- 6 hours ago
The Rules of Golf cover 'Standards of Player Conduct,' but what does that mean in practice? Join us as we break down seven key etiquette mistakes to avoid, helping you respect the course and your fellow players.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Prince's Golf Club and this video on seven etiquette mistakes. Now in the
00:05rules of golf the word etiquette actually doesn't exist anymore instead it's covered off by the
00:10standards of player conduct which is rule 1.2 in the book and it's all of those things that ensure
00:16that you're a joy for other people to play with as you go around the course but also that you're
00:20keeping the course in as good a condition as you possibly can. Right let's head out now and take a
00:25look at the seven etiquette mistakes that are well worth avoiding.
00:33This one is about where to stand and where not to stand when someone's about to hit a golf shot.
00:38Now
00:38obviously you don't want to get too close to anyone for obvious reasons but then beyond that there are
00:43certain places that you can stand that could be slightly distracting for golfers. Jess what would
00:47you your advice be here for people? Well having played for a number of years I think most people
00:50on the tee would prefer you to stand over here where you're in there as long as you're not doing
00:56anything distracting where they can sort of see you. I think it's when there's people lurking around
01:00behind you that the people get a little bit edgy about it I don't know why maybe they think they're
01:06not quite sure how close you're standing and they worry about hitting you but I think people would
01:10much prefer to see you in their eye line than not as long as you're not doing anything rummaging around
01:15in your back another ball or zipping something up and doing anything distracting. Yeah one thing I would
01:20add to this is if you're playing into the sun in your and your sort of visibility down the fairway
01:25is it feels like it's a bit restricted it can be useful to have someone sort of slightly more behind
01:30yeah to be able to catch the fly to the ball a bit better but on the whole we'd say
01:34you know for
01:35right-handers to the right of the golfer left-handers to the left of the golfer it's probably the best
01:38option where it comes to standing right place and then once you're stood there yes so obviously standing
01:43in this spot you're in their eye line so make sure you're not doing anything distracting so don't
01:48rummage around for another ball or do a zip up and wait for the player to play and then it's
01:53your turn
01:53to do whatever you want to do then just give them a bit of time to play their shot and
01:57then do whatever
01:58you need to do. Yeah it's about awareness ultimately a lot of this video is that just having that
02:03awareness for other people making sure that you're not doing anything that's going to potentially
02:07distract them from the shot they're about to hit.
02:18Jez do you mind? Oh yeah sorry. Yeah this one is about shadows so you might not think it's a
02:25big
02:25deal but actually if you're trying to play a golf shot and somebody else's shadow is in the way it
02:31can be quite distracting can't it? It can be distracting and people might think well golf is a quite fragile
02:37aren't they and they should be able to cope with that but this is a sport where you're starting
02:41the movement it's not a reactive sport and anything that distracts your eye line just as you're about
02:47to take the club back or take the putter away can really throw you can't it? We all know that.
02:51It can. I think on the green if you're trying to putt through shadows it can be quite hard to
02:54pick
02:54your line and then in other areas of the golf course if you've got your shadow there and then the
02:59head
02:59of Jez's putter here just moves slightly that can really put you off and it's just those small things
03:03like so many in this video it's just having that modicum of awareness for the your surroundings
03:08for other people just to make sure that you're not doing anything that's putting them off.
03:17Okay so this one is about the condition of the golf course. Jez what do people need to know?
