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Dan Parker is joined by Joe 'The Pro' Ferguson to run through the 9 things you should NEVER DO on a golf course! When you're playing golf, there are certain things you should really try and avoid at all costs to ensure you're not holding up play or annoying the groups playing behind you! Enjoy these irreverent, tongue-in-cheek recreations and some highly questionable acting skills...
Transcript
00:00Right then Joe, we know there's lots of written rules in golf that people adhere to, but there's
00:03lots of unwritten etiquette rules that I think we've seen broken quite a lot of times. You're
00:08right, there's a lot of faux pas, even golfing crimes I would consider committed out on a golf
00:13course sometimes. Yeah, so we put our heads together and came up with nine that we think
00:16are the biggest and the most often committed. Yes, and we've acted them out. We have. I'm
00:21playing the sort of well-educated, good etiquette golfer, and you're playing numbnuts. I'm playing
00:26a buffoon. You're absolutely right, but if you're watching BAFTA, call us.
00:33In no particular order Joe, we're starting with talking during someone's backswing, or even
00:37talking during someone's setup. Yeah, it's just a little bit inconsiderate. It's funny with golf
00:42because sometimes you get constant noise, so you might hear it now. We've got greenkeepers mowing,
00:46we went to live the other day, there was music playing. When that happens, it's not a problem,
00:49but you're playing silence most of the time, and all of a sudden, if that silence is just
00:53interrupted with a whisper or something, it is brutal, isn't it? Don't do it. Don't do it.
00:57Don't try not to whisper to your playing partner. Definitely don't pick up the phone,
01:00numbnuts, and just try and keep quiet during the swing.
01:06Next one we've got, and this is one of my particular bugbears, leaving a bunker unraked.
01:10It's one of the most inconsiderate things you can do on the golf course. You tell me why.
01:13This is just impolite. It's impolite to your playing partners, to people coming behind you who may
01:18end up in it, to the greenkeepers who look so studiously after the bunkers for you,
01:23and it's just a mess. It affects people's games, and it's basic decency and common sense.
01:27And bunkers are hard enough, and a decent lie, without being in someone's footprint.
01:31Rake your bunkers, please.
01:36Next up, Joe, not shouting four as your ball heads toward what might be people, houses, who knows.
01:41Just shout four.
01:42Yeah, just shout four. It's not only inconsiderate, it is downright dangerous. These little golf balls,
01:47at the speed they're travelling, are like bullets. We've seen some really serious incidents on the
01:51PGA Tour, and people getting hurt. And some of those players who don't shout on the PGA Tour
01:55bother me.
01:56Yeah.
01:56Don't be one of those. If you see your ball heading down the wrong fairway, or heading to
01:59anyone on the golf course, give them a nice, loud shout four and warn them.
02:03And even if you don't, if it's off target, give it a big shout.
02:05Just in case.
02:06You're covered then, just in case. Always shout four.
02:12Right, for the next one, we're here on the putting green. I think just about everyone who's ever played
02:16should know, but I've played with some who don't, you should never walk over someone's line when
02:21they're putting.
02:22Yeah, because if you've got big feet like you, or particularly big spikes on, and you walk on
02:26someone's line, it could affect their putt, couldn't it?
02:27Correct.
02:28It's rude, again, inconsiderate. So when you're doing it, just watch out for people's lines,
02:32maybe even ask, am I okay to stand there? It's okay to ask these sort of things,
02:36and don't ruin someone's putt. You can stop it from going in the hole.
02:38Furthermore, through lines. Did you ever think about through lines?
02:41What's a through line?
02:42Through line is a lot of stuff that's spoken about on tour. If you're putting from there, and you're coming
02:46this way, and I go and collect my ball out the hole this way, if someone misses the putt from there,
02:50and then has to putt through the spikes, it's always better to think about someone's through
02:53line as well. Just give that some thought.
02:55Hey, that's why we pay you the big bucks.
03:00Next up, Joe, assuming a putt is given in match play, I have fallen foul of this.
03:04Yeah, it's tricky ground though, isn't it? You know when you've got it into gimme range,
03:08and you know it's probably going to be conceded, but you have to wait to hear that. If you don't,
03:13and you just pick your ball up assuming it's been conceded, if you're playing
03:16against someone particularly vindictive, they can claim the hole. Loss of hole,
03:22you pick the ball up, you're out of the hole, and you're done.
