In this video, Neil Tappin and Jezz Ellwood discuss the etiquette mistakes golfers most commonly make... and how to avoid them!
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00:00 Hello and welcome to Prince's Golf Club and this video on seven etiquette mistakes.
00:04 Now in the rules of golf the word etiquette actually doesn't exist anymore.
00:08 Instead it's covered off by the standards of player conduct which is
00:12 rule 1.2 in the book and it's all of those things that ensure that you're a
00:16 joy for other people to play with as you go around the course but also that
00:20 you're keeping the course in as good a condition as you possibly can.
00:23 Right let's head out now and take a look at the seven etiquette mistakes that are
00:27 well worth avoiding.
00:30 This one is about where to stand and where not to stand when someone's about
00:37 hits a golf shot. Now obviously you don't want to get too close to anyone for
00:40 obvious reasons but then beyond that there are certain places that you can
00:44 stand that could be slightly distracting for golfers. Jess what would your advice be here for people?
00:48 Well having played for a number of years I think most people on the tee
00:51 would prefer you to stand over here where you're in there as long as you're
00:56 not doing anything distracting where they can sort of see you. I think it's
00:59 when there's people lurking around behind you that people get a little bit
01:03 edgy about it. I don't know why maybe they think they're not quite sure how
01:07 close you're standing and they worry about hitting you but I think people
01:10 would much prefer to see you in their eyeline than not as long as you're not
01:14 doing anything rummaging around in your bag for another ball or zipping something
01:18 up and doing anything distracting. Yeah one thing I would add to this is if
01:21 you're playing into the sun and your visibility down the fairway
01:25 feels like it's a bit restricted it can be useful to have someone
01:28 slightly more behind to be able to catch the fly to the ball a bit better
01:32 but on the whole we'd say for right-handers to the right of the
01:36 golfer, left-handers to the left of the golfer, it's probably the best option
01:39 where it comes to standing in the right place. And then once you're stood there...
01:43 So obviously standing in this spot you're in their eyeline so make sure you're not
01:46 doing anything distracting so don't rummage around for another ball or do a
01:49 zip up and wait for the player to play and then it's your turn to do whatever
01:53 you want to do then. Just give them a bit of time to play their shot and then do
01:58 whatever you need to do. Yeah it's about awareness ultimately a lot of this video
02:02 is that just having that awareness for other people making sure that you're not
02:05 doing anything that's going to potentially distract them from the shot
02:08 they're about to hit.
02:10 Jez, do you mind? Oh yeah sorry. Yeah this one is about shadows so you might not
02:25 think it's a big deal but actually if you're trying to play a golf shot and
02:29 somebody else's shadow is in the way it can be quite distracting can't it? It can
02:34 be distracting and people might think well golfers are quite fragile aren't
02:37 they and they should be able to cope with that but this is a sport where
02:40 you're starting the movement it's not a reactive sport and anything that
02:44 distracts your eyeline just as you're about to take the club back or take the
02:48 putter away can really throw you can't it? We all know that. It can. I think on the
02:52 green if you're trying to putt through shadows it's been quite hard to pick
02:54 your line and then in other areas of the golf course if you've got your shadow
02:57 there and then the head of Jez's putter here just moves slightly that can really
03:02 put you off and it's just those small things like so many in this video it's
03:06 just having that modicum of awareness for your surroundings for other
03:09 people just to make sure that you're not doing anything that's putting them off.
