Shaking Hands With Your Foursome / Removing Your Hat on 18th Green?

[Zengolfer]

I almost always do both.  The only time I wouldnt is when the people Im playing with walk off the green before I get the chance to.  

When I first started playing golf, I was taught that it is a gentleman's game and you conduct yourself as if you are a gentleman.

[DaveP043]

14 minutes ago, Zengolfer said:

I almost always do both.  The only time I wouldnt is when the people Im playing with walk off the green before I get the chance to.  

When I first started playing golf, I was taught that it is a gentleman's game and you conduct yourself as if you are a gentleman.

On one hand, I absolutely agree with you, we should act as gentlemen on the golf course.  On the other, the practice of golfers removing their hats to shake hands is relatively recent.  If you watched any of the reruns of Shell's Wonderful World of Golf recently, you'd have seen lots of fine golfers, and fine gentlemen by all accounts, shake hands with their hats on.  Here's just one, Gene Littler and Byron Nelson.  They shake hands at 3:35, and the proceed to talk with, and shake hands with, Gene Sarazen, all with their hats on.

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by DaveP043

[NJpatbee]

With close friends and family there are always verbal thank you’s, nice comments, and sometimes a handshake.  For everyone else it is hat off and a handshake.

[dennyjones]

I found an interesting article from TimesUnion 2013.

Golf pundits predicting the demise of the game because of its difficulty, cost, slow play and time required often ignore another factor that I believe intimidates the novice: golf etiquette.

If you google bowling etiquette, you’ll be told not to bother other bowlers while they’re bowling and to keep up the pace by not dawdling after you’ve bowled. That’s it. Same for tennis — keep things moving through efficient stray ball management and follow a few pointers on line calls. Golf, on the other hand has books written about appropriate behavior on the course.

While much of golf etiquette serves a practical purpose, there are some dicta that are unnecessary obfuscations. That’s right, I’m talking about golf hat etiquette.

Before I get too far, I have to submit full disclosure: Hats don’t fit my head. Ever. I can get away with some visors by connecting the last half inch of velcro on each tab, but real hats are not part of my wardrobe.

Hat etiquette in general is confusing, to say the least. Men wearing hats should take them off indoors, but lobbies, corridors and elevators are not considered indoor unless the elevator is in a private apartment building. Sheesh.

Women can wear hats everywhere unless it’s a sort of masculine hat such as a baseball (golf) hat, then they are transmogrified into men and should act accordingly.

Men should also doff their chapeaus when in the company of women, even in non-public elevators, I suppose. And apparently only men are considered unpatriotic if their headgear remains intact during the playing of the national anthem.

Hats in churches are taboo for men, but not women. I have no idea what popes’ hat etiquette is, but they’ve got some doozies and they sure as hell don’t take them off in church.

Hats in synagogues are required for men and forbidden for young unmarried women. Some Jewish sects demand men wear hats at all times other than sleeping or bathing. Muslims require head cover for both sexes in mosques that allow women.

So why the tradition of men doffing hats in Euro-Christian society, while women get to retain their headpieces? My wife, The Amazing Max, theorizes that it’s an extension of the culture behind the Islamic burqa, an attempt by males to cover up any sexuality in their women.

Or it may be as simple as allowing women to keep their “outfit” together, or even acknowledging the fact that some female hats would be unwieldy if we required women to hold them rather than wear them.

But this is a golf blog, and I need to get on with it.

My first question is, why must we doff the beanie at the end of the round when we shake hands with our mates? To show respect? We’ve just spent four hours with the blokes, following all the rules and etiquette of golf, showing them the utmost respect except for that moment on the 14th green when Ralph sunk a 40-foot putt and you called him a lower body part.

Removing the golf hat requires the arranging of ball, club, etc., in order to doff the hat and shake hands, an unnecessary, fumbling moment. I personally have never lost whatever degree of respect I had for a fellow golfer if his hat remained on his head while he shook my hand.

And despite the confusing advice from etiquette experts about the same rules applying to women if they’re wearing “men’s hats,” I don’t see women taking off the cap at the end of their round.

Then we go into the clubhouse for a little Earl Grey and crumpets, and again we have to doff the headpiece. This makes no sense whatsoever.

Answer this question honestly: After a man has walked 18 holes in humid, 90-degree weather, would you rather see him with a hat on or looking like his hair had recently been attacked by a wet rodent?

Banishing golf hat etiquette is one small step for man, one giant leap for reason, logic and the reduction of stuff that gets in the way of just enjoying the game.

I say “hats off to making the game simpler.”

 

I agree with this article..

[colin007]

On 12/17/2018 at 3:15 PM, Beastie said:

Over this side of the pond a gentleman always removes his hat when shaking hands. 

You lot probably wear it indoors as well.... heathens!

Yeah, wearing hats indoors bothers me much more than not taking it off to shake.

I always shake and take off my hat and never wear a hat indoors. But that's just me.

[Rkrider99]

I just follow the lead. If people start taking their hats off to shake hands, mine comes off, too.

