Previously, we spoke about the general rules of etiquette when on the course. Some of you may have said, 'Hey, I know to be quiet!' Bear in mind, not all of us were raised to use common sense, so the refresher might be useful for some.

The next may bring some things that just might not come to mind. To begin, let's begin at the beginning of the hole: the tee. The is a little debate as to what would constitute the tee area, the place where a golfer is in charge of the opening shot for his round. The general consensus seems to fall in the area between the tee markers and two club lengths back.

This is the zen area for the golfer. Silence, of course, is a must. Also is space. When you are lining up a shot, the last thing you or any other golfer would want is a person standing on top of them, eying them, watching their movements. You can just feel the person's eyes boring into you, nudging at you, rushing you and then...you hit wrong. Your ball is off to the right or the left or just falls off the tee and rolls a few feet forward. And then you have no option but to beat the person with your club, getting banned from the course and probably sentenced to some time in a nice eight by eight room (for those not familiar with the geometry, this is a jail cell.)

While the example above may seem to be an exaggeration, remember, movements and sounds have the same effect. A minigolf course on a cruise ship was used as an example where the player was disturbed by a ship's horn going off, making him miss the shot. While humorous in the commercial, it would not be in real life.

An easy way to keep motion from triggering a false shot is to stand behind the player, keeping out of their line of sight. Stay silent as they make their practice swing, then watch the ball as it sails away. This could be helpful to them and to you, for if they lose the ball in the sun and you see where it lands, the game can progress. Plus, the favor might be returned at a later time.

Finally, treat the tee as though you have to take care of it yourself. If you were the groundskeeper, would you want to have to fill in ruts from golf carts who parked on the tee? And just moving the cart away from the tee isn't enough, either. Markers are moved on occasion, to allow the grass time to grow and heal from being trampled. You may be putting ruts on a future location for the tee ground and then made the game that much more difficult for you and your fellow players.

All in all, etiquette on the tee is fairly simple and common sense, when you take the time to think of the welfare and game of the others around you. Next time, we'll talk about moving around the course and how to do so in a manner polite to your fellow golfers.