on the green

[stanley]

I think I know why they call it Manderley "on the green".

I played on Sunday morning, just before 7. I figured we'd have a nice pace. When we got to the third hole......who was "on the green"???......the kid cutting them. I couldn't believe it. We were held up for 7-8 minutes. So we eventually finished the hole. As I approached my 2nd shot on the 5th hole (dogleg right downhill), who was on the green again? The kid....cutting them again. Thankfully we let them know behind us that we were waiting to hit, it could have been dangerous.

I had never seen this on a golf course. Even when he was done cutting them, he would stroll over slowly and put the flag back in....as we waited. They should have been done at 5:30, not 7:30.

[el tigre]

I had the same thing happen to me earlier this year at ... you guessed it ... Manderley. The guy was holding us up for 5-6 holes!

Most courses do this work VERY early in the morning - just before dawn in some cases - or at the end of the day. If they must do it when the course has golfers on it, they go in reverse order of the holes so they are not holding up the same group all the time. And prime time on Sunday is just crazy.

And people wonder why Manderley is notorious for slow play!

[em69]

Same thing happenned to me at Falcon Ridge...except it occurred on the 1st hole at like 9:00 am...we couldn't believe it.

I know most courses cut the greens in reverse order, why they don't all do it...we'll never know.

[LBH]

Something just as frustrating happened to me at Montpellier about 2 years ago.

We tee-off on the 4th hole (almost island green par 3) from the blue tees. You can't see the green from there because you're too far back of the hill. So we walk up to the edge of the cliff and take a look at where the pin is and pick a tree in the woods behind the green as our target.

For each player's shot, there was always somebody looking at the green to see if the ball went in the water, on the green or elsewhere. After all 4 shots, 2 of them looked to be within 12 feet of the pin, the other 2 in the water.

So we get in our carts and drive down the hill.

Guess what? By the time we got to the green, one of the employees was changing the pin placement!!!! We starting screaming at him to wait until we were done but he said his shift should already be over and he had 3 more holes to do (reverse order!) so he wasn't willing to wait!

Great! So instead of twelve footers for birdie, we had something like 40 footers!

Wonderful!

We went into the proshop and explained our beef to the pro (nice guy) and he said he was really sorry and he would talk to his employee about proper respect for golfers. He even offered us to pay for our beer and lunch after the round so that was really kind of him. But what a moron of an employee!!!

Needless to say, we never went back to Montpellier...

[donh]

Hmm. Maybe the employee was just a little jealous?

Speaking as one of the gang who worked on a golf course, it's difficult to please everyone. Back then, on our 9-hole course, I knew that I had to be half done the course by 7:30, otherwise I would be held up (and I was a busy guy!)

I can remember one time, getting to work on time (6:00 a.m.) cutting the greens when people came out of the woodwork to prepare for a shotgun start. What normally took 90 minutes to cut our greens, took 3 hours. I know that story probably won't win me any sympathy (but I was late for a tee time ;>)

Cheers,

[statsfreak]

We were at Greensmere last Saturday for a mid-morning round and we were playing the 7th and 8th when this sort of thing happened. We were teeing off on the 7th (par 3) and the kid with the mower drives up and begins cutting the apron in front of the green. Needless to say we felt we should wait until he finished (no helmet or cage on the mower) but he waves us to go ahead. We hit and walk up to the green and while we are putting he continues going about his business cutting the grass with his oversized riding mower within 20 yards of where we were. Never paused to let us putt in peace. We finished the whole and went to the next tee. Thank goodness he was just finishing up there when we were ready to hit our second shots or we would have had to deal with that all over again.

Give me a guy munching on a bag of chips any day!

[golfdoc]

I can uderstand wanting the guy cutting the green to get out of the way (for his safety at least) but does the noise from a mower really bother you?

If the guy was cutting grass before you got there (noisy already) and when you got there (still noisy) and after you left, then big deal!!! It's just background noise.

Try playing with ear plugs or something. If someone 20 yards away cutting grass bothers your putts, you need better excuses.

[chad]

Are you nuts? Excuse, who said it was an excuse! A lawn tractor is not just "background noise" It a friggin' tractor and Yes he should stop out of courtesy for the golfers. People pay money( and some times a lot of money) to golf and the last thing thing I want to have to put up with is noise from the maintenence crew.

