When you start playing golf it is your responsibility to be a safe and intelligent player. The clubs and balls you will be using are very hard and can easily cause serious injury or worse.
To make sure that your golf is safe as well as enjoyable, there are a few basic things to remember:
1. Before you hit, turn around completely so that you know exactly where everyone is.
2. Don’t even make a practise swing if there is anyone within three club-length of you in any direction.
3. Don’t hit if there are people in front of you. Ask them to move, or wait until they are out of range of your best shot.
4. Check to make sure there are no obstacles that can deflect or rebound your ball back at yourself or other people. Brett Ogle, who is a very good player, once put himself out of action for several months when he hit a shot into a tree trunk of a tree. The ball came straight back at him like a bullet and smashed his knee.
5. Check to see where your clubhead will go after it has made contact with the ball. If you are up against a tree, a wall or something hard, you can injure yourself if the club stops quickly. You can also damage your club.
If, after observing all these rules, you still play a shot that looks as if it could hit someone, you must yell FORE! as loudly as you can. This will give them a warning that there is a ball out of control and headed their way.