Pace of play is big for me, even within my group. We're always good about letting faster groups play through, but there have been times when, within my foursome, a ball has obviously gone out of bounds, and 1 or 2 of them will take 5 or 10 minutes looking for it. Usually they've already hit a provisional, or will take a drop where the ball disappeared.

I would have to agree with Jake on this one. Slow play is bad enough by itself, but it doesn't need to be compounded by stupidity. If someone is just a begginer, or an avid player is just having a horrible day, that's one thing. When people don't know what they're doing, that's an entire different issue. The most frustrating thing is when you get behind a group that does not belong on a golf course. THAT is by far the most frustrating and unfortunately the most common breech of golf etiquette.

Like most, pace of play tops the list easily. Especially since I also hate playing through (feel rushed and throw away a hole), if the other people would just keep a 4:30 pace or better, it'd be great.

The next items, ranked:
Not fixing ballmarks - your mother doesn't go behind you cleaning up your mess
Driving cart too close to green - how lazy ARE you
Player not raking bunker - see ballmarks
Player not knowing rules/not following rules/cheating - corollary one thereof: but think they do/are/think their score is legitimate (I usually know and admit when I've fudged a hole)

Probably mentioned this before, But leaving anything on the green is beyond inexcusable. Cigarette butts, sunflower seed shells. I just can't believe I still see these things.

merlin2driver wrote:

Probably mentioned this before, But leaving anything on the green is beyond inexcusable. Cigarette butts, sunflower seed shells. I just can't believe I still see these things.

Saw sunflower seed shells on the green for the first time last week; I couldn't believe my eyes.

What he said!

quote="pikapp23"]There are so many 'rules of etiquette' in this game that most players are willing to let some slide, especially with inexperienced golfers. Sometimes these rules are not followed for time, convenience or simple frustration for whatever reason. A few that I can think of off the top of my head are:

Not fixing ballmarks
Not replacing/filling divots
Not letting faster groups play through
Driving cart too close to green
Talking on cell phone on course
Players making noise/Talking loud/etc.
Players playing out of turn
Players not playing 'ready golf'
Groups taking too long at turn
People dragging spikes across greens/not walking carefully on green
Player not raking bunker
Player not knowing rules/not following rules/cheating

That's all I can think of without straining my brain too much. For me, I think the most annoying breech is Players not fixing ballmarks on green. Most of the other stuff annoys me (cell phone on course is probably second most annoying), but I can live with. Ideally, all golfers follow these rules, which are mostly simple common sense anyway, but it's not going to happen.[/quote]

Quote:

Sorry, but the unplayable lie relief is the same as a lateral, 2 clubs OR as far back as you like - no closer to the hole.

terpsno1 wrote:

technicaly it isn't really playing it as an unplayable lie - it is more like calling the rocky area a lateral hazard An unplayable lie only gets you 2 club lengths relief to move the ball - that may not get you clear of the rocks. Unplayble also allows you to move back on a line with the pin as far as you want - but that probably doesn't help you in this situation and then there is always stroke & distance

As Far back as you like - but you must stay on line with the ball and the pin - This may or may not help you depending on the layout of the whole and where the ball is sitting.

And like I said - there is always stroke & distance

This is definitely not the same as a hazard - In that situation you may not even know where the ball is if it is in a lake or stream or high grass. With unplayable - you know the location of the ball to be able to line it up with the pin.

Farm_kid wrote:

terps, My post did come off as aggressive. So take the aggressiveness out of it and tell me if you think approaching the group ahead of you is appropriate or not? If appropriate what should I say? a. can my group play through? (then walk back 125 yards to hit my approach shot?) b. can you speed up? (quit hitting 3 mulligans? then walk 125 yards back to my approach shot?) Part of the problem is that putting and chipping takes more time than teeing off and hitting the second shot. So the place on the course that gets bogged is the approach shot to the green (this ruins hitting rythmn). Consider also that a slow group is usually off the tee box by the time a fast group is off the green and can catch them on the tee. I think golf needs a universal sign to show the group in front that the group behind would like to play through and they should wait to tee off at the next tee. Perhaps like putting a hat on a club and holding it in the air for the slow group to see. The slow team could respond in the same way showing that they will wait at the next tee box. Problem solved

No universal sign required. Sounds like you're getting to the tee prior to them leaving it, right? You tee off (even if they already have), they hang back a few minutes....BANG! that's how to play through.

Slow play is a problem, but getting too antsy about perceived slow play is also a problem. A while ago, I was playing by myself behind a slow foursome. They should have invited me to play through, but didn't; it wasn't a big deal to me, because I wasn't in a hurry. They took their time on a difficult par-3, so I had a wait of at least 10 minutes before I got to hit. I was fortunate to hit the green, but I wanted to take my time thinking about my putt, which I knew from past experience was difficult to read.

