The Golf Etiquette Rules You Need to Know

A lot of things about golf are common sense. Maybe not easy, but common sense. For example, everyone knows they should avoid yelling during someone’s backswing, or that you can’t drive you cart on the green. That said, golf has some rules that aren’t so common sense, but expected by seasoned golfers. It’s no secret that some view golf as a pompous, old-man sport, but I assure you, if you adopt the rules below into your everyday game, your playing partners will be greatly appreciative and you may even make a few more friends with the randoms you team up with.

Visual Rules

One of the first lessons you get in literally every ball-based sport is to keep your eye on the ball. Whether it’s during a baseball swing, bringing a football down, or hacking at a golf ball. The thing might be stationary, but you are certainly not, so it’s extremely important for your peepers to relay continuous information to your brain and rest of your body to prevent you from losing your target and turning your golf club into a shovel. The general rule of thumb is pretty simple at face value: don’t take your partners’ visual attention off of their ball or target. But, that comes with some nuance that we’re not always conscious about.

1. Stay Out of Peripheral Vision When at All Possible

Whether it’s on a tee box, fairway, green, or any other part of the course, this rule should be followed. You may be quick to roll your eyes at this one, and maybe a little bit of movement in the corner of your eye doesn’t bother your swing, but I’ll present you with a counterargument: it is extremely rare that you don’t have enough space to get out of eyesight of your playing partners, so why wouldn’t you? Sure, it may not make a world of difference in one’s golf game, but it shows that you’re willing to pay attention and attempt to be respectful of your partners. For example, say you’d like to read a buddy’s putt. Would it kill your read to take an extra 2 steps back so he doesn’t see you crouching down performing a professional survey of the green just to push your bogey putt anyway? Easy to implement, high-level etiquette that will help you stand out as a mannered partner.

2. Keep Your Shadow Off of Tee Balls, Putting Lines, and Cups

This applies to the greens more than anything, but it absolutely can happen on the tee box. It’s also, really, really easy to forget about, but it is important nonetheless. This situation on the tee box is pretty obvious, just avoid standing in a position that your shadow is dancing around on a partner’s ball while he’s hitting. On the greens, it can be a little convoluted. Consider how hard it is to read a green in perfect daylight as is. Further, consider how hard it is to execute that putt and adjust once set. There is almost no case in which leaving your shadow in between someone’s ball and the cup is going to benefit them. Easier to forget about, but can have a noticeable impact.

3. If You Are in Eyesight, Stand Still

Sometimes, you’re simply going to be unable to avoid being in eyesight, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is being in eyesight chasing butterflies, taking 7 divots out of the fairway practice swinging, or marching back and forth to the cart. Yes, some playing partners stand over the ball way too long, but it’s not like you’re a surgeon running late for an emergency surgery. Relax, stand still, and wait for them to finish so you can laugh at their bladed chip after. Easy to implement, huge impact.

Audible Rules

The principle behind noise-related rules is right in line with why we practice the visual rules: to avoid distracting your playing partners for no reason. You’ll also find that players frequently use noise as the number 1 excuse for a free mulligan, and we certainly don’t want them to have that. The last important thing to note on noises is that they have a certain way of sending golfers into a rage, so it’s extremely important to mind your decibel level.

1. Stop Practice Swinging While Your Partner is Hitting

Practice swings are great. Do they improve your play? Maybe. But, a lot of players just have to take them. It’s a perfectly fine and acceptable routine that can help get you ready to hit the ball. But that’s the key: they should part of your pre-shot routine, full stop. Of course, on the first hole when everyone is getting lose and relaxing, have a day. Take 120 swings before you shoot a 120 in actual strokes if you’d like, but is it ever necessary to be whipping your driver through the grass at 110mph during the 30 seconds you’re waiting for a playing partner to hit? No way. I candidly apologize for the tone, but this seems, for whatever reason, to be the most common and egregious involuntary noise pollution I run into. Hopefully you do not see it very often, and I certainly hope you are not part of the problem. Massive impact, crazy easy implementation.

2. Don’t Rustle in Your Bag While Your Partner is Hitting

This one’s also pretty common, especially if your group is playing ready golf on a packed course. The man with honors will get up on the tee and you may still be getting ready, and reasonably so, but this is where being more cognizant than the average bear can really help your group’s quality of life. This one is really simple because it only requires a really brief period of pause. You’re absolutely welcome to start getting your clubs out, brushing them, rustling your tees, or doing whatever for the vast majority of your partners’ pre-shot routines, but stop when they address the ball. Let them take their swing and go right back to it. Also, crazy easy to implement, moderate impact.

