# Ready Golf Should Be the Default at Every Public Course

Source: https://thecourserankings.com/blog/ready-golf-should-be-the-default-at-every-public-course/

Etiquette and Customs


Golf etiquette was built to protect the game and the other players in your group. Half of what gets enforced now protects a vibe instead. This is our attempt to sort the real rules from the costume.

**Our take:** Your honor on the tee is a tradition. So was waiting a week for a letter.

## The take

Your honor on the tee is a tradition. So was waiting a week for a letter.

## What etiquette is actually for

Three things. Safety, pace, and leaving the course as good as you found it. If a rule does not serve one of those three, it is a preference wearing a rule's clothes, and preferences do not get to boss strangers around at a public course.

## The strongest counterargument, fairly

Tradition holds a game together, and a course full of people doing whatever they want stops being relaxing fast. True. Which is why we keep the real rules hard: fix marks, keep pace, warn on errant shots, respect greens. The costume rules can go. The core rules should get stricter, starting with pace.

## What we would enforce tomorrow

A posted pace clock, a pickup rule for beginners, and a marshal with authority to move a group along. Enforce those three and most etiquette disputes resolve themselves, because almost every dispute on a golf course is a slow round wearing a disguise.

## Where clubs get to differ

Private clubs can dress their members how they like. It is their house. Our argument is with public golf borrowing private club costume rules while charging public golfers resort prices for a six hour day.

## Reader responses

Which etiquette rule would you kill tomorrow, and which one would you actually enforce? Name both.

Please cite a specific hole, a price, or a round you have played. Selected reader responses are featured in follow up coverage.

## FAQ

**Is this anti tradition?**

No. It is pro the traditions that protect other players: pace, safety, and course care. The costume can evolve.

**Do private clubs have to follow this?**

No. Their house, their rules. This is aimed at public golf.

**Reader responses are open.** Please cite a specific hole, a price, or a round you have played.