Golf is a carefully balanced game of rules and etiquette, and it’s quite important to know the basics of golfing etiquette before you go on the course to play your first game of golf.

It doesn’t matter whether you are playing on your own, in a twosome or in a foursome, golfing etiquette demands that you must always wait your turn. You must stay aware of the group on the next hole and wait until they are well ahead of you before hitting your ball.

Golfing etiquette also means that it is never cool to “push” the group in front of you. If you are playing with others, wait your turn to hit the ball and never play at the same time as another player.

While you are waiting for your turn, go to your ball and determine what club you will need to use and how you are going to hit it. This is called “ready golf” and keeps the game moving along. Don’t rush anybody, just be ready.

Another useful piece of golfing etiquette, especially for novices is ‘playing through’. For example, if your team is holding up the players behind you, perhaps because you are playing consistently over par or taking a long time to choose your club, let them play through. You would simply wave them through, or if they are near enough to you, just ask them if they would like to play through. You will never make enemies by doing this!

When someone is taking a shot, you should be standing behind them and you shouldn’t make any noise! It is very distracting to be ready to tee off and just as you pull back, someone decides to jingle coins in their pocket or noisily unwrap a piece of candy.

Replacing your divots. Say you are on the fairway and you hit the ball and a clod of dirt and grass goes flying, golfing etiquette says you should replace it. On some courses you just put the clod back and step on it to press it down, but on most courses, there is a sand/seed mixture on the course to put into the divot. If your ball makes a deep impression when it lands on the green, you can use your divot tool to repair it.

As soon as you have completed a hole, replace the flag and leave the green as quickly as possible so that the next players can play that hole. Add up your score and write it on the scorecard when you get back to your trolley.

For sure, there is much more to golfing etiquette than this, but these basic rules of golfing etiquette will enable you to get around the course without upsetting anyone. If we all uphold golfing etiquette we will keep the game nice and friendly, or not?