Golf Is Booming. Is Its Soul Keeping Up?

Golf has never been busier. Tee sheets are full, simulator bays are booked solid, and a whole new generation has fallen for this game over the last few years. By almost every measure, that’s good news for the sport.

But spend any time in r/golf1, or in the grill room after a round, and you’ll hear a different conversation  underneath the good news — one about etiquette slipping, rounds running long, and small on-course annoyances piling up into real frustration. This isn’t a takedown of new players, and it isn’t nostalgia for some “good old days” that never quite existed. It’s a real conversation happening inside the community right now, and we think it’s worth having out loud.

Here’s what golfers are actually saying — and why a little more awareness might be the simplest fix.

The etiquette gap is real — and it’s not really about blame

One longtime club member put it bluntly: “Etiquette was always hammered in… yet it’s the worst I’ve ever seen from an etiquette perspective.”

Golf’s growth since 2020 brought enormous energy to the game — and it outpaced the informal mentorship that used to teach new players the unwritten rules: how to repair a divot, where to stand, when to stay quiet. Etiquette has always been passed down on the course, one round at a time, by a patient playing partner willing to explain it. When tee sheets are packed end to end, that informal apprenticeship has less room to happen. The result isn’t really a new-player problem — it’s a missing-mentor problem, and it’s one every experienced golfer has some power to fix.

Slow play isn’t just a beginner issue

It’s tempting to pin slow rounds on newer players still finding their swing, but the community pushes back on that, too. As one commenter noted: “It’s not solely new players making rounds take forever… the good players literally would not give up looking for a ball.”

Perfectionism among experienced players — refusing to take a drop, re-reading every putt from three angles — eats just as much time as a beginner still learning the game. Pace of play is a shared responsibility across every skill level, not a beginner tax.

The little things add up

Loud speakers, sunflower seed shells, smoke drifting across the next tee box — none of it is usually malicious, but it’s called out again and again: “Music on the course… loud music has no place on the golf course.”

Most of these moments come down to one missing question: would this bother the group ahead of me? A quick gut check before the speaker comes out, or before the shells start flying, fixes more rounds than any rule book could.

Inclusivity vs. gatekeeping: the debate golf can’t avoid

The thorniest part of this conversation is the one without a clean answer. Some longtime players argue that courses need firmer standards — on pace, on etiquette, on readiness — to protect everyone’s experience. Others push back hard, as one commenter did: “A beginner’s money is as good as your money. Stupid thing to say.”

Both sides have a point worth sitting with. Gatekeeping newcomers off courses or out of conversations doesn’t make the game better — it just makes it smaller, and every long-time player was a beginner once. But pretending standards don’t matter ignores that a slow, disorganized round is frustrating for the beginner in that group just as much as for the scratch golfer behind them. The real fix probably isn’t growth or standards — it’s growth and onboarding, access and a little more teaching along the way.

A gentle reminder

None of this requires a rulebook crackdown. It just asks something simple: the next time you’re paired with someone new, take the extra ten seconds to show them — not tell them — what good etiquette looks like. The game’s rhythm, its quiet courtesy between groups, its patience — none of that is automatic. It’s taught and modeled, round after round, by people who still remember someone doing the same for them.

If you’re easing a newer golfer into the game, a simulator bay is a low-pressure place to learn the pace, the rules, and the rhythm of a round before they ever step on a tee box — no gallery, no pressure, no one waiting behind them.

Golf’s growth is a gift. Let’s make sure what made us fall for it in the first place grows right along with it.

Share this with your regular foursome — what’s the one piece of etiquette you wish every golfer knew?

If you're eager to embark on your own journey through golf, exploring its depths and gaining insights into intentional life practices, visit Conscious Golfer for more enriching content and a community that shares your passion.

1 r/golf = Reddit Golf community (subreddit)