When should you shout "Fore"?

[MadAdey]

Whenever you hit a ball in the vicinity of anyone.

From what I understand it is a grey area of the law, but a shout of fore being a recognised warning on a golf course can help with any liability.

If player is on the same hole as you wether playing it, or playing a wayward shot back to his hole you will be held liable if you hit him with a ball. It does not matter if you shout fore or not, you have not acted in a way to prevent injury to another person on the course.

if you hit a wayward shot towards another hole and you try to alert them to the best of your ability, then you are not responsible if they get hit.

Being on a golf course everyone has to accept some kind of responsibility for their own safety, knowing that there will be golf balls flying around. But you also have a responsibility for the safety of other golfers. At the end of the day everyone should have golf insurance to cover them against any legal action.

i am not a solicitor but got to understand how the law sees his type of incident from when someone at the club I played at shattered another golfers hand by hitting him with a ball. He got away with it purely on the fact that he tried to warn him.

In court the judge ruled that he had tried to warn the other player by shouting "fore right" and even pointing his golf club in his direction and that he was not responsible for the injuries caused. A golf course is a place where danger is present and you accept that risk when being there.

 

[SGC001]

You hit a drive and it's heading towards someone up the side of the fairway who is walking a dog, it looks like it's going to land 15yds left of him... do you shout?

10yds left of him?...

5yds left of him?...

only if it's straight at him?...

You don't hit in the 1st place.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I'm trying to determine your definition of 'vicinity'. Do you shout from the tee at the top of your lungs if you can see the ball turning away from where he is, maybe to land 10yds left of him?

I always shout if it's in the vicinity whether it appears to be turning away or not. What's to say the chap or lady isn't going to start walking off towards the green and therefore taking themselves back into the direction of the ball. I can't see why you wouldn't do anything lese

 

[garyinderry]

A less bellowing shout of fore is called for when its going in their direction but clearly won't hit them. A little shout is always courteous imo. Its always greeted with a wave or thanks.

 

[Snelly]

A less bellowing shout of fore is called for when its going in their direction but clearly won't hit them. A little shout is always courteous imo. Its always greeted with a wave or thanks.

Excellent answer.

In the first instance, don't play if there is someone that you could possibly hit. Secondly, if the ball is heading their way, shout fore out of common courtesy. It is good manners and causes no-one any harm.

 

[matt71]

Played on my course at the weekend and a Society group were just in front of us. anyway the 13th is a drivable hole if you are good enough and we watched all 4 try and go for it from the 12th fairway we was on. Anyway the balls went every direction other than straight and not one person shouted FORE despite being a busy course. As we walked past the group some guy came storming from another fairway as one of the drives just hit him. The lad who hit his drive argued that is was not him and that his ball went somewhere else ( it did not) he then had the cheek to ask him if he seen where his ball went. Queue a few swear words in the reply explaining it hit him in the chest and is over in that rough now!

 

[c1pjr]

You should shout fore whenever you think the ball is going anywhere near someone, it is better to be safe than sorry. It also helps if you yell the direction as then the people will know that it is coming in their direction e.g. "fore right" when you hit a push/slice/shank. It obviously helps if you or your playing partner has a big yell so they can hear you too

 

[el marko]

The problem isnt shouting fore or not

Its the bloody dog walkers walking up the middle of the fairway! Ban them all!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Sorry - but I can't believe that golfers are asking about when they should shout fore. This an absolute basic that you should know before you even set foot on a golf course,

 

[matt71]

Sorry - but I can't believe that golfers are asking about when they should shout fore. This an absolute basic that you should know before you even set foot on a golf course,

Have to agree 100%

 

[Scrindle]

Someone almost hit me with a golf ball last time I played - it landed about 4' from me.

I had a 7 iron in my hand at the time and sent their ball out of bounds. No one in their group commented on it when we met later...learned a lesson hopefully.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Someone almost hit me with a golf ball last time I played - it landed about 4' from me.

I had a 7 iron in my hand at the time and sent their ball out of bounds. No one in their group commented on it when we met later...learned a lesson hopefully.

Yes it's utterly stupid that he didn't shout and it's wrong

But then hitting his ball OOB in anger is also stupid and a clear break of golf rules and I hope you allowed yourself the relevant penalty applied.

 

[CMAC]

I'm trying to determine your definition of 'vicinity'. Do you shout from the tee at the top of your lungs if you can see the ball turning away from where he is, maybe to land 10yds left of him?

do you make your own lures?

 

[Scrindle]

Yes it's utterly stupid that he didn't shout and it's wrong

But then hitting his ball OOB in anger is also stupid and a clear break of golf rules and I hope you allowed yourself the relevant penalty applied.

It wasn't really in anger - I just scooped it off the ground.

I was playing a bounce game with a friend and didn't apply a penalty!

I should also point out that it was a very busy day on the course and this was the 3rd time the group had done it without shouting fore...clearly not happy that they were waiting on shots but apparently unable to comprehend that we were waiting for the group in front also!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

It wasn't really in anger - I just scooped it off the ground.

I was playing a bounce game with a friend and didn't apply a penalty!

I should also point out that it was a very busy day on the course and this was the 3rd time the group had done it without shouting fore...clearly not happy that they were waiting on shots but apparently unable to comprehend that we were waiting for the group in front also!

Again their actions were unacceptable and all you do is report them to the pro shop or a committee member and make known your dissatisfaction to them

Hitting their ball OOB IMO is just making you as culpable of poor behaviour on a golf course

 

[North Mimms]

Again their actions were unacceptable and all you do is report them to the pro shop or a committee member and make known your dissatisfaction to them

Hitting their ball OOB IMO is just making you as culpable of poor behaviour on a golf course

I've always thought the classic "tee the errant ball up on fairway and spell out expletive in tees" beside it a great idea!

 

[MadAdey]

I've always thought the classic "tee the errant ball up on fairway and spell out expletive in tees" beside it a great idea!

Never done it myself, but I've heard that getting a sharpie out and leaving a 4 letter 'C' word on their ball can show your dissatisfaction too....

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

Again their actions were unacceptable and all you do is report them to the pro shop or a committee member and make known your dissatisfaction to them

Hitting their ball OOB IMO is just making you as culpable of poor behaviour on a golf course

I disagree LP. What if they are visitors, never to return anyway, the pro shop won't do anything mid round (your word vs theirs), and the committee have nowt to do with them.

First time, accident, they don't know the course maybe, who knows.
Second time, well they're having a bad day, this isn't good.
Third time and clearly they aren't learning, need to find another way to show them! I prefer to write all over their ball, but I could understand how the red mist could result in a lost ball. My only issue would be that if they didn't see it, they would just assume it's lost, and wouldn't know why it's gone.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I disagree LP. What if they are visitors, never to return anyway, the pro shop won't do anything mid round (your word vs theirs), and the committee have nowt to do with them.

First time, accident, they don't know the course maybe, who knows.
Second time, well they're having a bad day, this isn't good.
Third time and clearly they aren't learning, need to find another way to show them! I prefer to write all over their ball, but I could understand how the red mist could result in a lost ball. My only issue would be that if they didn't see it, they would just assume it's lost, and wouldn't know why it's gone.

Writing over their ball passes the message but hitting it away

As I said that just makes the person as culpable of poor behaviour on a golf course

Guess I prefer just to be the bigger person and not drop down to their level.

 

[North Mimms]

Writing over their ball passes the message but hitting it away

As I said that just makes the person as culpable of poor behaviour on a golf course

Guess I prefer just to be the bigger person and not drop down to their level.

What about the teeing the ball up, and spell out FORE! in tees?