\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of rituals and things you take for granted as someone who has spent your time around golf your whole life\u201d, Irwin said. \u201cYou forget you\u2019ve learned them because you\u2019ve known them so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
But shepherding his son who is starting his journey in the sport, and watching a lot of junior golf, he wonders if some time-honoured traditions are starting to unravel \u2013 mainly through a lack of knowledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot aggressive pushing of trolleys, throwing of clubs, kicking of balls off the green, whacking balls off the green when it\u2019s gone badly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of swapping scorecards and then checking scores at the end is almost a thing of the past because of the use of apps.\u201d <\/p>\n
NOW LISTEN TO THE NCG GOLF PODCAST<\/p>\n
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Apple Podcasts:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n Spotify:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n Amazon Music:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n Is it etiquette at golf clubs starting to break down?<\/p>\n These small moments matter, Irwin believes. \u201cThere\u2019s way more responsibility in having to hand a card over to someone and then go through the scores,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cNowadays it\u2019s all on an app and you say \u2018yes, this person attested it\u2019, but whether they did or they didn\u2019t is totally up for grabs.\u201d<\/p>\n If Irwin\u2019s fears are becoming reality, who bears the responsibility? Golf has put in the hard yards trying to make the sport more welcoming.<\/p>\n The interviews have all but disappeared outside of the very top clubs. Dress codes have relaxed and becoming a member has become much easier. These are all changes that have made golf a more accessible sport.<\/p>\n But did we also lose something when flinging open the doors? While the grilling of a new applicant in front of a panel of Committee members definitely had the whiff of elitism about it, they also provided a chance to explain expectations \u2013 to set out standards.<\/p>\n I\u2019m certainly not advocating their return, but can member packs fill the void of knowledge that comes in a face-to-face conversation?<\/p>\n Should new member nights really be about ironing out minor etiquette breaches: players walking in your line, or walking off the green before you\u2019ve even finished out, golfers in eyelines, or conversations that continue during shots?<\/p>\n These will be familiar to many of you, and none of them are driven by malice. But they\u2019re little irritations that seem just part of the game now.<\/p>\n That\u2019s before you get into the big-hitting issues of playing faster groups through, raking bunkers, and shouting fore.<\/p>\n We see some of this happening at the very top level with players chucking clubs and spectators actively rooting against competitors. These become viral moments, with aggregation making such acts seem acceptable in the eyes of a wider audience.<\/p>\n When those examples meet golfers who haven\u2019t been properly taught the game\u2019s traditions, it can transfer to our own clubs.<\/p>\n So can they become educators again? I\u2019ve very clearly said \u2013 many times \u2013 I don\u2019t think players should be allowed to play in competitions if they haven\u2019t passed a basic Rules of Golf exam<\/a>.<\/p>\n We play a sport where we\u2019re asked to referee and regulate ourselves. Could we make more of an effort to ensure golfers understand rules and etiquette?<\/p>\n Or are we content to dismantle the game\u2019s framework? \u201cLet us score on our phones, let us wear what we want, let us like behave how we want,\u201d said Irwin. \u201cGolf should be fun. It\u2019s a place of loud music, and all the rest of it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you say, \u2018yes, that\u2019s how it should be\u2019. But I think we\u2019re closely getting to the thin edge of the wedge now where you can\u2019t put the genie back in the bottle. I think it\u2019s a shame for the sport because what used to be virtues is now \u2018we\u2019re just as bad as everyone else\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cYou\u2019re left with very little framework and what used to be the fabric that held the whole thing together. [Now] It\u2019s like, well, what\u2019s left?\u201d<\/p>\n Now have your say on etiquette<\/p>\n What do you make of our etiquette argument? Is the game in danger of fracturing when it comes to player standards? What examples have you seen at your own clubs? Let us know in the comments, or get in touch on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joining a golf club wasn\u2019t always a transaction. It used to be a life lesson too. You learned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-659541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Footprints](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AdobeStock_91089584-1024x683.jpeg\")
Footprints in a bunker | Source: NCG <\/p>\n