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The post Phil Mickelson calls this golf-etiquette breach a ‘huge problem.’ Is it? appeared first on Golf.

Phil Mickelson calls it a “huge problem” in golf, an unhappy consequence of the Covid boom.

Overcrowded tee sheets? Grinding pace of play? Not exactly.

In a recent post on X, the six-time major champion and sometimes social-media provocateur railed against what he regards as a scourge of un-raked bunkers — sandy minefields pocked with the footprints and wedges of golfers who can’t be bothered to smooth things over.

“It’s so disrespectful to everyone playing behind you not to rake the bunkers properly (or not repair pitch marks),” Mickelson wrote. “Since Covid this has become a huge problem even at the nicest of clubs.”

Is Lefty right? Brian Green, a longtime member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and director of golf maintenance at Lonnie Poole Golf Course at North Carolina State, says yes.

“It’s gotten worse,” he told GOLF.com.

Part of it, Green says, is an etiquette gap — new golfers who picked up the game during the pandemic and never got the memo about leaving the course as you found it. But it’s also a Covid hangover. Remember when we weren’t supposed to touch flagsticks or rakes? “People got used to that kind of contactless golf,” Green says. “And a lot of them have kept up the habit.”

Green isn’t ungrateful for all the newbie play. Full tee sheets are “a good problem to have,” he says. But when you spend roughly 20 percent of your maintenance budget on bunkers, seeing them left in disarray stings. Recently, Green watched a player take two hacks in a bunker and walk off without so much as glancing at a rake that was a few steps away. Green drove up and had a conversation with the scofflaw.

“I usually don’t go up to golfers during a round and say anything,” he says. “But in a case like that, I just felt I had to.”

So yes — it’s a problem. But like most on-course annoyances, it’s a privileged one. And how riled up about it do you want to get? In the thread in which Mickelson’s post appeared, several commentators went further in venting their dismay, decrying the bunker-etiquette issue as a symptom of wider societal rot.

“This extends beyond the golf course,” one post read. “It’s like people have lost all of their soft skills since Covid.”

Or maybe it’s just that they’ve been spending too much time on social media.

Bottom line: If you’re lucky enough to be playing golf, you probably shouldn’t let a few un-smooth bunkers set you off. They certainly shouldn’t send you into existential despair. A lot of it comes down to managing expectations. At a busy public course, you’ve got to know that imperfections — and etiquette lapses — come with the territory. The rough won’t always be perfectly mown, the greens won’t always be glassy, and the sand might look like it’s been walked through by a small herd. So what? That’s golf in the real world.

It’s also worth remembering that bunkers are supposed to be hazards. They’re meant to test your skill and patience. The top-ranked course in the world, Pine Valley, doesn’t even have rakes. Players are asked to smooth things out with their feet and move on.

Somewhere along the line, golfer expectations got dialed way up. Between hyper-manicured private clubs and the pristine conditions we see on TV, we’ve come to believe that every bunker should be as finely tended as a sand mandala. But perfect lies bunkers are a modern luxury, not a birthright. They weren’t always baked into the game.

If you really can’t abide it, make a local rule among your buddies: If your ball settles in a footprint, you can lift it and place it nearby — still in the bunker, but out of the mark. Then play your shot without complaint. And, of course, rake when you’re done.

Because the truth is, on-course comportment cuts both ways. A messy bunker might say something about someone else’s manners. How you react to it says something about yours.

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Paul from Skokie, Ill., writes: A few days ago, my group showed up to the first tee at 9:47 for a 9:49 tee time. As we pulled up, the starter was shaking his head and then scolded us for being “late.” By then, he’d already let the group behind us go ahead since they were already there waiting. I was furious. We’d already paid in the pro shop and we’d been warming up on the range before our tee time. Was I right to be mad?

Dear Paul:

Lack of punctuality is not a winning trait, but by all appearances, this seemed like an encounter with an excessively uptight starter who overstepped his bounds.

That’s a quick summation. But it deserves some context.

