Golf course personalities

[jerryg]

I took the dogs for a walk today and was thinking of some of the courses I am looking forward to getting back to this season and some I prefer not to spend my money on. Then I started thinking of why I would not want to play certain courses.
It dawned on me that it is not that there is anything wrong with course design or upkeep, necessarily, but the culture of the place when you get there can be quite off-putting. There are some that are an absolute joy to visit and there are some where you become wary as soon as you hit the parking lot--sometimes miles before the parking lot.
In this region there is a keen competition for the public's golfing dollar. Some places get why people return and it is pretty obvious some don't. I'd love to see some thoughts and stories from other golfers about some of their experiences with the courses they play and choose not to play.

[Richie3Jack]

I have a hard time really looking at reviews of golf courses because most reviewers have the idea in their head that because they pay money they think they own the place and expect the 'Judge Smails' treatment.

I got this a lot when I worked in Myrtle Beach. It was really bad at Caledonia Golf and Fish Club where the fee was around $130 for 18 holes. But many golfers would think that they could just show up anytime they wanted to, take 6 hours to play, and then act like a drunken idiot out on the restaurant deck where the 18th green is at.

I had a friend who worked at the Legends resort in Myrtle Beach and when a customer didn't get a tee time he wanted, the customer reached across the desk and physically grabbed my friend. And then his manager wound up apologizing profusely to the customer. One good thing about Caledonia is that stuff wouldn't be tolerated and if a customer did that to the wrong employee, he may wind up getting his ass kicked.

But, there's obvously bad course employees as well. The biggest thing I find is guys that are very arrogant and unfriendly. One thing I really dug about going to see John Dochety is not only was he extremely nice, friendly and outgoing to me...but so were the rest of the employees I met at Lakewood CC and they were also extremely outgoing and friend to the members that were walking by.

I remember one time when I was at Coastal Carolina I was in there PGM program but also playing on the team. I scheduled a tee time as the team's season was already over with and I was allowed to do. I did it at Myrtle Beach National (and it wasn't the King's course). When I get there, the guy behind the desk gave my tee time to somebody else. I then asked for another tee time and he said he didn't have any at the moment and I told him what am I supposed to do in the meantime.

He then replies 'you're just going to have to wait until I feel you can go out there.' I then asked if this is how he treats his customers and he replied 'well you don't pay to play here anyway.'

I then let him know that being part of the CCU PGM program meant that the money I sent for tuition went in part so CCU could pay MB National to allow golfers like myself to play there. I then walked out and told my advisor/asst. coach that he had problems with MB National.





3JACK

[jerryg]

Pretty irritating, eh? There are lots of places like that and I have no idea why people bother to return.

[Richie3Jack]

I will say that when I worked at Caledonia, for the most part the staff IMO was exceptional. Great bag drop guys, good starters, good pro-shop guys.

When I was there they did have a major problem with the restaurant. The restaurant was only open from 11-3, but working a shift there the staff would make $100-$200 a person in tips. They usually had one person that would work most of the day, from say 8am - 7pm and they would just serve drinks during that time and come away with a few hundred dollards in tips.

But they were absolutely the most miserable people I have ever worked with on a golf course. Extremely rude to the customers. What was unbelievable was the cart girls would make a ton of money and then decide to quit at 3pm! We would have a packed course (almost every day it was filled up) and no cart girl past 3pm. Unbelievable.

One time my roommate got sick of the bitching and grabbed the beverage cart, stocked it himself and drove out there and became the 'cart girl.' He said he got a bunch of golfer's razzing him, but he wound up making $100 in tips in about 2 hours. But the course found out he did it and told him not to do it again and then said they would make the cart girls stay later, which never really happened.

I think like any company...that attitude starts at the top. In Caledonia's case, they simply would not mess with the restaurant and beverage director and let her run that side whichever way she felt best. She just wanted to work the hours she had to work and go home and really didn't care what the rest of the staff did and that's the way it was handled.

But a lot of time it's the boss runs the ship with an iron fist, the pay sucks, the benefits are not there and they let customers act unruly and walk all over the employees. That puts employees in a foul mood and allows the employees that have bad attitudes to begin with to work there.




3JACK