Golf Etiquette — The Unwritten Rules That Keep the Game Good

Pace of play — the single biggest source of frustration

Slow play is the most common complaint at golf courses worldwide. The group behind you is watching the clock just as much as you are, and backing up one group backs up everyone behind them for the whole round.

The biggest time-savers: decide on your club before it's your turn to hit, not after you walk to your ball. Limit practice swings to one or two. After completing a hole, move promptly toward the next tee and mark your scorecard on the way. Give up on a lost ball after three minutes — the rule exists specifically to keep play moving. A four-player group can comfortably play 18 holes in under four hours with these habits.

Course care — divots, bunkers, and ball marks

When an iron shot takes a chunk of turf (a divot), replace the turf and press it down firmly, or use the sand-seed mixture on the cart to fill it. Unrepaired divots take weeks to recover and affect the next player's lie.

After playing from a bunker, rake out your footprints. Walk in from the low side, rake backward as you exit. The rake goes either in the bunker or just outside, flat on the ground — not propped against the edge. Leaving footprints for the next player to land in is one of the most common failures of basic etiquette.

On the green, repair ball marks (the small depression where your ball landed). Use a repair tool or tee, insert at the edge, push gently toward the center, smooth flat. A well-repaired mark recovers in hours; an unrepaired one takes weeks.

Playing partner basics — the small things that add up

Stand still and out of another player's sightline when they're addressing the ball or putting. Movement and noise in peripheral vision genuinely affects concentration, even for experienced players.

Keep track of your own score. Asking your playing partner how many strokes you took on the last hole, hole after hole, is genuinely annoying and slows things down.

Help search for a lost ball, even if it's not yours. If you find your own ball quickly, stay to help find the others — or at minimum let them know you'll be waiting. Small acts of consideration like these are what make someone someone others want to play with.