In golf, as in life, we owe it to ourselves and others to show up on time. Failure to do so is disrespectful all around. It can strain relationships. It can also throw a wrench in business operations. 

For that reason, most golf courses would prefer that you not cut it close. Some have policies requiring that you check in at the pro shop a certain amount of minutes before your start time (20 to 30 minutes prior is usually the range), though most clubs handle matters on a case-by-case basis. If it’s a quiet day with an empty tee sheet, it is, naturally, easier to grant wiggle room. At a crowded course, though, where management needs to run a tight ship, you should plan on checking in as early as possible. If you leave it to just minutes prior to your time, you shouldn’t be surprised if the pro shop swaps you out for the group behind you. Courses owe it to their clientele to keep things moving. They can’t afford to let one bunch of laggards cause a backlog.

It’s on you to be punctual in the pro shop.

Slightly different rules apply on the first tee. Once you’ve checked in and paid, that tee time is yours. No one has the right to give it away before it expires. Whether you show up 10 minutes or one minute early, it shouldn’t matter. The Etiquetteist would argue that even if you arrive on the opening tee box a minute or two late, no one should be placed in front of you. You should be allowed to keep your position, with the expectation that you’d get going fast and maintain a reasonable pace for the rest of the round. 

Why the starter chose to bump you back is hard to say. Maybe he was having a bad day. Or reliving his past life as a Marine drill sergeant. Or annoyed that you deprived him of his chance to give you to a lengthy spiel about the course. It’s also possible he figured that any group that turns up last-minute on the first tee is also the type of group that tends to dilly-dally in everything they do, fishing around for golf balls in their bags, fumbling for rangefinders or taking forever to read their putts, and he was trying to get ahead of things.

Are you and your group slow pokes? Even if you are, you did not deserve the treatment you received. But The Etiquetteist still hopes he’s never right behind you on the tee.

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We had questions. You had answers. 

Two weeks ago, in a column ordinarily given over to our own views on golf etiquette, we turned the tables and asked for yours. Our goal was to take your temperature on everything from dress-code violations and rules breaches to club-throwing and slow play. The questions we posed in our reader survey were mostly multiple-choice, but because that format can be limiting, we also invited you to share stories about the worst on-course conduct you have witnessed.

You did not disappoint. More than 3,800 of you answered our questions and/or submitted anecdotes. The least we could do was compile your feedback into an easy-to-digest form. 

In the coming weeks, we’ll be diving deeper into your answers and what they tell us about the game. Meantime, you can check out the survey results here. (Percentages have been rounded off.)  

Your biggest golf etiquette pet peeve is:

Slow play: 65.1%

Poor course maintenance (unraked bunkers, un-repaired ball marks, etc.): 17.5%

Music on the course: 7.9%

Club throwing: 6.4%

Untucked shirts and other dress-code violations: 1.3%

Other: 1.5%

No peeves!: 0.3%

Which best describes your feelings about music on the course? 

Fine with it if kept at low volume: 60%

No place for it: 30%

Love it. Let it rip: 9.7%

You’ve been appointed golf czar for the day. Which dress code would you ban first?

No denim: 14.1%

No t-shirts: 9.7%

No backward caps: 7.6%

No cargo shorts: 4%

All of them: 38.7%

None of them: 25.8%

When playing as a guest at a private club, you should always:

Offer to cover all costs, including lunch: 30.2%

Offer to cover only your host’s caddie fee and your guest fee: 28%

Offer to cover only your host’s caddie fee: 12%

Enjoy the day as a guest without worrying about fees: 29.4%

A reasonable pace for a foursome playing 18 holes is:

3:30-4 hours: 55.1%

4-4:30 hours: 37.6%

3-3:30 hours: 5.2%

4:30-5 hours: 1.5%

Whatever time it takes: 0.6%

You consider yourself a:

Fast player: 63.1%

Slow player: 0.7%

Somewhere in between: 36.1%

If you think your opponent just cheated, the best response is to:

Ask them if they are aware that they have just violated the rules: 58.4%

Ignore it: 29.9%

Call them out immediately: 11.6%

Storm off the course and vow never to play with them again: 0.1%

What is your own approach to the rules?

