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

[pumaAttack]

I often ask people to stand behind me.

It ensures I won't hit them and it provides a second set of eyes to find a tee shot.

[Patch]

18 minutes ago, rehmwa said:

All the 'polite or not' discussion aside.  I wonder if the 'etiquette' position is more along the line of not allowing someone on your shot line because it can be considered a way to violate training/feedback/help during a round.

In other words, I wonder if the actual reason it's even a topic is not about someone's pet peeves (or not) or personal comfort, but more along the lines that it fits in with some other rule of golf.

I suppose someone standing directly behind the hitter could be telling the golfer they are set up correctly for instructional purposes. Others may stand there just for gamesmanship. 

My whole deal with my own golf swing is to make it as simple as possible. Part of that is eliminating outside irritants, which I worked on, and put in place a few decades ago. 

Edited June 8, 2016 by Patch

[billchao]

I don't think I've ever had anyone tell me not to stand in any particular place, so if it bothered them, they never told me about it. I honestly never realized people had so many peeves about something like this.

[Elmer]

7 minutes ago, billchao said:

I don't think I've ever had anyone tell me not to stand in any particular place, so if it bothered them, they never told me about it. I honestly never realized people had so many peeves about something like this.

I have found that some people have a lot of pet peeves about this game.
I dont! Playing on a Muni course, where the 1st fairway & green & 3rd green are parallel to a road, you learn to play with distraction.
Not to mention a dozen years of baseball had desensitized me to surrounding noises.

However not everyone can do the same and a lot of people take this game way more seriously than I do.

If in a spot that interferes with someone all they have to do is politely ask and I will move.
The same with putting!

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

I think if I ever got to play with you Drew, I would stand exactly at 90 degree and wear a really funny hat. And maybe dance like this! 

That doesn't work on him, trust me. 

[jkelley9]

I typically always ask my groups where they would prefer for me to stand. 

I don't care where they stand so long as they aren't in my back pocket. That would be distracting. I don't even really care if people move around unless it's a sudden jolt or something during my backswing maybe?

[MizunoPez]

Don't like it. The reason for this is because in a competition once a guy stood behind me and dropped his club at the top of my back swing. Never again. Eliminates any risk of something happening. Obviously I ask them politely and am not a dick about it. 

Edited June 8, 2016 by MizunoPez

[Fourputt]

4 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

Just reading the back and forth between @iacas and @Golfingdad is a good reminder, we each have different things that bug us.  The important thing is to let your playing partners (or opponents) know your preference before it starts to bug you.  

I'm easy - as long as you give me about 5 yards clearance, I don't care where you stand.  I play tournaments and I play casual and my fellow competitors stand all over the place.  

I can see a comedy routine here.  You have a lefty and everyone stands per Erik's preference, then a right and they all run to the other side, then another lefty, followed by another righty.  I want to see the video of that dance routine. 

[DaveP043]

6 minutes ago, Fourputt said:

I'm easy - as long as you give me about 5 yards clearance, I don't care where you stand.  I play tournaments and I play casual and my fellow competitors stand all over the place.  

I'm not real picky either, although sometimes someone will stand in just the wrong spot.  Its a simple matter to ask him to move.

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, MizunoPez said:

Don't like it. The reason for this is because in a competition once a guy stood behind me and dropped his club at the top of my back swing. Never again. Eliminates any risk of something happening. Obviously I ask them politely and am not a dick about it. 

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.

[bkuehn1952]

My hope is always that the group will just stand still when I start to get over the ball.  If someone shifts around within my peripheral vision when I am getting ready to hit, I notice and start to wonder if they will move during my swing.  Not a good thought prior to hitting.

When I put the tee in the ground and ball on the tee, freeze for 10-15 seconds or stand where I can't see you. Maybe others could care less about this, and that is certainly their choice.  We will have a problem if one needs to move around where I can see them.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Fourputt said:

I'm easy - as long as you give me about 5 yards clearance, I don't care where you stand.  I play tournaments and I play casual and my fellow competitors stand all over the place.  

I can see a comedy routine here.  You have a lefty and everyone stands per Erik's preference, then a right and they all run to the other side, then another lefty, followed by another righty.  I want to see the video of that dance routine. 

With a mixed group, you stand on the back of the tee box and take a few steps left or right as necessary.

[Lihu]

There was only one person I would say was a bit overly sensitive about having people behind him. He'd take huge swipes backwards trying to make contact with anyone  even 10 yards or more.

At this point, I find it useful to find little things that annoy. 

[longdrive23]

5 hours ago, Elmer said:

I have found that some people have a lot of pet peeves about this game.
I dont! Playing on a Muni course, where the 1st fairway & green & 3rd green are parallel to a road, you learn to play with 

<snip>

The same with putting!

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...

[Buckeyebowman]

5 hours ago, billchao said:

I don't think I've ever had anyone tell me not to stand in any particular place, so if it bothered them, they never told me about it. I honestly never realized people had so many peeves about something like this.

Ever had someone stand where their shadow falls across the line of your putt? Or on your ball when you're driving? If someone is standing directly on the back line of my shot, I can pick them up in my peripheral vision. A few feet to one side or the other, that goes away.

16 minutes ago, iacas said:

With a mixed group, you stand on the back of the tee box and take a few steps left or right as necessary.

There's another thread on the forum that asks "Is Etiquette Finished?". It is more about taking care of the course, and consideration of the golfer's following you. This is about the treatment of your FC's and how they treat you. I'm decidedly old school. Hell, I'm 63 and couldn't really be anything else! I was taught from the get go not to stand directly behind a player when they made a shot, and no matter where you were standing, don't move at all and make no sound. And on the green do not step on the "through line" of another player when retrieving your own ball from the hole. I was taught to be solicitous of other players' welfare on the course.

On occasion we've all been part of a fun group. Just some guys who get together to whack the ball around and enjoy each others company. The golf is just an excuse for us all to get together. Someone may even produce some stunt flatulence during another guy's takeaway! At those times it's perfectly fine to be loosey goosey. At all other times, I play it straight.

[billchao]

3 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Ever had someone stand where their shadow falls across the line of your putt? Or on your ball when you're driving? If someone is standing directly on the back line of my shot, I can pick them up in my peripheral vision. A few feet to one side or the other, that goes away.

Obviously if someone is casting a shadow on your ball that is a different matter, but I have stood on people's target lines as they teed off and nobody has yet to ever ask me not to.

If you are asking me personally if I would be bothered, the answer is no. But I'm the kind of guy that can pause in the middle of a conversation to take a swing.

[tdiii]

It is not poor etiquette.  It could be if one moves or one's shadow is over the ball.  Otherwise, it's fine. 

[boogielicious]

15 hours ago, billchao said:

I don't think I've ever had anyone tell me not to stand in any particular place, so if it bothered them, they never told me about it. I honestly never realized people had so many peeves about something like this.

I played with a guy once who didn't want us in his field of vision. It doesn't bother me where anyone is as long as they are relatively quiet and don't move suddenly.