Got shafted at a tourney, what would you do?

[gigemjonny]

So, I played the ford park spring challenge in Shreveport, LA yesterday. The first round I got put on a card with 4 other golfers. On the first tee, one guy,S, says "well time to take some lortabs, who wants some?" and proceeds to give out the pills to at least one other guy, I turned away and zoned it all out so I only know that one other guy took the pills. S proceeds to run his mouth and try and get in my head but I was impenetrable which just seemed to piss him off more. S is taking phone calls and conference calls the whole first round, and holding up the whole card, but his circus buddies never said one thing about courtesy or stroking him. He actually left his putter and mini on a hole because he was on the phone so i lent him a mini. The second round comes around S and I are paired up again. Once again I blocked his non senese out and played my game. UNtil the second to last hole, 5. We played different tees each round, on hole 5 from the concrete trees there is a big mando arrow about 40 feet up this pine tree, that nobody paid attention too. The second round iis from a dirt tee a little further back. I had the box and was deciding on my line from the tee. From where I stood a huge pine tree completely blocked the tree with the mando arrow. So i threw my low hyzer line and came back to sit down and the others were like "dude, you know there is a mando on this hole right?' WEll, no I didn't know that until you told me. THere are no tee signs denoting a mando and on the other holes that had a mando for one tee but not the other, it was marked. But this one was not. Everyone but S said I could rethrow without a penalty since it wasnt clear. So I was a little upset. S steppe on his disc while he was putting so I called a foot fault on him and then he started going Irate. I asked him if there was a reason he had a problem with me on the next box and he blew up in my face saying if anyone questions his manhood he beats them to veggie state. I was over it at this point and marked my circle 5, ready to play the last hole. I nail a 50 foot birdie putt to finish the round. S has a 30 foot putt for birdie and proceeds to 5 putt. Then he comes over and gets about an 1 inch away from my face saying he is going to kill me. I told him I wasn't going to fight him and he went on about it wasn't going to be a fight he was just going to kill me basically. I really only cared about the penalty for my rating, I was shooting pretty well and wanted to finish strong, but I made a mistake and I let it get to me. I beat S by 10 strokes probably which is why I thin he was so mad in the first place. This same guy had his son playing in Novice that day and made one guy change his score on a hole that he swore he 2ed but he 3ed, just a real pos in my opinion. What would you have done? I do admit I fueled the fire by calling him on the foot fault but I was just curious how yall would of handled this.

 

[Roc1Time]

If he ws that big of an assclown I would have turned him in to the td for doing drugs, end story

 

[gcr_russell]

Yeah he needed to be DNFed for his antics at the end of the round. But besides that it doesn't matter if you knew about the mando or not you still have to be stroked for it. There's no such thing as a re-throw without penalty jus because you didnt know about it.

 

[Roc1Time]

I understand people dont want to be "that guy" and call people out for drinking, smoking, whatever. We all know the rules when it comes to that fact, and every tourney Ive been to they say that at the players meeting so if you didnt know that rule then you do before you start. But if your stance is such that its a big deal and your not going to say anything to people when it happens and try to get them to stop, or tell the td. Dont get online the next day and complain about it, that doesnt do anything at all. This is twice in 2 weeks I seen people complain about something that happened the day before. End rant

 

[tbird888]

Roc1Time has it right. It sounds like he had it coming.

 

[scarpfish]

Oh the eye strain! Paragraphs please!

Sucks that that happened. Report it to the TD next time. Hell, considering that the guy threatened you with physical violence, I'd report it to him now. Late is better than never.

 

[notBOB]

If he ws that big of an assclown I would have turned him in to the td for doing drugs, end story

agreed, at least let the td know some shmuck and his friends are bogarting. would you wanna pay for that again???

 

[gigemjonny]

I understand the rules are rules and I knew that after it happened. I haven't played too many tourneys, I just want to know how to handle it in the future.

 

[mendofrolfer]

Turn him in for what he did to you(threaten violence). Not for what he did to himself( drugs)

 

[B3NDER]

^ THIS definitely. Pretty much has all been said, but report it if it's ruining your time, chances are its ruining others as well. I can only assume this isn't the first time he has acted like a total douche during a round.

And what a wonderful father he sounds to be.