Take small liberties (first-tee mulligan, roll ball over in bad lies, etc.): 57.8%

Follow the rules to a tee: 34.7%

Anything goes. I’m just playing for fun: 7.5%

If a player from another group hits into yours, your response is to:

Raise your hands in frustration: 52.2%

Ignore it: 35.3%

Tee the ball up to send a message: 6.2%

Step on the ball: 4.25%

Hit the ball back to them: 2.1%

How often do you throw clubs in frustration?

Never: 73.4%

Once in my life. I was so embarrassed, I never did it again: 20.6%

Once per round: 5.9%

Multiple times per round: 0.2%

Which best describes your feeling about phone usage on the course?

Emails and calls are fine. Just be discreet: 51.9%

Leave it in your bag. Golf is supposed to be an escape: 41%

C’mon, it’s 2024. You should be able to use your phone how and when you please: 7.1%

What’s the worst etiquette breach you’ve ever witnessed?

I saw a guy throw his putter after missing a putt and nearly hitting a playing partner. That really strained the relationship, and he never played with us again.

Spitting sunflower seeds on the greens around the hole.

A player ahead took 5-6 practice swings, taking a divot after each one, and didn’t replace any of them, nor did he replace the divot when he hit the shot. Couldn’t let that go without calling him on it.

Raking in 3-footers as gimmes.

Six players in six separate carts.

A guy driving a golf cart on the green. Like, he did not know you couldn’t do it. Lots of money and time goes into green maintenance, and I can only imagine if the super had witnessed it. Dude got an earful from us after.

Waiting for green to clear 300 yards out.

Cigar ashes on green.

Group in front of us playing really slow. When we approached par-3 9th hole tee box next to clubhouse, one player sat on tee box to “hold” their place while the other three went into clubhouse to get hot dogs.

Member filling her bag with range balls.

Much more to come in future installments of The Etiquetteist!

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The post Can you negotiate green fees with a golf course? The Etiquetteist weighs in appeared first on Golf.

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Tom from Providence writes: On a slow day at the course, can I try to negotiate a lower green fee? If the time slot is empty, I figure the course would prefer some revenue to none at all.

Dear Tom:

The short answer is, you can try. The slightly longer answer is, you can also try to hit a 6-iron from a bunker from 250 yards to a green fronted by a pond. The Etiquetteist isn’t confident that either attempt will go very well.

Long gone are the days of golf-industry desperation, when struggling courses in over-supplied markets were forced to elaborate lengths to attract more traffic. For one thing, many of those struggling courses are now gone, victims of natural selection. For another, something called the Covid boom occurred. The market has shifted.

And besides, even in that bygone era of over-supply, you would have been hard-pressed to find a pro shop that would have let you haggle over a price, as you might in an outdoor market in Marrakech. As one veteran course-operator told The Etiquetteist, negotiations back then were not unheard of, but they were mostly over annual and lifetime memberships, not daily fees. And clubs are in a stronger position now.

Not that you can’t find deals these days. You could check a tee-time aggregator. You could play at twilight. You could book a stay-and-play package and pay less than rack rate for your golf.

But if anything, when you come across a change in green fees nowadays, that fee is more likely to be moving up than down, as savvy operators employ demand-based pricing. Think of properties like TPC Sawgrass, which in recent years has jacked up rates immediately after the Players Championship, when public interest is at a fever pitch.

As for your local course, by all means, give it a go. From an Etiquette standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with trying to negotiate politely. Just don’t get your hopes up. Instead, The Etiquetteist suggests you change your outlook. It’s true what you say: the course would rather take in revenue than leave a slot on the tee sheet empty. What’s also true is that you’d like to play. Wouldn’t you rather pay full freight than spend the afternoon on the couch?

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The post Driving-range etiquette? Yep, it’s a thing. Follow these 11 rules when you practice appeared first on Golf.

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One of the beauties of the driving range is that the Rules of Golf do not apply. There are no bogeys and no O.B. You can reload without penalty and tee up any shot you’d like. 

