Why Is Standing Behind Someone When They Tee Off Bad Etiquette?

[Deed]

As with many of people's distractions, this is one where it shouldn't be as the person is concentrating on the ball, the path of the ball to the hole. If a person is that easily distracted then there is a problem. It goes right down with a person hears a person taking a hundred yards down the fairway and will not putt or hit his shot until it is completely quiet. You want to wander why people are no longer playing golf as it takes way too long.

[Dan42nepa]

Do you mean to the right as they address the ball? Truely behind when someone is about to hit doesnt bother me but I think the best position is facing the player

[Elmer]

12 hours ago, longdrive23 said:

I have never understood why people have to be quiet in a very open golf course for the game to be played. Isn't the ability to hit with all the noise something professionals should have?

Would love to see the Players' 17th or the Stadium course (??) have stands full of cheering people while golfers come in an play their game. 

I wouldn't want folks standing next to the tee box and screaming away. Having audiences in grandstands in some areas and allowing cheering would be fun...

I agree. During any time at my home course you can hear others cheering when they sink a put. This can be heard during my back swing or putting.
I find that I would rather have noise than silence. When there is silence even a bird chirping can create a distraction. If I have a healthy dose of noise It can become ambient. 
I have never understood how a Major League Ball player can hit a 100 MPH fast ball while 55K fans are screaming and camera flashes, yet a golfer can not hit a stationary ball with the sound of a camera clicking!

 

[Ernest Jones]

23 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

I'm becoming more and more aware of this now that I'm playing in more tournaments.  In casual rounds with my friends, nobody really gives a hoot where anybody stands but obviously, that changes when the rounds count and you're with strangers.

It seems that when its possible, it makes the most sense to stand behind the guys back, but I mostly just try and be conscious to avoid being directly on or close to his line extended and also be sure to not be moving.

I'd stand behind you and grab your nuts at the top of your backswing and shout GOTCHA!!!!!!

[Golfingdad]

1 minute ago, Ernest Jones said:

I'd stand behind you and grab your nuts at the top of your backswing and shout GOTCHA!!!!!!

Wouldn't bother me.

[jamo]

3 hours ago, Elmer said:

I agree. During any time at my home course you can hear others cheering when they sink a put. This can be heard during my back swing or putting.
I find that I would rather have noise than silence. When there is silence even a bird chirping can create a distraction. If I have a healthy dose of noise It can become ambient. 
I have never understood how a Major League Ball player can hit a 100 MPH fast ball while 55K fans are screaming and camera flashes, yet a golfer can not hit a stationary ball with the sound of a camera clicking!

 

It's not noise that's the issue. It's sudden changes in noise.

[MizunoPez]

22 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

Not sure I see the correlation between where he's standing and how much the dropped club bothered you.  Wouldn't it be annoying no matter where he was standing?  Obviously, assuming that he's close by and not 100 yards across the fairway.

i'm talking 4 yards behind me on the tee box - it wasn't the noise that was off putting, it was the fact that the club fell in my peripheral vision. Obviously if he was standing behind me I wouldn't have noticed it. Just think some people have really bad etiquette in regards to standing behind people on the tee, particularly with moving shadows, so I just don't take the risk unless it is in a scratch game and I know I am playing with 'players' who don't do it anyway. 

[Buckeyebowman]

9 hours ago, jamo said:

It's not noise that's the issue. It's sudden changes in noise.

Yeah. Like the guy who cuts loose with a blood curdling scream right when I'm at the top of my backswing because he made, or just missed, a birdie putt!

[tdiii]

16 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I played with a guy once who didn't want us in his field of vision.

There's a word for that:  douchebag. 

[Lihu]

11 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Yeah. Like the guy who cuts loose with a blood curdling scream right when I'm at the top of my backswing because he made, or just missed, a birdie putt!

 

If they're yelling 10 feet away, sure, but from 40-50 yards or more away? It's a lot less distracting than a ball landing on your tee box.

 

Unless you play on an empty course, you're going to get this.

[Valleygolfer]

I play during twilight hours and often had to stand directly behind them to see the ball. Occasionally out of habit I would stand behind someone during other times. The twilight guys never complained and I might have had one person say something about it other times. If I am helping them, they don't seem to mind...

I really don't like when you are quiet during someone's drive first and then the next guy hits and when you go to hit they get bored and start having a conversation while you are setting up and hitting. @Elmer white noise like a crowded baseball game is much different than a predominately quiet area with one person making noise of moving. Glad you can ignore it, I can mostly but I don't need any added annoyances anyway.

[Elmer]

16 minutes ago, Valleygolfer said:

I play during twilight hours and often had to stand directly behind them to see the ball. Occasionally out of habit I would stand behind someone during other times. The twilight guys never complained and I might have had one person say something about it other times. If I am helping them, they don't seem to mind...

