- 8 minutes ago
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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00:00Hello and welcome to Prince's Golf Club and this video on seven etiquette mistakes. Now in the
00:05rules of golf the word etiquette actually doesn't exist anymore instead it's covered off by the
00:10standards of player conduct which is rule 1.2 in the book and it's all of those things that ensure
00:16that you're a joy for other people to play with as you go around the course but also that you're
00:20keeping the course in as good a condition as you possibly can. Right let's head out now and take a
00:25look at the seven etiquette mistakes that are well worth avoiding.
00:33This one is about where to stand and where not to stand when someone's about to hit a golf shot.
00:38Now
00:38obviously you don't want to get too close to anyone for obvious reasons but then beyond that there are
00:43certain places that you can stand that could be slightly distracting for golfers. Jess what would
00:47you your advice be here for people? Well having played for a number of years I think most people
00:50on the tee would prefer you to stand over here where you're in there as long as you're not doing
00:56anything distracting where they can sort of see you. I think it's when there's people lurking around
01:00behind you that the people get a little bit edgy about it I don't know why maybe they think they're
01:06not quite sure how close you're standing and they worry about hitting you but I think people would
01:10much prefer to see you in their eye line than not as long as you're not doing anything rummaging around
01:15in your back another ball or zipping something up and doing anything distracting. Yeah one thing I would
01:20add to this is if you're playing into the sun in your and your sort of visibility down the fairway
01:25is it feels like it's a bit restricted it can be useful to have someone sort of slightly more behind
01:30yeah to be able to catch the fly to the ball a bit better but on the whole we'd say
01:34you know for
01:35right-handers to the right of the golfer left-handers to the left of the golfer it's probably the best
01:38option where it comes to standing right place and then once you're stood there yes so obviously standing
01:43in this spot you're in their eye line so make sure you're not doing anything distracting so don't
01:48rummage around for another ball or do a zip up and wait for the player to play and then it's
01:53your turn
01:53to do whatever you want to do then just give them a bit of time to play their shot and
01:57then do whatever
01:58you need to do. Yeah it's about awareness ultimately a lot of this video is that just having that
02:03awareness for other people making sure that you're not doing anything that's going to potentially
02:07distract them from the shot they're about to hit.
02:18Jez do you mind? Oh yeah sorry. Yeah this one is about shadows so you might not think it's a
02:25big
02:25deal but actually if you're trying to play a golf shot and somebody else's shadow is in the way it
02:31can be quite distracting can't it? It can be distracting and people might think well golf is a quite fragile
02:37aren't they and they should be able to cope with that but this is a sport where you're starting
02:41the movement it's not a reactive sport and anything that distracts your eye line just as you're about
02:47to take the club back or take the putter away can really throw you can't it? We all know that.
02:51It can. I think on the green if you're trying to putt through shadows it can be quite hard to
02:54pick
02:54your line and then in other areas of the golf course if you've got your shadow there and then the
02:59head
02:59of Jez's putter here just moves slightly that can really put you off and it's just those small things
03:03like so many in this video it's just having that modicum of awareness for the your surroundings
03:08for other people just to make sure that you're not doing anything that's putting them off.
03:17Okay so this one is about the condition of the golf course. Jez what do people need to know?
