We are currently living in a rented holiday cottage on the Northumberland coast while we wait for our new build house to be completed.

There are some lovely ciiff walks and through the dunes onto wide,quiet and dog friendly beaches. As I have a knee disability I cannot climb down the steep slopes onto the beach but have found a way of doing so by walking along the cliff tops and dunes and with the help of Freya ( Flinti daughter) getting down onto the beaches.

Unfortunately the beginning of this walk is along a public footpath that crosses a golfcourse. I stick close to the signage and keep the dogs on lead until we are past the golf course. I have on a few occasions been subjected to verbal abuse from the golfers and even an thinly veiled threat to aim a ball at me ! Apparently I am not alone in this.
Has anyone on the forum experienced this level of abuse and threat from golfers.

Shocking!   As long as you stick to the footpaths, there's absolutely no need for that and you might, some time, go into the Golf House and point that out so they can warn their members!!  Yes, we have a Course in town here in Bude, with signed footpaths across it.  As far as I know, my husband has never experienced that, and our dog(s) are on leads.   I have certainly never had any of that.

I truly don't know what's happened to people since Covid 19 hit.  So much anger around, everywhere.

I regularly use a track over a golf course and generally players are considerate and wait for me to pass before they take a shot. That said, I don’t think they’d be too happy to know that the one on a lead is on because she’s discovered a pond in the middle of the course and likes to disappear into it for a quick swim if she gets the chance!

We don’t really live in a tourist area however and I wonder how many of your abusive comments come from visitors rather than locals as they go home after a week and can’t be ‘found’?

Unfortunately we have this experience when we go to our cottage in north wales, the majority of golfers are actually considerate as long as we are (If someone nearby is teeing up then we wait until they’ve taken their shot to gross certain parts, or they stop and let us pass instead) but there are some that will get angry…like yours its a footpath that leads to the beach and is a nicer and easier and much less busy route than the main path. We just tend to ignore them but on the odd occasion we’ve had threats like you to hit us or jokingly (because I don’t find it funny) to aim at the dogs then we have made a complaint to the club. The club is quite a prestigious one so they do care about their public image and are always very apologetic and I’m sure we were offered a free lunch so the only thing I can think of is if you do that and complain to the club and hope that they care enough to at least apologise

There are a few golf courses around here, all but one have public rights of way on them. A couple aren't suitable for walking dogs off lead because they have roads with no fencing or hedging on the boundaries, one actually has a road through the middle. Not heard of many complaints.

The one without any rights of way on it is on common land, where the golfers have to avoid the cows, heifers, calves & bullocks from April to late October, some golfers thought they shouldn't have the cattle on the golf course & tried to get them removed, it resulted in the golf club nearly losing everything as the"Pasture masters(& now mistresses) have had the right to run their stock on the land & also sheep and cattle on parts of the racecourse for hundreds of years & along with the local council make decisions about use of the land.
It was ironic that a bunch of the golfers got chased & cornered by some very angry cows when they tried to frightened calves from the greens, which are protected by an electric stock low fences

I frequently walk across a golf course which has a bridlepath and its a very expensive course. My dogs are always on lead and I always let the golfers go first before I continue across.
We do have a golf course across town which people allow their dogs off lead to roam and don't follow the path through which I don't understand why they think that's acceptable and golfers are well within their rights to give them a number of choice words 

I personally have never ever had an issue myself because I give the golfers right of way as they are playing. Some often wave me on before they take their shot which is kind and I always wave a thank you.

Maybe it's worth having a word with the golf club itself to make sure you aren't going off the designated path and also to make them aware of the behaviour of some of their members too.

Thinking more about these threats - IF they are threatening you, that makes this a police matter.   It might, if it continues and gets nasty, be worth talking to the police, on a non-emergency number.

I stick to the right of way posts although they are perhaps too far apart  at the point of crossing this part of the course and the path is not clearly demarcated.

My dogs are always on lead at this point but one is elderly and walks quite slowly at times.

I am always polite and friendly but really take exception to rudeness and threats.

The golf course is a privilege for its members but equally so is the right to cross the ROW without fear of abuse and injury.

Oh no that's awful, I often walk round golf courses and have never had a problem, and that's with off lead dogs. Of course I never go near anyone playing, or in the direction they are playing. One of mine has occasionally dug in bunkers (unauthorised!), but as long as you rake the bunker nobody minds.

I did have a panic one day at St Andrews, the famous Old Course starts right opposite the beach, next to the beach car park. I let the dogs out the car and a couple stopped to ask about them, while I was standing blethering Spice got bored and trotted across to the golf course and spotted a bunker! I can't help thinking they might not have been so relaxed about a dog digging in their bunkers but thankfully he resisted and came back when called!