Midville Country Club

Midville Golf Club is not a 1 Star golf course if we are only referring to the golf course. The layout is fun and challenging and when the greens are not recently plugged or sanded, they are some of the best for a public 9 hole in RI. I have had many good experiences at this course and have been playing there on and off for the past 10 years. That being said, my most recent experience is one that I will never forget simply because of the way my playing partners and I were treated by the cranky, self-righteous, and frankly rude octogenarian owner of the facility. In my 15+ years of playing golf (I am in my early 20s for reference), I have always been taught to be courteous of others while on the golf course. That means playing at the pace of those in front of you, calling fore if you feel a shot may be close to the group ahead or near you, and generally being respectful and kind to those on the course with you. That also means recognizing if your group is struggling, playing slow, or creating a backup on the course that could be remedied by allowing faster groups to play through. I have played countless rounds where either my group has been the slow one and allowed people through or been the group allowed through. Today, that was far from the case. As we left the third green, the foursome ahead of us (members at the course - something we were unaware of) had topped two drives and hit the other two roughly 180 yards. They were comprised of two couples who were obviously beginner golfers and roughly middle aged or older. Our group was waiting on the tee box for about 15 minutes just for them to get far enough on a par 4 for us to hit our tee shots so that we WOULDN'T hit into their group. At the same time, there were two groups actively on the third hole behind us and two waiting on the third tee. There was a 5 group wait. We hit our drives and thought nothing of it. We said hello to the group in front of us when they were on the next tee, situated next to the green we were playing and apologized to them if our drives were close to them which they assured us we were ok and that they were not. We then moved on and the same issue popped up. There were 4 groups waiting behind them on a par 5 with two holes ahead of them wide open. Our group tried to call the clubhouse twice, both times to no avail and decided to just let it slide and hope to talk to the group ahead once we were at the next hole, a par 3. Our plan was to ask if we could play through on the par three so that they could continue at their pace and we could have the last two holes open in front of us, as we generally play quick but understand standard pace of play. My second shot on the par 5 was admittedly close to their cart but came up about 15 yards short and I called fore to them very loudly. I went to speak to them and explained that I did not mean to get too close to them, but politely asked if our group could either play through or if they could simply try to speed up a bit. Our conversation was very respectful and in my mind went well, but one of the women told me in no simpler terms to "F... off" and sarcastically joked "what are you pros?" to my partner who was about to play his next shot. We did not see that group again, as they then sped up their play and we were able to also play the last three holes at a reasonable pace and finish in 2:07. Generally speaking, that is good pace of play for a Saturday. As our group walked off of the 9th green, we were approached by a man who we later found out to be the owner who I characterized above. He came up to us and told us how disrespectful and rude our group was for "intentionally hitting into the group ahead of us and harassing them over the course of the round". He went on to tell us that we're not allowed to explain to him what we saw and spoke to that group about, as all he cared about was what we do for a living and how old we were, as if that could be the reason we didn't deserve to have a conversation with him. He was exceptionally rude and disrespectful toward us and does not deserve your business.

I love the course but can't get over the fact that most times I drive by its empty. That could be because you pay $25 to walk 9 holes and they don't offer any discounts, no twilight or daily specials and its located in one of the poorest towns in RI. You can play a semi private course just up the road in West Warwick country club for the same price and its a more challenging course in my opinion. Overall it's a beautiful course that I play when I'm short on time and don't feel like traveling to a further location, just wish the management would realize that they could make more money if they dropped the price $5 bucks and offered some twilight specials, student or military discounts.