Greetings Golfers,

This is about expectations … not the book “Great Expectations” by Dickens. I’m not a big fiction reader, but I liked Dickens … especially “A Christmas Carol”. Talk about expectations … Scrooge really changed his life when those ghosts showed him his future.

That’s what I’m talking about … how expectations change actions.

Last week, on the Old School Golf site, I entered a discussion about slow play. Some people thought that expecting golfers to play in 4 hours was unfair – especially for not very good players. I responded that 4 hours was a reasonable pace and that we expect it from our players.

As the arguments for 5 hour rounds got more heated and more ridiculous … I pointed out that our Ladies League plays 18 holes in 4 hours and 9 holes in 2 hours. And that many of the ladies were fairly new players and not exactly experts. The arguers couldn’t believe it, and wanted to know about our elaborate training system. When I said that we don’t need to train for pace of play … they couldn’t believe it.

So I explained that the secret was to have expectations and to then let the players use their own common sense to figure out how to play in the expected time frame.

They still didn’t believe me … even though it was happening on the golf course while I was posting my responses.

I believe in people. And I believe that people are capable of living up to realistic expectations. In fact, I think it is really insulting to believe that people can’t handle reasonable expectations.

When we hire staff at Deer Run … I explain that we don’t have a lot of rules … just expectations of good behavior and common sense. If I have to have rules such as “No Stealing” “No Fighting”, etc … I’ve hired the wrong people.

Though customers are not employees, I still have expectations of civility. Which is a good thing. For everyone. We’re not a nightclub. We want people to have fun and to be relaxed. But narcissists wreck it for everyone. You know the types – they cut in front of the line … talk too loud … demand special food not on the menu … play too slow … spit sunflower seeds on the course … drive into neighbor’s yards, etc. They don’t care about anyone else. And they have a “right” to do whatever they want. They must not have their own inner voice of personal expectations or maybe no one ever had decent expectations of them. That’s a disservice to them. They probably aren’t aware of how much people dislike being around them.

Well, Scrooge needed the ghosts to make him aware of how much people disliked him. We don’t have ghosts, but we do have expectations. Not “Great Expectations” just reasonable expectations. To keep it fun for everyone.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com

Deer Run Golf Club
8661 Deer Run Drive
Victoria, MN 55386
(952) 443-2351
www.deerrungolf.com
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