Which doesn’t mean there are no rules at all.

Like the golf course and the clubhouse, the range is governed by unwritten recommendations and hard-set codes of conduct. If you want to get the most out of a practice or warm-up session without stepping (or swinging) out of line, here are 11 things to know.

1. The range-picker is not a target

As tempting as it is, especially for 12-year-olds and immature adults, rifling shots at the range picker is poor form. For the most part, this is not so much a safety issue (the vehicles they drive are usually caged-in) as it is a matter of respect.

2. Keep your music to yourself

It’s fair game to crank tunes as you tune up. But only through headphones or earbuds. What’s music to you ears is apt to be annoying to those around you.

3. Careful where you walk

No one wants to take a backswing to the noggin. And no one needs to. A lot of driving ranges have lines on the ground that you are meant to stay behind when other people are hitting. That’s for your safety. But don’t depend exclusively on markers. Plain-old survival instincts should alert you that remaining well back of moving clubs is wise idea.

4. Respect those waiting

Let’s say you’re midway through a bucket at a crowded range when you notice that someone is waiting behind you for a turn in the stall. It’s on you to alert them right away if you plan to get another bucket when your current stash it gone. Don’t make them waste their time, only to learn that they should have been waiting behind someone else.

5. Watch your angles

While firing at different targets is fair game, this is not a free-for-all. In the interest of sanity — and everyone’s safety — avoid cross-country shots. If you’re stationed at a stall on the left side range, don’t take aim at a green on the far right. Ditto for the other way around.

6. Keep it tidy

Don’t tip the bucket over unless you plan to hit every single shot. Only take the balls you need and leave the rest in the bucket for the next golfer, rather than scattering them all about.

Instruction

7. Pace yourself

Whether you’ll benefit from getting that second bucket is a separate question. According to GOLF Magazine Top 100 instructor Jim Murphy, most golfers overdo it on the range. “They go out there to see how they are hitting it, and they keep hitting until they hit it good and then try to ‘engrain,’ it,” Murphy says. “Then they get tired and lose it.” When you practice, it’s important to have a plan and purpose. Hone in on something you want to work on, and when you’ve practiced it sufficiently, move on. “You should work on any one task for more than 45 minutes,” Murphy says. After that, you run the risk of getting mentally and physically fatigued, and you’ll get diminishing returns.

8. Don’t mistake warmups for practice

“Practice means working on a specific swing or shot that needs improvement,” Murphy says. A warmup is different. It is really nothing more than loosening up your body and a getting a feel for swing that day. Small bucket should do it, as in 4 to 6 shots with a wedge, followed by the same with a short iron, a mid-iron and so on through the bag.

9. Mind your divot patterns

It’s a range session, not excavation work. If you’re hitting off grass, as opposed to mats, try to minimize the amount of turf you tear up. The best way to do this is to progress in a linear divot pattern, placing each shot directly behind the previous divot. The superintendent will thank you for not creating a minefield of scattered divots. Golfers who hit after you will be grateful, too.

10. Quiet on the practice tee

If you’re looking for a lesson, book a lesson. Don’t pester your fellow range rats for tips. Exchanging simple pleasantries is okay, but this is not a place for prolonged chatter. Same goes for the monologues. No one needs to hear your moaning or groaning, and no cares that you caught that last shot fat.

11. Why mats matter

Purists prefer to real grass, of course. But mats are great for beginners working on technique, says GOLF Top 100 Instructor Jon Tattersall. Not only are they more forgiving than turf, they are usually square or rectangular in shape, which is helpful for alignment. Because the ball tends to sit up more on mats, contact happens higher on the clubface, which means less spin, which generally leads to greater carry distances-something to keep in mind for club selection on the course.

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Jack from Philadelphia writes: 

I can’t count the number of times I’ve stood waiting in the 18th fairway while the group ahead of me removes their hats, shakes hands and chitchats on the 18th green. Can we agree that this practice needs to end? If there are people behind you, move off the 18th green before all the niceties so you don’t hold up play. Right…?

