Hi Linda,
In a recent round, we had this guy in our group who always went
ahead and hit his ball without waiting for us. Most of the time he was already
on the green and we were still to make our 2nd or 3rd shot.
The instruction was “ready golf,” but he did that the whole
18 holes without waiting for us. After he hit he just continued to hit until he
was on the green.
Is there a penalty for that?
Thank you Linda,
Lou from Daly City, California
Dear Lou,
Was this a tournament? Is this fellow a friend of yours? Did
anyone ask him to wait his turn to play?
Hi Linda,
Yes, this was a tournament. He is one of our members. Nobody
stopped him from hitting first. Thank you again.
Dear Lou,
The Etiquette section of the rulebook tells us that players
should be ready to play as soon as it is their
turn. It does not tell us to hit the ball continuously, tee to green,
ignoring the presence of our fellow competitors.
Clearly, this fellow misunderstood the instruction to play
ready golf. I would like to think that if one of the competitors in your group
took a moment to explain to this fellow that, while he needs to be ready to hit
when it is his turn, he must nevertheless wait his turn to play. I don’t
understand why no one said anything to him – someone should have done so.
If you had tried talking to the fellow, and he ignored your
request, the next step would be to try to contact a Committee member. Sometimes
players are more inclined to obey an instruction from a person in authority.
If the fellow refused to wait his turn after all these
requests, he would be guilty of an etiquette violation. It would be up to the
Committee to decide what to do. In this situation, I would think a first
violation would incur a warning, and that a further violation would result in
disqualification. The Committee has the right to disqualify a player for a
serious breach of etiquette [Rule 33-7].
Linda
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