Yesterday evening my playing partner and i went to Southampton GC for a swift 9 holes before it became too dark. Upon paying at the hut for our round a family of Chavs ran on to the first hole in full view of cashier and marshall , daddy chav was dressed in full uniform of tracksuit with obligatory hood pulled up despite being in his early 50s. He was joined by 3 lads ranging from 10 to 16. All had sets of clubs and it was obvious they were jumping on for nothing. The marshall jumped in his buggy and i thought he would tell them to pay or get off. Unfortunately he drove the other way towards the 18 hole course!By the time we had paid and grabbed a quick coffee they were still on the 1st, all having hit 2 balls each.At this my partner lost his temper and told the Daddy Chav that if they were going to jump on at least play one ball or let us through. Cue lots of swearing and aggression from this lovely family. Upon this we retreated and played back 9 of the 18 hole course and despite the drama proceded to shoot a 41! As i know the pro well had a good moan to him in the bar after about the whole thing. I know this is a municipal course but is of a high quality with plenty of members and serious golfers alike who want to play in a proper and responsible way!Has anyone else experienced problems like this on their local course and is there anything that can be done to stop it? Jamie

Unfortunately Jamie until the Marshall's and pros have the balls to tackle these types we are stuck with them!

This was one of the reasons i did not renew my season ticket at my local muni and now play further afield.

Nowadays you can't just have a polite word with someone for the fear of violence, so many pros/Marshall's don't bother.

Paul.

Same here Paul. Wouldn't be Brandhall by any chance?

 Leeds municipals are the same, good enough courses but there are people who wont pay, have no idea of etiquette, throw their special brew cans all over the place. There's no point saying anything to them about not paying as it's water off a ducks back. I do however take exception if they jump in.

This is exactly why you have to try and join a private club if you are serious about your golf.  It shouldn't be that way-but it is.

There are some lovely municipals (as well as many more boring/crap ones) but you have to be prepared to wait for ridiculous lengths of time to play your round and at each tee off once started.  You also have to put up with the majority of the players being not good enough to play an 18 hole course and spoil it for everyone else.  These jokers go around damaging the course, never replace divots or pitch marks, never rake bunkers and don't think it is wise to let faster players pass-it's like admitting they are not very good.  I played a muni last month and the group in front all had beers and seemed to be having some kind of 'stag' event-they were just there for a laugh, not to play golf.

I just joined my local private club this month-Ok there are a few snooty ones who are equally annoying, but my enjoyment has increased massively-it was a very good decision to join, I play much more and am improving.  Value wise these municipals are not even that cheap nowadays-and with the credit crunch there are smashing offers for joing a good club.  I was playing maybe 6 rounds a month at £15 ish a round-and I now pay £80 a month-play as much as I want and have access to practice ground and facitilities-dont waste money at driving range.

So my advice is try and join a private club if you can-muni's will always be muni's-I remember as a kid waiting 2 hours to get on the first tee-and I must admit I never paid, since I couldn't afford it and noone else did!

David,

How did you guess

Its a shame as when i played there last Friday the course was in good nick. Still very busy with every tom,dick & harry making the most of the sunshine.

Are you available to play handsworth tomorrow ?

Hatchford Brook is a good muniipal course (Birmingham) and I think is well run although the greens do suffer a little.

But if you watch, in the summer at about 5.30-6 when the pro/marshall lock up and go home there is a longer queue on the first tee than during the day.

It has always been like this and I'm sure they must know about it but what can they do?. I must add though that they charge a whopping £16 to play 18, so who can blame them, If I was beginner I wouldnt want to pay that and get moaned at for being rubbish/holding up play.

Incidently, if you drive 4 miles you can play Widney Manor for £10.

Stay open till 8?