The cardinal sin you should never commit on a golf course – and how to be an angel of the fairways

Features

James Richardson
November 13, 2023

If there is one thing that needs to be stamped out of golf courses around the world it is the practice of not handing in found clubs, which many will rightly point out is also called stealing.

No matter what level of negligence the owner has shown that has led to you finding the club it is never okay to pop that club into your own bag and assume it as your own.

The angels of the fairways are those who go out of their way to return the most often lost clubs, wedges.

Lost wedges are known to turn up all over golf courses after getting their owner out of a bind that even the course designer didn’t anticipate.

Seeing someone leave their wedge lying is certainly not an opportunity to expand your bag. Alerting them to the discarded club should be your first course of action and failing that the club could be retrieved and given to either the party that lost it or at the clubhouse.

Many golfers have felt that horrible sinking feeling of realising there is a club short in your bag – and the cost of the club isn’t always the only factor: all ranges and abilities of players will have clubs that they really like to play with and a favourite club becomes an extension of the player.

A well-used and faithful wedge is often what you would count as one of these.

St Andre Golf’s stirring tribute to returned wedges should remind us all of the spirit of golf.

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For the forgetful player, getting stickers with your name and contact information on them to put on your clubs might also be a sound investment.

Some players have also found that developing a routine around storing your wedge before putting.

Anyone who goes out of their way to return a club is a credit to the sport of golf and the human race.

It’s like getting a present when a misplaced club is found and returned. Losing one is really depressing, but receiving one back makes almost everyone very happy. At the turn or at the conclusion of your round, please turn in any golf clubs you may discover on the course to the pro shop. You never know when someone will pay you back the courtesy.

The other thing to remember is that most lost clubs are lost due to your negligence and you shouldn’t go taking that out on your fellow golfers or the course staff.