Greetings Golfers,

Last week the StarTribune asked their readers to share their thoughts about speeding. Here’s how they summarized the responses:

“Leadfoots who go 5 to 10 mph over the limit didn’t rankle many drivers. But over and over, readers lambasted the race-car driver wannabes who weave in and out of lanes, the distracted drivers glued to their phones and – their biggest peeve – left lane hogs who play traffic vigilante and don’t move over to let faster-moving drivers pass.”

I’m not surprised – I feel the same way.

And, it’s the same scene on the golf course – though we only have one lane.

As I’ve said before, we feel that playing in 4 hours is like driving at 60mph. No one has the right to go 80mph and run over people … and no one has the right to play at 40mph and back-up the whole golf course.

However, we have people who believe because they paid a green fee that they have the right to play at whatever speed they want to – they don’t understand that they paid for a slot on the golf course. If they want to rent the whole golf course they can play at whatever pace they want … but it will be a really expensive round of golf.

You all know about “road rage” on the freeways … well, we get “road rage” on the golf course. Last weekend a golfer decided to make a phone call while playing. After the round he admitted that he stopped playing for 5 minutes while he was on the phone. I presumed he quit playing and had his playing partners continue without him. Wrong. His foursome stopped playing and waited while he was on the phone. It got worse from there. The guys behind them hit into them … and so the phone group grabbed their shots. Two wrongs don’t make a right … or is this three wrongs? So words were exchanged and a guy in the phone group claimed that he was threatened with a gun and called the police.

No one was threatened with a gun. Some people love drama. It was a waste of police time and an embarrassment to Deer Run – 3 police cars in the parking lot. Ridiculous.

I just don’t get it. A 4 hour pace of play is reasonable. Making your playing partners wait 5 minutes while you talk on the phone is unreasonable. Calling the police for an imaginary threat is unreasonable. Are people really this selfish and self-absorbed? I’m not surprised at the rude drivers I see on the road. But, I expect more from golfers.

Cheers,

Tom Abts

GM and Head Golf Professional

tabts@deerrungolf.com