Basic manners missing at Palos Hills Golf Course

Our daughters have been taking golf lessons for a couple of years. Last year, their golf coach said it was time to get them on the course to put all the pieces together. We’ve gone to several local nine-hole courses, including the Palos Hills Municipal Golf Course, to give them on-course practice. While the girls are beginners, we’ve never had any problems until today.

Our girls teed off about 10:30 a.m. Before they finished the first hole, a man on a riding lawn mower wearing lime green headphones came by and started screaming at them. He told them it was a busy golf day so if the girls couldn’t finish a hole in six shots they had to move on. He said there were people behind them and they couldn’t hold up play. He never got off his riding lawn mower. He just stopped by our babysitter and started yelling at her and our ten-year-old daughters.

When the girls told me this story, I was (and remain) livid.  First, before they left, we talked about golf etiquette. I reminded them that if another group came close behind them that they should let that group play through. I also reminded them that they needed to be respectful of everyone’s time since everyone on the course wanted to play at a reasonable pace.

Second, the time to have a conversation about golf etiquette and pacing the course is in the clubhouse. Our girls said the woman working the register was very nice to them. If there were any concerns about their ability to play at a reasonable pace, I would have expected her to speak to our babysitter.

There is never a reason a stranger riding a lawn mower needs to drive by two young girls and a teen-aged babysitter to scream at them. At a minimum he could have gotten off his riding lawn mower, walked over to our babysitter and had a civilized conversation. His concern was understandable. His behavior was boorish.

I called the Palos Hills Golf Course Clubhouse a bit ago to discuss this with the manager. I spoke with Bill, who informed me the manager wasn’t available and wouldn’t be back until Monday. When I asked to leave a voicemail message, Bill became brusque, asking me what I wanted and why I was calling. It turns out that the manager doesn’t have voicemail. From that point on I had to drag information from Bill like he was guarding CIA secrets. What’s the manager’s name? Jay. What is his last name? Why? Does he have a last name? Yes, why? I’d like to have his first and last names. Jay Drewhan (probably misspelled, but I am writing it phonetically.) Bill was clearly annoyed and growled every word.

Our girls have been to nine-hole golf courses across the area. We’ve had many conversations with clubhouse staffs about course etiquette. We’ve let many, many groups play through so we didn’t hold up their games.

Most golf course employees understand that they are the next generation of players. Our girls need to learn somewhere and small, easy nine-hole courses are a good place to start. We’ve even had other golfers come up and offer advice to improve their games. Golfers tend to be interested in helping children learn the game.

What we’ve never encountered before is someone so abusive to our girls that they come home upset after golfing on a beautiful day. It’s appalling that a city-owned golf course spends taxpayer money to employ people with so few manners that it doesn’t occur to them that they don’t have the authority to yell at anyone, let alone children. If there was a real problem (and they were only on the first hole when the incident occurred) then lawn mower guy should have brought a manager into the situation. As it was, he just jumped to the conclusion that our girls couldn’t play and decided it was a good idea to drive by and yell at them. (And, since they hit between 5 and 9 strokes on every Palos Hills Golf Course hole, I’m guessing they weren’t all that much slower than many other golfers.)

So Jay, since I couldn’t leave a voicemail (and I didn’t trust Bill to give you a message), I hope someone will forward this to you. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting to learn how your employees are treating your youngest customers. And, it’s probably time for a basic customer service lesson. It seems at least two of your employees need a manners update.