Golf is an individual pursuit. Unless you’re an elite player with a caddy, you head out onto the course without assistance. Standing on the first tee, it’s just you, a bag of sticks and a, seemingly, very, very small ball. It’s a great appeal of the challenge – you are in control of your sporting destiny for the day. You have the chance to succeed even if, more often than not, you will fail.
Effectively then, you play golf alone every time you go out. But not really – Most days, you’ll have your trusty playing partners with you, willing you on to hit good shots and play well… Yeah right.
But they’ll be there at least, to keep you company and share some well-meaning banter. Normally, you play in either a two, a three or a four. You might be playing an individual event where only your score counts or you may be playing a match – perhaps just against one another or maybe, if you’re in a four, a pairs game where you and a pal take on the other two in the group in a game of fourball, foursomes or some other wild and whacky format.
Can I play alone though?
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You can, of course, go out on the course by yourself. In fact, it can be a hugely enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. If the course is quiet, you can head out for 18, or even just a few holes with just your thoughts for company. It’s a peaceful and sometimes cathartic experience to expunge negative thoughts in the fresh air, smacking the sense out of a little white orb.
Playing a one-ball is perfectly allowed but beware – it can be slow going. Unless it’s quiet or the groups in front are in particularly generous mood, you could be doing a lot of standing around waiting.
The good news is that the etiquette of the game changed a number of years ago to give single players the same standing on the other course as any other group. The Player Behaviour guidance in The R&A’s Pace of Play manual simply says, “If a group cannot keep its position on the course for whatever reason, and is delaying the group behind, then it should invite the group behind to play through so that group can play at the pace it is capable of.” It doesn’t matter if that group behind is a one, two, three or four.
Can I play alone in a competition?
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Yes and no. The Rules of Golf (3.3b(1)) state that a player must be accompanied by a marker for the entire round. Generally speaking that “marker” will be a playing partner so, normally, in a strokeplay…
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