We’re told there are more golfers than ever before and there are fewer barriers when it comes to joining clubs.
It has been boom time for golf since Covid but has the influx of new blood brought questions around rules, etiquette and safety more sharply into focus?
Do players understand the rules of the game and are they up to speed with how to act on the golf course?
If concerns around pace of play, pitch marks, and raking bunkers are any judge, we’ve got a road to travel.
So could a golf club test be the answer? Should players have to sit an assessment before they are allowed to play on a golf course?
You might think this is fantasy stuff – and we’re a long way from the old days of stringent golf club interviews and playing assessments at all but the most elite of clubs.
But as Tom Irwin revealed to me on an episode of The NCG Golf Podcast, in Germany it is par for the course.
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To play on lots of layouts there, you need to obtain a Platzreife – loosely translated as “course permit” – and it’s pretty detailed.
You sit a written test that evaluates your knowledge of etiquette and the rules and you also must undergo a practical examination that asks you to demonstrate basic skills, such as putting and chipping.
Then you must play a round, accompanied by a professional, and you have to stay within a scoring threshold.
Pass all three and you get a certificate and the chance to join a club and gain a handicap.
Irwin explained: “I think it’s amazing this already exists. It’s the sort of thing I can imagine a died in the wool golf club member saying – ‘people should have to take a bloody test to play here. Shouldn’t be letting these people on the course so they can do X, Y, and Z.”
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He added: “I think what people’s natural reaction to this would be is ‘it’s elitist. It’s ridiculous. You should be able to go and do it if you want to go and do it’.
“It’s all very well and good to have that opinion, but the reality is it is highly likely that if you’re not competent – and I mean competent in terms of knowing where to stand, knowing how to move around, what to do with the flag, the fact you have to rake a bunker, that you should let people who are moving faster than you through – your experience on most golf courses is going to be really stressful.”
Irwin continued: “If you’re trying to say, what is the best argument for this test – why is it a good thing? – it’s to try and give new people a good experience when they enter a proper golf environment, because there is a massive difference between whacking away at a driving range, or hitting balls into a simulator, then there is out there in the wild among people. If that experience isn’t positive, it’s very easy to be put off.”
Golf club test: Is a test the answer – or is there another way?
I’ve been arguing for a while that golfers who take part in competitions should be able to prove they know the main ‘playing rules’ – how to drop a ball, take penalty area relief, declare a provisional, use unplayable ball relief and so on.
The R&A already provides its free Rules Academy, which takes up an evening – if you do it in one go – and culminates with players able to take the Level 1 exam.
Those who pass are given a certificate, and just like that minority of clubs that still asks to see evidence of a handicap, I’d make players present that to club chiefs when playing their first event to show they have a basic level of competency.
The current rules knowledge out there in club land is patchy and I’ve seen things on the course from otherwise experienced golfers that have genuinely made me cringe.
Demanding players have rudimentary rules knowledge to play in competitions would at least bring consistency out on the course.
I’d go further for those who sit on committees and are adjudicating rules decisions. England Golf’s Club Rules ambassador programme has made an impressive start in helping staff and committee members to get the knowledge they need.
I’d make that a mandatory requirement for those tasked with making rules decisions on committees.
Would I go so far as to set out a comprehensive test system like the German method? I can see some advantages.
Drilling etiquette and rules messages into players from an early stage is attractive and safety is something that often feels to me to be overlooked when players are really getting into the game.
Having been hit with a golf ball, and yet having never been through any formal education about how to play safely on the course – outside of shouting ‘fore’, I can absolutely see the merit
The Platzreife comes at a cost, a quick internet search reveals figures ranging from 250 euros to intensive week-long hotel stays that are closer to 1,000.
Some might argue that just puts up another barrier for a sport which already has a reputation for being very expensive.
But with many golfers grumbling about declining standards, would introducing a formal assessment be a way of turning the tide?
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Now have your say
What do you think? Would you be willing to take a golf club test? How would clubs facilitate it? Would it help solve some of the ills around etiquette? Let us know in the comments, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com, or get it touch on X.
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