I played golf with clients today around one of the two entirely public courses in Brisbane: St Lucia Links. I will see right off the bat that the golf course was in good condition, the pace of play was not slow and we had a great afternoon.

A couple of things though stood out during the round that, again at this public course, are not only total against golfing etiquette but again lead to a discussion in our playing group as to whether we will return to St Lucia to play.

Yet again today I witnessed groups of more than four players playing together.  Indeed we witnessed during the course of our round two groups of 8 players playing together.  That is right: two groups of 8 players.  Now I get that it was Friday afternoon and these guys had probably taken an early mark at the end of a long week but it really is just rude, let alone against the etiquette of golf, to delay the play by playing this way.

Also today, and again not for the first time at St Lucia, I hit a ball into a bunker and it rested in the heart of a large footprint. How hard can it be to rake the bunker? That is just standard golf etiquette.

I concede that I am taking my chances by playing at a publicly accessible course and that the conduct outlined above would simple not be accepted at a closed membership course.  Still I would have thought that if you are intending to have a round of golf you would at least know the general etiquette of the game.

I would hate to get to a point where before a round of golf the players, particularly on a public course, need to receive a short lesson in etiquette before they go out for a round but I suspect that, at least at St Lucia Golf Links we are not far off.

I will be back to St Lucia: I enjoy the course.  That said I think I will be choosing a tee time that is before 7am in the morning.  I base this on the theory that only golfers who follow the rules will be playing at said time.

If you are reading this as you scout for a place to play golf in Brisbane I would suggest that if you looking for round where the etiquette of the game is followed then St Lucia Golf Links should probably be given a miss by you.