Starting on 10 during the Weekly

[mgoofy24]

So, a little pet peeve of mine, and I would like to get it cleared up.

I like to tee off during the Sunday weekly as close to 8:30 as possible to get a fast round in because my time is limited (work).  The last weekly that I played in (we were the first group off), the group that I played in finished the front nine in about 45 minutes and made the turn, only to find that two groups who were playing the weekly had teed off the back nine.  We were able to play through both groups (the second group took more persuasion, we almost had to beg for them to let us through, and they were a group of 5), but it still stung.

It would seem that etiquette dictates that when playing the weekly, that players should play the front nine first to be courteous to the players who have time constraints and make the effort to get there early and tee off as near as possible to 8:30.  Yes, the wait times on holes does get longer as the tee-times roll on, which is why I show up early, but I don't think that it is fair to tee off the back nine when groups are already playing the front (it just makes wait times longer for the groups already playing the front nine).

I have played in toruneys where both the front and back tee off at the same time, but these tourneys have limited capacity, to the point where the last group teeing off the back nine should theoretically go off right when the first group off the front nine is finishing 9.

Sorry about the rant.  Just wondering if there is some policy about this...

[ben]

Was going to post a new topic about this, but then I dug through and found this post from a few months back.

This is also a pet peeve of mine, and I'm looking for general opinions on this- if I'm in a small minority, then I'll let it go and try to stop being irritated about it.

The thing is, sometimes this is okay as far as I'm concerned- if it's within the first 30 minutes of the beginning of the weekly, or if somehow a gap has formed between groups, such that a weekly group can start on 10 and not otherwise cause groups making the turn to wait, I have no problem with that.

Otherwise yeah, it strikes me as very poor etiquette for newly starting weekly groups to jump into a line on 10, thus slowing down groups making the turn. Putting aside the concern of trying to finish a quick round, my beef is more with my group having waited in a line of 2-3 groups to start on 1, getting warmed up, maybe having settled into a groove and birdied 8 and 9, then walking over to 10 and waiting for 2-3 groups who weren't in front of you, thus cooling off your muscles/joints, and lessening your focus.

The last time this happened, I tried to politely ask the new group of 5 that jumped in front of us on hole 10 if we could play through, explaining that we were all warmed up and on a roll, and that there was only one group waiting on hole 1, and the players in the group said no, and went so far as to say "I guess we just aren't all serious like you guys, what's the big deal" with lots of eye-rolling involved.

And then of course, in classic fashion, three of the folks in that group shanked hard into the woods, and we waited an extra 5 minutes for disc searching.

So, am I just a cranky bastard, or does this bother other people too?

[crosstoby]

It SUCKS to make the turn and finding weekly players who showed up right around 10:00 waiting at the 10th tee. There's a ripple effect and it slows down play the whole day for everyone.

If groups want to start on 10 before anyone else makes the turn, then fine...they may well end up waiting at 1 anyway. If it doesn't slow anyone down except them then what the hell.

Non-weekly players and unknowing novices can usually be persuaded ever so gently to recognize the weekly...not much you can do except ask politely to play through. It's more difficult with weekly players who should really already know better.

If regular players wish to start early, keep their scores, and pay at the turn, that seems fine with me...that's one means by which early risers and those concerned about their pace can get a round in faster.

Weekly players should simply not jump onto 10 after the first group has made the turn. Ultimately, people are going to do what they want but I agree that weekly etiquette should include not breaking the pace of your fellow players by cutting in.

JT

[ross]

I think for a number of us with families, weekend work commitments, etc. this is an issue. But we don't actually have to accept bad behavior in the weekly -- just simply state that for the round to count you have to start on hole 1. It's easy enough for the TD to see whether this is being followed or not. If it's clearly stated by the TD when people are paying (and included in the communication on the message board and the e-mails with the results) I think pretty quickly most people would comply. If people want to play casual of course there is nothing we can (or should) do. If they want to play in the Club weekly then they'll have to follow the rules. Right?

[doublejack]

If regular players wish to start early, keep their scores, and pay at the turn, that seems fine with me...that's one means by which early risers and those concerned about their pace can get a round in faster.

Weekly players should simply not jump onto 10 after the first group has made the turn. Ultimately, people are going to do what they want but I agree that weekly etiquette should include not breaking the pace of your fellow players by cutting in.

Agreed. Folks should always feel free to start early, keep score, and pay at the turn when I (Bill Emmack) am TD.

Starting on 10 in the Weekly is rarely worth the effort due to the congested Front 9 that will be waiting for you when you make that turn. (Learned this the hard way.) But if you do start at 10, I believe etiquette does require you to let any groups who've played the front 9 to play through.

[Stick]

Another question is did everyone that started on 10 play the same course. By the time we got done, the temp #1 basket had already been moved.

[todd]

That's a good question, Stick.

Due to the huge turn out resulting in a major back up, i don't blame you for starting on hole 10. I'll take part of the blame for not communicating the fact that the last group out would be putting the baskets back to normal as we played through (obviously for safety reasons).

As a general rule, if the TD has set up some "funny" holes that will be returned to the original position as the TD plays thru, golfers participating in the weekly should play the course 1-18 to ensure that they play the same holes as everyone else.

[pepe]

By the way...

There is no starting on 10 during the BTC. All parties must start on hole 1 regardless of the back up. We lengthened the rolling start time from 8-11 to accomodate the crowds.

[mgoofy24]

Always fun to see the thread you started months earlier brought back to life =) Glad I was not the only one with the pet peeve!

[kimchi]

i think bottom line is no one should be allowed to start on hole 10.

this especially important because of funky set ups that will be reset as the TD themselves play through at the end. everyone must play the same course, obviously.

if you DO want to start on hole 10, then just don't play the freegin' weekly... and by the way let everyone else who is playing the weekly play through.

that's how i feel. it should just be common sense that if you're playing the weekly... AND want to whiz on through, you should get there early. or if you don't have time to play the weekly... don't play it! duh!