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Moncton New Brunswick
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 572
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Posted: Aug/19/2007 5:02 PM PST
Golf Rules Of Etiquette
1. Etiquette Rule One: Leave your cell phone in the car. If you want to experience golf rage (similar to road rage), just have your cell phone ring during a golfer’s swing.
2. Etiquette Rule Two: Arrive 15 minutes prior to your scheduled starting time, check in with the club’s booking office to confirm your starting time and have your equipment ready to play.
3. Etiquette Rule Three: Assess the skills of your group. If your group consists of beginners, it might be worth your while to enquire into the skill level of the group waiting behind you. If these individuals are single digit handicappers, playing from the blue tees, they are going to be running up on your group no matter what you do. Let them play through; it will save hassles later in the round.
4. Etiquette Rule Four: Golf courses have found, through years of experience, that the maximum number of players that should start at the same time is four; although it’s possible to start with less, but usually never more. If the golf course is busy (usually on weekends), and your party is made up of just two players, you may be asked to join up with another two some. This is not compulsory, but it is a proven fact that one or two players will usually play faster then a foursome. One or two players running up on a foursome can lead to animosity. Some courses will not allow a single player on weekends when the course is extremely busy.
5. Etiquette Rule Five: If your group or the group in front of you is playing slowly, that may cause the pace of play for the entire course to slow down appreciably. Unwritten golf etiquette says, you or the group in front of you should offer to let the faster playing group, play through. No one likes the feeling of being chased, so let faster groups play through.
6. Etiquette Rule Six: Your entire group has hit their tee shots. Etiquette says, the golfer furthest away from the green shoots first, and all talking should cease while players are shooting. Also a player should never advance past the person who is shooting. Clubs have been known to break and shots to go sideways presenting a possible hazard.
7. Etiquette Rule Seven: As your group approaches the green, players who are not on the green will continue shooting until on the surface of the green. Players who are on the green, are to wait until all players are on the green, before approaching their ball
8. Etiquette Rule Eight: Before commencing putting, the group should repair any divots in the green area caused by their approach shots to the green.
9. Etiquette Rule Nine: The golfer furthest from the flag putts first; balls that may impede that person’s putting line, are to be marked with a coin or ball marker, and removed.
10. Etiquette Rule Ten: The golfer who’s ball is closest to the flag should remove the flag, and place it away from any line of play. The person to putt out first, should retrieve the flag and be prepared to replace it when the last person has putted out. Make sure the flag is in the hole properly and standing erect.
11. Etiquette Rule Eleven: The golfer who scores the lowest from the previous hole, shoots first. Again all chatter and extraneous noises are to cease during a players shot. Players waiting to shoot should pay attention to the person shooting, with the thought of aiding that player to locate their ball. Due to sunlight or backdrop coloring, players can often times lose sight of the ball as it travels down the fairway.
12. Etiquette Rule Twelve: One of the players in the group has sliced their drive into the bushes. USGA rules state that if a ball appears to be lost, that person should hit a provisional ball. USGA also states that when the player goes looking for the lost ball, he/she has five minutes in which to find it, or count it lost, and play the provisional ball. It would seem like a nice gesture to assist this player find his/her ball, but this has proven to cause a delay in the pace of play and back ups on a busy course. Players are encouraged to go to their own balls and be prepared to play on. If the player finds his ball he can play it from where it lies and play continues. If it is lost, he/she should play the provisional ball.
13. Etiquette Rule Thirteen: If a player in the process of shooting, sees from the trajectory of the shot that his/her ball has the possibility of coming close to a fellow golfer, they should immediately yell in a very loud voice “FORE”, this hopefully will alert the player that your ball is coming in their direction. When a golfer has to use the word “FORE”, it is usually the result of impatience and inconsiderate play. Hopefully you will never have to use it.
14. Etiquette Rule Fourteen: Groups should try to maintain a pace of play that allows their group to play, as soon as the group ahead of them is out of range. Players should mark their scores at the next tee, not while standing around on the green.
15. Etiquette Rule Fifteen: After shooting from a sand bunker, players should use the provided rakes to smooth over any foot prints or divots. Be sure to place the rake outside of the bunker when finished.
16. Etiquette Rule Sixteen: When taking warm-up swings with either a wood or iron, players should take every precaution to ensure they have sufficient room around them to prevent contact with equipment or fellow players. Players should also attempt to skim the grass with the practice swings and not take unnecessary divots. If a divot is taken, make sure you retrieve the turf and tamp in back in place.
17. Etiquette Rule Seventeen: Do not leave golf carts or golf bags in front of the green approach area. Ascertain the direction to the next hole and leave the cart and bags on the path to the next hole.