3. Be Conscious of Players on Other Holes

As we discussed in our article on the “shrink the game” movement, courses are packed for the most part these days. And, if you’ve got any experience playing the game of golf, you’ve certainly experienced a group banging music and screaming about missed putts no more than 100 yards from you. If that doesn’t bother you—kudos, but similar to every other rule we’ve gone over so far, how often does a situation on a golf course warrant a scream? Unless you’ve holed out from 150+ or broken a course record, I assure you, your life will be almost just as enjoyable without interrupting other players. This rule is 2 pronged: it’s a “golden rule” type of suggestion, and it’s in your best interest, because there are absolutely groups that will call the clubhouse on you. Normal conversation, some soft music, normal swing and cart noises are all totally fine of course (depending on your course’s rules), but throwing your cart in reverse and flooring it next to another group’s tee box is probably not necessary. Easy to implement, can be a round-saver.

General Etiquette

1. Avoid Stepping in Putting Lines

This rule is probably the most widely known and followed that we’ve covered so far. To be transparent, it’s fairly rare in my experience that this rule is completely and blatantly ignored, just more often forgotten about than anything. What I find is that this rule starts going out the window more after the first putts are hit, players are moving around to their new spots, finishing out, or marking balls, but that might be when it’s most important. We’ve all missed a 6 footer without the impact of a footprint, no need to add the challenge. And, honestly and candidly, the amount of times a footprint has had a sizeable impact on my putts is fairly low, but this one is more about the principal and is a hot-button rule for a lot of golfers. Easy to implement, easy to forget, large impact.

2. Respect Tee Box Honors Unless Told Otherwise

Honors is a little bit tricky, but not rocket science. If you’re unfamiliar with the proper term: honors is the concept that the best scorer on the previous hole tees off first, followed by the next best, and so on. So, even if you lead off for your group on hole one, if you double bogey, you’ll probably want to let them tee off before you on 2. Now, this rule absolutely has exceptions. The first of these exceptions is that it’s totally okay to break rank if you’re explicitly told to do so. We’ve all been in a spot where we’re ready to go and a buddy is still cleaning his grooves, just take him up on the offer when he shouts “just go ahead if you’re ready”. Further, if you know your pace of play is down, you’re holding up other golfers, or need to rush for any other reason, go ahead and keep speed up above all else. But, as a general rule of thumb in normal circumstances, assume your playing partners would appreciate to take their rightful spots on the tees. Easier to forget, small impact.

3. If Your Partner Crushes a Ball, Say “Nice Ball”

Sometimes a rule is less about golf and more about social norms, and that’s true for this. Have you ever slapped a drive down the fairway with a full swing, good rotation, and a beautiful baby draw to hear your whole group congratulating you as if you just had your firstborn child? Great feeling. Have you ever had it silent? Horrible feeling. It’s pretty simple. The human brain loves reinforcement and hates being shunned. I don’t think this is overly common, but if you’re reading this and know you could improve your etiquette this way, great. Easy to implement, great impact.

4. Shake Your Partners’ Hands After a Round

There’s actually a second part to this one for bonus points: take your hat off as well. Anyone that has even whiffed so much as a local charity scramble at a bad course should have seen this in practice. Essentially all golfers that have played in any competitive manner or any period of time will expect that you shake their hand not in the parking lot, on the 18th green after your putts finish out. This one is just tradition and a nod to your appreciation for your partners, and requires no more explanation than that. Shaking a guy’s hand isn’t a big deal. Refusing to shake hands is a MASSIVE deal. Unless you are looking to make someone angry or fist fight in the parking lot, just give a nice parting shake. Easy implementation, massive impact.

5. Don’t Hold Up Your Group

Many courses have really started to require this, so luckily, we don’t have to think to hard to implement quicker play. The advice I have is to learn the difference in rushing and playing quick. Rushing is no fun for anyone—it stresses you, it stresses your playing partners, and often results in a bad round. I’m not suggesting you forego practice swings and run to your ball, but if you’re sitting 280yds from the green waiting for it to clear because “if you catch it right, you’ll hit them” just to frequently top the shot 5 minutes later, go ahead and swing or pick a layup club if you’re worried about it. In another example, if you and your playing partner have balls in different parts of the fairway after teeing off, do you need to go sit by him to watch his whole routine an shot or can you go get ready to hit your shot? Further, in a worst case scenario, if you’re playing with people above your skill level and crush 3 driver shots out of bounds from the tee box, it’s time to take a drop down there with them. It’s the little things that have a big impact here, and it depends on who you’re playing with and who you’re playing in front of. Use your best judgement. If you feel like you’re moving slow, then you’re probably moving slow. Hard to implement, major impact.

Closing Thoughts

If you read this entire list and thought these were obvious, given rules: congratulations, this wasn’t for you. But, I do have one piece of advice for you: if you want to see a more mannered golf culture, you carry some burden in educating players. We can’t just mope and expect everyone to know that they’re expected to be weary of their own shadow, or what honors is if no one tells them. Golf etiquette is simple, but not always easy to recall. Whether you’re a new player that benefited from this list or wanted a refresher, these are the rules that will help you stand out as not just a good player if you are, but a really pleasant player to be around. So, whether you decide to adhere to the rules or not is entirely up to you, but the vast majority of players will appreciate and reciprocate your efforts.