Before you tee off

Get to the course twenty or thirty minutes before your tee time. Check in at the shop, pay, and find out whether carts are path-only today. Hit a few putts. Be standing on the first tee five minutes early with a ball, a tee, a glove and a marker in your pocket, because the group behind you has a tee time too.

Introduce yourself if you've been paired with strangers. Most of the best rounds I've played were with people I met on the first tee. Ask what tees they're playing and what format, and if they're betting, you don't have to join in.

Pace of play

This is the one that matters. A slow group ruins the day for everyone behind it, and the course behind a four-and-a-half-hour group is a line of people checking their watches.

• Play ready golf. Whoever's ready and safe hits. Honors are for competitions.
• Be ready when it's your turn. Pick your club and read your putt while others are hitting, not after.
• Walk to your own ball, not to your partner's and then to yours. In a cart, drop your partner at their ball and drive on to yours.
• Limit the search. The rules give you three minutes. Give it one if there's a group behind you, then drop and play on.
• Pick up when you're out of the hole. In a casual round, once you've hit double par, pocket the ball and write down a number.
• Let faster groups through. If there's open space ahead of you and a group waiting behind, wave them up on the next tee. It costs you five minutes and buys you a relaxed back nine.
• Leave the green when you've holed out. Write the scores down on the next tee, not standing on the green.

An average 18-hole round on a US public course runs a bit over four hours. Four is a good target for a foursome. Under three and a half for two players walking.

Where to stand, and when to shut up

When someone's hitting, stand still, stay quiet, and keep out of their eyeline. That means not directly behind the ball, not directly behind the hole on the green, and not where your shadow falls across their ball or their line. The spot that's always safe is off to the side, facing them, a few yards back.

Phones on silent. No talking during anyone's backswing, including a whisper to the person next to you. Don't rattle clubs or tear a glove open while someone's over the ball. If a group on another hole is hitting toward you, wait.

Don't give swing advice unless someone asks. Even then, go easy.

Looking after the course

• Divots. If the course gives you a bottle of sand on the cart, fill the hole. If not, pick up the turf and press it back in. On a par-3 tee, use the sand.
• Pitch marks. Fix yours on every green and one more that someone else left. Push the edges in toward the middle with a repair tool or a tee, don't lift the center. A fixed pitch mark heals in days. An unfixed one takes weeks.
• Bunkers. Walk in from the low side, never down the steep face. After your shot, rake your footprints and the crater, then leave the rake where the course wants it, which is usually outside the bunker, handle parallel to the fairway.
• Carts. Stay on the path near tees and greens, keep the cart at least thirty yards from any green, and follow the 90-degree rule when it's in force: drive the path until you're level with your ball, then straight across the fairway and back. Never drive through a wet area or across a tee box.
• On the green. Don't drag your feet, don't lean on your putter, and don't drop the flagstick on the surface. Lay it down gently off the green or on the fringe.

On the putting green

Everyone's line is the invisible path from their ball to the hole, and it extends a couple of feet past the hole too. Don't step on anyone's line. Step over it or walk around.

Mark your ball if it's anywhere near someone else's line, even if they don't ask. Offer to tend the flagstick for a long putt and take it out once they've hit, or leave it in if they want it in. Since 2019 either is allowed. The farthest ball from the hole putts first, but if you've got a tap-in and it saves time, ask if you can finish.

Don't stand directly behind someone on their line while they putt. It's distracting and some people consider it a way of stealing their read.

Fore

If your ball is heading anywhere near another human, yell "fore" immediately and loudly. Add a direction if you can: "fore right." Don't wait to see where it lands. Nobody has ever been annoyed by a fore that turned out to be unnecessary. Plenty of people have been hit by a ball nobody called.

If you hear it, cover your head with your arms and turn away. Don't look up to find the ball.

Dress

Most public courses in the US ask for a collared or golf-style shirt and no denim, and private clubs are stricter. Soft-spiked or spikeless shoes, or sneakers if the course allows them. Hats off indoors at traditional clubs. When in doubt, call the shop and ask. It's a normal question and they'd rather answer it than turn you away.

Filming at the range

Range etiquette is simpler. Stay in your own bay, don't rake balls across your neighbor's hitting line, and don't film other people. If you're filming your own swing, set the phone up behind your own mat, inside your bay, where nobody has to walk around it. Ten to fifteen feet back on the line to the target is enough, and that's about the depth of most bays. The setup is in how to film your golf swing with an iPhone, and the rest of how to spend a bucket is in how to practice at the driving range.

After the round

Shake hands or bump fists on the 18th green and thank the group. Settle any bets right away. If someone cleaned your clubs or brought the cart round, a few dollars is normal. And post your score if you keep a handicap, good or bad.

Common questions

Is it rude to play alone or to join a group of strangers?

Neither. Singles get paired up with twos and threes all the time, and most golfers enjoy it. If you're alone and want to stay alone, go off at a quiet time and let groups through.

Can I play music from a speaker?

Only if everyone in your group is fine with it, and keep it quiet enough that the group on the next fairway can't hear it. Some courses ban speakers outright. Ask before you turn it on.

Should I keep score my first time out?

If you want to. Nobody else cares. What they care about is that you keep up, so pick up when you're out of the hole and move along. The rules that will come up are in golf rules for beginners.

What do I do if I'm the slow one?

Play ready golf, take one practice swing instead of three, and pick up on blow-up holes. If the group behind is still on your heels, wave them through on the next tee. Being the slow group isn't a crime. Refusing to fix it is.