Golf Caddy and Spectator Etiquette

The good opinion of a caddy is a good sign that a golfer is playing the game in the right spirit of sportsmanship.

How to Conduct Yourself on a Golf Course

Etiquette for Caddies– 

• Stand about ten feet in front of the player to the right, facing him. 
• Do not take players’ clubs out of bag and swing them. 
• Replace divots and press them well down. 
• Never speak until spoken to. 
• When on the green hold the flag horizontally.  
• You should carefully kneel or squat when putting is in progress so as not to interfere with the view of the crowd around the green.
• The caddy is the fellow who can imitate a golfer almost to perfection, therefore a golfer who loses his temper also loses the respect of his caddy. The good opinion of a caddy is a good sign that a golfer is playing the game in the right spirit of sportsmanship.

Etiquette for Golf Spectators –

• Spectators slowing the players during a match or exhibition should not stampede for vantage points. If you do, others by the thousand will do the same. This is not fair sportmanship to the players, leaving such a narrow fairway to play between to the green. 
• You should be considerate also in passing traps and bunkers to go around them. Footmarks through the sand in the traps often cost a player plenty to get out. 
• Do not crowd too well on the sides and the back of the green, so that the players can't see the flag. If you do all they can see is faces. Moreover it is almost impossible to judge distance in approach shots. 
• Allow players to pass from the green to the tee. 
• In the course of a match, do not accost a player no matter how well you know him. Give him a chance to concentrate on his game. 
• It is wise policy at all times to consider the player first.

By A. D. Walker, Professional Golfer, Whittier, Calif., 1933

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Etiquette, Golf and Kissing

Since the early days of the genteel game of golf, kissing was not permitted on the golf course. Public displays of affection were frowned upon, even in 1967,  

English Oldsters Ban Kissing

YORK, England (UPl)—Senior golf club members watched aghast from the clubhouse. They said what happened on the first tee “broke the club’s rules of etiquette.” So twenty young golfers, who had been given a reduced rate to play at the club, were banned because two sweethearts kissed on the first tee. – The Dessert Sun, 1967 

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Moderator and Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia  

More Golf Etiquette

The world famous championship Pebble Beach Golf tournament is open to the public under Country Club rules. To fellow Country Club rules on all public courses is big advantage to every golfer on the grounds. 

Consider Others on the Course 

By Alix J. Morrison, Author of “A New Way to Better Golf,” Teacher of Champions 

Conduct on the golf course is most important to all golfers. Let me tell you why. Briefly, you get out of golf just what you put into it. This point was constantly emphasized in my early apprenticeship as clubmaker and assistant pro.

This training was had at the Los Angeles Country Club, one of the best golf plants, always operated under highly efficient management, with a large, exclusive, yet democratic, membership. Everything about this exceptionally fine club proved that it paid to observe the rules and etiquette of golf.

I soon learned that all club swingers do not believe this. In serving as manager-pro at a public course, I had to deal with many hackers who persisted in being exceptions to all rules. This amazing experience strengthened my conviction about the advantages to all golfers through applying the Golden Rule.

• • • 

More recently my advice was sought about the management of a privately-owned course that is open to the public. I stressed the point held in the Del Monte operation of Pebble Beach —a course open to the public does not have to be run or treated as a public course.

Fundamentally it is a matter of individual deportment. Seemingly you have gotten away with something when you exceeded the speed limit without being caught by the highway police. But you'll never get away with infractions of the official rules and etiquette in golf.

• • • 

Every infraction is as obvious as stripes on a zebra. Even if you break a rule when nobody is around to see you, there remains that factor of self. The more proficient you become at kidding yourself, the less you’re apt to know about what you have actually done. And this must come before you can have any real knowledge of what you can do next.

Golf affords you countless opportunities to show due consideration for others. Learn that by so doing you greatly improve yourself and your game. — The Desert Sun, 1955

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia