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In golf, etiquette is organic. It’s the element that lends the game its ineffable, almost ceremonial air. Does this translate to the golf practice range? Sometimes, not so much:
Golfer 1: I hate it when I’m at a range and the guy behind me is talking really loud on his cell.
Golfer 2: I hate it when folks leave clubs in a stall to reserve it, then wander off for half an hour.
Golfer 3: The other night at the range, the guy next to me was throwing divots, and I’d get a spray of dirt in my face every time. And there were no other open stations. Isn’t there some kind of etiquette about that at driving ranges?
Golfer 4: Maybe he didn’t know he was doing it, but he should have apologized. Me, I got shanked the other day….
Golf ranges, whose raison d’être is for golfers to improve their game, may not lend themselves to the kind of decorum that is endemic to playing through on larger golf courses. Customers at a range are working on a part of their game rather than engaging in the extended process that an actual game represents, and the fragmentary nature of the experience may diminish golfers’ awareness of the importance of etiquette. Population on a driving range is also likely to be more dense, which ramps up the need for golf’s typical courtesy and respect even more, perhaps with a special emphasis on personal space. Respect for time limits substitutes for pace-of-play concerns. Otherwise, the rules of etiquette on a range are not so different from those of golf in general.
“Safety is first,” says Bob Benning, who runs the Benning School of Golf at Round Hill, Va.’s Stoneleigh Golf Club. “You don’t want anyone to be in front of the line, for obvious reasons—you don’t want anyone to get hit.”
Benning builds the precepts of etiquette into his lessons, as they arise. “Etiquette on the golf course will come on the golf course,” he says. “I can say, ‘Look, here’s what you do on the course. You don’t stand behind someone in the line of swing. When you’re hitting balls into the green, you might make a ball mark on the green, and here’s how to fix a ball mark.’”
Mandy Riceman of the First Tee agrees with Benning’s holistic approach to teaching etiquette, that codes of conduct are best built into instruction through active learning opportunities. The First Tee is a nationwide, nonprofit organization that teaches golf to youth just as much for the sake of the game itself as for the life skills the game illustrates, and etiquette is inextricably wound up in the whole. “There are steps to take before [students] take a shot, to get them to think about what they’re doing before they hit,” she says. “Then they apply that to life.” By extension, students learn the value of practicing courtesy toward others working through a shot. Riceman says the method “took what is inherent in the game and made it into a learning experience.”
But not all visitors to golf ranges sign up for instruction. Then again, etiquette could be useful for marketing lessons: “Familiar with the Ugly American? Don’t be the Ugly Golfer. Learn how….” Other avenues for promoting etiquette include a roving instructor, printed materials or even strategically placed signage prompting players on everything from noise levels to appropriate attire to fixing divots.
Less experienced golfers feel more comfortable knowing how to behave, more experienced golfers appreciate reduced irritation by newbies and a more pleasant experience is had by all. However the protocols are conveyed, doing so is sound customer service, as commonly held respect makes for an environment customers want to come back to again and again.
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