Call ahead to make a tee time

Good Day Golfers.

This week’s question comes from Susan in Shoreline. During her golf lesson last week, Susan asked about what to do to get onto a golf course and play golf.

Since she was a complete beginner, she had never been on a course before and none of her friends had any advice for her. I thought this topic would be a great help for others out there with the same issue. There is etiquette to getting onto a golf course.

You can either make a tee time or show up and get worked in. Tee times are the way to go. Just call the course and ask for a tee time when you would like to play. They will give you one that is closest to your request.

You can make a tee time for between two and four players. Most courses don’t allow 5-somes and most don’t take tee times for single players.

An issue that comes up quite often is when a single player or a group less that four wants to play without anyone else being paired with them. Courses will definitely try to accommodate when they can, however during busy times, courses will always pair up to maximize the tee sheet.

When you go to a course as a single or a 2-some, expect to play with other people. If you are adamant about playing by yourself then you need to find a time that is really slow, early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Otherwise, courses will look to pair you up with other groups. It is not good course management to have a bunch of singles out there playing by themselves when it would be a better use of the tee sheet to have them play together. The other way to get on to the course would be to show up and be worked in off the waiting list.

This can be a hit or miss proposition. Sometimes you can get right in and sometimes you can wait for an hour. If you are planning to show up without a tee time, my advice is always to call the course and ask what is going on. For instance, is there a tournament going on, or have they aerified the greens yet? It is not a good feeling to show up at a course excited to play only to find out that there is a tournament and you can’t get on the course.

In these technological times, you can easily find the phone numbers to most courses. Call ahead and save yourself some frustration. Keep your questions coming.

Tyrone Hardy is co-owner of Hardy Golf LLC. and Director of Golf at Ballinger Lake GC and Gleneagle GC. E-mail him at: tyroneh@ballingerlakegolf.com