[Zengolfer]

19 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

On one hand, I absolutely agree with you, we should act as gentlemen on the golf course.  On the other, the practice of golfers removing their hats to shake hands is relatively recent.  If you watched any of the reruns of Shell's Wonderful World of Golf recently, you'd have seen lots of fine golfers, and fine gentlemen by all accounts, shake hands with their hats on.  Here's just one, Gene Littler and Byron Nelson.  They shake hands at 3:35, and the proceed to talk with, and shake hands with, Gene Sarazen, all with their hats on.

 

I would say it probably far predates that.  Back in the old days, (Im talking like 1920s here), it was common custom for a man to take his hat off at various times.  One of them was during a handshake.  It was considered to be a professional courtesy.

Im not saying that I think everyone should do it but I was taught golf by a pretty oldschool guy (a former combat medic during WW2 to be exact) and Ive always liked the practice.

[Fourputt]

On 12/17/2018 at 12:20 PM, iacas said:

I pretty much leave my hat on, because this has nothing to do with "respect," and is just some weird recent invention.

I'll post again since my last one was 5 years ago.  My feelings haven't changed - always shake hands unless I'm just playing with my brother.  Don't even think about taking off my hat - don't see any disrespect in that.  A sincere handshake and a statement about how much I enjoyed the round, congratulating him on a good round if appropriate, should be quite sufficient to show my respect. 

I agree with Erik that it's a relatively recent thing, mostly inspired by watching TV golf.  I do remove my hat indoors, as I was taught by my grandmother.  

I don't wear sunglasses when I play golf, so that isn't a factor.  

[Jnbowmar]

We are a nation of laws, our success is built on that fact. I remove my cap when the national anthem is played, when old glory is raised, when shaking hands on the 18th green, when entering a home, or when a prayer is said. 

[iacas]

9 hours ago, Jnbowmar said:

We are a nation of laws, our success is built on that fact. I remove my cap when the national anthem is played, when old glory is raised, when shaking hands on the 18th green, when entering a home, or when a prayer is said. 

Shaking hands without a hat on isn’t a law. It’s not even a tradition.

[DaveP043]

9 hours ago, Jnbowmar said:

We are a nation of laws, our success is built on that fact. I remove my cap when the national anthem is played, when old glory is raised, when shaking hands on the 18th green, when entering a home, or when a prayer is said. 

If you would do an internet search for "hat etiquette", you'd find general agreement with all of those EXCEPT shaking hands on the 18th.  Tipping of the cap would be appropriate when greeting or departing from anyone.  Removing your hat would be MORE appropriate when being introduced to someone, as on the first tee.

I wouldn't suggest that everything found on websites is accurate, but when all of the reasonable references indicate the same thing, I tend to start believing.  Not a single source suggests that its a requirement to remove one's hat when shaking hands.  And as shown in many photos and videos in this thread, golfers have not consistently removed their hats in earlier times.

[Vinsk]

10 hours ago, Jnbowmar said:

We are a nation of laws, our success is built on that fact

Every nation has laws. Many nations are in turmoil and hardly successful. 

[tlazzol]

I shake hands when playing in a tournament, league or casual play, meeting people for the first time or to give congratulations for good play/score on the first tee before play starts and off the eightenth green when the round is over.

The hat stays on my head.  Sunglasses stay on also.  They're prescription and I want to be sure that what I grab is a hand.  

[dennyjones]

46 minutes ago, tlazzol said:

They're prescription and I want to be sure that what I grab is a hand.  

ha ha!

[millsan1]

I chose "almost always" for both answers, but in reality it is "always".  Even before I knew most of the etiquette rules, it was clear to me, this is how to end a round.  It is actually off putting to me when someone does not remove their hat.  Especially on the tour, drives me nuts.

[rehmwa]

A simple bow to mid sternum height is appropriate unless one's white wig might fall off, then a heel pose is acceptable as an alternative.

Of course, those heathens that won't can face my dueling pistol at sunset.  Sabers if the neighborhood has a noise ordinance.

It's not rocket science.  Just obvious deity driven courtesy everyone knows instinctively.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, millsan1 said:

It is actually off putting to me when someone does not remove their hat. Especially on the tour, drives me nuts.

Kinda hope that's sarcasm, cuz…

On 12/28/2018 at 1:12 PM, DaveP043 said:

On one hand, I absolutely agree with you, we should act as gentlemen on the golf course.  On the other, the practice of golfers removing their hats to shake hands is relatively recent.  If you watched any of the reruns of Shell's Wonderful World of Golf recently, you'd have seen lots of fine golfers, and fine gentlemen by all accounts, shake hands with their hats on.  Here's just one, Gene Littler and Byron Nelson.  They shake hands at 3:35, and the proceed to talk with, and shake hands with, Gene Sarazen, all with their hats on.

 

Watch the video.

[ChetlovesMer]

I almost always shake hands... even with my regular group, not sure why, it's just what we do. 

I often take off my hat, but I'm not sure if this is out of respect or because I tend to sweat like Ozzy Osbourne playing Jenga. And I'm just trying to get a little air up there on my head. I certainly wouldn't be offended if somebody didn't take off their hat.