Driving range wear? Do not hit your balls on our range!

[noonan]

I just called my friend who is a super at the nicest public course north of town. I asked him if there was an issue with me hitting my older balls on the range if pressed for time. He said no but asked why. When I told him the story he just chuckled at muni.

[noonan]

Jerry, 

How would you feel if I brought goodie bags or juice boxes into your bowling alley?

You would not. You would be turned away at the door. You are comparing apples and oranges. We have had vodka brought in in water bottles. In fact some kids did this and left here and got into a car accident. The police came immediately and we had to show security tapes.

I do not bring my own drink to a course.

[jeffwarne]

you can play at my place but you gotta hit 4 new pro V 1's

[JC Jones]

Jerry,

Basically what you're saying is you haven't played there in 10 months yet you think you can't believe the staff doesn't recognize you, should take whichever cart you want and hit your own balls on the range?

Yeah, the 5 some is the problem out there.....

Have fun on "the nicest public in town"

[JC Jones]

Jerry, 

How would you feel if I brought goodie bags or juice boxes into your bowling alley?

You would not. You would be turned away at the door. You are comparing apples and oranges. We have had vodka brought in in water bottles. In fact some kids did this and left here and got into a car accident. The police came immediately and we had to show security tapes.

I do not bring my own drink to a course.

Just your own range balls.....which net the course more than the Gatorade you might purchase....

[noonan]

Jerry,

Basically what you're saying is you haven't played there in 10 months yet you think you can't believe the staff doesn't recognize you, should take whichever cart you want and hit your own balls on the range?

Yeah, the 5 some is the problem out there.....

Have fun on "the nicest public in town"

They take the cart number at the starter shack. That way you can grab which cart is convenient.

[noonan]

you can play at my place but you gotta hit 4 new pro V 1's

[JC Jones]

Jerry,

Basically what you're saying is you haven't played there in 10 months yet you think you can't believe the staff doesn't recognize you, should take whichever cart you want and hit your own balls on the range?

Yeah, the 5 some is the problem out there.....

Have fun on "the nicest public in town"

They take the cart number at the starter shack. That way you can grab which cart is convenient.

I think you've been huffing the shoe cleaning spray

[Andrew Buck]

you can play at my place but you gotta hit 4 new pro V 1's

Done, I'll be there tomorrow morning 

[jeffwarne]

you can play at my place but you gotta hit 4 new pro V 1's

Done, I'll be there tomorrow morning 

but you can't barter me bowling.....

[John Kavanaugh]

Jerry,

Is this incident from the same course? http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35443.msg715917.html#msg715917

[noonan]

Jerry,

Is this incident from the same course? http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,35443.msg715917.html#msg715917

Not the same course. But one of the 3 complexes the city owns and runs.

[Greg Tallman]

"After the round I confronted the desk help..."

Good find JK, rather telling I believe.

[noonan]

"After the round I confronted the desk help..."

Good find JK, rather telling I believe.

Do you judge much?

[Jeff Fortson]

While the actual damage to the turf is minimal with four balls, and the labor involved in removing those four balls is minuscule, I think it's the fact that you were asked not to do it and then did it anyway right in the guy's face. You are more than welcome to feel that hitting four balls real quick isn't a big deal, and maybe you're right. But what if you told a guy (and maybe this is a bad example as I bowl once a decade), "sir, we don't allow bowlers to purposely launch their ball 5 feet in the air a third of the way down the alley" and then the guy looks at you and purposely chucks one in exactly that manner. That may be a stretch, but it's the knowingly disobeying of an employees request that crossed the line from what I read in your OP. 

Now, people purposely drilling stingers at the kid in the range picker.... now that is a topic that should be discussed (maybe not on GCA, but somewhere). It is the most degrading and dangerous thing I see on ranges. It's absolutely uncalled for and people should be removed from property if they do it intentionally.

Jeff

[Rob Marshall]

Jerry,
You were wrong. You know you were wrong. The guy at the club may have treated you poorly but that doesn't make you right. The analogy of a guy throwing his bowling ball half way down the lane is spot on.

A lot of BS goes on at private clubs but this thread is full of reasons I'm thankful that I an fortunate enough to have played at a private club for the last 25 years.

[noonan]

Jerry,
You were wrong. You know you were wrong. The guy at the club may have treated you poorly but that doesn't make you right. The analogy of a guy throwing his bowling ball half way down the lane is spot on.

A lot of BS goes on at private clubs but this thread is full of reasons I'm thankful that I an fortunate enough to have played at a private club for the last 25 years.

Laughable. The grass grows back. The dent in the lane is labor intensive to remove.

[Jeff Fortson]

Laughable. The grass grows back. The dent in the lane is labor intensive to remove.

