Stop waiting for your slow partner: The rule that lets you play before anyone else
If you've ever been standing in the fairway, ready to hit, while your playing partner spends 3 minutes choosing a club 200 metres from the green... the modern rules are on your side. "Ready Golf" has gone from a polite suggestion to a fundamental part of the Rules of Golf.
What Exactly is Ready Golf?
The concept is simple: play when you're ready, as long as it's safe and you don't disturb anyone. Rule 6.4b(2) makes it clear: in Stroke Play, the order of play is just a recommendation, not an obligation.
This means:
- You don't need to be the furthest from the hole to play first.
- You don't need permission from your fellow competitors to hit.
- You do need to make sure nobody is in your line of play and that it's safe.
The 40-Second Hack
The Rules of Golf recommend making your stroke in no more than 40 seconds from the moment you can play without interfering with or distracting others.
Sounds tight, but the data backs it up:
- The average player takes between 60 and 90 seconds per stroke.
- If each player saves 20 seconds per stroke over a 90-stroke round, that's 30 minutes saved per player.
- Across a full course, that can mean up to 2 fewer hours of accumulated waiting.
Committees can impose slow play penalties, including penalty strokes and even disqualification in extreme cases.
5 Situations Where You MUST Apply Ready Golf
- Your partner is searching for their ball in the rough: Don't stand and watch. If your ball is in the fairway, play.
- One player has a long putt and another has a short one: The player with the short putt can hole out while the other reads their line.
- You're on the tee and the group ahead is out of range: Don't wait for your partner to finish scoring. Hit your drive.
- Your ball is closer to the hole but you're ready: If your partner is on the other side of the green deliberating, play your chip.
- On short par 3s: If your ball is on the green and your partner is in the bunker, putt out.
The "Out of Turn" Myth
In Stroke Play, there is no penalty for playing out of turn. This surprises many old-school golfers. The traditional order of play (honour on the tee, furthest plays first) is just a social convention, not a penalisable rule.
The only exception: in Match Play, if you play out of turn, your opponent can cancel your stroke and make you replay it. But this is the opponent's option, not an automatic penalty.
Getting Your Group on the Same Page
The biggest barrier to Ready Golf isn't ignorance of the rule — it's social inertia. Players hesitate to play out of turn because it feels rude, even when it isn't.
The simplest fix: at the first tee, before anyone hits, say: "Shall we play ready golf throughout?" In most groups, everyone agrees immediately. Once the agreement is explicit, nobody second-guesses themselves on hole 12.
A few practical defaults that smooth the agreement:
- On the green, the player who is ready should putt — there's no need to wait for everyone to mark and read simultaneously. The decision about when to mark carries its own rules weight: leaving your ball near the hole unmarked while a partner plays an approach is the practice known as backstopping, and the line between a casual oversight and a disqualification offence turns entirely on whether any prior agreement was made.
- On the tee, honours can still apply on the first hole if your group prefers the tradition; Ready Golf takes over from there.
- When in doubt, simply say: "I'm ready, I'll go." One sentence removes all ambiguity and keeps the group moving.
The 40-second clock starts the moment you can play without disturbing others — not when you subjectively feel ready. Make the agreement explicit on the first tee, and that clock starts working for your group instead of against it — saving 20–30 minutes off a typical fourball round without any feeling of being rushed.
Lazar Tip: Pace of play is everyone's responsibility. A 4-hour round is achievable if every player adopts Ready Golf. If you're unsure about any penalty, take a photo of the situation with Lazar for instant clarity.