Dear Jack: 

The fight against slow play is a never-ending struggle, waged on many fronts. As someone who believes that 3 hours and 45 minutes on the course is more than enough, the Etiquetteist has little patience for the many ways that golfers dilly-dally on the greens — whether it’s reading putts from multiple directions; marking their ball when it’s inches from the cup instead of knocking it in or sweeping it way; leaving their bag on the wrong side of the green so they have to walk back to grab their sticks before moving on to the next tee; or…

The list of sluggish habits goes on and on, and each item on it drives yours truly batty.

But what makes such behavior unacceptable isn’t just the time it takes. It’s also mostly pointless, counterproductive, even. As far as the Etiquettiest knows, there is no evidence that any of those dawdling extras lead to lower scores for the average Joe or Jane. If anything, most golfers would probably play better if they streamlined their movements, quit the overthinking and picked up the pace.

But shaking hands on the 18th green? That’s a different story. It isn’t pointless or counterproductive. It serves a purpose, a polite tradition that puts a pleasant punctuation on the round. And in the grand scheme, the Etiquetteist would argue that it’s not what should concern you.

Think of it this way. If you find yourself standing in the 18th fairway, watching the group in front wrap up its business, odds are you have been waiting behind those same players for hours, watching all kinds of frustrating conduct, from unnecessary plumb-bobs to extraneous practice swings. By the time you reach the 18th fairway, that handshake up ahead feels like the last straw, the annoying tipping point in a day filled with irrigations. And so you rail against it. 

That’s understandable. But also irrational.

Of all the problems that cause slow play, a handshake on the 18th is about the least of them. The Etiquetteist suggests that you pick your pace-of-play battles. If you want the group ahead to pick it up, beg them not to grind over gimmes. Ask them to be more mindful about where they leave their bags. But let them linger on the last green for a post-round handshake, provided they don’t stay there for a post-round beer. 

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The post The only 5 rules of golf etiquette beginners need to be mindful of appeared first on Golf.

The post The only 5 rules of golf etiquette beginners need to be mindful of appeared first on Golf.

We golfers are a well-intentioned lot, keen to share our hard-earned wisdom with newbies to the game.

Problem is, our wealth of knowledge can be overwhelming. 

Head down! Loose grip! Left arm straight! How many swing tips can one aspiring player take?

And that’s just instruction. There’s also etiquette, with its dizzying array of do’s and don’ts. Good luck trying to list them all. You’ll exhaust yourself and inundate your partner.

Better to stick to the fundamentals, basic guidelines for getting started. There aren’t many. 

In the spirit of simplification, here are the only 5 etiquette rules that every beginner needs to know.

1. No one cares how you play

There are two things we all must do alone: die and putt. And while some folks might care about how you do the former, no one gives a whit about how you perform the latter. This might sound cold-hearted. In fact, it should be freeing. No need for apologies, excuses, explanations. Because, really, no one’s paying attention to your putting, or anything else about your game. Provided that you’re keeping up the pace.

2. Keep up the pace

Yeah, about that. Although people don’t care how well you putt, they do care how long you take to complete your stroke. So, don’t make an agonizing ritual of it. Same goes for every shot on the course. Be ready to hit when it’s your turn, then step up and fire away. Oh, and if you must take a quick call, reply to an email or snap a selfie, do so on your own time, so as not to delay your playing partners.

3. Stay out of the way

How you swing the club is less important than how you move around the course. The more familiar you get with the rhythms of a round, the more you realize that you’ve got some latitude when you’re not on the tee. In some cases, for instance, it’s okay to walk or ride ahead of your partners while they’re hitting in the fairway, so long as you’re not in their line of play (in fact, it’s often the right thing to do to keep things moving).

On the tee, though, you always want stand to the side or behind (though not directly behind, which many people find distracting) your partner. Don’t move, talk, whistle or jangle change while they’re hitting. And try not to sneeze. Similar rules apply on and around the green. While it’s fair game to stand still in someone’s peripheral vision, directly behind them is a no-go, as is standing in their sightline when they’re putting, chipping or blasting from a bunker. In that last case, you not only risk being a distraction. You’re also put yourself at physical risk. 