03:24That's it, and my circle of friendship is very, very small.
03:26So I've heard.
03:30The next golfing crime I want to talk about is leaving your bag on the wrong side of the green,
03:36and general time waiting on the green.
03:38General faffing.
03:39Faffing would be fair.
03:40Bumbling, faffage.
03:41Bumbling, as you might be watching right now, my bumbling. It's just not good for pace of play,
03:46it's not good for your game, it's not good for anyone's game around you. What can you do to sort
03:49that out?
03:50Well, if you've got people behind you, that's very annoying. Just think, right, as you get to the
03:54green, where's the next tee? Let me leave my bag in a position between the flag and the tee. So when
03:58I'm done, I pick my ball out, I wander over to my bag, which is en route to the tee, do your scorecard over
04:03there, the people behind you, can play, and they're not falling asleep, sat on their bags.
04:07It's considerate to everyone else, and it'll actually be beneficial for your game,
04:10because you'll take less steps, and you'll be less tired. Plan it well, play quickly, and play well.
04:18Next up, Joe, less of a crime than some of them, but something I think you should avoid doing is
04:21early walking a putt that you think is going in, you're giving it the big I am, and then it doesn't
04:25go in. It's a bad look, isn't it? Actually, we played golf recently with a friend of yours,
04:28shout out, Reece. Hello.
04:29I was early walking a couple, and they went in, and he still said that was a bad look.
04:33He's right, though. I think he's right. He is right, but it's a particularly bad look when they
04:36miss as well. Another thing that you don't want to do, if you're the guy on the other side of the
04:40hole, early celebrating someone else's putt, and calling it before it goes in, that can backfire a
04:46lot and isn't a good look. If someone says to me, like, oh, great putt, or oh, that's in, oh,
04:49that's pure, and it doesn't go in, or really early, and it doesn't go in, I'm like, do not stop talking
04:54to my golf ball. Do you think it's affected your ball? Absolutely. Of course it does. It has to. Just don't talk to
04:59my golf ball. Don't talk to your playing partner's golf balls, and don't early walk that putt.
05:03Just wait for it to go in.
05:08Recent rule changes have affected this next one I'm going to mention. So you used to have five
05:11minutes to find your ball, now you've only got three, so it's become more imperative than ever
05:16not to assume you're just going to find your golf ball once you've hit it into the rubbish, isn't it?
05:19Yeah, I see people playing on somewhere they know really well where they play every week,
05:22and they're like, that's fine over there. I know that bit. I know that bit. I've been there all the
05:25time, and it might take a different bounce, it might hit something. You might not find it.
05:29If you don't then find it, you've got to trawl your way back to the tee, you're taking penalty
05:33shots, you're taking up more time. So just always hit a provisional if you lose sight of the ball,
05:38or even have a hint of doubt that you might not find it. The 10 seconds it takes to hit a provisional
05:43could save you 10 minutes of traipsing back and holding everyone up. And you get another swing,
05:47another shot, get that bad shot out of your head. That's a little sort of bonus to it. But yeah,
05:51always hit a provisional, speed things up, and that's that's that.
05:59Lastly, Joe, and this falls into the category of early chirping a putt or talking to someone's
06:04golf ball is letting them know they've got a good score going. Well, you're playing well,
06:07aren't you, mate? It's horrible. Yeah, it's just wrong on so many levels. If I'm playing well,
06:12and I'm on for a really good score, trust me, I know. I don't need you to tell me, I know,
06:18and I'm already worried about it, so I don't need the additional pressure. Keep it to yourself,
06:23admire quietly, and let them get on with it. You can talk about it after the round. Yeah,
06:28you know what I mean? Absolutely. Just focus on your own gosh darn game,
06:30and we can talk about how well I've played later. So yeah, no, none of that sort of,
06:35well, you'll do it all right, aren't you, mate? Yeah, absolutely not.
06:38That's not bad, Joe. It's a nice little list, that, of things to not do on the golf course.
06:42Take it on board. We want to hear if you've got any that we may have missed out,
06:45which of the ones that we mentioned is the most biggest crime, would have the biggest sentence
06:50in this sort of golf jail, golf court. Wow, you're taking it there. Yeah, I have taken it there.
06:55Let us know any others that we've missed out. Hope you enjoyed this video,
06:57our acting. Well done, numbnuts. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you very much. See you next time.
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