Golf Etiquette Mistakes To Avoid

Hello and welcome to Prince's Golf Club and this video on seven etiquette mistakes. Now in the

rules of golf the word etiquette actually doesn't exist anymore. Instead it's covered off by the

standards of player conduct which is rule 1.2 in the book and it's all of those things that ensure

that you're a joy for other people to play with as you go around the course but also that you're

keeping the course in as good a condition as you possibly can. Right let's head out now and take a

a look at the seven etiquette mistakes that are well worth avoiding

This one is about where to stand and where not to stand when someone's about to hit a

golf shot. Now obviously you don't want to get too close to anyone for obvious reasons

but then beyond that there are certain places that you can stand that could be slightly

distracting for golfers. Jess, what would your advice be here for people? Well having played for a number of years I think most people on the tee would prefer

you to stand over here where you're in there as long as you're not doing anything distracting

where they can sort of see you. I think it's when there's people lurking around behind you that

that people get a little bit edgy about it. I don't know why, maybe they think they're not quite

sure how close you're standing and they worry about hitting you but I think people would much

prefer to see you in their eye line than not as long as you're not doing anything rummaging around

in your back another ball or zipping something up and doing anything distracting. Yeah one thing I

would add to this is if you're playing into the sun in your and your sort of visibility down the

fairway is it feels like it's a bit restricted it can be useful to have someone sort of slightly

more behind yeah to be able to catch the fly to the ball a bit better but on the whole we'd say

you know for right handers to the right of the golfer left handers to the left of the golfer is probably the best option where it comes to standing right and then once you're stood there

yes so obviously standing in this spot you're in their eye line so make sure you're not doing

anything distracting so don't rummage around for another ball or do a zip up and wait for the player

to play and then it's your turn to do whatever you want to do then just give them a bit of time to

play their shot and then do whatever you need to do yeah it's about awareness ultimately a lot of

this video is that just having that awareness for other people making sure that you're not doing

anything that's going to potentially distract them from the shot they're about to hit I'm gonna go

Jez, do you mind? Oh, yeah. Sorry, sorry. Yeah this one is about shadows So you might not think it a big deal but actually if you trying to play a golf shot and somebody else shadow is in the way it can be quite distracting can it It can be distracting and people might think well golfers are quite fragile aren they

And they should be able to cope with that. But this is a sport where you're starting the movement

It's not a reactive sport. And anything that distracts your eye line, just as you're about

to take the club back or take the putter away, can really throw you, can't it? We all know that

it can. I think on the green if you're trying to putt through shadows it can be quite hard to pick your line and then in other areas of the golf course if you've got your shadow there and then

the head of Jez's putter here just moves slightly that can really put you off and it's just those

small things like so many in this video it's just having that modicum of awareness for the

your surroundings for other people just to make sure that you're not doing anything that's putting

them off. Okay so this one is about the condition of the golf course. Jez what people need to know

Well, I mean there is an obligation at the very start of the rules to care for the course

It's rule 1.2, standards of player conduct. And part of caring for the course is to repair pitch marks and repair divots, repair and

replace and repair divots. And we've all seen pictures on social media of greens littered with pitch marks, haven't we

I think some clubs have even gone out and placed a ball at the point of every pitch mark just

to try and emphasize the point. Yes. scary picture when you see it like that badly repaired pitch marks so a lot of clubs i've been

at have a big enormous pitch mark repair man called mort which stands for make one repair two which

isn't a bad philosophy yes so even if you haven't if there's a pitch mark here that my ball has made

when it landed on the green i'll repair this but if i also see another one nearby i'll also repair

that as well it's just a good practice to get into because if you don't you will be leaving these

little marks around the place that will just make the hole feel a little bit untidy and over time

if people keep doing that it creates that kind of buzz of discontentment about the condition of the

golf course when actually the green keepers and the people working at the golf club it's not their

fault yeah i mean you've got to be particularly careful on short par threes or holes where a lot

of people are playing a short approach shot a full wedge shot in so those are the holes three you look

out for and obviously that time of year when conditions are soft you've really got to be on

on the ball with the pitch mark repair scenario. Yeah, and also, let's not forget divots as well

