We do tons of tips, but only infrequently instruct on how to behave around the course. This reader would like to see those behavioral tips come more often.
I would like to see the major golf magazines do an article about golf course etiquette. I have played over 90 rounds the last 2 years (mostly as a walk on single) and am still amazed by the total lack of golfer respect exhibited on a golf course. It happens with everyone from drunk kids pulling their carts out in front of my drives, to middle-aged guys who should not even be on a golf course and stand so close behind me that I can hit them with my backswing, to retirees who just forget where there are for most of the round except when they hit or step on my golf ball! It is truly amazing. Not everybody has to be a scratch golfer, but many can keep the suggested pace of play up and learn to not be the in the way all the time of others around them. I just think the majority of people playing golf today need some instruction on how to handle themselves on the golf course. Helpful suggestons as to where to stand, how to get a pin, and be quiet when someone is putting. Just little things like that. Maybe even make up a review card for people to take to the golf course, just to keep the respect and enjoyment in the game. Golf magazines spend so much time on instruction of how to hit the 300 yard drive, that doesn't exist for 97% of the people playing the game and so little time on how to actually enjoy a round of golf, especially when playing with strangers. Good Luck!!! Thomas Cary, Aurora, CO
Thomas, can't agree with you more. We do these articles from time to time, but obviously not often enough for you. It's not only how players act, but how they look as well. We've spent some time recently trying to determine exactly what the standards are these days--not ours, but the ones courses and clubs are enforcing. "Golf's 'Other' Rules" in the October issue is worth a read. It's not surprising, for example, that 74 per cent of public courses permit caps facing backwards, but the fact that 31 per cent of private clubs do is a revelation to me. Similarly, that almost 40 percent of private clubs allow blue jeans. But I think we could live with unorthodox looks in golf, if, as you suggest, the behavior were more considerate.
Bob Carney
Illustration by Chris Gash
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