Is "Out of Order" Etiquette a Big Deal?

[Hategolf]

3 hours ago, David in FL said:

In my example from yesterday, I don't think it would  have been rude in the least, had the remaining 3 golfers on the green continued to play while Bunker Boy bounced back and forth.  Heck, I expect that my buddies continue to putt while I rake a bunker, even if I'm still "away" on the green.  An added advantage is that as they're doing so, I'm not feeling rushed to "catch up".

I tend to be more concerned about being rude to those that are behind us by holding them up unreasonably....

I agree with ready golf. I agree with others putting right after the bunker shot, since all players are by the green. I do not agree with putting out before the guy has even gotten near the green. I think is more rude to the guy in my group lagging behind, than to the group behind mine. Unreasonably slow is one thing but the original post does not read as such to me. 

I am primarily concern with pace of play over all, yet courtesy to the group I'm in, comes before the others behind. And I'm not talking about a group of buddies either as I might be a lot more casual about the courtesy, but rather 3 other folks I got paired with. 

 

[RandallT]

1 hour ago, colin007 said:

I handed out a bunch of likes in this here thread. Ready golf or GTFO!! 

Earlier I linked to older threads on this topic. Here's one in 2008. Skimming thru the gist of responses, I get the sense that a decade ago, golfers were a bit less adamant about ready golf. (Small sample size yah)

 

 

[mdl]

12 hours ago, chilepepper said:

Everyone I play with plays ready golf including on the green if someone happens to be hacking it back and forth. The exception being "birdie honors" on the tee 

Me exactly.  I'm basically offended by anyone who's not playing ready golf.  But if you go under par on a hole, I like birdie/eagle honors just as a way of being excited for the other player.  Sort of, we're all in the struggle together, let's be excited when one of us does well.  Birdie honors is a widely accepted/understood way to do that, on top of a smile and simple, "Hey, nice hole!"

[Papa Steve 55]

Assuming I'm in position on the course I usually just wait it out. When I do play ready, I make sure the guy who is away knows I'm hitting. I just cant help the feeling I'm either rushing the guy or will be a distraction, (or target) if I'm in front. So normally I don't even walk up to my ball till the other guy hits. Again assuming we are in the fairway, one just further out.

I play with a lot of seniors getting over 20 strokes, if I played ready golf I would finish 3 holes ahead.

[Hardspoon]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 4:36 PM, stpinmass said:

Two members made remarks when others went out of turn, albeit "busting chops". I personally waited for each golfer in order, as I find it's rather disrespectful unless you are actually playing ready golf. So on the 7th hole, I hit a couple of errant shots causing me not to reach the green until my 5th shot. Upon reaching the green, the other three golfers were putting to hole out. Is it just me? But if you're going to complain when someone else goes out of order.. is it really kosher to be holing out before the last player even reaches the green?

This thread sort of turned into a discussion of ready golf, but to directly answer the OP: yeah, those guys are dumbasses.  If you're going to bitch about ready golf, don't go putting out when somebody is still off the green.

Like a few others, I think that if you can wait for everyone to reach the green without affecting pace of play (say, if it's just waiting for a single pitch shot or if it's just one hole and you're generally waiting on the group ahead anyway), it's polite to do so.  But if it affects pace of play, which is usually the case, ready golf extends all the way to the green.

11 hours ago, RandallT said:

There's the fast guy who usually tees first, even if he blew up the hole. He just wants to get rolling on the next hole- and he has his club out before arriving at the tee. 

Haha - you've seen me in action.  It's tough for me to even wait for the cart to stop moving...

[BallStriker]

The rule of etiquette seems pretty easy here....

If there is more than one player ready (or nearly ready) to play, then the furthest away plays their shot...........playing "in front" of someone who is ready to play is inappropriate......if someone is on an adventure, I keep my eye on him and have no problem playing to the green (or through) until such time as he is ready to play his shot in (and will always help with finding ball if needed)

I honestly couldn't care less about the tee.....birdie, eagle or anything....first one to get a peg in ground can go ahead and hit.....if the entire group is on the tee waiting on the group in front, I will ALWAYS defer to the person who has honors

This is just simple logic/etiquette to me........