03:21Well I mean there is an obligation at the very start of the rules to care for the course it's
03:25rule 1.2 standards of player conduct and part of caring for the course is to repair pitch marks and
03:33repair divots repair and replace and repair divots and we have all seen pictures on social media of
03:39greens littered with pitch marks haven't we? I think some clubs have even gone out and placed a ball at
03:45the point of every pitch mark just to try and emphasize the point yes and it's quite a scary
03:49picture when you see it like that badly repaired pitch marks so a lot of clubs I've been at have
03:55a
03:56big enormous pitch mark repair man called Mort which stands for make one repair two which isn't a bad
04:02philosophy yes so even if you have if there's a pitch mark here that my ball has made when it
04:07landed on the green I'll repair this but if I also see another one nearby I'll also repair that as
04:12well it's just a good practice to get into because if you don't you will be leaving these little marks
04:17around the place that will just make the hole feel a little bit untidy and it over time if people
04:22keep
04:22doing that it creates that kind of buzz of discontentment about the condition of the golf course when
04:27actually the green keepers and the people working in the golf club it's not their fault yeah I mean
04:32you've got to be particularly careful on short par threes or holes where a lot of people are playing
04:36short approach up a full wedge shot in so those are the holes three you look out for and obviously
04:41that time of year when conditions are soft you've really got to be on the ball with the pitch mark
04:46repair scenario yeah and also let's not forget divots as well you don't get relief from divots as you know
04:51when playing golf so if you've made the divot and it's clearly visible and you've got it there take the
04:56time to put it
04:56back it makes all the difference doesn't it it does the last thing you want is to end up in
04:59a divot
05:00knowing that um you're going to have to play it yes so i'm going to repair this pitch mark here
05:05and then
05:05i'm going to get my puck
05:24i'll see that
05:30okay so when it comes to etiquette this one is probably up there with the most important things you need
05:35to know
05:35that's about the pace of play if golfers have one thing in common is that they don't enjoy playing
05:39you know really slow rounds of golf where the pace of play grinds to a halt chest what can people
05:43do
05:43to make sure that doesn't happen well there's a very long list of things you can do um which we've
05:49investigated before but we don't want to go into all of those here if i was to pick out one
05:52that particularly bugs me maybe it would be the group gets the next tee the person who should be
05:57playing marks his scorecard works out what everyone else took on that hole before actually getting up and
06:03hitting their shot and that just slows the whole thing down there's plenty of time after that
06:08person's played their shot to then sort the scorecard out yeah and then there's things like ambling around
06:12the golf course i mean no one's asking you to race around the course but just be aware of those
06:16around
06:16you and then i think the one that bugs me is when people watch a playing partner hit and then
06:22they
06:22start figuring out how far they've got to go to the flag what the wind's doing etc etc and it
06:26just
06:26it's small things like that it might not seem like a big deal but the more it happens the slower
06:31play
06:32becomes and actually that causes a knock-on effect so just be aware try and keep the pace of play
06:36up
06:36and it shouldn't be a problem
06:47yes what ah is that a bit quite a loud zip isn't it sorry about that point here is about
06:54making uh
06:55noises when somebody else is about to play whether that's a zip or clanging coins or keys or t's in
07:01your pocket something like that be very careful very careful it's um people like to concentrate
07:08on their shot as much as possible it's only a few seconds and i don't think it's too unreasonable to
07:13be as quiet as possible while they're doing so yes it would be i can understand the point that people
07:17making when they're thinking well golfers can be a bit precious in this scenario but it would be
07:21different if there was a constant amount of noise in the background but so often there isn't and then
07:25a sudden noise can put you off and make no mistake jess if you did that we were playing i
07:29think i'd probably
07:30blame you if i hit a poor shot in that scenario any excuse
07:40okay jess this one is another one about the condition of the golf course in particular bunkers
07:44which i appreciate during covid times this is tricky what's the advice do you think for people
07:48here well i think that the advice is to try and leave the bunker in the kind of condition you'd
07:53hope
07:54to find it in so although we haven't got rakes i think some clubs are issuing players with um
08:00portable rakes aren't they but not many um it's just to do what the best you can do with what
08:05you've
08:05got at your disposal and for me i think smoothing with the feet is usually the best option in most
08:10kinds of sand which i think is probably what's happened here and i have to say you know in the
08:15current climate that we're playing at the moment i'm pretty happy with this lie yeah here whoever has
08:20been here before me has done their best to make sure that anyone coming after is going to get a
08:24fairly good lie i've got a fairly good lie and no real excuses you haven't so um i'll give you
08:3012 feet
08:32would be a good shot still from here slight down slope that's it well come back down the slope might
08:40do
08:41no in the summer it might have done but that's not a bad effort from there is it and that's
08:45obviously
08:46so much easier to play than if that had been in a filthy great foot markers you've got just behind
08:50you there exactly so now i need to do my part
09:01okay so another one that relates to pace of play jez what are we talking about here
09:04well basically i'm talking about slower groups letting faster groups through so
09:09you're slow for whatever reason that day you're paired with a couple of guys who aren't the quickest or
09:13one of you's having a complete howler it's backing up behind you just let the group behind through
09:18they'll be on their way unhappy you'll feel less pressured and it's just a better situation for
09:23everybody okay so really simple advice if you're in a slower group let the faster group through
09:28so there you have it that's our look at seven etiquette mistakes as we said quite a lot in this
09:32video it's all just about having an awareness having an awareness for what you're doing and for the
09:37players around you just to make sure that you're a joy to play with and that you're keeping the golf
09:41course in a good condition as you possibly can and thanks for watching see you next time
Comments