Fighting on the course

[JCole]

Question is there an up tic in golfers fighting on the golf course or is it that there’s more social media so there is just more video out there of rare occasions? I personally have never seen anyone fighting but have started seeing more video

[Syks7]

I think there's an uptick in mental illness in general after the pandemic and with the surge of new bodies into golf we're bound to catch a few of those -- one of which I've had an encounter with.  It's fairly similar to some of the videos out there in that one person is having a mental episode and the other (me) is just sitting in a cart.  It probably would have turned into a fist fight had I decided to engage, but at the 40 years old I was at the time, I'd finally reached that point in life where I realized how pointless and stupid that kind of thing is.  I'm happy that it was not early 30s me and especially happy that it was definitely not mid 20s me.

We were on the 18th hole at Woodley waiting at about 120 yards for the green to clear.  It was a hot 100+ degree day so I was sitting off the fairway in the shade near my ball in the fairway.  The group in front was slow, but not frustratingly so, and we were almost done so we just waited it out.  They all putt out and go to their respective carts and I drive out of the shade to my ball in the fairway.  I look up to see that two of the pair is in their cart and I expect to see them drive away shortly.  Nope.  They're tallying their score, in a cart, 25 yards in front of the green. 

I'm kind of shaking my head, but I figure they're going to move soon.  30 seconds, no movement, they're chatting with each other and totally oblivious.  At this point I open my mouth.  I don't remember exactly what I said and I would hope that it was along the lines of, "Clear the green", but I'm me, I was very hot, and ready to be done so it was probably much more along the lines of "Get the **** out of the way."  Either way, I shouldn't have said anything and it was certainly my fault for starting the situation, but it should not have been enough to cause the result that it did.  I was expecting probably an F-you back followed by some gestures followed by them leaving but that isn't want I got.  An immediate and continuous stream of over the curses and harmful threats back at me from the passenger and no cart movement.

I don't want to escalate further so I decline to engage in the war of words, grab my water bottle, take a drink, and look for my rangefinder in the dash.  As I'm picking it up to shoot the distance I see the passenger stomping up the fairway still screaming at me and peacocking (slapping his chest) while his buddy yells at him to get back in the cart.  I know getting out of the golf cart is going to escalate the situation I don't get out and I don't respond.  I'm more on edge but I  just don't really feel threatened and in all honesty what I want most in the world at that point is to hit my shot, putt out, and get out of the heat.  I'm hoping if I just sit there his rational side will take hold and he'll stop and go back to the cart.  

Nope, me not engaging only makes the dude more hysterical, my lack of response is making him get more high pitched and unintelligible with every string of curses.  I realize we're dealing that the dude is seeing red and has zero control of himself.  Now he's within 20 yards and I'm finally responding, trying to de-escalate.  I'm looking dead at him calmly asking, 'what are you doing bro? why have you stomped a whole football field down here in the heat over a word?  What did you hope to accomplish?  At this point his buddy in the cart is finally in hot pursuit and still yelling at him to come back.  He reaches me and is still trying to goad me out of the cart while I'm telling him he needs some help. 

At this point he try's to push me...  I'm a 300+ pound guy sitting in a golf cart.  I may as well be a boulder as far as he's concerned.  His push's only effect is to slightly rock the cart and send him off balance backwards onto his ass.  He's basically crying at this point and his buddy bear hugs him and drags him back to the cart.  Over his shoulder the buddy tells me I shouldn't have said anything, I agree, but tell him that his buddy needs a therapist.  I genuinely felt bad for the dude.  He was clearly going through something and what I said was enough to send him over the edge.  He needed some serious help.

And that's the end.  Hit the green, managed to two-putt for par, was wondering if I was about to get jumped in the parking lot, then went home.

So to answer your original question yeah there's definitely an uptick.  Some of it is entitled stuff where people don't understand that a packed course has slower pace and that they need to adjust their vision of a round of golf and some if it is mental illness.  I for one though have just learned to keep my mouth shut, there's a whole lot of crazy out there right now.

 

[skraeling]

Its a massive surge of people playing including those that would have avoided it because it was seen as a snobbish hobby/activity... so you get more "bros".

Social media is insanely pervasive and everyone has a camera in their pocket that can shoot 4k 60fps now.  Which you think would cause more people pause (hey... someone will record evidence of me being a moron), but doesn't.

Are people crazier now than back "then"?  Not necessarily, but we've also dealt with some s*** the past decade and change that no one could have foreseen either.  Not everyone has handled it that well.

And thats just what I can think of.  I bet there are many other factors as well that may make it appear the case.

Unless someone actually studied the stats on it, its pretty impossible to say definitively either way.

[Paul Hedrick]

I believe there defiantly an up-tic in horrible etiquette on the course since covid.  It seems to me that a lot of people decided to golf because there was little else you could do during the pandemic.  Unfortunately, they did not really get proper instruction on how to act on the course.  Things like limiting the time you look for a lost ball, letting faster players play through, etc.  I have not observed anyone fighting on the course, but I did run into a guy who insisted I picked up his ball.  There was nothing I could do or say that would convince him otherwise... at the end I just shrugged my shoulders and moved on.  Of course, that really pissed him off.

[PrismFlopper]

On 5/8/2024 at 9:36 AM, JCole said:

Question is there an up tic in golfers fighting on the golf course or is it that there’s more social media so there is just more video out there of rare occasions? I personally have never seen anyone fighting but have started seeing more video

There is just a big uptick of disrespect in general. Can’t even say it’s a certain age group either cause I’ve had run ins with people of all ages on the course. Typically at least for me it’s the cheaper public courses on like a weekend that I’ve seen a lot of issues occur. Typically a more expensive course or country club people tend to be more courteous or have better etiquette. I got yelled at by a guy a few weeks ago that was probably in his mid 50s for not following course etiquette in time and for not hitting into the group in front of me, but I have also been hit into when we just started a whole like 3 min prior. People don’t seem to understand that just cause you have 10-15 min depending on starter timing, that there is back ups on the course and there is people that play fast or slow. If you’re in any sort of rush maybe you just shouldn’t play or get an early T time.