​Hill Barn Golf Club Men's Section

HOGGS - General Etiquette & Pace of Play Guidelines General Etiquette Matters to assist with course maintenance:

 

1. Always replace your own divots and repair your own pitchmarks. Also within reason and time permitting, repair other divots and pitchmarks you may see on the course/greens.

 

2. Please replace flagsticks firmly in their holes. They will give a little “click” when correctly placed back in position. This helps avoid leaning and “wobbly” flagsticks.

 

3. Please obey all white lines around the greens and ALWAYS avoid crossing these with buggies and trolleys.

 

4. Broken tees and litter around the course: within reason, please pick up and place in bins.

 

5. Please do not take your ball out of the hole using the flagstick or your putter head as this can damage the edges of the hole.

 

Etiquette relevant to maintaining the pace of play:

 

6. The Hill Barn Golf Club recommended maximum time for a 4-ball round is 4 hours to 4 hours 10 minutes maximum. All groups should make best efforts to meet this requirement.

 

7. Always play “Ready Golf” in stroke play formats (match play is excluded).

 

8. Tee-Off Times: Please make sure your group keeps as far as possible to your allocated teeoff time for all HOGGS Competitions. Tee times are now 10 minutes apart and keeping precisely to our tee off times is intended to optimise pace of play. (R&A Rules also apply).

 

9. If you are first to the next tee, go ahead and drive, do not wait for the player with “the honour” to go first. The priority is for your group to start the hole as soon as the first person is ready to play. (Except in matchplay). CAVEAT: NEVER play any shot if you think players in front MAY BE within your range (unless they have called you through and are watching). ALWAYS wait until they are sufficiently clear. It is essential NOT to put other golfers at unnecessary risk of injury.

 

10. When teeing off, if you miss the fairway and think you MAY not find your ball, then ALWAYS play a provisional ball. This will save you time in the event of not finding your first ball and then having a long walk back to the tee for your third shot. SOCIAL GOLF ONLY: If playing non-competition golf, and by agreement with your playing partners: If you have a lost ball situation, you may alternatively drop a ball on the fairway at a point not nearer the hole where the lost ball is reasonably thought to be, and take a 2 shot penalty. (So if your drive is lost, you drop a new ball as above, and your next shot will be your 4th shot). THIS IS NOT PERMITTED IN ANY COMPETITIVE OR QUALIFYING ROUNDS). However in purely social golf rounds this can help speed up play.

 

11. If a playing partner’s ball is lost and your own ball is in play BEFORE OR CLOSE TO the search area, play your next shot BEFORE assisting in the ball search.

 

12. Please remember that under R&A Rules, a player has only 3 minutes maximum to search for his ball, NOT 5 minutes. This rule needs to be strictly applied. Finding the ball is NOT paramount, adhering to the 3-minute Rule is. There is a clear responsibility for the player with the lost ball to PROMPTLY halt the search once the 3 minutes has expired. If this is not done, playing partners or opponents have the right and responsibility to call the search over.

 

13. Be aware when it is your turn to play and be ready to play your shot as soon as it is your turn. So long as it is safe to do so, 2 players on different sides of the fairway may play their shots simultaneously, no need to wait for one to finish before the other player begins his shot routine.

 

14. Be quiet when another player is playing any shot or putt. Allow them to concentrate on their shot without undue chatter from playing partners. When chatting with partners while walking down the fairways please keep going at a reasonable pace and in the general direction of your own ball!

 

15. Your group should try to stay in close position behind the group in front, and always within one hole of that group. If you fail to stay in position on the course and there is a group close behind that might be able to play quicker than you (perhaps a smaller group), then you should invite that group through at an appropriate point (eg. if your group is looking for a lost ball, OR invite them to tee up with you on the next tee and go through from there).

 

16. If a HOGGS Group is behind another Group that has fallen more than a hole behind the group in front of them, then that group should politely ask the slow group to speed up and MAY also request to be let through.

 

17. Stableford competitions: If you are out of shots and cannot score a point, pick up your ball, do not continue playing the hole. Move on and enter “X” on your scorecard (enter as “0” in Howdidido).

 

18. Leave your trolley or buggy on the correct side of the green that is en-route to the next hole. (Especially on hole 8, do not leave your trolley at the front of the green in case the group behind wishes to drive up)

 

19. Ensure you clear each green as soon as the hole has been completed and move swiftly to the next tee. Marking of scorecards should not be done on the green, as this will slow down the group’s clearance of the green. Ideally, you should mark your scorecard at the next tee, or otherwise at any moment that will not contribute to slow play.

 

20. Especially during winter it is quite a common practice to play only 14 holes and then sometimes to jump across and play hole 18. PLEASE NOTE: You are not permitted to push-in onto Hole 18. Any group coming down from, or still playing, hole 17 has rightful priority on the 18th tee and should not be made to wait or be delayed under any circumstances. Pushing-in is clearly bad etiquette and highly inconsiderate. Jumping from hole 14 to hole 18 may ONLY be considered if you have properly checked to ensure the 17th hole is sufficiently clear to avoid any possibility of your causing delay to the group behind.

 

Produced by Martyn McLennan, HOGGS Secretary (2024 Revision)