[mr shank]

Mower noise is just part of golfing - deal with it.
Of course the maintenance crew should clear the green to allow approach shots, but to ask them to shut off their mowers everytime a group approaches is not reasonable. They would never finish cutting the greens & then we'd all be complaining about poor conditioning.

[stanley]

anyway.....I see you guys got on to the issue of mower noise...all I was saying is that golf courses can't have kids sleeping in on a Sunday morning and cutting the greens late. It's inacceptable.

......If they cut the greens at the appropriate time, there would be no noise in the first place.

stan

[chad]

Ok I am not saying that they have to shut of the mower , but they usually at least stop and stay in one spot while you are putting and let the mower idle.

I would like to know what courses you play at if moving tractors around greens is "Part of golf"

[stanley]

sorry, I mean "unacceptable"

[em69]

At Stonebridge last week the greenskeeper shut of the tractor as we putted out. He was airating the fairways. We were grateful....and beside my playing partner put on a show for him by sinking a 35 footer. The greenskeeper even appluded him.

Great people who appreciate the money people spend to play there.

The less you pay to play the less you can expect.

[mr shank]

Any greenskeeper or crew that moves off the green & actually shuts off the mower, to me, has gone beyond the call of duty.
A mower idling beside or near a green should not be a distraction.
Chad - read more closely - nowhere did I indicate moving tractors are part of golf - I said MOWER NOISE!!
If you complain you can't putt if a lawn mower is within earshot you are not a golfer, you are whiner.

[NoBack]

I have to agree with mr shank here about the mower noise. It is part of the game no matter where you play.

The thing we would like to see in a perfect world, would be that when they do get closer to us that they idle their machines rather than keep cutting. If this happened then maybe golfers and greenskeeping staff could co-exist together without getting upset at each other.

I have seen proper maintenace etiquette at several courses and bad etiquette at others. It all depends on the staff being taught the right and wrong things to do. Just as we dont ride our carts too close to the greens and traps they should think about someone putting out before continuing to cut the greens.

[The Shtick]

It all depends on where you go. As far as I know, places like Eidelweiss, Cascades, Ste. Marie, Heritage, Montebello, etc. all have most of the staff living nearby (and I know many of them) and in general, they are "nature" people. Meaning, that the golf course nearby to their home is the only good place to work because of the lack of oppurtunity around their homes. In town, however, there are many jobs available to young people. It's almost like a pick and choose kind of deal. Some maintenance staff at certain courses care about the sport and it's players and others don't. That's just the way it is.

If this sort of behaviour happens while you are playing, just let the pro, or any pro-shop employee know about it so the right action may be taken. Most of the time it's either a lack of communication or lack of training... and that can ALWAYS be fixed.

Why do I have this opinion? Because I've been there, AND bought the T-shirt!

[statsfreak]

I said: We hit and walk up to the green and while we are putting he continues going about his business cutting the grass with his oversized riding mower within 20 yards of where we were. Never paused to let us putt in peace.

golfdoc said: If the guy was cutting grass before you got there (noisy already) and when you got there (still noisy) and after you left, then big deal!!! It's just background noise.

Try playing with ear plugs or something. If someone 20 yards away cutting grass bothers your putts, you need better excuses.

Clarification: It only partly had to do with the noise of the mower, which was bad enough, but also with some guy driving around with a vehicle the size of a small car right next to the green while we are playing. When I said it was within 20 yards, I mean it was right next to the green (he was doing the apron and fringes) which means that he was right next to us. I think in that case he should pause while there are players on the green. I have played a lot of golf in my life, and all I can say is that decent courses who treat their customers with respect as golfers would insist their staff pause under those circumstances. Someone at Greensmere needs to speak with their staff about this sort of stuff.

As far as needing excuses goes, if I remember correctly I parred the hole!

[schmed]

If the staff at the course doesn't understand that actually running equipment right beside you could bother some people then they shouldn't be working at a golf course. When a machine is idling that is not annoying, but when it is cutting that ain't good. Last year I played the Canadian and had to tell the guy to stop trying to start his mower while we were on the green. Most courses the staff will sit and wait for your group to finish the hole and then continue working. To me that is proper etiquette. Although last year at a certain course, which I refuse to name because they have a better crew this year, I had to wait on the entire front nine for a guy to change the flag when we were about to hit our approach shots. Just my opinion.