 

[Tafe19740]

Turn him in for what he did to you(threaten violence). Not for what he did to himself( drugs)

Hell yeah! If I got threatened, play STOPS while I go get the TD. No way will I finish out with someone like that.
If you're not going to call people out (I know, who wants to bethat guy) at least you have to keep to the rules yourself. Take your penalty in regards to the mando, but it sounds like you were fully ready to. In most tourneys I play, I give people an un-official warning when I see them making minor infractions. Like, "Hey man, that move is illegal. I'm not doing anything now, but next time we gotta go by the rules." It sort of alleviates bad feelings or at least lessens them.
In regards to the phone, 3.1.C in the competition manual says; "Players are not permitted to have audible mobile phones or audible pagers on the course during any competitive round." If you're talking, it's audible.
I always carry a rulebook so I can show the rules, or if someone tries to hit me with a non-rule, I ask them to show it to me.
For now, I'd make sure to spread the word about this guy in your local area. He can either change his ways or get vibed out. Good luck and sorry for your experience.

 

[dmbrun2]

What are lortabs?

 

[DutchViking]

So we all agree that this a-hole should have been stroked or dq'ed or dnf or whatever, but it is completely a different thing than actually following thru and punishing him. Tournaments are about having fun and competing, and nobody wants to be the stickler who whips out a rule book and says "well, technically," etc.

That being said, this behavior cannot be tolerated EVER, but especially at a tournament that you paid to play in. So how do you punish or keep this guy from going crazy while not being the rule book nerd/jerk?

Its about getting the rest of your card on your side. Different people perceive the same situation differently, so if the rest of your card says this guy is being a jerk, the td will believe you.

 

[gigemjonny]

Thanks for the input, Hopefully I won't be in the same situation again but I have an idea now on what I would if I am.

 

[tomsdiscs]

I am sorry to hear you had to go thru this, getting thru it and getting it in the past can often be the best path to take, and sometimes just riding it out makes more sense than stirring it up.

Last week there was a thread going on why disc golf does not get more respect, etc., and this is one of the top reasons, the extraordinarily high rate of drug/alchohol use and slackerness.

When I started a few years ago, friends told me to quickly improve so I woud never have to play Am2 or below, as it gets dicier in those divisions, though the drug addicts and general ruh-tards will exist in Am1+, it is less frequent, and since those types are in the minority in the more competitive divisions, the other people on your card will be quicker to support you and get the TD involved and instead of it being you versus him, it will be the card versus him.

I stopped playing weeklies and tournaments over a year ago, partly because of this stuff, moreso the drug and booze stuff, I have no problem with any person from any walk of life if they do not throw off a lot of noise and attitude and do not use disc golf to get smashed and then climb in their car and drive home.

Again, I feel bad, you made plans, paid your money, practiced, showed up, and got dealt a bad hand for the weekend, but you got thru it, and there should be some good kharma coming your way soon.

On the other hand, S will probably be in the county jail soon, and his son playing novice can visit him there for disc golf tips, and advice on life in general.

 

[BrotherDave]

Um, I would gig'em, Jonny?

 

[Lewis]

Report this guy to the police for threatening your life. They probably won't prosecute or arrest him just for that, but then if he does assault or attempt to murder someone, it could help the prosecution's case against him.

Also, WTF are lortabs? Do you think it's a drug that could have stimulated his raging at the end of the round?

 

[masterlurk]

i had a player on my card on the phone non stop. whats the penalty for this?

 

[bombmk]

i had a player on my card on the phone non stop. whats the penalty for this?

Actually talking on the phone is not really covered by the rules specifically. You are just not allowed to have audible phones or pagers. As in, they can't make a ringing or beeping noise. Now, someone above made the claim that talking in them made them audible, which I would be all for.
But I am not sure the PDGA agrees.

BUT: Talking on the phone could fall under 801.01 Courtesy B - http://www.pdga.com/rules/80101-courtesy :
"B. Players should take care not to produce any distracting noises or any potential visual distractions for other players who are throwing. Examples of discourteous actions are: shouting, cursing, freestyling, slapping course equipment, throwing out of turn, throwing or kicking golf bags, throwing minis, and advancing on the fairway beyond the away player. Shouting at an appropriate time to warn someone in danger of being struck by a disc is not a violation of courtesy."

And the punishment, part F. in the above linked rule, is a warning and a penalty stroke for each subsequent infraction against the courtesy rules.

 

[bbutch]

What I would not do is ...... Let the dude come within arms reach of me threatening my life, then just complain about it the next day online. Take your ass whoopin like a man if that's what has to happen next time and tell us that story the next day. Pllus if the dude is on loritabs he was prolly on slow-mo anyway shouldn't be that hard to lay him down.