To be clear, I wasn't using that analogy to claim that throwing a ball 5 feet in the air is equivalent to 4 divots on a range. I was using the example to simply make a point about a customer doing something against a said business's policies, the customer being asked to stop, and then the customer doing it anyway right in the face of the employee. If that doesn't make sense then I guess I have failed to communicate my point.

[noonan]

Laughable. The grass grows back. The dent in the lane is labor intensive to remove.

To be clear, I wasn't using that analogy to claim that throwing a ball 5 feet in the air is equivalent to 4 divots on a range. I was using the example to simply make a point about a customer doing something against a said business's policies, the customer being asked to stop, and then the customer doing it anyway right in the face of the employee. If that doesn't make sense then I guess I have failed to communicate my point.

Thanks for the clarification. Again...I have said about 4 times I will respect their rule. I am signed up to play there one more time. After that I am done. At 52 I am not interested in getting injured without hitting my couple balls before starting.

One of the people I played with laid down 4 balls next to the tee and hit them down the fairway with a 9 iron when the group in front was out of range for that club. I understand the collective opinion of the group here is that I am a rube. I guess birds of a feather flock together is spot on.

[Pat Burke]

This thread is interesting.
Of course, I look at hockeyfights, shackelfords site, and other monstrosities on the web!

  I remember a little par three course with lights we lived close to growing up.  My dad was a head pro
at a pretty cool private club, but I loved going to that range for some reason.  They had a putting green,
but you had to pay a couple bucks to use it.  When I was about ten, I hit a large bucket, had a blast, and wasn't ready
to go home yet.  I ran over with my putter to hit some putts and my dad quickly hollered to get off the green.  I basically said
something to the effect of I just want to hit a couple of putts, why can't I?  Very simple response from my dad.  "Because it says you have to pay to putt here, and we ain't paying to putt".

Did your friend fix his 9 iron divots near the first tee?

I would recommend following your instinct to not go back, and play at your friend the superintendent's course.
I pretty much don't agree with your actions from the OP, but really have no problem with taking your ball (or four balls) and going elsewhere. 

[Jeff Fortson]

Thanks for the clarification. Again...I have said about 4 times I will respect their rule. I am signed up to play there one more time. After that I am done. At 52 I am not interested in getting injured without hitting my couple balls before starting.

One of the people I played with laid down 4 balls next to the tee and hit them down the fairway with a 9 iron when the group in front was out of range for that club. I understand the collective opinion of the group here is that I am a rube. I guess birds of a feather flock together is spot on.

I honestly don't mean to suggest you are a bad person, nor am I attempting to shame you. I'm sorry if I have come off that way. I'm in the golf business and this situation fascinates me.

I have seen this exact thing happen at my course more than a few times. As a golfer, I totally get you wanting to just hit a few balls before teeing it up. But on the operational end, I can't see a reason to not stretch or swing a weighted club if you are unwilling to purchase range balls. And I mean this with total respect, but I really can't get with any suggestion that there just isn't enough time to properly warm up or find a different way of making sure you don't hurt yourself unless you're allowed to hit four of your own balls on a range. I think it's easy to see why people may be coming to the conclusion that this is about you not wanting to part with a few dollars and are willing to not play courses that don't let you do this.

I don't know. I certainly don't mean you any disrespect, but it seems like there are numerous better solutions to your issue than having to fizz four of your own balls with a wedge onto a range before you play to avoid injury. Especially right in the face of a course operator that asked you not to. But to each their own. I hope you find a place that doesn't mind you doing so.

Jeff

[Jud_T]

So what exactly is this magical sequence of 4 swings that is the fountain of youth? 1 wedge, 1 8 iron, 1 5 iron and 1 driver?  Just asking cause if this is better than 10-15 minutes of stretching, yoga, tai chi and/or pilates you owe it to the world at large to forward mankind's thinking on the subject.

[D_Malley]

As an operator of a muni course with a practice range, i can say that people hitting their own balls on the range is a widespread problem. I have often had a customer, or should i say non-customer tell me that they are doing me a favor by providing me their used balls for my range. I usually just tell them that i would prefer that they purchase a bucket of range balls and that i do not want non range balls mixed in.

We are considering putting some money into upgrading the practice facilities, but it is hard to rationalize when everyone feels that they should be able to practice w/o paying.

Do you think this problem is more pervasive at muni facilities?
I don't think too many of these people would do the same thing when visiting a private club.

[Keith OHalloran]

On page 1, Jerry stole from the course to save the houses on the right from damage. On page 6 he stole from the course to save his body from damage. If by page 9 he steals from the course to preserve world peace, maybe people will be ok with it? 

[jeffwarne]

all this time I thought the biggest problem at the range was people TAKING balls and putting them in their bags