[chad]

I dont think that I have to read more carefully. I was talking about being on the green with a tractor going around cutting grass. I dont care if the mower is within earshot, I just dont want him driving around the green while I am trying to putt.

Now if MR.SHANk would read more carefully he would see that at Stonebridge they will shut the mower off, and no it is not beyond the call of duty, the staff are told to show some RESPECT to the golfers that play their course so that they will remember the good service and they will go back.

[golfdoc]

I can understand that if your ball is near the fringe and the guy is riding by your ankles trying to cut the fringe but if you are on the green putting and he is 10-15-20 yards away cutting the fringe, who cares!!! I really don't see how that bothers you.

When do you want them to do it??? 2 or 3 in the morning???

Here's my hope... don't cut the green when my ball is on the green. Don't cut the fringe near me when my ball is in the fringe and don't rake the traps while my ball is in the trap!!!

Other than that, go about your business because if you don't, people will complain about the conditions!

[jimrobin]

The rule I like to use is, whoever is there first has the right to finish. If the guy mowing is already cutting the green, you can go ahead and putt or wait for him (it doesn't take that long, he's probably close to finishing anyways). But if the golfers are on the green first, the cutter better wait for them to finish or I'll be complaining to the proshop.

The other thing I like to see clubs do is, if the first tee-off is at 6:30am, then they should start cutting at least 6am and get the first few holes done so they are not bothering the golfers and they can stay ahead of the golfers as they keep cutting.

I know this doesn't always work out this good, but at least make an attempt to get ahead of the golfers.

[mr shank]

Chad - I have reread your post - what is it that I should read more carefully? I never indicated that Stonebridge does not shut off their mowers, I said it is beyond the call of duty, and it is. It is you that translated my phrase of "mower noise"
to "tractors on the green" and that is why I suggested you reread my post. Nice attempt at a rebuttle though.
Any grounds crew that moves away from the green with the mower idling IS showing respect to the goflers. To suggest they need to shut off their mower when every group approaches is ridiculous.
I like Jimrobins rule of whoever is there first finishes. This seems logical to me, but apparently logic doesn't enter the equation for many.

[chad]

I never said that the grounds crew should stop and turn off the mowers. I had said that they should stop and let the mower idle where they are instead of driving around the green while the group is trying to putt out.
I agree with Jimrobins post as well, it is just plain common sense that if the mower is on the green when you get there, let him finish.
I played at Mont-Cascades on the weekend and everytime that one of the maintenence crew saw that there were golfers near buy they would stop there carts and pull to the side and let the golfers go about their buisiness and then they would continue on with the work.

[mr shank]

we're all in agreement then - the jimrobin rule has it!

[golfdoc]

and if someone rides by with the mower on, just hit your putt and move on. Enough whining!!!

If not, start playing from the ladies tee and then you can complain about every noise and distraction and nobody will care.

[stanley]

Jimrobin's right.

For those playing on the 18th, I just hope the greens are cut so it doesn't ruin your pace of play, as for the tractor "noise", well I guess sometimes it can't be avoided.

[NoBack]

Seeing as we paly in the afternoon on the 18th I would hope all the greens should be cut by then.

Hope you all sign up for the Open. Should be a blast!
Over $5000 in prizes to be won and/or handed out.

[nice_lag]

After a disaster of a round in a place that shall remain nameless so that I don't dishonor the course, all I hope is that the greens will actually have a fringe. But 3 cheers for jimrobin who came up to the conclusion that we all wanted....

Knowing where Manderley is, what about if an aircraft is on final, or suddenly puts on the airbrakes on landing... can I get a mulligan because the noise disturbed me????

Sorry Steve, I couldn't resist that one in here...

[Colby]

That's not a hint of dissention in the Team Black ranks is it?!?

[NoBack]

Not on this team there isnt Colby

The thing about being a "Team Black" member, is that we do have a sence of humour. Remember now, we got beat by "Team Green" and that is funny!

You guys can brag all winter but the challenge is on for next year!!

:tank