03:21Well I mean there is an obligation at the very start of the rules to care for the course it's
03:25rule 1.2 standards of player conduct and part of caring for the course is to repair pitch marks and
03:33repair divots repair and replace and repair divots and we have all seen pictures on social media of
03:39greens littered with pitch marks haven't we? I think some clubs have even gone out and placed a ball at
03:45the point of every pitch mark just to try and emphasize the point yes and it's quite a scary
03:49picture when you see it like that badly repaired pitch marks so a lot of clubs I've been at have
03:55a
03:56big enormous pitch mark repair man called Mort which stands for make one repair two which isn't a bad
04:02philosophy yes so even if you have if there's a pitch mark here that my ball has made when it
04:07landed on the green I'll repair this but if I also see another one nearby I'll also repair that as
04:12well it's just a good practice to get into because if you don't you will be leaving these little marks
04:17around the place that will just make the hole feel a little bit untidy and it over time if people
04:22keep
04:22doing that it creates that kind of buzz of discontentment about the condition of the golf course when
04:27actually the green keepers and the people working in the golf club it's not their fault yeah I mean
04:32you've got to be particularly careful on short par threes or holes where a lot of people are playing
04:36a short approach up a full wedge shot in so those are the holes three you look out for and
04:41obviously
04:42time of year when conditions are soft you've really got to be on the ball with the pitch
04:46mark repair scenario yeah and also let's not forget divots as well you don't get relief from divots
04:50as you know when playing golf so if you've made the divot and it's clearly visible and you've got it
04:55there
04:55take the time to put it back it makes all the difference doesn't it it does the last thing
04:59you want is to end up in a divot knowing that um you're going to have to play it yes
05:02so I'm going
05:03to repair this pitch mark here and then I'm going to hit my puck
05:30okay so when it comes to etiquette this one is probably up there with the most important things
05:34you need to know that's about the pace of play if golfers have one thing in common is that they
05:38don't enjoy playing you know really slow rounds of golf where the pace of play grinds to a hall
05:43chest what can people do to make sure that doesn't happen well there's a very long list of things you
05:47can do um which we've investigated before but we don't want to go into all of those here if I
05:51was to
05:52pick out one that particularly bugs me maybe it would be the group gets the next tee the person who
05:57should be playing marks his scorecard works out what everyone else took on that hole before actually getting
06:03up and hitting their shot and that just slows the whole thing down there's plenty of time after
06:07that person's played their shot to then sort the scorecard out yeah and then there's things like
06:12ambling around the golf course I mean no one's asking you to race around the course but just be
06:15aware of those around you and then I think the one that bugs me is when people watch a playing
06:20partner
06:20hit and then they start figuring out how far they've got to go to the flag what the wind's doing
06:25etc etc and it just it's small things like that it might not seem like a big deal but the
06:30more it happens
06:30the slower play becomes and actually that causes a knock-on effect so just be aware try and keep
06:35the pace of play up and it shouldn't be a problem
06:47yes what ah is that a bit quite a loud zip isn't it sorry about that point here is about
06:54making uh
06:55noises when somebody else is about to play whether that's a zip or clanging coins or keys
07:00or t's in your pocket something like that be very careful very careful it's um people like to
07:07concentrate on their shot as much as possible it's only a few seconds and I don't think it's
07:12too unreasonable to be as quiet as possible while they're doing so yes it would be I can understand
07:17the point that people making when they're thinking well golfers can be a bit precious in this scenario
07:20but it would be different if there was a constant amount of noise in the background but so often
07:24there isn't and then a sudden noise can put you off and make no mistake Jez if you did that
07:28we
07:28were playing I think I'd probably blame you if I hit a poor shot in that scenario any excuse
07:40okay Jez this one is another one about the condition of the golf course in particular
07:43bunkers which I appreciate during Covid times this is tricky what's the advice do you think for people
07:48here well I think that the advice is to try and leave the bunker in the kind of condition you'd
07:53hope to
07:54find it in so although we haven't got rakes I think some clubs are issuing players with um
08:00portable rakes aren't they but not many um it's just to do what the best you can do with what
08:05you've
08:05got at your disposal and for me I think smoothing with the feet is usually the best option in most
08:10kinds of sand which I think is probably what's happened here and I have to say you know in the
08:15current climate that we're playing at the moment I'm pretty happy with this lie yeah here whoever has
08:20been here before me has done their best to make sure that anyone coming after is going to get a
08:24fairly good lie I've got a fairly good lie and no real excuses now you haven't so um I'll give
08:30you
08:3012 feet would be a good shot still from here slight down slope
08:37that's it well come back down the slope might do
08:42no in the summer it might have done but that's not a bad effort from there is it and that's
08:45obviously
08:46so much easier to play than if that had been in a filthy great foot markers you've got just behind
08:50you there exactly so now I need to do my part
09:01okay so another one that relates to pace of play Jez what are we talking about here
09:04well basically I'm talking about slower groups letting faster groups through so
09:09you're slow for whatever reason that day you're paired with a couple of guys who aren't the quickest or
09:13one of you's having a complete howler it's backing up behind you just let the group behind through
09:18they'll be on their way unhappy you'll feel less pressured and it's just a better situation for
09:23everybody okay so really simple advice if you're in a slower group let the faster group through
09:28so there you have it that's our look at seven etiquette mistakes as we said quite a lot in this
09:32video it's all just about having an awareness having an awareness for what you're doing and for the
09:37players around you just to make sure that you're a joy to play with and that you're keeping the golf
09:41course in a good condition as you possibly can and thanks for watching see you next time
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