I'm usually pretty courteous on the course. I don't make cat calls at the beer girls as she rides past. I try not to slow up play for people behind me, and I try not to push people playing in front of me. I even repair my ball marks on the green and marks may by others that haven't.
But over the weekend, some asshats really got under my skin. Let me set the situation for you.
A group of 6 guys were playing hole 10. Being a group of 6, I figured they were going to play pretty slowly, so I went around them and played 13. Yes, I suppose I could have gone to play 11, but the course configuration made it easy to get past them at 12 rather than 11. I figured I would play 13, 14, 15, 16, then 11, 12, 17 and 18. I skipped 10 altogether owing to the fact that it would have been a hike to get to the tee box and with darkness approaching, I thought 8 holes would be sufficient for that night.
Back to our story. I started on 13 about the time the group of asshats was teeing off on 11. I played 13, 14, 15, and 16. Then I looked to see if I could get back onto 11 and play 11 and 12 before finishing with 17 and 18. Good news, both holes are clear. I teed off, and as I'm putting my driver back in my bag, i notice the asshats are just finishing 13 and driving back up the hill. As I get to my balls for my second shot (yes, I play multiple balls if nobody is around. If I need to play faster I play only one ball.) the group is on the tee box. They are going to play 11 again. Apparently, they didn't like me being on the hole, because they started shouting for me to speed up. I played my balls, but didn't bother to put out, so that I wouldn't hold them up. I stepped onto the tee box on 12 and hit my first shot. I could see one of the asshats drive into my fairway. Hmmmm that's odd, whats he doing there. I tee up my second ball, and he looked my way and drove back to his fairway. Hitting my second ball, I see him drive across my fairway again. He's now approximately 60 yards away from his fairway. I've played this course for years and years and have never seen anyone teeing off of 11 hit a shot that far to the left, and it dawned on me that he might be trying to take my ball. Literally, I ran to the crest in the fairway and yelled' "I hope you didn't take my ball."
Without slowing down, he tossed my ball back toward my fairway, and kept driving off. He drove to the right side of his fairway where his ball was laying in the rough, played it and drove off so as to not have to face me when I got to my ball.
Why he would feel the need to steal one of my golf balls is beyond me. Why he would drive across my fairway to do it I don't know, and why he would throw it out when I called him out, is another mystery.
So I finished 12, then 17 and 18. As I was playing 18, I noticed the gaggle of asshats hadn't bothered to play anymore holes and went to turn in their carts and go home. I guess they saw me because they started pointing and yelling at me. For what, I'm still not sure. They conveniently left just as I finished putting on 18. As they got in their cars, however, I notice the cart girl (the last employee left at the course) flipped them off and walked back to the garage. I guess they said something she didn't like.
What I don't understand is what is missing in these asshat's lives? or what happened in their upbringing that caused this behavior? Do they feel bigger about themselves for acting like that? I just don't understand what gets into people sometimes. Can anyone explain it? Please, let me know.
