Playing Through

[Madriver]

Interesting thread- I have a twist of the same question.. close enough that it doesn't deserve its own thread.

...ettiquite at a private club vs. a public course is different. At a public course if the group that was in front of you is "not at the ready" on the 10th tee due to a pit stop at the turn and you are...fire away. Having said this...if there are no open holes in front of the group that was in front of you...I would be pissed for jumping ahead of me and let you know it. I would also (as the group wishing to pass) do everything I could to find the slow group and let them know that we (the fast group) were intending to play through. In general...playing through at a public course is awkward due to the fact that most people who play at public courses do not know or understand how to properly "play through". Again, unless there is a ample number of holes open in front, playing through is probably not going to help. I suugest looking for the beer cart and stock up on those ever so slow days.

[SuaSponteMn]

with regards to ettiquite...singles basically have no "rights" on a golf course. In other words, if a single is baggering you about slow play he or she is out of line.

Not sure I agree with this

I play occasionally as a single. When I do, I usually hit another tee shot after the ball I’m marking my score on just to try a different approach on the hole. If I’m able to keep on a group while chasing down another ball and/or trying a couple of different chip shots and putts around the green; I have no problem asking them if I can play through (and they typically have no problem with me doing so). Obviously after playing through, it’s just one ball, one swing, but I really don’t see where a single player wouldn’t have any rights on a golf course. They pay their greens fee just like a foursome and are entitled to the same courtesies just as they are required to extend them…

[Madriver]

Not sure I agree with this

I'm pretty sure there is a rule pretaing to this. If not, it is a rule that was ingrained into me at an early point in my "learning ettiquite". However...I agree that most and I would allow a single to play through at most any time. Where a single has "no rights" on a course is if a "foursome" behind a single comes up on that single say waiting to tee off, the foursome has "the right of way" to play through the single.

[SuaSponteMn]

I'm pretty sure there is a rule pretaing to this. If not, it is a rule that was ingrained into me at an early point in my "learning ettiquite". However...I agree that most and I would allow a single to play through at most any time. Where a single has "no rights" on a course is if a "foursome" behind a single comes up on that single say waiting to tee off, the foursome has "the right of way" to play through the single.

Dunno about the rule, I don't think it would be in the USGA rulebook, might be a local or course specific rule. As for a foursome catching me on the tee, if I was slow enough that they made it to the tee before I tee'd off, single

or foursome, I'd let them play through because that pretty much reverts back to the initial discussion on slow play. As for a foursome having the right of way on the 1st tee just because I'm waiting? Nah, I don't think I'd be letting them play through at that time.

[Madriver]

Dunno about the rule, I don't think it would be in the USGA rulebook, might be a local or course specific rule. As for a foursome catching me on the tee, if I was slow enough that they made it to the tee before I tee'd off, single

...you may not but the starter should never allow a single off with foursomes in que. Also, the point about playing through. If a foursome were to catch you on say th 12th hole, and you were waiting to tee off due to a back up in front of you, the foursome would have the right of way.

[Madriver]

I found this in the Rules of Golf..

Play at Good Pace and Keep Up Players should play at a good pace. The Committee may establish pace of play guidelines that all players should follow. It is a group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front. If it loses a clear hole and it is delaying the group behind, it should invite the group behind to play through, irrespective of the number of players in that group.

...this would appear to refute my premise. I do however stiil think that wether or not it is a rule or a course rule, I have seen this etiquite rule pretaining to singles and their status on a course.

[Everardo]

I will generally ask to play through but that depends on my own hurry. I'd say 95% of the time people are polite and say go ahead.

What I absolutely HATE is when I politely ask to play through and the group says "No...there are groups a head of us so where are you going to go?" That's just plain rude and drives me bonkers...let me worry about the other groups when I get there.

[janzaruk]

I play as a single 70% of the time and on a public course. I guess I am very lucky as almost all the time the "slower" group in front of me offers to let me play through. And when they do not, and I have asked, they have always been considerate enough to let me play through.

But in my opinion, you absolutely have the right to ask to play through assuming there are open holes in front of the group. To me, it is not a question of etiquette, just common sense.

And Everardo, I totally agree, that is VERY annoying. To see an empty hole in front of a group and be told "no" is one of the worst experiences in golf (besides snowmen )

[golfchief]

If the group in front is very slow and it's open in front they should ask if you want to play through if not you can ask if you can play through on the next tee.

