Michael Conville has served as owner and president of North Palm Beach, Florida’s Beacon Construction Group since 2004. Away from work, Michael Conville enjoys playing golf.
When it comes to golfing etiquette, one of the most common issues players and parties deal with involves playing through. To play through implies that one or more golfers are permitted to interrupt another party’s hole, play on, and continue to the next hole, effectively cutting ahead of the other golfers. Playing through can happen for a variety of reasons, though it most commonly occurs when golfers ahead are playing at a much slower pace than those behind.
Playing through benefits both sides of the interaction. Faster teams are allowed to progress at their own pace, while teams being passed do not have to worry about hurrying through their shots. Golf etiquette dictates that the decision to play through should be made at the invitation of the slower team. Of course, the slower team is under no obligation to do so, and may be unable to make such an offer if the team ahead of their group is not playing exceptionally fast.
Similarly, a faster group that feels forced to request a play through should first make sure that they are consistently playing at a faster pace and that holes ahead are available to actually play through. Faster parties should be especially quick with their shots while the slower team is waiting for them to play through the shared hole.
