Pace of play is one of the few things almost every golfer agrees matters — right up until it’s their turn to wait. Overtaking the group ahead in a cart-path rush rarely saves as much time as it costs in goodwill, or in this case, in dignity.
Frank decides the group ahead is playing too slowly and guns the cart past them on the path, cutting the corner tight to save four seconds. The corner has a sprinkler head he didn’t account for. The cart survives. Frank’s ego does not. The group he overtook reaches the next tee at almost exactly the same time he does.
The four seconds saved by cutting the corner rarely cover the cost of hitting the sprinkler head.