03:14 Okay so this one is about the condition of the golf course. Jez what do people
03:20 need to know? Well I mean there is an obligation at the very start of the
03:24 rules to care for the course it's rule 1.2 standards of player conduct and part
03:30 of caring for the course is to repair pitch marks and repair divots repair and
03:34 replace and repair divots and we've all seen pictures on social media of
03:39 greens littered with pitch marks haven't we? I think some clubs have even gone out
03:44 and placed a ball at the point of every pitch mark just to try and emphasize the
03:48 point. Yes. It's quite a scary picture when you see it like that badly
03:51 repaired pitch mark so a lot of clubs I've been at have a big enormous pitch
03:57 mark repair man called MORT which stands for make one repair two which isn't a
04:01 bad philosophy. Yes so even if you have if there's a pitch mark here that my
04:06 ball has made when it landed on the green I'll repair this but if I also see
04:10 another one nearby I'll also repair that as well it's just a good practice to get
04:14 into because if you don't you will be leaving these little marks around the
04:18 place that will just make the hole feel a little bit untidy and it over time if
04:22 people keep doing that it creates that kind of buzz of discontentment about the
04:26 condition of the golf course when actually the green keepers and the
04:29 people working at the golf club it's not their fault. Yeah I mean you've got to be
04:32 particularly careful on short par threes or holes where a lot of people are
04:36 playing short approach shot a full wedge shot in so those are the holes to really
04:40 look out for and obviously time of year when conditions are soft you've really
04:45 got to be on the ball with the pitch mark repair scenario. Yeah and also let's
04:48 not forget divots as well you don't get relief from divots as you know when
04:52 playing golf so if you've made the divot and it's clearly visible and you've got
04:55 it there take the time to put it back it makes all the difference doesn't it? It
04:58 does the last thing you want is to end up in a divot knowing that you're gonna
05:02 have to play it. Yes so I'm gonna repair this pitch mark here
05:07 I'll see that
05:27 okay so when it comes to etiquette this one is probably up there with the most
05:34 important things you need to know and that's about the pace of play if golfers
05:37 have one thing in common is that they don't enjoy playing you know really slow
05:40 rounds of golf where the pace of play grinds to a halt just what people do to
05:44 make sure that doesn't happen? Well there's a very long list of things you
05:47 can do which we've investigated before but we don't go into all of those here
05:51 if I was to pick out one that particularly bugs me maybe it would be
05:55 the group gets the next tee, the person should be playing, marks his scorecard, works out
06:00 what everyone else took on that hole before actually getting up and hitting
06:03 their shot and that just slows the whole thing down there's plenty of time after
06:07 that person's played their shot to then sort the scorecard out. Yeah and then
06:11 there's things like ambling around the golf course I mean no one's asking you
06:14 to race around the course but just be aware of those around you and then I
06:17 think the one that bugs me is when people watch a playing partner hit and
06:21 then they start figuring out how far they've got to go to the flag what the
06:24 wind's doing etc etc and it just it's small things like that it might not seem
06:29 like a big deal but the more it happens the slower play becomes and actually
06:33 that causes a knock-on effect so just be aware try and keep the pace of play up
06:36 and it shouldn't be a problem.
06:39 Yes what? Ah, that was a bit of a loud zip isn't it? Sorry about that. So the point here is about making noises when
06:56 somebody else is about to play whether that's a zip or clanging coins or keys
07:00 or tees in your pocket something like that be very careful. Very careful it's
07:06 people like to concentrate on their shot as much as possible it's only a few
07:10 seconds and I don't think it's too unreasonable to be as quiet as possible
07:14 while they're doing so. Yes it would be I can understand the point that people
07:17 making when they're thinking well golfers can be a bit precious in this
07:20 scenario but it would be different if there was a constant amount of noise in
07:23 the background but so often there isn't and then a sudden noise can put you off
07:26 and make no mistake Jess if you did that we were playing I think I'd probably
07:30 blame you if I hit a poor shot in that scenario. Any excuse?
07:36 Okay Jess this one is another one about the condition of the golf course in
07:43 particular bunkers which I appreciate during COVID times this is tricky what's
07:47 the advice you think for people here? Well I think the advice is to try and
07:51 leave the bunker in the kind of condition you'd hope to find it in so
07:55 although we haven't got rakes I think some clubs are issuing players with
07:59 portable rakes aren't they but not many it's just do what the best you can do
08:04 with what you've got at your disposal and for me I think smoothing with the
08:08 feet is usually the best option in most kinds of sand. Which I think is probably
08:13 what's happened here and I'd say you know in the current climate that we're
08:16 playing in at the moment I'm pretty happy with this life here whoever has
08:20 been here before me has done their best to make sure that anyone coming after is
08:24 going to get a fairly good lie I've got a fairly good lie and no real excuses
08:28 there. You haven't so I'll give you 12 feet would be a good shot still from here
08:33 slight downslope. That's it. Well come back down the slope. Might do. No in the summer it
08:43 might have done but that's not a bad effort from there is it and that's
08:45 obviously so much easier to play than if that had been in a filthy great foot
08:49 markers you've got just behind you there. Exactly so now I need to do my part.
08:54 Okay so another one that relates to pace of play Jez what are we talking about
09:04 here? We're basically talking about slower groups letting faster groups
09:08 through so you're slow for whatever reason that day you're paired with a
09:12 couple of guys who aren't the quickest or one of you's having a complete howler
09:15 it's backing up behind you just let the group behind through they'll be on their
09:19 way and happy you'll feel less pressured and it's just a better situation for
09:23 everybody. Okay so really simple advice if you're in a slower group let the
09:26 faster group through. So there you have it that's our look at seven etiquette
09:31 mistakes as we said quite a lot in this video it's all just about having an
09:34 awareness having an awareness for what you're doing and for the players around
09:38 you just to make sure that you're enjoyed to play with and that you're
09:40 keeping the golf course in a good a condition as you possibly can. Thanks for
09:44 watching see you next time.
09:47 you
09:49 you
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