12 rules of etiquette for golf.
1) Maintain an Appropriate Pace
If there’s nobody ahead of your group and there’s a group constantly waiting behind you, your group should almost always play faster or let the group behind you play through.
Play “ready golf.” Generally, the player farthest away from the hole is supposed to hit their next shot.
Don’t Spend Too Much Time Looking for Balls.
Help Others Find Their Ball
When playing with other golfers, help them find their ball if yours is further than theirs or they’re next to hit. You should also help look for where other players’ shots travel when they hit them. Two pairs of eyes are always better than one. You have three minutes to look for a ball. No more.
And refrain from looking for other balls in a hazard.
2) Repair Your Ball Marks on Greens
While more traffic will always put greenskeepers to the test, unrepaired pitch marks are significant in this golf green massacre.
Unrepaired or poorly repaired ball marks can lead to missed putts and surfaces that take weeks to recuperate.
You should always find and fix your ball marks on the green. It’s straightforward to do at an individual level, and when everyone helps maintain the green, all golfers benefit.
3) Replace or Fill Divots
When you take divots on the tee box or fairway, you should either retrieve and replace the divot or fill the divot with sand/mix. Sand-filled bottles are available near gather first tee.
Generally, either of these options is fine unless the course favours one option over the other.
4) Minimize Divots
You don’t need to take a divot on your practice swing and should strive to avoid doing so. If everyone took three divots on each shot, the course would quickly be in shambles.
With that said, even some of the best golfer occasionally take a divot by mistake on their practice swing. If you do this, please replace or fill it.
If hitting an iron or wedge from the tee box, you can set your ball behind another divot to avoid making a new one.
5) Maintain Sand Bunkers
Under normal conditions, you should always rake the sand to fix footprints or other imprints you made in it.
It would help if you also prevented excessive change to bunkers in the first place. Enter a bunker to hit your ball from the shortest line.
6) Silently Stand Still and Out of the Way
When another golfer in your group hits their shot, do not distract them. Always be silent and stand still out of view and out of the line of their putts.
If other golf groups are close to you, stay quiet and avoid walking or driving past them.
7) Follow All Golf Cart Rules
Even under normal playing conditions, golf courses limit where you can drive a cart. You should never drive the cart on or near tee boxes, greens, bunkers, or water hazards.
Sometimes, most often after heavy rain, golf courses will require you to stay on the cart path. This is typically described as “cart path only.” Some individual holes – par 3s – on golf courses may always be cart paths only for various reasons.
Always follow your golf course’s cart rules, including those for the particular day you play.
8) Don’t Hit a Ball Into the Group Ahead of You
Never hit a ball when there’s a group ahead of you within your distance. This is the time you should use those exaggerated distances you tell your buddies you can hit a particular club.
It’s always best to err on the side of caution.
9) Always Yell “Fore” When an Errant Ball is Hit Towards Other People
“Fore” is a term commonly used in golf that essentially means “duck and get to cover.”
If you or someone in your group hits a shot that could potentially hit another golfer, always yell, “Fore!”
Remember that just because you can’t see someone doesn’t mean there isn’t someone in your ball’s path. For example, if you slice a ball towards another hole, yell “Fore!” even if you can’t see the other hole.
If you’re ever ahead of someone in your group, be sure to be far out of their potential ball path and pay attention to their shot.
10) Don’t Drink Too Much
Don’t bring alcohol purchased elsewhere to the course.
11) Don’t Play Loud Music While You Golf
Listening to music quietly through a speaker in your cart is not a problem, but if the golfers on the next hole can hear it, that’s a big problem.
If you’re listening to music, keep it at a volume that can’t be heard more than 5-10 feet from your cart. Be sure members in your group don’t mind, and turn it off if you’re close to them during a shot. If you get close to another group, turn the music off until you get away from them.
Finally, could you ensure that listening to music meets the rules at your golf course?
12) Dress Appropriately
Look up the dress code online or call ahead.