9 Things Not To Do When Watching A Pro Golf Tournament

A few tips to help you avoid spoiling your day out

Things Not To Do When Watching A Pro Golf Tournament
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Travelling to a pro tournament to see live action is one of the great experiences in golf. Here are some pointers to help you avoid spoiling your day out

9 Things Not To Do When Watching A Pro Golf Tournament

Watching live golf being played by the very best in the business is a thrilling and eye-opening experience.

Seeing first-hand the quality of the striking, the speed of the ball off the clubface, the accuracy of the short game, the surety of the putting – It’s so much more impressive up close than when viewed through a screen.

But, although it should be a guaranteed winner, there are ways you could spoil your day out at the golf.

Here are some key things not to do when you attend a professional golf tournament.

Watch it through your phone

If you’re going to watch live golf, why would you spend all day filming it or taking photos?

There’s Tommy Fleetwood, playing from an awkward lie just yards away, you’d have a tremendous view of the tricky shot, but you’re so busy wielding your phone like a rapier to try and capture a bit of shaky footage that you miss seeing it with your own eyes.

Put the phone away and watch the action you have paid to go and see.

Wear a costume

"I know what we should wear..."

Please, just don’t.

Forget sun cream

You’re going to be out in the open for a good number of hours watching pro golf.

Even if the skies aren’t totally clear, you’ll still face significant exposure.

Unless you want to end up looking like a reluctant Hell Boy, slap on the sun block.

Be hungry when you arrive

"I think the 4lb steak burger is a solid choice"

Turning up at the golf with an empty tank is a recipe for disaster – With so many greedy food options available, you’re liable to do a Homer Simpson and allow your eyes to take over from your stomach.

Three hours, a burger, hot dog, fish and chips, steak sandwich and chili chicken wrap later and the only golf you’ve managed to see was some children chipping in the “fun zone.”

You might get out on the course after you’ve had a little lie down.

Related: What you should eat before playing golf

Visit the merchandising tent without a clear objective

Go on... you know you want it

Very, very dangerous. People have been known to bankrupt themselves within 25 minutes in a cleverly laid-out golf tournament merchandising facility.

Particularly beware of the one that offers free home delivery or provides supermarket style trolleys at the entrance.

Get drunk

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Although tempting on a nice day at the golf to enjoy a few bevvies, don’t let it get too far.

You don’t want to miss the afternoon’s action because you’re vomiting in the First Aid Tent.

Nor do you want to find yourself stumbling blindly over fairways with projectiles coming from all angles whilst being shouted at by marshals and caddies – a thing of nightmares.

Related: How to play golf with a hangover

Shout “Get in the hole” or other inanities

Probably relating to the above point – It’s not cool and it’s not clever.

Has anyone ever been patted on the back and hailed as a comedy genius for shouting “mashed potatoes” when Charles Howell III plays out of a bunker sideways? …. No.

Streak

Also related to the point two above this one… As this video demonstrates – it’s a poor idea:

See more

Be precious about “your spot”

Golf spectators

Golf spectators

There are always good vantage points at the golf, but you have to be prepared to move around a little to get the very clearest view.

If you stand resolutely in the same place, you’re always liable to find something gets in your way – a roving reporter or bunker raker for instance.

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Don’t be that pillock picked up on the TV mics shouting, “Oi you, get out the way, I’ve been standing here for four hours waiting to see Paul Broadhurst!”

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?