Every semester, Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy students give back to their home golf training facility by volunteering their time working on the golf course! Last Friday, even with the raining coming down, GGGA Full-Time Program Students canceled training to care for the practice facilities and holes on both Las Colinas and El Campeon golf courses.

Students spent their time filling divots on the fairway with a sand mixture and repairing ball marks on the greens. “This is an opportunity for the students to show how much they care about their training facilities,” says Bryan Mulry, Senior Coach at GGGA. “This is another demonstration of our student’s professionalism and integrity.”  

Every golfer has a responsibility to take care of the courses that they play on.  

Here are 10 simple golf course etiquette rules to follow:

1. Beware of wet roads. Don’t drive your golf cart onto soggy fairways – the cart will leave deep grooves on this wet terrain, which can affect the playability of the fairway. The grooves can alter the course of a landing or rolling golf ball.
2. Be careful on the greens.  Players should ensure that no damage is done to the putting green when putting down bags or the flagstick.
3. Fix your divots. Leaving them behind can cause a lot of damage to the course, so it’s important etiquette for golfers to repair their divots as they happen. Retrieve and replace the sod by pressing them back down into the divot.
4. Not overfilling trash containers prevents trash from blowing across the course.  Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.  
5. Don’t leave your tee behind. Once you’ve hit your drive, don’t forget to pick up your tee and dispose of it properly, rather than leaving it on the teeing ground. If you’ve broken your tee, make sure to pick up all of the pieces.
6. Often good golf shots are accompanied by a solid divot. Good practice shots, however, are not. A golf course takes enough of a beating during the season that when taking a practice swing it is expected that no divot is taken.
7. Always repair your ball marks on the green.  Be sure to have a repair tool in your pocket ready to go.
8. Enter the bunker from the low side. The edges of bunkers can be easily damaged, so always enter from the low side closest to your ball. Never walk on the steep face of the bunker unless it is absolutely necessary.
9. Ropes are a necessary evil on every course that receives heavy play. Do – Pay attention to ropes and the areas they are intended to protect. Don’t – Don’t step on the rope – step over it.
10. Leave no trace. Bring a rake into the bunker with you, and make sure to rake the area after you’ve taken your shot. You should be aiming to leave no footprints or other marks behind. Leave the rake outside of the bunker when you leave.