Respect your fellow golfers

Golfing etiquette is important. Here are some of the most important rules to respecting your fellow golfers:

• You hit a shocker, it happens- keep the toys in the pram. Do not swear, test the flight capabilities of your club or appeal loudly to mystical bodies. Your partners are trying to enjoy their day, even if you aren't. Losing your cool means losing the game.
• Do not scream and do a lap of honour if you play a career shot - others may be concentrating on doing the same near by.
• If your group falls more than one hole behind the group in front and there is another group behind, you must let them play through. Two-ball groups have priority on the course over all others. If you are holding them up then let them through - someone will return the favour to you one day.
• If you are looking for a lost ball you have 5 minutes to find it. If there is a group behind, wave them through while you are looking rather than hold them up.
• If you are holding up a group playing in an official club match or competition and you are not, you should let them through regardless of the situation in front.
• If you are being held up, do not hit your ball into the group in front to speed them up, even if they deserve it. Lawyers are doing well enough these days without defending your next personal liability case.
• If playing in a fourball better ball game it is usual to change the order of teeing off between you and your partner at the 10th tee.
• When playing foursomes, the non-playing partner should walk ahead in anticipation of the playing partner's shot. It is meant to be a quick game so get moving!
• After your round, shake hands with your partners, "Well played, Better luck next time, etc..", and doff your hat as you do so. It's what golf is all about.

Etiquette for watching golf

Get in the hole!

• Do not take your camera to tournaments. If your trigger finger cannot survive a day without a lens, some tournaments have cameras at the practice ground for you to take pictures of the players.
• Turn your mobile phone off - you are out watching golf and nothing should interrupt something as enjoyable as that!
• Do not make any noise when players are setting up to play or making a stroke.
• Appreciate good play not bad play. If they yip it from two feet then sympathise rather than celebrate.
• Think of the people watching behind you. Kneel down if you are at the front and keep an umbrella low if you are using one.
• Wait until all the players have completed a hole before moving to the next tee to watch them hit. Tiger will still be there when you arrive.

Course Management Tips

• Know how far you hit each club. I can't go any further here if you don't! Go to a flat practice ground on a calm day, hit 20 balls, pace out the distance, remove the best two and the worst two and work out the average distance. If this is not possible, play a course with a yardage chart and note how far you hit the ball with each club as you play.
• Play within your yardage limits. Even Tiger does not hit his Sunday best every time. Give yourself a margin for error by taking a club that you know will get you there, even if not hit 100%. It will reduce the pressure on the shot too.
• Plan how you will play the hole before you play it. If the bunkers are in range from the tee, take a club that will not reach them. If the trouble is at the front of the green, take enough clubs to get you at least to the middle, even if you miss-hit it.
• Leave yourself an uphill putt where possible.
• Judge your own game. Everyone has off days and on days. Decide which one you are on before attempting a glorious shot. If it is an off day, leave yourself a margin for error by going for the widest part of the fairway or the middle of the green.
• If you hit a ball into the rough, pick a spot on line with that point where you last saw the ball and walk directly to it. Hopefully you will find it more easily and it will also speed up your game.

Lockers - What is the point?

Ian Poulter and Tiger Woods lockers

My club has 750 members so lockers are in demand. After being on the locker waiting list for 4 years I finally got mine yesterday. I dashed down to get my key and was chuffed to find I had a ground level one, no need to lug a big bag above my shoulder. I was also pleased to see my big bag fitted snugly in.

So there I was all pleased with myself when i started thinking of the practicalities of it. When I finish a round of golf I like to clean my clubs in my own time, so the clubs would have to come home with me anyway. I also go to golf from home so I'm properly dressed when I arrive. I drive to and from the club so its easy to throw the clubs in and out of the car.

So I think my locker is a white elephant. The only time i can think of it being any use is the one day of the year where i play and then get drunk afterwards but even then a taxi would take my clubs.

Who has lockers and can anyone tell me what use I can make of mine now that I have finally got one?

No bad shots

John Daly hits a bad shot in bad pants

It may sound overly simple, but the key to a round is usually not in how many good shots you make, it’s how few bad shots you had. A bad shot is not only one that isn't good aesthetically, it’s bad because it didn’t help you at all, takes you from not being in trouble to suddenly being in major trouble or it throws off your whole course management game plan. You don't have to risk hitting that bad shot. Usually, there is a safer way of getting ‘ there” that avoids the unnecessary risk of a bad shot. You might have to hit some risky shots at times, but when there’s potential for bad results, choose a safer route. Don’t risk hitting bad shots when you don’t have to.

Get up and down

John Daly in jail

Unless you're totally “in jail,” here’s one tip which – provided you make the putt – will allow you to get up and down. First, identify the shot you want to make – be it a chip, pitch, Texas wedge, etc – and then pick the area where you want the ball to land. The key is giving it the proper amount of room to roll. Finally, be crisp through the ball – toward the target, and be sure to strike it clean. It is much better to be positive and aggressive in your approach, than weak and tentative.

Value of the short game

The following example will help illustrate where and why pros are so superior to the average golfer. Say you happen to get your new, extra-long hitting driver and with your new metal three wood you’re able to bomb two shots and carry it through the back of the green to some light rough in two. If you have a great short game, you hole out the chip for an eagle. If you have a good short game, you chip up close and sink the putt for a birdie. If you have an OK short game, you probably chip up to ten feet, take two putts and get a par. If you have a poor short game, you stub your chip, take three puts and bogey the hole. See the difference between a potential eagle, and a bogey (or maybe worse)? Right. Your short game. Always end your practice with some short game work.

Your work is done

A lot of golfers have a control issue with the game of golf. They think they can influence where a ball goes after it’s been struck. You can't. Once it's been hit and is on the way, it's out of your hands. You can yell at it. You can encourage it. But in reality, your influence over the shot only exists before and during the shot. Once the ball's been struck, it will go where? Right. Where you hit it. Worrying about where it's gonna go immediately after you hit it is often what causes problems – like looking up, topping the ball, hitting it thin – during the swing. So don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on the shot at hand. Then, your work is done until the next shot.

Texas wedging

You may have heard the adage “your worst putt is still better choice than your best chip.” Try testing this theory someday on the practice green. Take a half dozen of two different types of balls – be it brand, color or numbers. Choose three spots off the green – yet relatively close to the green – which mimic actual situations you might find yourself in during a round. Alternate between chips and putts from each of your various lies. The goal is to get close enough to get up and down. Then look at the results. If you aren't chipping better than you putted, you may want to seriously consider how much better you might score utilizing the Texas wedge (the putter) when you’re off the green.

The ball doesn't move

Take a backswing, and then stop at the top and look down at the ball. Guess what? The ball didn't move. It's still there, exactly the same way it was before you started the swing. So why is there this great need to hurry down and hit it before you've even completed the backswing? There shouldn't be. The ball won't move. It will just stay there. You could take ten seconds to complete the swing and the ball will still be there. Make that simple concept a part of your thinking process. Relax. The ball doesn't move till you actually hit it. You can take a nice, smooth backswing and downswing, and allow the club to strike the ball at the bottom when the clubhead speed and timing is just right. Try it. The ball will be waiting for you.