You don't get relief from divots, as you know, when playing golf. So if you made the divot and it clearly visible and you got it there take the time to put it back It makes all the difference doesn it It does The last thing you want is to end up in a divot knowing that you going to have to play it Yes So I going to repair this pitch mark here and then I going to hit my puck

I'll see that. Okay, so when it comes to etiquette

this one is probably up there with the most important things you need to know, and that's about the pace of play

If golfers have one thing in common, it's that they don't enjoy playing really slow rounds of golf

where the pace of play grinds to a halt chest. What can people do to make sure that doesn't happen

Well, there's a very long list of things you can do, which we've investigated before

but we don't want to go into all of those here. If I was to pick out one that particularly bugs me

maybe it would be the group gets the next tee, the person who should be playing marks his scorecard

works out what everyone else took on that hole before actually getting up and hitting their shot

And that just slows the whole thing down. There's plenty of time after that person's played their shot

to then sort the scorecard out. Yeah, and then there's things like ambling around the golf course

I mean, no one's asking you to race around the course, but just be aware of those around you

And then I think the one that bugs me when people watch a playing partner hit and then they start figuring out how far they've got to go

to the flag, what the wind's doing etc etc and it just it's small things like that it might not seem

like a big deal but the more it happens the slower play becomes and actually that causes a knock-on

effect so just be aware try and keep the pace of play up and it shouldn't be a problem. yes what uh was that a bit quite a loud zip isn't it sorry about that point here is about making

uh noises when somebody else is about to play whether that's a zip or clanging coins or keys

or tees in your pocket, something like that. Be very careful. Very careful

People like to concentrate on their shot as much as possible. It's only a few seconds

and I don't think it's too unreasonable to be as quiet as possible while they're doing so

Yes, I can understand the point that people are making where they're thinking, well, golfers can be a bit precious in this scenario

But it would be different if there was a constant amount of noise in the background but so often there isn and then a sudden noise can put you off Make make no mistake jez if you did that we were playing i think i probably blame you if i hit a poor shot in that scenario any excuse

okay jez this one is another one about the condition of the golf course in particular

bunkers which i appreciate during covid times this is tricky what's the advice you think for

people here? Well I think the advice is to try and leave the bunker in the kind of condition you'd

hope to find it in so although we haven't got rakes I think some clubs are issuing players with

portable rakes aren't they but not many it's just to do what the best you can do with what you've

got at your disposal and for me I think smoothing with the feet is usually the best option in most

kinds of sand. Which I think is probably what's happened here and I have to say you know in the

current climate that we're playing in at the moment i'm pretty happy with this lie yeah here

whoever has been here before me has done their best to make sure that anyone coming after is

going to get a fairly good lie i've got a fairly good lie and no real excuses you haven't so um

i'll give you 12 feet would be a good shot still from here slight down slope

sit well come back down the slope might do no in the summer it might have done but that's not a bad

effort from there is it and that's obviously so much easier to play than if that had been in a

filthy great foot markers you've got just behind you there exactly so now i need to do my part

okay so another one that relates to pace of play jez what are we talking about here we're basically talking about slower groups letting faster groups through so

you're slow for whatever reason that day you're paired with a couple of guys who aren't the quickest or one of you is having a complete howler, it's backing up behind you. Just let

the group behind through. They'll be on their way and happy. You'll feel less pressured

and it's just a better situation for everybody. Okay, so really simple advice. If you're in a slower group, let the faster group through

So there you have it. That's our look at seven etiquette mistakes. As we said quite a lot

in this video, it's all just about having an awareness, having an awareness for what you're

doing and for the players around you just to make sure that you're a joy to play with

and that you're keeping the golf course in as good a condition as you possibly can. Thanks for watching. See you next time