From the first tee box..

[smr91481]

Most of the courses I play at do not have driving ranges so there is no place to warm up. What I usually do is hit 1 or 2 balls from the first tee before I hit my first real shot. There are times when my practice hits are better than my real one, but I play the one I intended on playing anyway.

Anything wrong with this?

[joshtpa]

If there are people waiting to play, then I would say yes. Depends how busy the course is. But I am not sure you are speaking of etiquette or legality. Please clarify if you could.

[DJYoshi]

I would highly suggest doing other wise. There's a lot of courses that I play at that don't have driving ranges. As long as you get at least 15 minutes to stretch, and 2 - 5 minutes of lightly swinging a club for the feel, you don't really have to go out and hit a small bucket of balls.... at least..this is what I feel. It's nice to be able to get a feel for the day by hitting, but if there's no range, then I wouldn't suggest doing what you're doing... UNLESS the starter's cool with it and there's nobody behind you.

To be honest, anytime that I see someone tee'ing up 3 balls off the tee at any part of the course, it kind of irks me.

[smr91481]

Oh let me be a little more specific. I wouldn't even consider doing that if someone was behind me. That would drive me nuts too.

[m11]

i dont see anything wrong with hitting a few balls off the first tee if no one is waiting....however...i feel that its necessary to stretch before each round. i like to hit balls just for kicks...but you should be sufficiently stretched and loose before your round starts

[CG031]

I could care less if you do that, but it is against the rules.

[iacas]

I could care less if you do that, but it is against the rules.

How much less?

It's against the rules, yes. Get some practice balls and stick them in your bag. Hit them before you play, and bammo, you're within the rules and you still get to hit something a few times before you play.

[scooterguitar]

I dunno, but I do sometimes take a mully off of the first hole!

[clemsontiger]

I think it is about whether the course is busy. If the course is not busy, then I would not worry about it. That is a hard one to say though.

[trebmalenad]

We always play 2 balls off of the first tee......I'm sure if you were in a tournament it would be wrong. But every casual round I play, it's always 2 off the tee on hole 1.

[joshtpa]

We always play 2 balls off of the first tee......I'm sure if you were in a tournament it would be wrong. But every casual round I play, it's always 2 off the tee on hole 1.

Even if people have the next tee time behind you?

[Fourputt]

I read about other parts of the country where they don't seem to ever have practice facilities attached to the courses. Here in the Denver area, I can't remember the last time I played a course which didn't have a practice area on the grounds. My home course has a huge grass driving range; a chipping, pitching and bunker play practice area; a full lesson tee which is restricted to professional lessons and lesson practice; and a large putting green where only putting is allowed. The sister course in the district has almost the same setup without the special lesson tee, while most of the other courses I play at all have at least the driving range and putting green, and usually a separate chipping green.

It seems to me that someone is missing a moneymaking opportunity at those facilities. I know that the range on my home course fills up every day around noon and they sell dozens of baskets of balls to golfers who practice instead of eating at lunchtime. then again after about 4 PM the range starts to fill up again with guys (and gals) trying to get in a basket before supper. I have literally seen the range filled with a golfer at each hitting station, and someone waiting at nearly every spot. That's about 100 golfers hitting or ready to hit balls.