18. Etiquette Rule Eighteen: Do not alter the golf course, such as breaking off limbs from trees to facilitate a shot.
19. Etiquette Rule Nineteen: Golf cart drivers should be conscious of wet and muddy areas. Driving a cart through these areas will result in huge ruts and chewed up areas when the course dries out. Excessive speed and hot roding can be dangerous to riders and those walking as well. Along with being abusive to golf course equipment.
20. Etiquette Rule Twenty: Deposit your garbage in facilities provided. Empty beer and pops cans, golf ball sleeve boxes, banana peels and sandwich wrappers add nothing to the playability of a golf course.
If anyone can think of any other rules they'd like to see added, by all means add them to the list..
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Kensington, MD
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 18
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Posted: Aug/22/2007 6:50 PM PST
Had a great example today; playing in a group of four, each of us strangers to every one else.
Probably because there was a long wait due to crowds at the first tee, our group dynamic felt like we were trying to push our pace for the first few holes.
On the third hole, I hit longest drive so was waiting. Two of the four hit mid distance drives and were about same distance from hole but on far sides of fairway in rough. For some reason they independently focused on hitting and actually ended up hitting at nearly the same moment.
Unfortunately one of the two seemed to not notice what happened. They both hit into the same sand trap about 5 yards apart, but one ball was more visible. The fellow who did not really notice what happened marched decisively up to the trap and nicely chipped the WRONG ball onto the green.
Now the other fellow knew what was happening and did not say anything. He politely chipped the WRONG ball up onto the green.
Now the first guy walks up the to ball he chipped and realized it wasn't his. We politely explained what had happened. I observered the whole thing so I could impartially describe.
They decided to mark their balls, exchange balls, and resume play from where they have each chipped.
I don't think this solution fit the rules, though I don't know what the rules would have them do. We were keeping individual score cards so I don't know if they penalized themselves.
Proves why it is important to observe turns while hitting in the fairway.
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Orem, UT
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 338
Moderator
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Posted: Aug/23/2007 11:37 AM PST
That is an interesting scenario. If I recall the rule correctly, no penalty would be asessed, and each player would be responsible for replacing his ball and rehitting from the bunker.
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Kensington, MD
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 18
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Posted: Aug/23/2007 5:33 PM PST
Yeah, I just looked. You are right. They should of replayed from the bunker with no penalty. Would be penalty if it happened outside a hazard. Since they did not play replay from the hazard they should have been disqualified.
Which gets to another question. If they were not keeping score for official handicap purpose, isn't being disqualified sort of hollow penalty? I wouldn't ask them to leave the foursome.
"Please hand me your scorecards, so I can tear them up". Not likely.
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Orem, UT
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 338
Moderator
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Posted: Aug/24/2007 8:50 AM PST
Disqualification only refers to tournament play. If it were match play, it would be loss of the hole. But I do believe that they cannot apply that round to their handicap.
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Houston, TX
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 108
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Posted: Oct/02/2007 2:01 PM PST
Newbie question, if I'm a slow player (I'm a beginner) and I see players behind me that I want to let play through, should I just wait for them to catch up with me to tell them to play through, or should I walk back to them to let them know?
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Mc Kenzie, TN
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 7
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Posted: Oct/02/2007 2:52 PM PST
I don't know if it is the right answer but when we wait by the tee area. When the group behind us gets there we tell them to go ahead on through. Gives us a little break waiting for them to finish that hole.
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Pinole, Berkeley, Hercules
Joined: 9/06/2007
Posts: 49
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Posted: Oct/02/2007 4:05 PM PST
Quote: Originally posted by REddie I don't know if it is the right answer but when we wait by the tee area. When the group behind us gets there we tell them to go ahead on through. Gives us a little break waiting for them to finish that hole.
Yup... that's what we do when I'm playing with a slow group (or my girlfriend... haha).
I just wait at the next hole and when the guys approach the green of the last hole, I ask if they want to play through. You can usually tell if they want to play through. There are signs - only 1-2 players in the group. They are good and driving carts, and you're walking... stuff like that.
I'll also wait if it's busy and I can make two small groups into one big group of 4.
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Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 39
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Posted: Oct/09/2007 8:11 AM PST
A couple of things not mentioned (at least I didn't see it):
On the green be careful not to step in a player's line. This is the imaginary line between their ball and the hole.
On the green do not stand where you might distract your playing partner, and be sure that your shadow does not fall in his line or over the hole.
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Jersey Boy
Joined: 9/17/2007
Posts: 93
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Posted: Oct/09/2007 12:06 PM PST
Quote: Originally posted by thenexttiger That is an interesting scenario. If I recall the rule correctly, no penalty would be asessed, and each player would be responsible for replacing his ball and rehitting from the bunker.
I beleive each player would have to play again from the bunker and both would be penalized 2 strokes. If there golf balls were both removed from a water hazard, exchanged accidentally, dropped and played... there would be no penalty.
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