So I'm lining it up, and the group behind me, which had managed to catch up, started shouting at me! WTF? I putted out and went back to talk to them, and they said they were "concerned" about the time I was spending on my putt. I could still see the group in front of me on the next tee box; there's nowhere to go! I let the group behind me play through so that they'd stop shouting at me, but of course that meant I spent the rest of the round waiting on them for every shot. The shouting group couldn't even keep pace with the slow group I had been behind before, so the total amount of time they saved by passing me was zero.

So I'd say that the greatest etiquette breach is lack of awareness. Know what's going on ahead of you and behind you. Make things as comfortable as you can for the groups behind, but don't blame the group right in front of you for something they can't help. And for god's sake, don't shout at the group in front of you the first time you see them on the green.

I agree with you elindholm.

A couple of weeks ago, I was playing at Edgewood, one of the nicest public golf courses in the area, when a similar situation happened. I really struggled off the box on about the fourth hole, and the goup behind us had to wait for us before they could tee off. They yelled down the fairway, on a long par 4, "You're holding up the whole course!" Of course, we were waiting for the group in front of us on the next hole. I can only hope they realized how stupid they looked when they approached that tee box and we were just getting ready to tee off.

I don't know why, but a couple of weeks has now passed...and that situation STILL gets my goat. I wanted to scream profanities back down the fairway at them. By the looks of their game, they were probably low handicappers. By the looks of their behavior on the course, one would swear they had never played before.

I can guarantee one thing, though. If you shout down a fairway at me, your chances of me letting you play through just got eliminated. I'm going to slow my game down a notch and MAKE you wait.

Idiots.

I understand why slow play gets to people and it gest to me too but it is by no means the worst on the list in my book.

What would you rather have happen to you? Hit that amazing shot stick it 5 feet from the hole and walk up to see a giant week old crusty ball divot between your ball and the hole. Or is it worse to sit on a bench for a few min while the group in front of you finishes up the hole???

I would much rather see people respect the game and the course then rush through a round leaving a trail of destruction behind them. I know this is over the top but you get my point.

I feel as though I have two oppinions on this topic. For me, I love to play and then I work at our golf center. When I'm playing it annoys me to death when someone doesn't play by the rules. But when I see someone driving too close to the greens and messing everything up that we work so hard on makes me the maddest. One day I was playing with two friends at our place, and this lady with her son and daughter (only he was playing) passed us on the first tee right as soon as were about to tee off. I then saw them about 30 minutes later on the 6th hole right beside us. The boy was putting on the green and the mother had driven the cart ONTO the green to be right beside him so apparently, he didn't have to waste any energy walking.

Anecdote time!

When I golfed with my nephew for the first time, I spent quite a bit of time going over the etiquette rules with him before stepping on to the first tee. I thought I had covered it all, but you know, there is a lot to cover. When we got to the first green, I realized I had missed something when I turned around and saw him rolling his pull-cart right over to where his ball sat on the green. ACK!

My Bad golf day story...

A Friend and I went to a course we had never played before. We are riding.

We're about 5 holes in and both of slice into a thinly treed cedar chipped lie.

We drive the cart into the little area and are getting ready to hit, when we start hear "HEY! HEY! YOU CAN'T LEAVE YOU BAG IN FRONT OF THE M F'N TEE BOX!"

We glance at the cart, both our bags are there and figure they are yelling at someone else.

My friend hits. As soon as he hits we hear again "HEY! MOVE YOUR M-F'n BAG FROM THE FRONT OF THE GD TEE BOX".

Now I position myself so I can see the guy clearly give him a WTF Look, he points at the bag, I shrug and go back to hit my ball. I hit, we pull the cart out of the trees, which he should see by now CLEARLY has 2 bags on it and He starts shouting again.

Now I am PO'd. Me and the friend pick up our balls and drive back to the T BOX and I ask the guy "WTF is your problem?" If he didn't see the bags on our cart while we were downrange he could OBVIOUSLY see them now...but again he goes into a tirade "YOU CAN'T LEAVE YOUR MFing BAG IN FRONT OF THE T BOX LIKE THAT! pointing at the bag.

I point at our bags on the cart "Our bags are right here. I don't know who's bag that is." I tell him to go on ahead of us we'll rehit and play behind them.

Now in his foursome 2 are walking and 2 are riding. He says the bag is in his way, I tell him to move it if it's in your way. As he's walking towards the bag to move it, grumbling, one of his guys sitting in the cart gets out and says "Oh wait, that's my bag, I cut thru the bushes over there after hole 4 and musta parked it there waiting for you guys (his friends) to come around the cart path".

I never wanted to 9 iron someone upside the head so bad as that day...