Are These The Worst Things About Golf

I have played golf for most of my life and it goes without saying that I am passionate about it. I am utterly addicted. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things I would change.

There are some things about our sport that I absolutely hate - and I know that I am not alone.

Divots

I simply hate the fact that you can hit a perfectly good drive, slap bang in the middle of the fairway and walk up to your ball and find it nestling in a divot that somebody has not bothered to repair/replace. I have said this before and make no apologies for repeating myself - this rule needs to be changed. You should not be penalised for hitting a good shot into the right place. Free drop please!

Footprints in Bunkers

And speaking of rule changes, perhaps even more frustrating than the fairway divot is to stride into a bunker and find your ball in a huge footprint. Golf is a difficult enough game. And bunker shots are hard enough without us being penalised just because a previous golfer has decided not to bother raking the sand. Again, the time has come to allow us to rake the footprint and drop the ball without penalty.

Pitchmarks

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Another huge bugbear of mine. Sit in any clubhouse and you will hear golfers complaining about the state of the greens. By and large, these are the same individuals who do not repair pitchmarks. I don’t get this at all. It takes seconds. I always scan every green and repair every pitchmark I see. Why can’t we all do that?

Knee-Length Socks

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Don’t get me started on knee-length socks. There are still many golf clubs who will not allow us to walk onto the first tee on a baking hot summer’s day while wearing shorts and ankle-length socks. It is 2025. That’s the 21st century for goodness sake. There is NOTHING wrong with tailored shorts and ankle socks.

Dress Codes

So the likes of Rory McIlroy can play in a PGA Tour event or even a major while wearing a branded top without a collar. But, unbelievably, there are still many golf clubs in the UK that will tell us that we cannot play golf unless we are wearing a top with a collar.

Stuffy Atmospheres

Don’t you just hate those golf clubs where the atmosphere in the clubhouse feels like an undertaker’s reception area? You know the sort I mean - there is no laughter, old men sit on leather seats reading The Daily Telegraph, the bar service is dreadful and you are made to feel completely unwelcome after being asked to fork out a small fortune for the privilege of having the worst time of your life. Lighten up! Golf is meant to be fun. 

Joining Fees

I have droned on about this before and make no apologies for returning to the subject. I HATE joining fees because I simply do not understand how they can possibly be justified in any circumstances. Is it not enough that we pay an annual subscription? Is it not enough that we are probably being asked to pay over the odds for a pint of beer? Is it not enough that the pro’s shop is too expensive? 

Slow Play

I long to write this type of article and not have to include a section on slow play. I recently played a pairs Texas scramble that took five hours and 20 minutes. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t a Texas scramble meant to be quicker than a normal round of golf? Why, oh why, can club golfers not get it into their heads that they have THREE MINUTES to look for a lost ball? Why are they so reluctant to hit provisionals? Why don’t slow groups wave through quicker groups? Why on earth would a 28-handicapper line up a putt using the aim-point method? Why do so many club golfers take so long to hit the ball? Why don’t they play ready golf?

Temper Tantrums

Will somebody please take the likes of Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm to one side and tell them that their childish temper tantrums, accompanied by foul language, is utterly unacceptable? They know they are surrounded by microphones. They know they are being watched by children. They know the TV cameras are on them. There is no excuse for it.

Cost of Equipment

For the life of me, I cannot get my head around the fact that most of us are prepared to fork out in excess of £500 for a driver, a club we may use just 14 times in a round of golf. I know how much it actually costs to manufacture these clubs - and it is NOTHING like £500. We are paying for marketing, advertising, import duties etc, etc. 

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