In my last post, I mentioned what I thought were the most egregious things people do on a golf course that they shouldn’t do (other than the blatant ones). What follows are nine more—I call them the second (or back) nine:
- If it takes longer than 4 ¼ hours for you to play a round of golf, consider adopting the “ready golf” policy. While it’s not really the way the game is supposed to be played, it can speed things up a bit—if everyone in the group is on board with it. If they’re not, the person furthest away from the hole should always hit their shot first.
- Don’t ever drive the golf cart onto the grass on a par 3 hole. People will shout at you from the ends of the earth (and rightfully so). A par 3 is a short hole and, if you don’t reach the green with your tee shot, get out and walk a little (if you’re able).
- Replace divots—even on tee boxes. If you’re playing “by the rules” (recommended), you technically have to hit your shot as it lies, even if the ball is in a divot. Fair or not, that’s the rule. Now you see why it’s so important to replace them after your shot. If you can’t find your divot (or if it “exploded”), put some sand in the gash from the bottles on your cart.
- Don’t play more than one ball. This severely slows down play. The guys I generally play with have a rule that *IF* the range is closed (for whatever reason), a breakfast ball (second tee shot) IS allowed—but only on the first hole. After that, you play one and only one ball. Unfortunately, for some of you, this means you need to retire the word “mulligan” from your vocabulary.
- Post your score. This makes the handicap system work the way it should. Some people don’t post because they like to keep a “vanity” handicap. Others don’t post because they like to keep their handicap artificially high so they’ll win more tournaments. Don’t be either one of these weasels. Post your score on the GHIN app.
- Don’t be late for your tee time. In fact, it’s a good idea to be ready to go off early. It’ll put the group in front of you on alert that you’re right behind them and that they should keep up pace of play. Of course, very few people show up on the first tee 10 minutes before they’re scheduled to tee off. But they should. Getting to the first tee early could also help you with first tee jitters because the group behind you most likely will still be on the practice putting green and therefore won’t see your tee shot (an added bonus—unless you stripe the ball right down the middle—in which case you’ll wish everyone saw it).
- Don’t cast a shadow over the line of someone’s putt. This is one that seems a little nitpicky but can really be annoying when you’re standing over your ball and trying to get it into the hole. This includes the shadow of the flag, which you may very well be holding.
- Pick up your ball when you reach net double bogey. I know you’re going to ask, “how will I know when I’ve gotten to net double bogey?” Well this, of course, assumes you have a handicap and therefore know how many strokes you’re allowed on each hole. For example, if your handicap is 20, then you get one “pop” on each hole (which totals 18) and then one more on each of the two hardest holes on the course (the scorecard will designate which holes they are as there should be a 1 and a 2 assigned to them in the handicap category). If the hole you’re playing is a par 5, and in this instance you get two strokes (because it’s one of the two hardest holes on the course), you can card a 9 on the hole. But, if you’ve reached that number and your ball still isn’t in the hole, pick it up and post a 9 on your scorecard.
- Don’t walk off the green until everyone has completed the hole. I’ve seen golfers who are so disgruntled about the way they played a hole that they walk off the green before others have putted out. That’s ignorant. Or they’ve picked up their ball and don’t even come onto the green because they’re “out of the hole” (they’ve already reached their maximum score of net double bogey). Even if you’re out of the hole, you can still be useful to the foursome you’re playing with. You could offer to “tend the pin.” You might also rake a bunker that a playing partner just hit out of (or one that hadn’t been raked). Or you might look for ball marks to fix on the green. Make yourself useful, Don’t just stand around and mope about the miserable hole you just had (or the round you’re having).
So, there they are, folks. My back nine rules for better golf etiquette. I hope this helps.
Follow these (now) written rules of golf and you’ll enjoy the game a lot more. People will be impressed with your understanding of golf protocol. They will want to have you along as their playing companion. I know some people whose philosophy is, “A good playing partner is someone that others enjoy playing with.” Be that person.
ABOUT: Frank Felsburg plays most of his rounds in the Carolinas.
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