Ready Golf Without Turning Golf Into a Race

“Ready Golf” is often introduced with the wrong picture in people’s minds.

Some hear it as an instruction to hurry between every shot. A newer golfer imagines being watched while choosing a club. An older golfer hears that their walking speed is the problem. A careful player worries that safety is being exchanged for a faster finish.

That is not what the rule says, and it is not the most useful way to improve pace.

Ready Golf is mainly about removing dead time. While one player is preparing or dealing with a difficult situation, another player who is ready and can play safely goes first. The group keeps doing sensible things in parallel instead of four people waiting in sequence.

Done well, the round feels less rushed because fewer minutes are wasted.

Start with the rules

Rule 6.4 makes an important distinction.

In stroke play, there is no penalty for playing out of turn. Players are allowed and encouraged to play Ready Golf in a safe and responsible way.

In match play, order is part of the contest. If a player plays out of turn, the opponent may cancel the stroke. The players can agree to play out of turn to save time, but one player should not simply decide that order no longer matters.

That boundary needs to be taught. A club poster saying only “play when ready” is incomplete.

Safety also comes before sequence. Ready Golf never means hitting while another player is in range, standing where a shot could endanger them or distracting somebody who is making a stroke.

The target is waiting, not walking

Many slow moments have little to do with how fast anybody moves.

• All four golfers walk to the first ball before anybody considers the next shot.
• Nobody selects a club until the previous player has finished.
• The group watches one person rake a bunker while the next safe shot could be played.
• A player marks a very short putt, steps away and waits through three more routines before returning.
• Everyone searches for one ball before playing the balls that are already found.
• Scores are discussed beside the green while the following group waits.

Ready Golf changes these small sequences.

The shorter hitter can play while the longer hitter waits for the green to clear. A player at the front of the green can chip while another walks to a ball beyond it. Someone who has finished the hole can move towards the next tee and prepare. Players can record scores at the next tee while others are getting ready, provided they remain attentive to the game.

Nobody needs to sprint. The improvement comes from overlap and preparation.

What Ready Golf does not mean

It does not mean that the first golfer to reach a ball owns the next shot. The player must still check that it is safe, that nobody is about to play and that their action will not distract another person.

It does not mean rushing a golfer through a difficult ruling, a recovery shot or a moment when they genuinely need to think.

It does not mean abandoning the group. Golfers should still help watch shots, assist with a ball search when useful and notice whether somebody needs support.

It does not mean treating every gap in front as evidence of bad behaviour. The course layout, starting interval and a bottleneck several holes earlier may be the real cause.

And it certainly does not mean identifying one type of golfer as “the slow group”. Ability, age, sex and whether somebody walks or rides are poor substitutes for observing what actually happens.

A calm group can be a quick group

The best Ready Golf groups rarely look frantic. They make quiet decisions before the moment becomes a delay.

On the tee, somebody says, “You go while I change gloves.” In the fairway, the players walk towards their own balls when it is safe rather than gathering at one. Around the green, bags and trolleys are left on the route to the next tee. The first person to finish takes care of the flagstick or moves on to prepare.

The R&A’s Pace of Play Manual gives practical examples: playing before helping with a search, letting a shorter hitter go while a longer hitter waits, putting out from a short distance and playing while the person farther away deals with a difficult shot.

These are options, not a rigid choreography. A blind shot, steep path, shared buggy or unfamiliar course can change what is sensible.

Translate the behaviour, not just the slogan

“Ready Golf” is useful international shorthand, but the English phrase does not teach the behaviour by itself.

Dansk Golf Union’s Spil med Tempo guidance combines Ready Golf with preparing while others play, thinking ahead and agreeing expectations before the round. Svenska Golfförbundet’s current Grönt Kort material describes good pace alongside safe play, consideration for others and avoiding stress.

That combination matters.

At a club with a formal beginner course, Ready Golf can be practised as part of the playing test. At a more traditional members’ club, the captain or starter may introduce it in a sentence before a competition. A resort with many visiting languages may need simple diagrams rather than a paragraph of local idiom.

The message should fit the culture, but the principle remains the same: be ready, communicate and act when it is safe.

Make it welcoming to newer golfers

New players are often told to “keep up” without being shown how.

A more useful induction gives them repeatable habits:

1. Think about the next club while walking.
2. Take more than one club when the trolley or buggy must stay away.
3. Play a provisional ball when the Rules allow it and the first may be lost outside a penalty area.
4. Leave equipment on the side of the green nearest the next tee.
5. Watch other shots so balls are easier to find.
6. Pick up in Stableford when no further point can be scored.
7. Say clearly when another player can go first.

Experienced golfers need the same reminder. Familiar routines are not automatically efficient routines.

The tone is important. A marshal saying, “The next safe player can go while you prepare” gives the group something to do. “You are behind” only describes the problem.

Teach the exceptions as carefully as the examples

Ready Golf needs judgement in several situations.

In match play, the players must agree before changing order. In foursomes, partners still play alternate shots. Near the green, a player should not act if movement or noise would distract someone. On a blind hole, the group must understand signals and clearance procedures. When a player may need help with a ruling or a search, the group should balance progress with fair assistance.

Clubs should also avoid using Ready Golf as their only pace policy. Rule 5.6 allows a committee to set a pace-of-play policy, and the R&A manual treats management, course setup and player behaviour as connected. Tight starting intervals cannot be repaired by asking every group to be “more ready”.

Measure whether the message works

A club can test Ready Golf without timing every swing.

Before a campaign, ask a small sample of members what the term means. If most answers are “play faster”, the instruction is too vague.

After teaching it, look for:

• actual first-tee departure times;
• recurring waits at early holes;
• marshal interventions and the reason for them;
• whether groups regain position after a search or ruling;
• safety concerns or complaints about feeling rushed; and
• whether newer golfers can describe two or three useful behaviours.

The aim is not to prove that one poster cut a fixed number of minutes. It is to see whether groups understand the same calm operating habit.

The fair conclusion

Ready Golf cannot turn every round into a fast round, and it should not try.

It can remove the unnecessary pauses created when players wait for permission that the Rules already give them. It can help a group recover after a small delay. It can also make golf more comfortable by replacing vague pressure with clear actions.

The word “ready” matters more than the word “fast”. Prepare while others play, communicate, take the next safe opportunity and respect the form of play.

That is not turning golf into a race. It is allowing four people to play one shared round without doing everything one at a time.

Primary sources

• The R&A: Rule 6.4, Order of Play
• The R&A: Rule 5.6, Prompt Pace of Play
• The R&A: Pace of Play Manual and resources
• The R&A: Pace of Play Manual PDF
• Dansk Golf Union: Spil med Tempo guidance for club management
• Dansk Golf Union: Six Spil med Tempo behaviours
• Svenska Golfförbundet: Grönt Kort learning material

Evidence reviewed 24 July 2026. Clubs should align local guidance with the current Rules of Golf, their form of play and the safety requirements of their own course.