4. Leave no trace

Pretend that you’re camping in a National Park. When you depart, no one should know that you were there. That’s another way of saying: rake bunkers, fill divots and repair ball marks. No doing donuts in the fairway, either.

5. Mind your temper

Sulking. Whining. Screaming. Flinging clubs. You’re not good enough to engage in such behaviors, which you should plan on avoiding, no matter how well you learn to play the game.

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Hank from Michigan writes:

My uncle, a lifelong golf junky, passed away recently and I’d like to honor him by spreading some of his ashes on his favorite local course. It’s okay to do that, right?

Dear Hank:

Upon his own demise, the Etiquetteist has requested that his two non-golfer children have his clubs melted down at the local foundry and refashioned into kitchen utensils and surgical tools, so that the metals and alloys might finally be put to productive use. As for his cremains, those are to be deposited far into the rough and buried deep into steep-faced bunkers to best reflect the way the Etiquetteist played the game.

But that’s not what you asked.

The answer to your question lies more with law than it does with etiquette. No matter where you live in this vast, golf-loving land, odds are there are local ordinances governing the where’s and how’s of cremains disposal. In you home state of Michigan, for example, those regulations vary by city and county, but they generally follow the rule of common sense. That is, if you’re not scattering on your own land, you need written permission.

Scattering in water can be okay, but the Federal Clean Water Act mandates that this be done at least three nautical miles from land, so any creeks, ponds or other water hazards on your local course are a no-no for your uncle’s ashes. 

Another consideration is not governed by any local, state or federal regulations. It is agronomic. A superintendent of the Etiquetteist’s acquaintance reported that cremains dumped onto one of his greens caused lingering turf problems; a soil test later found an excess of phosphorous, which happens to be a major component of ash. 

“I’m all for paying tribute to a loved one,” the superintendent said. “But please, not on my most manicured turf.”

Rules

The lesson: best to stick to the hardier grasses of the rough and fairways. Raking into the sand is not a bad way to go, either.

Then there is the matter of getting permission from the course.

You could, of course, probably get away with scattering ashes without getting official written sign off. But that’s like cheating in golf. Why would you want to? Especially when there’s no need to be sneaky. If you go through the proper channels, your request is almost certain to be granted.

As a prominent course operator told the Etiquetteist, “Most of us consider it an honor, not an irritation.”

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Ted from Wisconsin writes:

A friend who just took up the game has asked me to join him for what would be his first round on an 18-hole course. Up until now, he has only hit balls on the driving range and hacked it up on a local par-3 track. I like the guy; he’s my friend. But at this point, he still tops or whiffs a lot of shots. I’m not sure he’s ready for a real course, and I worry about our holding everybody up if we head out together. I’m not sure I want to be a part of that. Should I accept his invite or concoct an excuse for why I can’t make it?

Dear Ted:

The Etiquetteist has a friend who says he wants to launch a “Shrink the Game” campaign as a way of culling the herd of newbies who have clogged his local course since the Covid boom.

He’s joking (sort of). But his commentary gets at something real. For all the high-minded talk in golf about “growing the game,” most of us don’t like crowds, especially when we’re stuck behind them, and even less so when those crowds include players who are just learning the ropes.

It’s the golf equivalent of NIMBYism (we want more people to play, provided they aren’t in the group in front of us), and no one is more guilty of it than many of the game’s most powerful figures; if golf’s poohbahs really believed the populist messages they often spout, then places like Seminole and Pine Valley would become public-access. Now, that would make an interesting campaign.

But the Etiquetteist digresses.

To your question. You’ve probably heard it said that in golf, it’s not how, it’s how many. In fact, the opposite is true. What matters isn’t the number of strokes you take but how you go about taking them. Who cares if your friend tops every other shot? The group behind you shouldn’t, so long as your mate moves at a reasonable pace and knows to pick up when he’s taken too many whacks. 

Question is, is he familiar with those elements of etiquette?

