sometimes complaining just isn't worth the effort, and just being able to vent makes one feel better.

I have played a lot of the courses here and in my rambling around I haven't found any snarly ambassadors.

The ambassadors are just that. They aren't marshals and most of them ARE us, villagers. I have yet to see any of them do anything other than to remind people to keep up with the group ahead in the matter of directing folks. They have ice water and good greetings. Sometimes I wish they could say more to slow players.

If they annoy anyone they are fired.

They have a plethora of folks to choose from when they are hiring ambassadors. They would be sure to hire a seasoned golfer and then that person would be further trained, just as Barefoot says.

The incident reported by the OP is highly unusual, I would think.

Mjune has got it exactly right. Over my 15 years of living in the Villages, I have had an occurance with ambassadors several times. A few were warranted, not usually because we were not playing promptly, but most likely we had a lost ball or something similiar. It was that this lady seemed to have only one thing on her mind and that was pace of play which caused her not even give consideration to where other golfers were positioned. She was determined to be right no matter what.

Warren: The behavior you described is rather bizarre and that is an understatement. In an attempt to visualize the incident, pace of play seemed to be her theme. Perhaps she drove up to just say "something" about keeping up with pace of play and didn't immediately see the group 100 yards out in the fairway. Since you were waiting on every hole, your group was probably behind the "pace of play" according to the time you teed off on NO. 1. The ambassador would have that information. Now, after you explained to her the situation she should have acknowledge your explanation, thanked you and and said something along the line of addressing the pace of play to the foursome in front of you, said have a great day and went on her way. Frankly, at this point she is probably embarrassed and made the incident worse instead of better. As you indicated, you had a threesome and a threesome (as a general rule) plays faster than a foursome. Although it was an unfortunate incident, hopefully, the ambassador learned something from it----as to not jump to conclusion before correctly sizing up the situation. FORE!

Jim, I would like to make a short and probably last comment. When this lady ambassador drove up, our threesome and she greeted each other. Everything OK at this point. She had driven right past the foursome in front of us so she had to note their position. After the greetings she said, why aren't you teeing off. We explained the foursome a short distance ahead,she ignored our explanation and went into the "you need to keep up". Of course things deterioted at this point and she again shoved the keeping up, pace of play things at us. Sorry not as short as I intended. LOL

On a humorous note: was playing with a group of ladies and keeping up and sometimes waiting for the foursome ahead of us. The ambassador came past, said hello, and went on his way. He told the group of men behind us that we were holding up play and hoped they would be patient with us because, after all, we were women. The men all happened to be our husbands and let the ambassador know that they had not waited on any hole because of us. We had a good laugh on that afterward.

I probably am out of line commenting as I don't golf and I am a TV wannabee; but, when someone asks me to take an action that could cause damage or hurt someone, I simply ask for them to provide me with a signed statement that outlines my concerns, directing me to take the action and accepting all legal and financial liability. I've had to do this a couple of times and the person always walks away. It's amazing how brave folks are except when there is a possibility of a lawsuit and they have to accept liability.

Geewhiz and boy howdy!

:1rotfl:

Bill :)