You've made it to the first tee for your round of golf, and you're standing around with your playing partners -- maybe buddies, maybe strangers. Maybe you've made a match, or maybe you're playing individually. No matter what, someone has to go first. But who? How do you decide that?
There are a bunch of ways to decide who goes first off the first tee in a round of golf.
How to decide who hits first off the first tee in a round of golf
When playing recreationally, there's no one set way to decide who goes first, hitting the first shot of the round for the whole group. In fact, that lack of formality opens the door to some fun ways of deciding who goes first. Here are five ways to determine who hits first in a round of golf.
Throwing tees: This one is a personal favorite. One golfer holds a tee, and all the golfers stand in a circle around each other. The tee is thrown up in the air, and whoever the pointy end points to once it hits the ground goes first. Then this is repeated among the players left until the order is determined.
Rock-Paper-Scissors: This is the same idea as throwing tees, but instead players compete in a little Rock-Paper-Scissors gautlet to decide who goes first. The last person standing goes first.
Going on handicaps or age: Some groups prefer to have the best player go first, making the assumption that the best player will be less nervous than the others and is more likely to set a good visual example for everyone else in the group with a good opening tee shot. Fill in the best player with the youngest player, and that's perhaps true, too.
Going by tee box: Since not every player is certain to hit from the same set of tees, this is often a common option. Golfers who are playing from the farthest back set of tees go first, with each group moving up until the golfer playing farthest up hits last. That's just good logistics.
Throwing balls in the air: This one is often used to determine teams in matches, but it can also be used to determine hitting order. Each golfer provides a ball to one of the players, who groups them together in their hands and tosses them blindly backwards. The ball farthest away from the thrower indicates the golfer going first, with the ball closest to the thrower indicating the golfer that goes last.
Deciding who goes first in golf off the No. 1 tee doesn't have to be a burden or a process. It can be fun, quick and easy!
