I've seen this come up a lot this summer, particularly on scorecards of new courses I haven't played before. One of the etiquette rules that is always cited is to never stand directly behind a player while he is shooting.

Is this something that people tend to have trouble with? I know it doesn't affect me any, but the reason why I do it is to be able to better watch my opponent's shot (in case he doesn't see it). If I'm not standing behind my opponent when he shoots, I'm not going to be much help in locating his ball.

What's the consensus on this?

That's a very good question. I think it's mostly how close you are to them but here are my rules of thumb...

a. Try to be at least 15 feet away from anyone taking a shot. Some people don't care, but some people feel cramped otherwise.
b. Don't move at all while they swing.
c. Only stand behind them if they request that you do so. Basically, try to get out of their peripheral vision.
d. When putting, don't stand behind or in front of them (along the line b/w the ball and the hole). Once the ball starts moving, you can then move to that line to watch the putt if desired.

Of course, PGA players often don't get this luxury often times because of the crowds.

Well...these are the rules I try to follow with the exception of c. The problem is, no matter how good the player is I'm playing with, there alwayss seems to be a time when they need help locating their drive. I'm no help at all if I'm not behind them. And if I stand far enough to the left so that I'm not in their perepheral vision, then their body gets in the way during the ball flight.

On the same token, if someone is standing still in my peripheral vision and it affects my shot, then I probably wasn't going to hit a good shot anyway.

However, if there is a consensus that I shouldn't be in the shooter's peripheral vision, then I'll stop doing it.

I'm with you, Bryan. It doesn't bug me at all when people stand behind me or in my "periphery" or anything. Only when they're too close. I'll tell them to back up a little and that will be that, but i don't remember a time other than when we were on a pretty cramped area of the course and the guy parked the car near me and i had to say something.

I played with a guy once that you were just never in the right spot. You couldn't stand on his line and watch his shots, you couldn't stand PHYSICALLY behind him (looking at his back), you couldnt' stand in front of him either. It was so ridiculous. every shot we had to be like 35 feet away at his 5 o'clock. That makes for a long round. Thing is, he's really not that good either. Never worried about his shot, always worried about shadows, wind, rustling, moving, noises, etc.

edit: i might add that he was the first one to have no idea where his drives go and mention "did anybody see that?" around the 12th I finally said "no, because you won't let us stand anywhere that we can actually follow the $&*#*&@* ball!"

So you've played with Pete T also. He's a walker too and always wants to hit first so he can get on his way while the rest of us hit. Nevermind that we might not like someone out in front while we hit.

merlin2driver wrote:

So you've played with Pete T also. He's a walker too and always wants to hit first so he can get on his way while the rest of us hit. Nevermind that we might not like someone out in front while we hit.

ROFL. i've played with guys like him. Actually i've been him a few times, but only with people i know didn't mind. I was walking and they were riding, it was busy and i was the short knocker of the group (if you can believe THAT one). I asked if i could go ahead on a few holes to look for my errant tee shot if it was in an awful place, just so we didn't have to spend the time looking - and they were waiting anyway for people to clear. Never got hit, and they all striped it when i was out there. I walked along the OB line or in the trees for cover.

I'm not a fan of people who have to do it every hole. It's like they're in a big hurry. In fact, if i ever did play with someone like that, i'd fire a warning shot just to make a point. LOL.

At our club, we learn the kids to stand at the right of the teebox (assuming the player is right-handed). That is the safest place to be and it really shouldn't affect the player. It wouldn't know why this should be any different for grown-ups.

My nephew (now 11) is terrible at walking ahead. I'm always trying to get him to hurry up, and since he plays the front tees, he thinks its a good way for me to not get on him so much. Last year, on our last round of the year (last hole), I pushed a drive right at him. It went over his head by a good 20 feet, but for a moment, I thought he was dead. I think he saw the look of horror on my face, because he promised he'd never do it again.

Its actually a rule that you cant stand in the line of play of another competitor. Infront or behind...........

I would suspect safety. I've seen guys clubs come apart, narrowly missing people standing behind their swing. I received 21 stitches in the noggin myself from a baseball bat that a guy let go of on the follow through. Good reminder to me that I sure don't want to be hit with a golf club in the same manner, especially an iron.