Disappointed in my fellow golfers
 

I have played two execs the last two days and was disappointed to find unrepaired ball marks and unraked traps on almost every hole! I see all the complaints about the condition of our courses, but so many are not doing the bare minimum to care for the courses we have!

Welcome to The Villages.

Not that’s an excuse for golfers lack of course etiquette, but you could drive a tank over the greens of the last two executives we played and it wouldn’t make any difference. In our ten years as Villages we have never seen such horrific greens, and both courses were recently renovated with the latest and greatest hybrid grass. I wouldn’t even consider putting on them since it would ruin my game for when I play a real course.

What were the two courses?

Some are too lazy walk from cart path around green to green, they drive right up to edge of green waddle 15 feet then back in cart. They not going bend over pick up rake or fix divot. It only take few rotten apples to ruin the bushel. But, that goes on every where. My pet peeve pool players grinding caulk onto table while caulking the cues. Then lay the caulk down upside down on table rail spreading more caulk. I’m willing bet more than few has no clue? :oops:

Silver Lake and Chula Vista

Here's what I do instead of complaining about people who may be elderly and have physical limitations:

When I'm on a green, I fix my pitch mark and any others I see.

When I'm in a bunker/trap, I rake my spot and any other footprints I see.

When I'm on a fairway, I'll fill my divot and any other unfilled divot in that area (same for tee boxes).


What you can control is what YOU do; not what others do or don't do. And don't judge a person until you walk a mile in their moccasins. (Yes I realize not everyone who neglects to do those things have physical limitations, but that doesn't affect what I can do to improve conditions I come across.)

I've in an around the Golf business for 40 years. The complaints about Ball Marks & Raking Bunkers hasn't changed in those 40 years. It's epidemic.

That said, golfer's tend to exert only as much effort and consideration, as management expends. I've belonged to 8-10 Private Clubs through the years. The more expensive/exclusive the clubs are, the better the members take care of it.

If you come across a bunker, without a footprint in it, most players will rake that bunker when they're done with it. Same as fixing a ball mark. If you land on a green without a ball mark and make one, most players will fix it.

There in lies the problem The effort and consideration of golfers, is directly related to the effort shown by ownership. In other words, if ownership presents a golf course that's in $hitty condition, no one cares ... why should they? If management doesn't do their job, golfers can't be expected to do it for them.

In 1973 I visited Disneyland in Los Angeles. I was fascinated by how "clean" the place was. They cleaned the roads every night and the place was immaculate. I would have been embarrassed to drop a cigarette butt. The same applies to golf courses.

I do exactly as you say and hope I am getting those who can't fix their own, but know that is not always the case.

You fix your pitch mark and one other.

You rake the bunker.

You carry a sand bottle and fill your divots.

You learn how to do all three of those things correctly.

Thats pretty much all you can do. You waste of stress and energy to overly internalize a problem that been with us in golf forever. At private clubs members have a sense of ownership and take better care of the course. There is a little of that here, but not much.

It's like everyday life.. the givers and the takers. Sure there are some disabled golfing but if they're that disabled that they harm the course conditions, should they be golfing? My money is on the takers, they've always sucked off society and no nagging will change them.

I don't think disabled golfers are a big factor in this. First, there aren't all that many disabled golfers even in the villages. Second, every golf club in the world has this problem to some extent not just those with many disabled golfers. Third, the able playing partners almost always rake the bunkers for a disabled player (if they even hit out of bunkers, which seriously disabled players don't).

I think the biggest factor is the "broken window effect". Once a bunker with unraked footprints is encountered, the following players mostly don't rake it either.

With pitch marks, its peer pressure, if your playing partners all fix their pitch marks right away, you will too. So fix your marks, and your partners will too, as will the people behind you who see you doing it. People also fix ball marks without the reminder of partners doing it, just not consistently enough. I think weak hitters whose balls often don't even make a pitch mark, are the most forgetful.

Where else have you been playing ?
I fix 5+ ball marks on every executive green in TV. Frustrating !!

100%. Played Chula Vista last week. It seems like I fixed 4 or 5 ball marks on every green.
Yes there are some disabled golfers, but most of it is just pure laziness.

Unfortunately I see this on every course we play. I fixed quite a few ball marks at Bonifay yesterday, although not as many as on the execs.