Honours in Golf: Who Tees Off First?

The basic rule

Whoever scored lowest on the previous hole plays first on the next tee. That player "has the honour". Second-lowest goes next, and so on down the order.

On the first tee there is no previous hole, so the order is decided by the draw sheet, by agreement, or by tossing a tee. After that it takes care of itself.

What happens when a hole is tied

If two players tie on a hole, the honour does not change hands between them — it stays as it was on the previous tee. In practice you carry the existing order forward.

If the whole hole is halved, nobody moves. The order from the last tee simply repeats. This is the part people get wrong, usually by re-litigating the order every hole.

Honours in match play vs stroke play

In match play the honour belongs to the side that won the previous hole, and if the hole was halved it stays with the side that had it. Note that in a handicap match this is decided on the net score, not gross.

In stroke play the same principle applies on gross score. It matters far less, which is why stroke-play groups are usually the ones playing ready golf.

Ready golf

Ready golf means playing when you are ready rather than strictly in order, and it is explicitly encouraged by the Rules in stroke play to speed up play. Hitting out of turn carries no penalty there.

Match play is different. You may not simply ignore the order — if you play out of turn, your opponent has the right to cancel the stroke and make you replay it. That right is rarely exercised among friends, but it exists.

Why the honour is worth having

Practically, going first on a tight tee shot means nobody has shown you a line into trouble, and you set the tone. Some players hate it; most competitive golfers want it.

It also carries information. Knowing who has the honour tells you who won the last hole without having to ask, which in a match is the score itself.

On the green and through the hole

Away from the tee the rule is different: the player furthest from the hole plays first, on the fairway and on the green alike. That is order of play, not honours.

The distinction matters in games like Bingo Bango Bongo, where the entire format depends on strict furthest-first order for every shot.

Keeping track without arguing

Go Live Golf works out the honour for you from the previous hole’s scores and shows it on the tee, along with the match state. Ties carry the order forward automatically, which is the bit groups get wrong.

It is a small thing, but it is one fewer conversation on every tee box across eighteen holes.

Honours in a group of four

The full order runs from lowest score to highest on the previous hole. If two players tie for the low score, they keep their relative order from the previous tee — the tie does not reshuffle them.

That carry-forward rule is why the order tends to be stable for stretches of a round, and why re-deriving it from scratch every hole produces arguments.

In a fourball match the honour belongs to the side, not the individual. The winning side decides which of its two players goes first.

When nobody is keeping track

Most casual groups drift into ready golf without ever deciding to, and that is fine in stroke play. The problem comes in a match, where playing out of turn is a right your opponent can enforce.

The practical compromise used by most competitive-but-friendly groups: strict honours on the tee, ready golf everywhere else. It keeps the format honest where it matters and keeps the round moving where it does not.

If your group plays for money, honours also functions as a public score. Whoever is on the tee first won the last hole, and everybody knows it without asking.

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