I was standing in tee box on the seventh hole last week, prepared to hit my driver, when a golfer from the adjacent hole emerged from the tree line to hit a ball that had trickled into our fairway.
Etiquette and personal safety dictate that you wait for the golfers on the tee box to hit their shots before venturing into the fairway to hit your ball, but I didn’t mind. I was having a lovely morning of golf with friends, and the minute or so that this golfer was delaying our round wasn’t going to hurt us in any way.
Then a golf course employee driving a cart marked “Player Assistance” appeared. These folks, often referred to as rangers, claim to offer player assistance, but never have I seen one of these guys hunt for a lost ball, read a putt, or rake a sand trap. As far as I can tell, these guys spend their day warning slow golfers to get moving when groups of golfers behind them begin backing up.
This is admittedly helpful when playing behind a slow foursome, but I feel like they could be doing a lot more in terms of “player assistance.”
This particular ranger drove across our tee box, stopped, motioned to the golfer standing in my fairway, and said, “You know, he’s supposed to wait until you hit your tee shot before hitting his ball.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s fine.”
“Next time hit him in the goddamn head with your ball. Maybe he’ll learn his lesson.”
As I said, these “Player Assistance” guys might not be so interested in player assistance.
Something I’ll have to teach Charlie as he begins to play.
