Not what I had planned.....

6:02 am  - Saturday - October 5th - LPGRVR - 47° F, humidity 54%, wind 3 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies forecast for today with a high of 83° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I had just boarded the Port Townsend to Coupeville Ferry (Washington) in the Newell.....

.....they put us at the very front....nice view!

Friday was supposed to be a laid back day for me.  I had planned it that way by getting all the mowing done on Wednesday and Thursday.  I would take some time checking the water levels in the Club Car electrics batteries, make numerous marshaling rounds, and do a little irrigation down at the Night Registration office.  Nothing too hard, right? 

I began my day by staging 8 golf carts as it would be a busy day.  Ultimately I think we rented 13, or 14.  I then headed out on my first round of the day, stopping at each of the 4 sand traps to rake each of them.  They hadn't been raked for about a week, but they came out nice.....

The 18th green is healing nicely

18th fairway

On my second marshaling round of the day I 'ran' into DeWayne mowing the rough on the 15th hole.  He stopped to let me know there was a threesome just finishing the 4th hole that were driving their carts way beyond the rough into areas where they were not supposed to be.  I caught up with them on the 5th hole as they were playing the hole for the second time...a NO, NO.  You pay for 18 holes, you get to play 18 holes....not 19, or 20 holes.  Anyway, I stopped to ask them to stop playing holes twice, and to keep their carts in the fairway, warning them that a second violation of the carts use rules could result in their golf round being ended prematurely.  They apologized, and promised to do as I said, so I left, and headed back to the Clubhouse where I continued checking water levels in the batteries of the Club Cars.

It was a nice morning, and I would interrupt my battery tending with frequent trips down to the Night Office to move the sprinklers.  My day was going just like I planned.  I gave TLE her break for lunch at 12 pm.  The hour passed quickly and soon I was back on my cart making another marshaling round.  I had to stop a twosome on the 6th fairway who had driven their cart into the out of bounds area....about 50 feet outside the rough.  They are supposed to be in the fairway.  Then on 15 I had to warn a foursome about the same issue.  As I was passing by the fourteenth hole I looked down the fairway to see another group way off the fairway with their two carts, so I headed down to talk to them.  As I got closer I saw it was the same threesome I had spoken with on the 5th fairway.  When they saw me coming they quickly moved their carts back to the fairway.

I got out of my cart to warn them again, fully intending to let them go with a second warning, but as I walked up to them one of the players began to curse me, and launched into a 3 minute, profanity laced tirade.  Once that began I decided their day was over.  The other two golfers were apologetic, but the one guy was having none of it.  He advised he was going to finish his round, and I told him he was not.  He had two choices:  1) drive his cart back to the Clubhouse, or remove his clubs, and walk back.  After another minute, or two of more blustering he and his two friends began the drive back to the Clubhouse.  

I followed, and upon arriving back at the Clubhouse called Dennis, the owner, and asked him to come down to the Clubhouse to deal with this guy.  In the end he allowed them to go back and finish the last few holes, but advised them he would be talking with them on Saturday after he had a chance to talk with me and with DeWayne.

In the interim, carts began returning, and soon there were 8 carts ready for their daily spa treatment.  I finished with the Club Car electrics around 3 pm, and began washing carts.  Soon one of the carts used by the threesome was returned.  Bob, our mechanic, came over to inspect it for possible damage, and we found that the right front steering arm was bent, and the whole wheel assembly was very wobbly.....it is not supposed to wobble.  We found bad scratches along the fiberglass body, also on the right side, and the right rear wheel was bent.  It appeared they had hit a rock, or stump, indicating they had been off the fairway again.  

The rest of this story has not yet been written, but I suspect when Dennis talks with them Saturday that they will not be using any of our carts again.  Dennis does not tolerate golf cart abuse, and this was about as bad as I have seen.

At any rate, that is how my Friday ended.  99.9% of the people we deal with here at LPG&RVR are pleasant, friendly, and obey the rules.  It's that one tenth of one percent that leave a sour taste in ones mouth.

Thanks for stopping by!