I really don't like when you are quiet during someone's drive first and then the next guy hits and when you go to hit they get bored and start having a conversation while you are setting up and hitting. @Elmer white noise like a crowded baseball game is much different than a predominately quiet area with one person making noise of moving. Glad you can ignore it, I can mostly but I don't need any added annoyances anyway.

I played the Drums for years and years, in a few local bands here and there. 
I have always found the Drums and golf similar. You have to Think about what you are doing, while not thinking about what you are doing. Both Deal with timing and muscle memory.
When you are playing a tune, holding the beat, with all 4 limbs moving and your guitarist is off beat, key or just screws up your job is to keep going.
I look at golf the same way, once you start your swing you have to keep going.
my local driving range there are people holding conversations, or my kids will be talking to me as I hit balls.
When I am alone I will bring my ipod and groove to some songs.
SO when on the course I can hum a tune and just stay in my moment! 

[Brian McMillen]

I can't stand it when people are moving behind me... I wish they would just stand still or move off to the side,  I believe standing off to the side or totally out of sight is proper etiquette.

[cooke119]

I always ask first especially when playing with someone for the first time. Some want you to so you can follow the ball, some don't it distracts them. But I ask at the beginning of the round. I want someone behind me because of my eye sight, I need another set of eyes on it.

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, cooke119 said:

I always ask first especially when playing with someone for the first time. Some want you to so you can follow the ball, some don't it distracts them. But I ask at the beginning of the round. I want someone behind me because of my eye sight, I need another set of eyes on it.

Some golfers are super-particular about that.  Pre-pandemic they wouldn't make it on tour, where gallery members are almost always behind you on the tee..  I don't mind if anyone is standing behind me, on any shot, if they stay still and are at least 7 1/2 feet behind me on my drives so as not to physically interfere with my 7 foot stretched out, wide arc, extended backswing.  😀

Edited September 13, 2020 by Double Mocha Man

[Craig24]

When I was trained to caddy back in the 60s, one of the first thing they told us was never stand behind somewhen when they're addressing the ball, on tee, fairway or green. Standing parallel to their line, meant you wouldn't bother the player. Whether you're focused or not, something moving in your peripheral vision can be a distraction. 

[darthweasel]

On 8/4/2011 at 6:10 AM, parbreaker said:

I may be in the minority here after reading the previous posts.

I have never had a problem spotting my ball,

I literally was on the edge of quitting even the 3-4 times a year I played with my buddies because...how do I put this politely...it wasn't that I sucked at golf. I could live with that. It was hitting a ball with a 4-way miss and not being able to track the ball off the clubhead. So I would not know if I should look to the right, to the left, short or long. It is really smurfing hard to find a ball you don't know if it is 100 yards out or 225 yards out, if it is in the fairway, wide left, or wide right. Just sooooooooo frustrating.

It reached its nadir when my buddy gave  a round at Pumpkin Ridge for my birthday. I went out with 3 randoms who pretty much ignored me. It was zero fun playing by far the nicest, most famous course I had pled at that point and every...single...shot...having no clue where my ball was. I was used to my playing partners getting at least a general starting line for me.

Now, I see you are a plus handicap golfer, so you probably have a really good idea of where your ball is going so I can see why you would not need assistance. I have since taken a lot of lessons and now have a really good idea of where the ball will be and the game is fun. Makes a huge difference when you have a solid idea of start line, ball flight laws, etc.

Thing is, nowadays I golf a lot when the weather is decent. I get matched up with a lot of randoms. I tend to play low to mid-range courses...think 25-40 buck range...and there are a TON of players who cannot track their ball. Many rounds I save them 10-15 minutes by having their ball spotted for them.

Note this not directed at you, you just made the statement I could take off on...I really feel like this question has multiple levels. For skilled players who know where their ball should be...assistance is probably not needed. For mid and high (or no) handicap players, it can be invaluable to have help spotting the ball off the tee. And for me, if I am more or less behind them a few yards, I can get a feel for it.

of course, side argument...I have long been known for saying golfers are among the most mentally weak athletes out there. With an immobile ball, our choice of what, when, and how to swing, with no opponent trying to deceive us or stop us, we seem incapable of making a good swing if noise or movement or a breeze or a shadow or a random thought occur...for myself, having played a ton of baseball, basketball, tennis, racquetball, etc through the years, I cannot recall the last time such things bothered me personally. I can play through the "comedian" passing the course honking in my backswing, the bird flying through my intended shot path...I have been known to literally be talking about something while playing a putt. Of course, I don't do these things when others are...but I have often internally laughed at the guy over the putt who backs off and tells the people off the edge of the green 20 yards to his right they are impacting his putt. I already know he is going to miss regardless.

Edited September 14, 2020 by iacas
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