Edited May 23, 2017 by BallStriker

[jetsknicks1]

On 5/21/2017 at 9:00 PM, Buckeyebowman said:

There are times to play it, and times not to. I would never consider parking in front of another group, as per Aflighter's post, just so I could hit first, But, if you're on opposite sides of the fairway, or a longer hitter has a clean shot while the shorter hitter is still looking for their ball in the rough, go right ahead. Keep play moving. Also, consecutive putting is a good idea unless you have to stand in someone's line.

Agree with all this. Our regular group consisntantly putts "out of order". If you're ready to putt, putt.

[gregsandiego]

11 hours ago, billchao said:

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. If you're hitting 5 onto the green as stated in the OP, it's both unreasonable and slower to expect others who are holing out with their 4th or 5th stroke to wait for you if they can finish the hole in the time you are struggling.

The only exception is if they decide to putt when you are ready to hit your approach, thus causing you to delay. As I interpreted the original scenario, waiting for one player who is having a bad hole would have slowed down the entire group.

I see your point.

It all depends exactly where that 4th player fits into the scheme. If he's way behind yes you are right.

[stpinmass]

Thanks for all the responses. I think this boils down to the context of the situation. I had two of the foursome busting chops about hitting out of order on previous holes. Then the first time it was mildly inconvenient for them to wait, the holed out just as i hit the green. Mind you.  This wasnt an "adventure" hole.. I hit the green on stroke 5 because of a flub shot that went about 10 ft. And an errant approach that left me about 10 yards short of the green. In any other case I agree that its perfectly fine to hit when ready, but not if you complain about hitting out of order. I guess to paint the picture, one whipped a club on the 3rd hole due to sculling a shout out of the bunker.. on another hole had one of them walking towards green right in front of my approach.. he nicely moved about 3 yards to the right as i asked him to move. As karma would have it, i hit the shot straight at him and nearly hit him.. these were friends of mine.. so a lesson learned to play golf with different friends..

Edited May 23, 2017 by stpinmass

[DrvFrShow]

Ready golf except in match play. Match play is different. 

[mdl]

On 5/22/2017 at 5:50 PM, Papa Steve 55 said:

Assuming I'm in position on the course I usually just wait it out. When I do play ready, I make sure the guy who is away knows I'm hitting. I just cant help the feeling I'm either rushing the guy or will be a distraction, (or target) if I'm in front. So normally I don't even walk up to my ball till the other guy hits. Again assuming we are in the fairway, one just further out.

I play with a lot of seniors getting over 20 strokes, if I played ready golf I would finish 3 holes ahead.

I don't think that's what most people mean by playing ready golf.  If you and a slow-walking player both hit in the fairway and you hit farther, I agree it's rude to just walk quickly out, set up, and hit your ball.  Except for the oldest, slowest players, that player is almost certainly going to be trying to start a pre-shot routine while you're finishing yours.  And even if not, the point of ready golf is to make sure – assuming you're not stuck behind other groups – you play close to as fast as the slowest walking player in your group would solo, not to finish holes in sequence, fastest player to slowest player.

For example, when playing with slow older players, both of us in the fairway, I might walk past the older players ball if there's a good tree line to walk along or the like, and post up near my ball's level while waiting for the slower player to hit, then have a quicker walk to my ball, with the hope being that I can go through my pre-shot and hit my shot in not much more time than it takes the slower player to watch his shot, put his club back, and walk up to where my ball is.

Around the green I liberally play my ball if I'm ready well before anyone else even if I'm not farthest from the hole.  And like I said above, I think first ready tees off unless someone has birdied or better.  But between the tee and near green, I'm only playing out of turn when another player in my group has hit a really crappy shot and is off in the woods/grass looking for a ball, I'm not on or near that player's line to the hole/chip out, and I can easily go ahead and play my ball before the other player will be (even really that close to) ready to hit.