You can’t please all the people all the time, and sometimes all those people have a tee time on the same day. One thing I will not miss about golf business are the post round complaints that start with “we didn’t appreciate the ranger.” Here is how every conversation goes. I let them talk. It’s packed with exaggerations and complete nonsense. Rangers with horns, pointy tails, a whip with barbs at the end. They finish with “the experience sucked”. I ask them if they like 5-6 hour rounds, they say they do not. I ask if they would like a ranger on the course to keep everyone on pace, they say they do. I ask if it would be ok if the ranger talked to their group, and this is when it starts to get weird….
They want to say: “no rangers can’t talk to us”, but they stop short. Saying this would begin to discredit their desire. So I help them. “Would it be best if we just rangered, and never spoke to your group? By now they have had 7 beers, they have had 11 holes to get worked up, and of course they say, “yeah, we aren’t the problem”. Perfect, as I remind them the group in front of them, and the group in front of them, and the group in fornt of them… doesn’t want us talking to them either. “So, you are good if we don’t talk to anyone in front slowing you down either, is that right?” Now they are turned in a circle. They want good pace but they don’t. They want rangers speaking to people but they don’t. The sane ones let it go. They understand that we are either doing the thankless job of pace or we are not….and clearly we are. And overall that’s good.
In summary, toughen up. Roger, Dan, Jeff, Tom, Chip don’t really want to spend their day timing your movements. They want a relaxing day, yucking it up, and having fun with you. They get zero enjoyment from asking you to speed up. Matter a fact it terrifies them, because have proved to be fragile. It’s a request. A request to catch the group in front. A request to stop the search for your solid gold golf ball. A request to play ready golf. This isn’t personal. Stop going into golf shops and pretending that it is. Rangers are working on a macro level. Their goal isn’t to make your group miserable, it’s to make the vast majority to player’s days quick and enjoyble. If they say something, its because they feel like they absolutley have to. Try to empathize with that. Or don’t…. either way, I’ll be waiting in the Golf Shop where you can tell me you are not the problem.
