The idea of dogs being allowed on the golf course used to really wind me up. I’d see a dog strapped to a trolley and wonder what it was about this animal that its owner felt they couldn’t be without for four hours. A golf course is for golfers, not dogs, was my view. Yes, very grumpy, I know.
My opinion didn’t change when a dog called Freddie joined a threeball I was playing in at Liphook Golf Club in Hampshire about ten years ago. The wire-haired dachshund belonged to the former editor of Golf Monthly, Mike Harris. He caused havoc.
I remember it well because I had a good score going when, at the start of the back nine, Freddie scuttled off into the undergrowth, through a holly bush, across a ditch (which his owner fell into) and into a neighboring field. When he resurfaced two hours later as if nothing had happened, we finished playing in the dark.
However, this was unusual behavior. Freddie became quite well trained and before he left this world for a far better place, he’d ticked off quite a number of the Top 100 Courses in the UK & Ireland, many of which extend as warm a welcome to our furry friends as they do visiting golfers, including Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire and Worplesdon Golf Club in Surrey.
Freddie was normally well behaved on the golf course
(Image credit: Future)
Until recently, I wasn’t sold on the idea of sharing the fairways with dogs, no matter how cute they looked or how well trained they were. What about the mess? Think of the greenkeepers and the poor souls on the Greens Committee!
More potential issues. What about the distraction of a crazy lab barking at a pigeon on someone’s backswing, a poodle running off with your ball, or a wire-haired dachshund walking between your legs on a putt? As for bunkers…
My stance on the matter has softened, and not just because I recently acquired a Cavapoochon. After chatting to the course manager at my home club, Formby Golf Club in Merseyside, I learnt how Joe’s companion keeps him company in the early mornings, watching on as the greenkeeping team goes about its business. It’s a genuinely heartwarming sight.
Paul McGinley has enjoyed many a round of golf with his dog at Sunningdale
(Image credit: Getty Images)
As it turns out, some dogs (not mine) can be very obedient. I’ve yet to hear of one so well trained that it will go and fetch a sausage bap from the halfway hut and bring it back to its owner unscathed, but having observed a few more pooches in action on various courses recently, I can only report good things.
I’ve now enjoyed the company of a fair few canines on the course, a spaniel called Mo being my favorite. He can track your ball in flight, carefully skirt round the edge of greens, and guide you to the next hole as if he were a proud member hosting guests. If he was large enough, I’m pretty sure he’d carried your clubs for you.
So I feel like I owe the pooch community an apology. As my colleague Jeremy Ellwood said in a recent column, “Subject to a certain level of training and behavior, the golf course is a great place for a pooch.”
Can all dogs be trusted to behave well on the golf course?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
This rules out my own hound, for Poppy doesn’t listen to instructions and I have no doubt that if she were ever trusted to roam freely off her lead, she’d immediately cause some kind of damage, quite possibly in the form of a yellow circle in the middle of a green. Now that would be very poor golf etiquette indeed.
Interestingly, when we asked on X whether dogs should be allowed on the golf course, 57% said no. Heartless people, I say. I will never again question a well trained dog’s place on the fairways.
If I may steal another of my colleague’s lines… “Live and let woof.”
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