There are plenty of situations in which you might need to share your clubs during a round on the golf course. Other times you might find yourself in need of borrowing golf clubs. But are there rules against this? Will you get in trouble if you share golf clubs?
To help you answer this, I took a look at the USGA’s rule book to see if it is legal or not.
Is Sharing Golf Clubs On A Golf Course Legal? According to USGA’s rule 4b(ii), sharing golf clubs on a golf course is illegal. This means that you are not able to lend or borrow a club from someone you are competing against in a round of golf.
Do All Players Need To Follow These Rules?
All high-level amateurs and professionals must abide by this rule.
Even most casual players have to abide by this rule as many country clubs and public courses don’t allow players to share.
It’s very helpful to call your local course beforehand to make sure, that is the easiest way to figure it out, but many public courses do not allow it.
As annoying as this is, there is a pretty good reason why players are not allowed to share their clubs. Once you see why it is prohibited it will seem a bit more logical.
Why Aren’t You Allowed To Share Clubs On The Golf Course?
The main reason why sharing clubs on the golf course is illegal is because it disrupts the pace of play. In other words, when players share golf clubs, they end up taking more time per hole than players that have their own individual clubs.
So, many golf courses ban players from sharing clubs because it is much slower than when players have their own clubs.
An Example Of How Sharing Clubs Slows Down The Pace Of Play
Below is an example of how sharing clubs could slow down a round of golf.
| Player 1 | Player 2 |
| 265 Yards Right Fairway | 255 Yards Left Fairway |
If you and your friend were sharing golf clubs, and he hit one left of the fairway and you hit one right of the fairway, about the same distance. Chances are, you are both going to need the same club and will have to wait for one another to finish.
It’s going to take twice as long for both of you to hit your second shot because you are sharing your clubs. Ultimately, for most golf courses, time is money. If you’re taking up more time than necessary by using somebody else’s clubs then you’re costing the establishment money.
While this is a hypothetical scenario, many similar instances can occur, so it is best to have your own clubs so that you can avoid this.
There Is Another Reason Why Pros Can’t Share Golf Clubs…
For professionals, while it does have to do with pace of play, there’s also a factor of damaging clubs during a round of golf.
A professional player is directly responsible for their equipment. So, that means a player is responsible for any of the wear and tear that a club endures. Once you split that responsibility between two players, it becomes much more difficult to assess which player is responsible for the damage.
Therefore, it is much easier and straightforward to prohibit players from sharing clubs.
Players Who Share Club Are Generally Beginners
Most players that have experience golfing will have their own set of clubs. So, the player(s) that has to share/borrow clubs from someone else is likely a beginner.
Keeping this in mind, players that already share clubs will generally take up more time on the course. Now add that at least one of the players is likely a beginner (meaning they won’t be shooting anywhere near par), therefore they will take up even more time on the course.
In a nutshell, players who borrow clubs are typically beginners who already take up a lot of time per hole, so when they borrow clubs, it adds even more time to their round of golf.
My Experience Sharing Golf Clubs
In my experience, I’ve never been stopped on a course for sharing clubs. However, after reading many online posts about Sharon golf clubs, it doesn’t seem that restrictions on sharing clubs is uncommon.
So, if you decide that you need to share clubs, make sure that there is no rule prohibiting it, or make sure no employee at the golf course sees you sharing clubs