Now we continue with a discussion in etiquette. We've spoken of noise issues and we've spoke about behavior at the tee, now we will talk about progression through the course and playing with others.

That's an expression that we've often heard growing up, whether someone plays well with others. That is important in life in general, as we are all playing in one big sandbox, as it were, but in golf it can be important for several reasons. There are others on the course, something that can be easy to forget when you are focusing on your game and trying to push out the distractions from everyone else.

We spoke of quiet before, but when hitting a ball into an area where you know a party ahead of you is, it's polite to give a warning. Of course, I refer to the golf classic, 'Fore!'. While it could be construed as a distraction of sorts, remember that a ball hurtling through the air and landing in the midst of a playing group can be, at best, a distraction. At worse, it could strike someone at injure or even kill them.

Pacing your play can keep much of this from being an issue. The problem can come when the group ahead of you takes extra practice swings or are playing around rather than playing a round of golf. At the same time, you have the same responsibility to the team behind you. You should race through the course, worrying about staying ahead of the team behind you. They have the same responsibility you do: play while keeping a respectable distance behind the team ahead of them.

It should not need to be said that deliberately aiming a ball at the team in front of you is not acceptable. It should not, but sadly will likely need to be pointed out.

There are rules about playing through and as I've been reading around the Net to see what others have said about this topic, I've seen various ideas on how to best handle this. In the end, playing through really just tells the team ahead of you that you are impatient. You have to ask and will likely be told no. Realistically, when you start to feel the need to play through, flag down the refreshment cart, have a soda, have a beer, whatever your preference and availability combine to allow, then move on. Remember, unless you're getting paid, that's a game. Enjoy it.

One other minor thing to bring up: care of the course. Fixing divots takes time and means you have to get on your knees and use your hands. Just do it. If you replant a divot in the fairway quick enough, most of the time, the grass will continue to grow and you will have saved the groundskeeper some time. It also means that you will have saved someone else from having to shoot out of the hole you've made.

Bunkers have some of the same concerns. While you cannot play in the sand to see how the conditions are, you are allowed to move your shoes to settle in. This leaves dimples where your ball landed, where you stepped and deeper ones where you were settling in to make your shot. Rake the bunker, move on and don't climb the wall. You can make the bunker worse by going out on the high side.

Overall etiquette in progression through each hole is simple. There are only a few areas that seem to trip players up. Hopefully, this will keep you from falling into those traps.