Pro Shop – Unscrupulous Customers
I was at the The Crosby a little early and was chatting with the pro shop owner. She told me about some of the unscrupulous customers that she has to deal with on a regular basis. She has a sign at the cash register that basically says that all sales are final with no refunds or exchanges.
Golf ball switcharoo
There was a guy who bought a box of Titleist Pro V1s for 100k. This is about 30k or so overpriced but that’s just the price at the pro shop. He seemed like a nice guy and they had a short chat where he told her about his newborn son and how he’s a new dad, etc. Anyway, after the round he came back saying that he didn’t use the golf balls because he ended up playing well so he’d like a refund. She generally doesn’t give refunds but she said that she felt bad because he didn’t seem like a wealthy guy and he seemed nice enough so she issued the refund. Later she found out that he had replaced all of the balls in the box with old used balls and kept all of the brand new Pro V1.
Returning worn clothing
This usually happens with women but they will buy a new golf outfit, wear it for the round, and then try to return it after the round. Of course since they wore it for a round the clothing is soiled, etc. Sometimes it’s full on golf outfits (shirt, pants, etc.) or sometimes it’s just a hat that they worse but in all cases, no refunds!
In general, these customers will complain to management of the golf course thinking that the pro shop owner might get kicked out but the pro shop owner says that she has a good relationship with the course management and they know that there are many unscrupulous people out there so they are generally on her side anyway.
Caddie Strories
Caddie near death experience
I was talking to a caddie once at Gapeyong Benest and she said that she has a plate in her head and a lot of stitches in her head. She was caddying once about 8 years ago for a group of women who were new golfers. One golfer was out for pretty much her first time.
Caddie was looking out into the fairway to watch for the drive as one of the women was at the tee box when all of a sudden, the caddie felt warm liquid on her head. She thought it was sweat but then realized that the weather wasn’t hot…and she looked over and saw faces of shock from the other women.
One of the women had taken a practice swing with her driver and swung and hit the caddie’s head! Her head was bleeding profusely.
They called in, staff came out and drove the caddie back to the clubhouse where the ambulance came. Caddie said that there was a huge gash the size of the edge of the golf driver in her head. She needed major surgery and was out for about 6 months to recover. She was close to death.
Practice swings are ok but I never swing at full power and always way out of the reach of anyone nearby.