Sometimes the group is not slow, your just fast.

Sometimes the open hole/s where from the first tee when a gap in play was created from no golfers and the group in front of you were approching or on the first green when you arrived on the tee. You get to the second hole and see no one in front of them and jump to the conclusion that their playing slow, a foursome as 12-15 min to play a hole depending on the course.(yes, they may be faster on a par three but slower on as par five). Try timing the group in front of you and time your group, every group will have a player in trouble on some hole/s.

If they are rally slow and will not allow you to paly through call the club house (phone # should be on the score card) and have them send a ranger/marshall out, he should get you through.
hopefully that's not the hole your group has trouble with.

[iacas]

Here's something I despise. Jeff and I were stuck behind 28 golfers in an outing. Just a little traveling league - not a big outing with prizes and all sorts of stuff. He had a plane to catch. It took 2:40 to play the front nine, and we went to the tenth tee, and the 28 guys were backed up THREE groups. We didn't tee off again until 3:15 after our round had started. They took that long to stop and get some food or whatever they were doing.

We were a twosome. They were all threesomes and foursomes. One guy had the sack to say "We're an outing so you can't play through." I hadn't even asked.

Now, I didn't expect to play through. They were an outing. But I absolutely despise the attitude "we're an outing, we've paid, we're gonna enjoy ourselves and take our time." It's absolutely the rudest thing in the world to EVERYONE else on the golf course. 28 people ruin the day for the other 100 or so who may try to golf.

I didn't expect to play through. I do wish the course had the forethought to put Jeff and I, a twosome who needed to catch a flight - on the back nine to start. But I can't blame them for that. I can blame them for not enforcing their pace of play policy.

I have a lot more to say about that, though - and so will The Sand Trap as a whole - in 2007.

[golfchief]

They should have started you off the back if they could, I never put players in front of a group making the turn unless the group in front of them are only playing nine and I think they can keep pace of play going. No parents with kids are jumping in, no new golfers, after a while as a starter you can tell about most players how they get ready to play.
I have two ruleS for my self;
#1. DON'T PLAY BEHIND AN OUTING
#2. NEVER EVERY PLAY BEHIND AN OUTING

[Guest]

And adding my own little twist...

My son and I were playing as a twosome at my course last weekend when we came up on a fivesome that was as playing slow as I've ever played behind. We were waiting after every shot at least five minutes and it didn't appear that they even recognized that we were behind them. We continued this pace of play for 5 holes and, when my son and I noticed that there was a complete hole open in front of them, we opted to pick up our balls from the fairway and go around them.

We teed off at the next hole (# 8) and shortly caught up with another group when about that time the marshal came out on the course towards us. We hadn't seen the marshal all day long and there didn't seem to be any attempt made at moving along the pace of play so we were curious to see what he wanted from us. We were told that twosomes never have rights over foursomes and fivesomes and that we had broken into a 7 group regular Saturday morning tournament and that we would have to go back behind the fivesome that we had just passed (clearly, they had called the pro shop after we passed...btw, a pet pieve...cell phones on a golf course should be banned!)

Anyway, I've grown up my whole life on a golf course...and I pride myself on knowing the rules of etiquette and being mindful of other golfers when playing. I've never heard anything about "rights" of a group...a twosome has the same rights as any group to play through (granted, we should have asked the fivesome if we could play through but they seemed so clueless, I was afraid the exchange wouldn't have added any value for either of us so we just went on). Am I missing something regarding group rights? Thanks.

[iacas]

Anyway, I've grown up my whole life on a golf course...and I pride myself on knowing the rules of etiquette and being mindful of other golfers when playing. I've never heard anything about "rights" of a group...a twosome has the same rights as any group to play through (granted, we should have asked the fivesome if we could play through but they seemed so clueless, I was afraid the exchange wouldn't have added any value for either of us so we just went on). Am I missing something regarding group rights? Thanks.

Aside from the fact that occasionally, "groups" like this don't like to be "split up" (i.e. two fivesomes all playing and betting against each other, or three foursomes, etc.), which happens at a lot of clubs but typically not a public course, only singles technically don't have any "right of way" on a golf course.

Twosomes, threesomes, and foursomes do. Fivesomes are typically disallowed, though again, in some private clubs with regular groups exceptions are often made.