The Five Sacred Rules of All Private Golf Clubs

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Jan 18th 2010 at 4:01PM

Whether you're playing in Maine or New Mexico some things remain the same: the five sacred principles of how to behave at a private golf club. Each club has its own set of etiquette standards but these 5 rules apply everywhere.

Never throw a golf club in anger. Ever.
Don't change your shoes in the parking lot. It's tacky. Head to the locker room, that's what they're there for.
No blue jeans. Not even really nice, expensive ones.
Take your hat off when indoors or sitting down to eat.
Turn off your cell phone when on the course or in the clubhouse.

These are the basics that can be applied no matter where you go in the country, but if you're new to a particular course it is best to find out before you play what the particular etiquette standards are at that club. Some clubs are much stricter than the above list (i.e. no cell phones anywhere on the property, no swearing, women must wear skirts, etc) and you don't want to assume and embarrass yourself by inadvertently making a major social blunder.

Tags: etiquette, golf, golfing, outdoor-entertainment-pedia, outdoorentertainment, sports, summer-travel, summer-travel-pedia, summertravel-pedia

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Going Like Sixty Jan 18th 2010 5:57PM

Ha.
Ha. Ha.
bwahahahahaha.

Private club members are in fact the EXACT group that behave like this (except for the denim, and maybe the shoes, but a fair number change sitting in their cart on the first tee! (The ones that are late but expect the group to wait.)

Your post should have said, "If you are a GUEST..."

John Jan 18th 2010 9:06PM

I think these rules apply most everywhere. Turn cell phones off in the company of others, remove your hat indoors, don't change clothes in a parking lot, etc. Seems like basic good manners to me!