As you may be aware, in some European countries new golfers are required to pass the equivalent of a driver’s test before they’re allowed onto regulation courses. In the U.S., there is no such barrier to entry. It’s a free for all. With any luck, while learning the rudiments of grip and stance, your friend has also learned some of the etiquette basics, so he knows to be mindful of holding up others. But there’s no guarantee that anyone has introduced him to the fundamentals of how to move around a course, which — let’s face it — can be subtle and elusive. It helps to have a teacher. Or a role model, at least.

That’s where you come in. Rather than concoct an excuse to avoid playing with your friend, you should embrace the opportunity. You might start by having a conversation with him before you head to the course so you can gauge how well he understands what’s expected of him, and clarify any questions he might have. There’s no need to turn this into a confrontational or condescending exchange. Just talk it out, like two mature adults.

Rules

And when you do get to the course, you can add to the education by offering gentle guidance when it’s needed, and leading by example throughout the round. By day’s end, your friend may even come to the realization that he needs more practice on shorter courses before he takes on a full 18 again.

But the Etiquetteist has a feeling that your pal will catch on quickly.

In golf, who we learn from can make all the different. We see this all the time in junior golf programs like The First Tee and Youth on Course. Recently, none other than Tom Watson launched a program that pairs beginners with on-course mentors as a way to offer the sort of guidance all new golfers need.

That’s just the sort of aid you can give your friend. In doing so, you won’t just ensure that he doesn’t bother people playing behind him; you’ll help him have more fun as well. It’s tough to learn this game — not just the swing but the etiquette around it. And it’s more enjoyable when we all know what we’re doing.

What you’re doing is a favor to your friend. Someday, that friend may do the same for another golfer who is just starting out. Call it patience and generosity.

Pass it on.

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The post The Etiquetteist: Is it okay to play two balls in the same round as a single? appeared first on Golf.

The post The Etiquetteist: Is it okay to play two balls in the same round as a single? appeared first on Golf.

Tom from Pawtucket, R.I., writes: When I’m playing by myself on a busy public course, and there’s nowhere to go ahead of me, I like to drop two balls and play them both. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Dear Tom, 

Ah, so you’re one of those guys, eh? Mr. Tommy Two Shots. The Etiquetteist is well-acquainted with your type. Almost without exception, the rationale golfers of your ilk offer for playing two balls is the one you have provided here: You enjoy it, so you might as well, since there’s as group in front of you anyway.

Humbug!

While the Etiquetteist understands your argument, he’s not going to let it fly. Instead, he will refute it on three fronts: social, economic and — for lack of a better term— spiritual.

Let’s start with the social. As in, your social obligation to play at a reasonable pace. Playing at a reasonable pace does not simply mean “keeping up with the sluggish group ahead of you.” Just because they are proceeding at a snail’s rate does not mean it’s okay for you to do the same.

Think of it this way. If you had a neighbor who raked his leaves into the street, clogging the gutter, would that entitle you to rake your leaves into the street as well? It would not.

Something similar applies on the course. It’s on you to do what you can to improve the pace of play, not make it worse by futzing around. And let’s be clear. Playing two balls as a single is futzing around — a selfish form of slow play made all the slower by the fact that you can’t play ready golf.

Lifestyle

Then there’s the economic argument. When you pay your greens fee, you are paying for a single round of golf, not two. By dropping a second ball, you are, in essence, playing a second round of golf, adding wear and tear to the course, increasing maintenance costs, and so on. You don’t get two burgers for the price of one at In-N-Out. Why should you get two rounds for a single greens fee? You want to play a second ball, okay, fine, so long as there’s no one behind you. And provided you pay the replay rate.

Lastly, as if the Etiquetteist hasn’t come across as enough of a fuddy-dud already, there is also what we’ll call the spiritual argument. Playing golf is a challenge. Part of that challenge is executing the shot the first time around. That’s the maddening beauty of it. When you play two balls, you are depriving yourself of that experience.

One might even argue that you are no longer even playing golf anymore. You are practicing. In golf, there is a place for practice. It is called the range.

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