The Starter Knows

Raymond Lutz, Course Starter, Northern Regional Circuit

 

By the time a golfer reaches the first tee, the round has already been decided.

I don’t mean the score. I mean the tone.

You can tell by how they carry the club when they’re not swinging it. By how they look at the fairway like its hiding something from them. By how they say they’re “just here to have fun,” and then immediately ask where the trouble is.

Some arrive hopeful.
Some arrive irritated.
Most arrive pretending not to care, which takes effort.

They all ask me what the course is playing like.

I always tell them the same thing: fair.

They never believe me.

They ask about the greens. About the wind. About the pin positions. They ask if the course has been “set up to punish mistakes,” as if mistakes weren't already accounted for.

The truth is, the course doesn’t change.

The golfers do.

Every group brings its own weather. Anxiety off the first tee. Optimism that won’t survive the turn. A cold front of swing thoughts rolling in by the third hole. Occasionally a sunny stretch that convinces them something has finally clicked.

It hasn’t.

I’ve watched thousands of rounds begin. I’ve never once seen one start the way the golfer expected. Some unravel immediately. Some wait until the seventh hole. A few are still functional at the turn, which only makes the back nine more interesting.

They thank me.
They tee it up.
They take a practice swing they don’t need.

And I write their names down.

 

 Raymond Lutz has worked as a golf course starter for over twenty years, quietly observing thousands of opening tee shots and the emotional trajectories that follow. His contributions to the GSTPA focus on pre-round behavior, denial, and the subtle ways golfers reveal their fate before they ever swing.