Asked On Reddit: What Golf Trend Can’t You Stand?

We all love golf around here but that doesn’t mean we can’t complain about it.

A Reddit user recently posed a simple question: What is a golf trend you can’t stand?

And, boy, are there some golf trends a lot of us can’t stand. Here are the top answers on that thread.

Playing music way too loudly on the course

The most offered answer had to do with playing music on the course.

While some users conceded that music was acceptable if played at a reasonable volume, a large swath of golfers are fed up with music in general.

“It’s been an epidemic (usually country music no less) in the States for about a decade now,” one user said.

The general consensus is that we can all come to a happy medium with music.

“If it is only heard in your close vicinity, rock away,” wrote one commenter. “If I can hear it from across the fairway, turn it down.”

Sean’s Take: Music on the course is fine if it’s at a decent volume. The group one hole over shouldn’t be able to hear it. If you don’t want to listen to music, you shouldn’t be forced to by another group.

I prefer silence. Modern life is already noisy. I like getting out in the peace and quiet.

Tee times every seven minutes

The most up-voted answer was that courses are squeezing in too many golfers by putting tee times only a handful of minutes apart.

“Somewhere on the front or back nine, there’s a group of four piling up waiting to tee off because of it,” someone wrote.

This is not necessarily a new problem but the pandemic exacerbated this issue when demand increased. That leads to more traffic jams and longer rounds.

Several people also commented on how courses will put tee times closer together and then blame the golfers for not being fast enough or following pace of play guidelines.

“My old course did this,” a user wrote. “We wanted nine or even 10 (minutes apart) but the corporation said no because more tee times. Then we get complaints about slow play. Corp would email us saying why are you not enforcing pace of play.”

It’s a vicious cycle.

Sean’s Take: Many courses have become greedy by jamming tee times. The proper spacing for tee times is a minimum of nine minutes apart. These facilities lose out in the long run because people won’t come back if the experience is bad.

Twilight rates disappearing

This comment got a lot of traction. It falls under the category of courses changing their pricing models to where tee times later in the day are not necessarily cheaper than earlier times—or if they are, the discount isn’t as helpful.

“Courses that implement dynamic pricing in order to ‘improve the golfers’ experience’ can f— all the way off,” one user wrote.

Many lamented the inability to find a cheap round of golf later in the day.

“I had a course around me growing up that was $15 all you could play after 3 p.m.,” another wrote. “Summers were spent playing as much as we could. Now I can’t find a tee time for less than $70.”

Tee time pricing has been a hot topic recently. Courses near me that used to charge $50 are now above $75. And, rest assured, the condition has not improved to justify the increase.

Sean’s Take: This one is very dependent on where you live. There are still many courses that offer reasonable rates later in the day.

One thing I don’t see much of is nicer courses offering significant junior discounts for weekday afternoons. Growing up, I paid $10 to walk as much as I wanted. And the course was a PGA Tour host. All I had to do was take an etiquette test beforehand. I don’t see those types of discounts anymore.

Golfers not fixing their ball marks

This one isn’t necessarily a new trend but I think it’s worth pointing out given the influx of newcomers to the game.

A ton of golfers either don’t know about fixing ball marks or don’t know how to fix them which leads to green conditions deteriorating.

“You should be excited to fix it,” one commenter wrote. “It means you hit a good shot into the green. It’s not just muni tracks. I played a multiple-major-hosting private club on the weekend and the greens had dozens of ball marks. If you fix it immediately, it heals in hours. If it doesn’t get fixed immediately, it can take weeks to heal.”

Well said. Everyone should fix their ball marks. And if you are playing with a new golfer, teach them how to do it.

Sean’s Take: My rule is that I always try to fix more ball marks than I make during a round of golf. If I hit six greens and only make that many ball marks, then I’ll try to fix at least seven marks.

You can take this a step further by always fixing at least one ball mark (regardless of whether you made one yourself) when you come up to the green. I try to do this but end up forgetting.

Either way, I think this has become a bigger issue and is definitely an annoying trend.

Watching YouTube lessons instead of getting real instruction

Oh, now we’re talking.

Not to suggest that golfers don’t take lessons, because they do. However, there is a growing faction of people who believe that YouTube lessons are just as effective as personalized instruction on the range.

“Videos like that can be good to tell you what to do with your body but they can’t watch you try to do it, then tell you where you’re messing up,” someone wrote. “Only lessons can do that.”

While YouTube lessons can be very informative and helpful, sometimes they lead to golfers self-diagnosing themselves with an issue they don’t even have.

“You need to know what your issue is in the first place,” a user said. “I’ve seen so many people working on s— that isn’t their major flaw and they get even more messed up.”

Sean’s Take: Nothing can replace the value of in-person instruction. However, you need to be actively working on your game for this to matter. As a former coach, I can’t tell you the amount of people who took a lesson from me, did nothing for two weeks and then came back for a lesson only to repeat the exact mistakes from two weeks ago.

YouTube golf is a powerful tool but it’s easy to go down a rabbit hole. You have to understand your swing first, because not every tip is going to be helpful.

What trends are you seeing in golf that drive you nuts?

Let me know below in the comments.