Embarrassed I don't know this sort of stuff...

[Slick]

Hi...I'm new to golfing...I am 41 years old and I want to take my 8 year old out. We've golfed at Disney World (once) and I've taken some lessons in the past blah blah... I was going to book 9 holes at a local public course but I'm not sure how twosomes or foursomes work. Would we have to be matched up with two other people? I'd prefer not to be, since we are not that good (more like god awful) and don't know every single rule exactly. We would certainly have etiquette, but I don't want the pressure of two people who know what they are doing in our group. So how do golf courses handle that? I'm going to a cheap ($20/person green fees) place, so I assume the best of the best won't be there. But still. Please advise. Thanks

[RJH999]

You should be able to just go down to the club and pay for two people. You don't have to play with other people.

[Slick]

You should be able to just go down to the club and pay for two people. You don't have to play with other people.

Can you just tell them that? They won't force you into a foursome?

[RJH999]

Can you just tell them that? They won't force you into a foursome?

Yes sir. Just say you only want to play by yourselves.

[Slick]

Yes sir. Just say you only want to play by yourselves.

Thank you. I feel better. I was embarrassed I didn't know the etiquette for that. But how would I know? My dad never took me golfing and I'm just getting into golf! Haha. Thanks again.

[RJH999]

Thank you. I feel better. I was embarrassed I didn't know the etiquette for that. But how would I know? My dad never took me golfing and I'm just getting into golf! Haha. Thanks again.

Haha it's fine. No problem, man

[Strandly]

Can you just tell them that? They won't force you into a foursome?

If it's busy I would expect them to try to pair you up with another twosome.  Certainly doesn't hurt to ask though and I'm sure on a slow day it would be no problem at all.

[BuckeyeNut]

Many public courses don't care what you want.....it's their discretion whether or not to pair up groups of less than 4.   Many courses will automatically pair these groups to maximize play.   So long as you and your son don't hold up play, being paired is a non issue.

If you want to play alone because you want to play slow, then stay off the course because all you are doing is backing up the entire course behind you.   my 2 cents....

[18rounds]

I did just that the other night. Occasionally my wife will walk 9 with me in the evening. I just say something like. "My wife is walking with me. Could you get us out by ourselves on the front or back 9?" So far I have never had a problem. I am sure it would be different on a weekend morning. Great idea going with your son. That's the good stuff.

[MS256]

Yeah try to pick a slow time and/or a course that doesn't get much play. If you do get paired up just keep up with the pace of play even if it means picking up the ball after bad shots and dropping up where a good shot would have been. When my wife first started playing she couldn't hit a ball 100 yards but when she joined my son and I our group never held anybody up. On really long holes she would just start from where our tee shots ended up and if she was having a disaster hole we would just tell her to pick it up. She could enjoy the occasional good things she did without having to slog through strings of quadruple bogeys. It's not like "a score" matters at that level. Who wants to write down a 140 anyway? ;-) Have fun!